topic Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question in Community Chat

Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Marp — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:04:19 GMT

I'm in western NC and it is a given that much of the area is likely to lose power. We are now officially under an ice storm warning.

Usually when power is lost cell towers remain operational. My question is if the towers are covered in ice will they remain operational?

Anyone with ice storm experience that can answer that question?

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Laura14 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:12:37 GMT

This was asked on reddit a few days ago. Here were the responses:

"Cell towers can be shut down by ice in several ways.

Lack of power. Some sites have backup battery power, but it's not infinite.
Thick ice can obstruct or reduce signal strength.
Truly heavy ice can actually bend dishes out of alignment. Those drum like things you see on some towers are unidirectional antennas. The weight of ice can bend them down, so that they don't communicate with their neighbor nodes."

"Cell towers need power to run. Most have backup generators. But if the fuel runs out for them, the towers go down.

Backup generators can be natural gas, battery, diesel or something else.

I live in a rural area. Cell towers went down when landlines were still up. But that only helps you if your landline runs fully off the phone line (ie doesn’t plug into an outlet)."

"Cell towers can go out due to lack of electricity if it goes on long enough. Found that out in Helene where after a couple days my family started to lose signal as the backup generators for the cell towers started to run dry."

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

JeanLouiseFinch — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:12:45 GMT

I don't know the specific answer but I saw something this morning about setting your phone to "satellite" if the cell tower isn't transmitting. I'm not sure if satellite will provide full internet access or just texting ability.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Laura14 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:14:56 GMT

They also recommended for your phone itself that cold will drain your tech batteries so keep your devices warm aka bundle them up if you lose heat.

ETA if you have a limited data plan, you may want to switch to airplane mode when the wifi goes out to protect your data privileges and only use your phone when necessary.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Estellee — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:15:14 GMT

I believe it can affect the towers in some cases but hopefull won't happen @Marp

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Marp — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:04:30 GMT

Thank you for such detailed information in your posts @Laura14. Very helpful.

The irony is I recently changed from a POTS landline to cell because the cost of the POTS became outrageous, especially for someone that doesn't use the phone much.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Marp — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:06:08 GMT

@JeanLouiseFinch wrote:
I don't know the specific answer but I saw something this morning about setting your phone to "satellite" if the cell tower isn't transmitting. I'm not sure if satellite will provide full internet access or just texting ability.

Unfortunately @JeanLouiseFinch, I don't have that option on my phone.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Estellee — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:24:26 GMT

Having a landline phone that works without electricity is the best thing to have. I've lost power many times during hurricanes but my one wall phone in the kitchen always works.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

We rescue cats — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:24:17 GMT

We still have a landline in the house (whew!) and we have a duel fuel inverter-and if things really go awry we have the motorhome, it has a generator. The heat runs on electric and/or propane. The house has a pellet stove as long as we have power. We had a horrible storm several years ago, we were snowed in for 5 days.

Finally our plow guy made it to us!! The blue line is the road from the main road to our home. . . we had 4 feet of snow on the road (high winds!).

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

geezerette — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 19:35:28 GMT

@Estellee wrote:
Having a landline phone that works without electricity is the best thing to have. I've lost power many times during hurricanes but my one wall phone in the kitchen always works.

I agree. However, they've stopped supporting in-the-ground landlines in my areas so my good old reliable landline became more unreliable than my cell.

But I'd feel more secure with it (in working condition) in circumstances like this than depending on cell service, which has already proved wonky for several people today and our weather isn't even here yet.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

JYWilliams — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:58:04 GMT

@Marp, when we had the 2009 ice storm and we lost power I still was able to use my cell phone. I charged it before the storm hit and I never lost service.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Marp — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:41:43 GMT

@JYWilliams, I'm going to channel you in hopes that this area is as fortunate as you were.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

JYWilliams — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:23:02 GMT

@Marp, I hope you don't lose power. Now their saying we can get up to 15 inches of snow. It's supposed to be the powdery snow so I'll use my leaf blower to clear my sidewalk. Stay safe.

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

pinkcrystal — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:31:03 GMT

We had a bad ice storm here in Northern Michigan last year and yes, my cell phone did work even though the power was down. I don't know how it worked, but it did lol

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Spurt — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 17:06:54 GMT

@geezerette wrote:
@Estellee wrote:
Having a landline phone that works without electricity is the best thing to have. I've lost power many times during hurricanes but my one wall phone in the kitchen always works.
I agree. However, they've stopped supporting in-the-ground landlines in my areas so my good old reliable landline became more unreliable than my cell.

But I'd feel more secure with it (in working condition) in circumstances like this than depending on cell service, which has already proved wonky for several people today and our weather isn't even here yet.

@geezerette @Estellee

I also had a landline thinking about emergency services if the power went out---doctors, hospitals, 911, then for some reason my service had lots and lots of static and I called ATT they told me very smuggly they no longer serviced landlines, I would have to call an electrician to make the repairs, and then someone else to repair the wall and paint.....so I said CANCEL IT!!! He asked if people called my landline did I want a message giving them my new number! My response HECK NO, the landline is where I got all my robo and scam calls....lol!!! So I have been going with just my cell phone...The bonus is no more landline bills, and also no more scam/robo calls!!!! ( no matter what I tried they continued....)

One thing I do have that I love is my ATT mobile nighthawk router, so if the power goes out I can use it to use my phone and my computer so I can stream movies, shows, make calls and do whatever I need to do electronically. It can be recharged via my car if the power in our area goes out, and the battery is long lasting ....A nice backup to my regular internet service....I got it at Best Buy....

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Cakers3 — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 22:07:50 GMT

Re: Ice Storm Cell Tower Question

Estellee — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 16:53:47 GMT

@Spurt @geezerette So far we can still have landlines and they are servicing them in my area. Many of us that worked for and retired from Ma Bell still have them. I won't be a happy camper if the day comes when we lose them.