This is far from a scientific study, but the Wall Street Journal reports that New Yorkers who are looking for wireless service in the wake of Hurricane Sandy are having the best luck so far with Verizon (VZ). That’s not to say that Verizon is a sure bet right now, of course, but the Journal does say that while walking through East Village on Thursday, “Verizon Wireless’s network performed a bit better” than other wireless networks, “with calls going through in much of the area.” The Journal also said that “several residents corroborated those findings, saying that Sprint Nextel (S) and T-Mobile USA signals were elusive as well and that they used their neighbors’ Verizon phones when they had to make calls.” For anyone having trouble getting consistent wireless service due to the hurricane, remember that Comcast has opened up all its Wi-Fi hotspots for non-subscribers and that AT&T (T) and T-Mobile have enabled free wireless roaming for each others’ customers on their networks.
UPDATE: Verizon checks in to say that it “now has 97.2% of our cell sites in service in the impacted area of Hurricane Sandy, covering the northeastern U.S.” and that “our coverage in most areas is approaching pre-storm status.”
