Cingular Wireless Offers Consumer Tips to Help Prepare for Tropical Storms Charley and Bonnie Emergency Communications Plan Is Critical As Tropical Storms Threaten Florida Keys and Florida Panhandle BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Tropical Storms Bonnie and Charley are threatening the Florida Keys up to the Panhandle. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Tropical Storm Bonnie is located in the central Gulf of Mexico about 265 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and Tropical Storm Charley is located about 160 miles east-southeast of Kingston Jamaica. A report from the NHC at 7:00am EDT on Wednesday, August 11th, stated that a Tropical Storm watch for Bonnie remains in effect for Northwest Florida from the Alabama/Florida border eastward to the mouth of the Suwanee River. A hurricane watch has been issued for the Florida Keys from Dry Tortugas to Craig Key as Tropical Storm Charley is expected to reach hurricane strength over the next day or so. Cingular Wireless urges consumers to be prepared before nature strikes. "Taking the time to plan now can make a considerable difference in how much a storm or hurricane affects your family or business," says Rich Guidotti, vice president/general manager, Cingular Wireless-South Florida. "Any emergency plan should include a wireless communications component, too, so that every member of the family knows who to contact if they get separated." What can you do to prepare yourself for an emergency? - Program in all of your emergency contact numbers. Program in 9-1-1, the police department, fire station and hospital contact numbers, as well as your family members into your cell phone. - Have a family communications plan in place. Designate someone out of the area as a central contact, and make certain all family members know who to contact if they become separated. - Monitor weather alerts and bulletins. Wireless Internet access can help you keep abreast of important weather alerts during power outages or when access to a TV or radio is unavailable. - Learn your text messaging feature on your phone. Easy way to send a quick message to a loved one's cell phone if you can't call them. - Keep your wireless phone dry and phone batteries charged at all times. - Forward your home number to your wireless number in the event of an evacuation. That way you will get incoming calls from your landline phone. - Consider additional cell phones for your family's use. Cingular Wireless is Prepared for Severe Weather - Cingular's Regional Network Operations Center (RNOC) monitors and maintains its wireless network 24 hours a day, seven days a week so they can assess and respond to emergency situation within minutes. - Towers and switching centers are designed and built to withstand hurricane-force winds. - As electrical outages are common during storms, Cingular's switching centers have back-up emergency generators. Cell sites have high- capacity battery back-up and some have emergency generators, ensuring a secure source for power, if needed. - Cingular has Cellular on Wheels (known as "COWs"), which are self- contained mobile cell sites that can be towed or driven into an area to provide extra call capacity or to restore communications following a disaster. DATASOURCE: Cingular Wireless CONTACT: Dawn Benton of Cingular Wireless, +1-404-236-5305, or cell, +1-404-202-6335, or Web site: http://www.cingular.com/

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