Student-Made Tech Prevents Cellular Network Overload During Crises

When a natural disaster hits, there are a lot of phone calls to be made — to emergency workers, to local friends who may need help, to far-away family. But when everyone calls home at once, cellphone networks can be overloaded, leading to failed calls and unsent texts.

Mai Hassan, a graduate student at the University of British Columbia, developed a solution to ensure that calls aren't dropped and text messages reach their destinations when they're needed the most

“I proposed a more effective way to use any channel in the neighborhood, even if those channels are being used by radio or television stations,” Hassan said in a press release Read more...