Heat wave brings down Cingular cell phones By DERRILL HOLLY Associated Press WASHINGTON - A power outage that led to failure of backup systems disrupted cellular telephone service to thousands of Cingular Wireless customers early yesterday. ``Wireline to wireless, wireless to wireline and voice mail are all down,'' said Kate O'Shaughnessy, a company spokeswoman. The outages affected virtually all Cingular customers with service registered to the 301 or 202 area codes. Those areas include the District of Columbia and Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. The problem began when electrical service was disrupted to the company's main regional switching station in Greenbelt, Wednesday evening. The initial problem was related to high temperatures that have gripped the Washington area for nearly a week. Although Cingular uses backup batteries and generators designed to operate for an extended period, the automatic system suffered a major disruption. ``A generator went down around 4 a.m.,'' said O'Shaughnessy, adding that backup batteries eventually also failed. Technicians were hopeful service could be restored by midday. ``It's a single switch we're having a problem with,'' she said. According to O'Shaugnessy, the system is designed to operate without outside power for up to a month, but the switch failed as the automated system tried to transfer from battery to generator power. A Potomac Electrical Power Company spokesman said a technician found a transformer near the site working properly but Cingular's fenced facility was locked up and deserted. ``We couldn't break in,'' said spokesman Bob Dobkin. Cingular officials made a second call to Pepco for service just after 8:30 a.m. Dobkin said, noting that the Cingular outage was the only problem reported in the area. Although Cingular is the nation's second-largest provider of wireless telephone service with more than 21 million customers, the company does not provide numbers on its local subscriber _base_. ===================================== http://cold.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/stories/mcfp0810200122.htm