Some good post-Sandy cellphone news

With as many as 25 percent of the cellphone towers in the Northeast knocked out by Hurricane Sandy, AT&T and T-Mobile have teamed up to provide customers access to both their networks.

The companies said they have agreed to allow customers to roam on their networks at no extra charge.

“AT&T and T-Mobile customers will be able to place calls just as they normally would, but their calls will be carried by whichever network is most operational in their area. This will be seamless for AT&T and T-Mobile customers with no change to their current rate plans or service agreements even if the phone indicates the device is attached to the other carrier’s network,” the two companies said.

Such a roaming agreement is easy to execute as both companies operate on the  Global System for Mobile standard. Such a deal would not be with Verizon Wireless, which operates in the incompatible Codex Division Multiple Access standard.