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Puerto Ricans search for cell service on ravaged island

Jose Garcia Vicente holds a piece of plumbing he picked up as he shows his destroyed home in Aibonito, Puerto Rico yesterday. Photo: Gerald Herbert / AP

"Puerto Ricans hunt for precious Wi-Fi and cell signals," by AP's Danica Coto in San Juan: "The low murmur at one of two free Wi-Fi hotspots is occasionally interrupted by the cheering of someone getting through the largely jammed network. Most spend hours frowning at their phones, unable to connect."

  • Many "opted to pull over to the side of the road along various highways where cellphone signals were strongest."
  • Some "in Puerto Rico and abroad called a local radio station to provide names, numbers, exact addresses and pictures of their loved ones in hopes of reconnecting."
  • "But for hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans living on the U.S. mainland, there has been only silence from the island."