Electricity Out? Get Status Updates On Your Mobile Phone

Ameren's Mobile Power Outage Site

I think this is a mobile first. Ameren, an electric power utility serving 1.9 million customers in Illinois and Missouri has launched a mobile website that lets customers check the status of service outages. You can search for affected areas by zip code or county. You can also report if your power is out and get real time updates on the progress of restoring power to your specific home or business. The site also has customer service phone numbers (unfortunately NOT click to call) and electrical safety tips.

Nice idea, assuming the mobile site really is updated with status changes in a timely fashion. If the power is out then your desktop PC and WiFi access point and in some cases land-line phone service is going to be out too. Using the mobile site to report a problem or get a status update should be faster than holding for an overloaded telephone support center. I wish all public utilities including power, cable and land line phone companies provided a mobile site like this for outage reporting and status updates. Source: Mobility.mobi

Filed in: Wap Review Directory – Search/Local

Ratings: Content ****_ Usability XXX__

Ready.mobi Score: 3 “Fair”

Mobile Link: ameren.mobi