Although most people aren't aware of it, buried in the telecommunication tariffs are a set of network preemption procedures. In event of an federal emergency, any working telecommunication circuit can be preempted to restore an emergency circuit. In event of an federal emergency, restoration priorities are set by the government, not the carrier. Specific circuits must be restored first, before customer circuits. The carrier is supposed to alert you when they need to preempt your circuit, but inability to contact you won't slow them down. Once again, ISPs shouldn't take action before being requested. If your circuits are prempted, the carrier has a schedule of which circuits to restore first. TCG (ATT Local Service), Sprint and Verizon had equipment located in the World Trade Center towers. Most service was delivered locally to the towers, but some intra and inter city loops passed through the facilities. Carriers are reporting several hundred local loops impacted in New York City. Most inter-city and backbone circuits appear to have already been re-routed. A lot of European circuits pass through the area, but at this time, all appear to be operating or have already be re-routed. The electrical grid sustained some damage near the world trade center. Most providers in the area have 8 hours of battery or generator. A couple of providers have issued warnings there may be service disruptions if batteries are generators run down.