It can be tough for any kind of infrastructure to work after getting hit with a natural disaster, and wireless carriers have seriously struggled with this after Puerto Rico was hit with back-to-back hurricanes very recently. That's put a huge strain on wireless networks in the area, but T-Mobile is using some crafty tricks to speed up the recovery process.
While the carrier is still doing normal infrastructure repairs, in the meantime they're repurposed some tools and equipment to fit the situation, and they're even partnering with Alphabet to deploy Project Loon balloons to the islands. This has created self-contained mobile networks for recovery workers and customers to use, bringing voice calls, text messages, and data access back on for tons and tons of people.
Alphabet has always pushed Project Loon as a way to get more people online in areas where building up proper infrastructure is prohibitive, but apparently it works extremely well after natural disasters, too.
While T-Mobile toils away to repair things in Puerto Rico, they've also pitched in and repurposed some of their retail stores as daycares and charging centers, they've donated funds and supplies for people on the island until things return to normal.
These are obviously business decisions to keep their network functioning, but it's pretty nice to see a big company genuinely enthused about helping to rebuild a community. If you're interested, you can read all about it on T-Mobile's blog post.
source: T-Mobile
