BUSINESS JOURNAL PHOTO | Anthony Bolante

Josh Wozniak cross-country ski-commutes to work in downtown Seattle

The snowstorm knocked out power to more than a quarter-million area residents. And Verizon said customers made 40 percent more calls during the storm, and data traffic on Verizon's wireless network was peaking at 25 percent more than normal.

That's a lot of updates to bosses, friends and family, and a lot of uploading snow photos to Facebook and other internet sites.

But thanks to backup batteries and generators at Verizon network cell sites, Verizon said only 3 percent of its Western Washington sites were offline at any one time during the snow emergency.

"The power of these storms reminds us all how crucial it is for a wireless company to not only be prepared, but to be prepared to recover quickly," said Bobby Morrison, president of the Pacific Northwest region at Verizon Wireless. "Over the last four days, our network teams have worked round the clock to strengthen our network and deploy assets to keep lines of communication open so customers can count on their wireless service when they need it most."