For the 21st consecutive year, Verizon is partnering with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to provide a toll-free hotline to check on Santa Claus’ whereabouts for his journey on Christmas Eve.
To accomplish the difficult task of tracking Santa and his reindeer, Verizon will tap its C-Band spectrum to provide redundant Wi-Fi. The C-Band spectrum allows more available 5G coverage to ensure that the hotline can run without interruption.
Last year, the elves working the hotline received over 130,000 phone calls. To provide further support, Verizon designed an Interactive Voice Response System to answer children’s questions and give information about Santa’s flight path, but this is only activated when all of the volunteers answering the phone are busy with other calls.
The effort is made possible by 1,100 volunteers from Verizon, military personnel and other government and corporate partners.
Here are some of the questions that can be asked when calling the hotline:
- Where is Santa?
- When will Santa come to my house?
- Where is Mrs. Claus during the journey?
- What are Santa's favorite cookies?
- How many elves are helping Santa?
- Which reindeer is helping to lead the journey this year?
How to call:
Beginning at 6AM EST on Devember 24th, call the toll-free hotline at 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723).
For more information on Santa’s whereabouts, you can also visit https://www.noradsanta.org/ or track via NORAD’s social media pages. You can also download the NORAD Tracks Santa Claus app on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Originally posted on Verizon News Center: Verizon partners with NORAD to track Santa Claus
The Community Team wishes everyone a happy, healthy and safe holiday season and new year!