What O.J., Katrina, and 9/11 did to AT&T's network

Oct. 3, 1995 was a unique day for telephone calls on AT&T's network. The verdict for the O.J. Simpson murder trial was delivered by the jury at 10 a.m. PT. More than 50 million people across the country collectively tuned into one of the most-watched TV events of all time, according to Nielsen.

With everyone glued to their televisions, call volumes fell through the floor for a moment as the not-guilty verdict was read -- then immediately skyrocketed as word began to spread.

With Twitter, Facebook (FB), texts and blogs, such a pronounced drop in network volume is unlikely to ever be duplicated, AT&T engineers say. Today, network traffic tends to explode during scheduled news events.

NEXT