COWs provided cellular service in Southwest Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley in 2004 when most of the area's stationary cell towers were destroyed. In January 2009, 26 cell-on-wheels units were put in place in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of Barack Obama to handle the millions of extra people and their calls in the city, especially on and near the National Mall. In January 2017 additional COWs, both temporary, and permanent, have been installed at the National Mall for the inauguration of Donald Trump as well as for future inaugurations and other events due to the steady rise in LTE-based smartphones and other devices in the later half of the 2010s.