Cell phone users attending the Inaugural festivities in Washington D.C. this coming week may be in for an aggravating surprise: Spotty service. Given that most of the 2 million people expected to be in D.C. this week will be carrying a cell phone, if everyone decides to call, text, Twitter, update Facebook pages, watch live video, or send video clips to friends and family at the same time the result could be a service outage.

All the Blackberrys, iPhones, and SmartPhones trying to access 2G and 3G networks at the same time to send data will cause new challenges not present at previous Inaugural events. “We can only bend the laws of physics so much,” said Joe Farren, a spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA). “If there are 4 million people on the mall streaming video, sending pictures, or calling, there could be congestion.” Farren’s advice is: text, don’t talk. Keep it simple. And make your plans in advance—don’t count on your cell phone for last minute hook-ups.