Valley needs front money to get cell service

DAVID HULSE
Posted 8/21/12

NARROWSBURG, NY — Dead spots for cell-phone service are likely to be with us for the foreseeable future, unless government funding can be found to offset provider building costs, a wireless expert …

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Valley needs front money to get cell service

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NARROWSBURG, NY — Dead spots for cell-phone service are likely to be with us for the foreseeable future, unless government funding can be found to offset provider building costs, a wireless expert told the Upper Delaware Council last week.

The widespread inaccessibility of wireless service in the river valley and the general visual incompatibility of wireless towers in this scenic area is a gnarly topic that frequently comes up before the council.

The UDC invited telecommunications consultant, Dick Comi to advise them at their November 5 meeting. Interest in the topic was apparent, as UDC Chair Al Henry allowed Comi to extend well beyond the 20-30 minutes usually allotted to presenters at council meetings.

Comi, of the Center for Municipal Solutions, usually represents municipalities who are trying to zone limitations on tower locations, and his presentation began in that vein before audience member Aaron Robinson explained the local problem.

“We’re different…We deal with the regulation, but how do we get service in a valley that needs it. How do we do it? Who do we see?”

Comi said the only answer is to find ways to decrease the costs of the providers. He suggested pursuing federal money, and discussing ways that multiple providers can use and thus share the costs of new transmission points—including towers, steeples and utility poles.

Cochecton’s Larry Richardson explained the problem of keeping towers off ridgelines. “We don’t want to see towers from the river.”

Comi detailed a rural highway project in Vermont where federal money had provided wireless antennae atop utility poles and provided service for a 300- to 400-foot corridor, or two to three tenths of a mile in open areas along the highway. Those antennae were made available as “macro sites” for all four of the major wireless providers.

However, for a street beyond that corridor, additional antennae, at $150,000 to $200,000 each would be needed, and they would likely not be grant funded.

The other problem is getting a provider interested, Comi said. The major providers are already extremely busy upgrading in more populated areas where usage demands have increased exponentially. He spoke of locations on Long Island where usage is so congested that while, “they have phones, they just can’t use them.”

Comi said there is no other technical way to approach the problem. The frequencies used by the phones are too limited, satellites can’t handle the volume and TV cable companies that already have the fiber-optic cable needed to re-transmit wireless signals “want to sell their own phone service.”

Beyond state or federal funding, “There is no other way to serve a low-usage, low-revenue area,” he said.

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