Tests confirm what we knew—cell service is lacking
2022-12-21
Dear friend,
Something weird happened when I was driving home yesterday on Hatch School Road in Halifax.
I had left Wilmington and was well into Halifax when my cell phone rang.
I had spent the first part of the morning doing office hours at the Halifax Town Office. No cell service there. I drove from there to Jacksonville, without a lick of service. From there I went up Route 100 to Wilmington, waiting for that crossover point near Boyd Hill Road when calls will go through. I needed to talk to my partner about Christmas presents. As luck would have it, by the time I reached Wilmington, she was busy. Then I was busy with folks who dropped by office hours at 1A Coffee Roasters.
I figured that our call would have to wait till I was home. Then something weird happened—a call squeaked through in a new-to-me location on Hatch School. Knowing it would likely drop, I pulled over the car and put on my flashers.
Maybe, sometime in the future, this kind of behavior will be a memory. After all, some of us remember picking up a corded phone off something called a “receiver” in order to rotate a dial one number at a time with your finger.
Until then, we have this:
This is a This is digital rendering of a map I carry in my brain of where I can make a call.
Just kidding. It’s the new interactive map of cell service released by the Vermont Department of Public Service last week. It’s supposed to show consumers which areas of the state are covered by six available providers. It can help you choose the service that works best for them.
Some of your tax dollars were spent making this map. Here’s a link to the interactive map—maybe you will find it useful. The screenshot above is just one aggregate view of the data. Using the map you can view cell service by one provider at a time, and drill down into specific locations.
Here’s some info from DPS’s press release:
Department of Public Service Releases Results of Statewide Drive Test of Mobile Wireless Coverage
Montpelier, VT – The Department of Public Service (PSD) today announced that it has released results of a drive test, conducted in conjunction with the Agency of Transportation (AOT), to determine mobile wireless coverage throughout the state.
“Access to mobile wireless service is a top priority for Vermonters, for this Administration, and for the Department,” said PSD Commissioner June Tierney. “We all know that there are many areas of the state that lack service. The drive tests will help to identify those areas so we can prioritize them for new coverage.”
The drive tests are a collaboration between the PSD and the AOT, which conducted the driving. “Identifying areas that lack service is a critical step toward the expansion and improvement of mobile wireless service around the state, and we are glad to have contributed to that effort,” said Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn. “Our Maintenance employees have driven over 6,500 miles this summer to gather data for our partners at PSD to use for this project.”
On the campaign trail this year, a couple voters told me that increased cell service for emergency services on Route 9 was a priority for them. But I did not hear this from very many voters. Broadband came up a lot, but not cell service.
I’m curious why. Is it because we’re okay with the status quo? You don’t want to see more towers?
Or are we used to living our lives this way? To being forgotten? I would understand that. It’s been 26 years since the telecom lobbyists promised the public that passing the big federal telecom-deregulation bill would help them reach us in the boonies. I don’t know about you, but I’m jaded.
How high a priority is it for you that your state government should do more for cell service in southern Vermont? Please leave a comment below or email me.
warm regards,
Tristan