AT&T’s claim to have over 94 percent of Vermont covered by its network, falls short of its 99.9 percent projection, according to VTDigger.com. Road tests conducted by Corey Chase, a telecommunications analyst for Vermont’s Department of Public Service, indicate results closer to 64 percent coverage.
Commenting on AT&T’s coverage map, Chase said, “I think it’s pretty plain to everybody that the emperor’s not wearing clothes.
Anyone who has driven around the state, you know there’s no cell phone coverage, but when you look at that map it shows there is.” AT&T does have plans to build an additional 36 towers across Vermont, but the saturation of coverage projected is not currently in operation.
“I think coverage means a lot of different things to different people,” Chase said. “What coverage actually means to the user is where the devil’s in the details,” responded Terry LaValley, the state’s contact person for FirstNet and chair of the Public Safety Broadband Commission. “We may say ‘you have 99 percent,’ but you may only have one bar on your phone.”
The cost to build out broadband service, and FirstNet, also makes success difficult to measure. Although AT&T won a $6.5 billion contract to expand FirstNet across the U.S., it also plans to use the towers for its own consumer network. Vermont agreed to allow AT&T to build out the state network rather than using $25 million in federal and dedicated broadband spectrum to take on the project itself.
Some Vermonters do not believe AT&T will be able to meet the FCC recommendations for all residents to receive access to 4G LTE at a speed of at least 5 megabits-per- second within its five-year deadline. Public Advocate on technology, Stephen Whitaker, studied reports on AT&T resource and goals and cautioned, “We need to identify whatever slim means of accountability remain available to the State for this 25-year FirstNet contract where the State is not a party to the contract, nor is the contract available for review.”
When a Vermont state legislator asked what recourse would be available if AT&T failed to meet its FirstNet objectives, Owen Smith, AT&T Regional Vice President responded, “Good question. And I don’t have an answer.” Comments? Email Us.
March 18, 2019
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