Residents in Forth Worth are fed up with the inability to use their cell phones at home, reported the Star-Telegram. Once thought to be only an issue in rural areas, dead zones are seemingly commonplace in some urban areas as well. According to Deadcellzone.com, approximately 100,000 dead zones exist nationwide and they estimate that 50 percent of U.S. homes do not have seamless wireless coverage. And Fort Worth area residents are battling with these dead zones.
According to resident Jennifer Roybal, “It is horrible. Dropped calls, that’s all you get. A text will take forever to go through. I’m so fed up.”
Another resident, Brent Peterson noted, “There’s been many times I’ll tell people to hang up and call me back on my land line. It’s definitely a problem out here. And it’s not just an issue for a few people.”
In nearby Summer Creek, which already fights with poor service, more residential properties are planned in the coming years near the Chisholm Trail Parkway, which will attract thousands of residents. Also, Tarleton State University is building an 80-acre campus expected to accommodate 5,000 students. So, residents are asking for another tower to increase capacity.
Fort Worth Councilman Jungus Jordan, who lives in Summer Creek, approached AT&T. “I told them we need another tower. We want to see strong cell phone coverage in southwest Fort Worth. These are issues we’ve had for some time and we’ve tried to resolve them,” he said.
In an email response by AT&T, the company noted, “We value customer feedback and continually make enhancements to local network coverage, including adding LTE capacity to cell sites in the south Fort Worth area this year. In the past three years, we’ve invested more than $6.8 billion in our Texas wireless and wired networks.”
Regarding Verizon Wireless coverage, a spokesperson said there’s a tower only one-mile away from Summer Creek and they weren’t aware of connectivity issues; Verizon is considering the matter since being notified by the Star-Telegram.
November 27, 2017
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