At the last meeting of the Jersey City Council caucus meeting, as hosted on Microsoft Teams, council members began by addressing citizen concerns. Cross River Fiber LLC has contracted to install 5G utility poles in the town, and residents clicking through the internet worried about the health aspects of such a move, reported the Hudson County View.
“I want to know about radiation, it was on Facebook: there was a big thing on Facebook about it, warning people about the radiation from these poles,” was the comment that kicked off the safety conversation. With 72 cell tower poles slated for installation around the New Jersey community, residents wanted reassurance that the move to 5G would not put them in danger.
Cross River Fiber LLC CEO Robert Sokota responded to the concern expressed by Rich Boggiano, explaining the poles would be “small cells,” not giant towers. He reminded listeners that the FCC, an organization with a long history of safety and regulation, has deemed small cells to be a safe commodity. While both large and small towers meet World Health Organization safety parameters, the small cells have the advantage of quick installation and minimal visual impact.
“You’re guaranteeing me and the people of Jersey City that there is no radiation coming from these poles?” queried Boggiano.
“The radio size, the power of the radio on the deployment that we’re proposing is about five watts. That’s probably comparable with the WiFi receivers that many of you are using for the current meeting,” said Sokota. “There’s no more emission from this pole … like I said, than there would be from your WiFi router.”
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