Despite the growing ubiquity of wireless technology, there are still areas of the country where full coverage is difficult to achieve. Sometimes an area’s terrain can make it difficult for carriers to provide coverage, as mountains, hills or valleys may block emitted RF signals.
The Sioux City Journal recently reported on problem areas in the Sioux City area where ‘Siouxlanders’ frequently experience dropped calls. The article discussed well-known dead zones of which residents are well aware.
Rep. Steve King, who represents Iowa’s fourth district including Sioux City, even shared his own experience of dropped calls when he is visiting his home district. The congressman tells staffers to avoid scheduling phone interviews during times he will be traveling through well-known dead zones.
“Why did you schedule me an interview with this radio station when you knew I’d be going through Mile Marker 109 on (U.S.) Highway 20? It moves a little bit, it seems like it is drifting a little bit east to Mile Marker 112. So, if you get to 108, you need to tell them,dead zone coming up,’ and then there’s no need to dial back until you get to about (Mile Marker) 113 going east,” King recently told the Sioux City Journal.
Although Iowa’s geography is generally stereotyped as flat (which is mostly accurate), the Sioux City region features rolling hills and valleys, geographical features that make cell coverage more difficult to provide.
“Woodbury County terrain is difficult, just awful, with all the change in elevation… There are lots of valleys. It is a hard county to get a signal in. It takes a lot of towers,” Gary Brown, director of Woodbury County Disaster and Emergency Services Department, told the newspaper.
Verizon and AT&T are the two most common carriers in the region. AT&T announced in February plans to improve 120 existing towers in Northwest Iowa, which will be part of a $175 million investment the company has made in Iowa since 2013.
“We’re strengthening our already-strong network to meet the needs of our customers across Iowa. We want to give our customers the high-quality service they need to stay connected. So we’re always investing in our network and will make even more improvements in the area this year,” Cheryl Riley, president of AT&T Northern Plains, said in a statement to the Sioux City Journal.
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