Watertown, WI would like to digitally connect with Waterloo, WI. However, they may need to take an indirect route through Portland, also a city in Wisconsin, with a fiber cable assist. As The Courier reports, local officials have discovered that a plan to construct a cell tower has been hampered by too many tall trees.
“We can’t get a signal properly from that site to Watertown. That was our link,” said Todd Lindert, Jefferson County Communications Supervisor. “It’s turned out to be a very large project – more than we thought,” he added. “And there’s a couple of hiccups along the way… It’s just things we thought were going to work that didn’t work.”
The city of Waterloo had hoped to take advantage of the existing 60-foot tower and refit it for service as a cell tower. There is even an available building at its base that could have housed equipment. While the tower can still carry a signal, it will need to travel through Portland rather than link directly with Watertown. The building will be removed and replaced with a new communications shelter. If all goes well, the new link-up could be in service by the end of the year.
“The new system will be much better than what you have right now and much better than what the county has right now,” stated Lindert. “The signal, the voice quality, it will be a night and day difference. There will be coverage where there wasn’t coverage before.”
Reader Interactions