Maryland shares Assateague Island with Virginia, and the many visitors who come each year to experience its beaches, parks, and the resident wild horses. As WMDT-TV notes, the surge in population can create problems for the resident humans, whose cell service can become overwhelmed when the call volume goes up. To handle the increase in cellular traffic, a new cell tower is being installed in Berlin, MD. The tower will stand 144-feet tall and will be located in a wooded area behind the Assateague Crab House.
“After many complaints from the citizens here and the visitors of Assateague Island and the park service they finally listened to us, and with the help of county government in Worcester County, we were able to get this nice cell tower installed,” said South Point Association President, Michael LeCompte.
“We were able to get this nice cell tower on this farm which is directly north of South Point. We’re hoping this will alleviate all the problems with communication down here,” said LeCompte, adding that the new tower will host four major carriers. He noted that boaters in the area will also benefit from the extra signal reach provided by the tower. While construction on the tower has just begun, it seems likely that it will be in operation before the influx of visitors arrives in the spring.
“There’s an issue when you have too many people using a cell tower at one time it reverts it to another tower because it can’t take the load of people and on Assateague itself, there’s over 2 million visitors a year,” said LeCompte. He further noted that he is confident that the new cell tower will be a boon to visitors and emergency personnel, in addition to simply allowing residents easy digital access for day-to-day tasks.
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