The University has reached an agreement with AT&T to put a cell tower on top of Fields and Schoenfeldt Hall by Thanksgiving, in an effort to improve cell service in Lund Family Hall.
There is currently only one AT&T tower on campus, which is located on top of Swindells Hall. Many students have found that their cell coverage diminishes on the other side of Mehling Hall, said Jim Ravelli, vice president for university operations. The goal is that the new tower will extend service to the part of campus past Mehling.
The city is likely to approve the request within 30 days, and construction would begin over fall break.
Until then, Ravelli said that students are encouraged to enable WiFi calling on their mobile devices so they can safely communicate while on the west side of campus, past Mehling.
The addition of another cell tower is good news for Lund residents who have experienced especially poor cell service in the dorm. Freshman Alyssa Shea expressed that she was slightly worried about not being able to contact her parents.
Returning Lund resident Kiley Gersch echoed Shea’s feelings as she noted that cell service was difficult to come by in her room or in the hallway.
“I check in with my parents pretty frequently,” Gersch said. “Like most people’s parents, they get worried if they don’t hear from me.”
Soccer players Brandon Zambrano and Eduardo Calvo stayed in Lund for two weeks during soccer pre-season training over the summer and also ran into problems making calls.
“I never had signal here,” Zambrano said. “He (Calvo) needed the key to get in, so he was screwed.”
Ravelli says he is optimistic that cell service in Lund will have improved by the end of November.
“Our plan is, from the latest we’ve heard from AT&T, is that they’re going to be moving on this and want to get it done no later than Thanksgiving,” Ravelli said. “So I have a fairly high level of confidence that they’ll get this done.”
