- April 15, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Longtime Greenbrook resident Diane Barrington has an ongoing joke with friends and fellow realtors.
No signal? Dropped call?
You must be in Lakewood Ranch, they quip.
“It’s an absolute frustration,” said Barrington. “You tell people who come to Lakewood Ranch it’s the best-selling community in the nation, and then we don’t have cell phone coverage.”
John Noe, a Summerfield resident, said he tells people not to move to Lakewood Ranch because the coverage is so bad. He just earned his master’s of business degree and said he has missed job interviews because his cell phone wouldn’t connect.
The problem may be solved if Sarasota-based USA Groups, a developer of monopole and wireless cellular communication infrastructure, gathers enough community support. The company is eyeing Lakewood Ranch for a new wave of cellular technology support called “small cell.”
The technology can be attached to existing buildings, light poles or other structures and used to boost cell phone coverage for all four major wireless providers — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — and add capacity where there are gaps in coverage.
USA Groups spokesman Ben Edmond said traditional cellular communication towers, typically about 150 feet tall, provide broad coverage for an area, generally spanning 3 to 20 kilometers. They are designed to handle multiple carriers and handle phone calls for customers. But society’s increasing reliance on cell phones, with data usage for video streaming, conference calls, emails and other uses, is putting an increasing strain on cell tower networks.
“There’s all kinds of coverage gaps,” he said. “If you drive through Lakewood Ranch, you can quickly identify where the coverage gaps are.”
People may have cell phone reception outside, but have to stand in a certain room in their house, or by a window, to have a signal indoors. Buildings, trees and other variables can interfere with the signal.
“The next wave of coverage is about capacity and coverage at a particular point,” Edmond said, noting small-cell technology has made its way to the forefront in the past 18 months.
USA Groups’ niche will be Florida communities that have a focus on aesthetics.
The company already has implemented the small-cell technology at theme parks and other locations, so it is confident it can blend the systems in residential areas, as well.
Cellular technology companies are allowed to construct such systems in public rights of way, as long as they follow the correct permitting process.
Manatee County in September suspended permit approvals for small cell and DAS systems as it determines how to best regulate them. Assistant County Attorney Pamela D’Agostino said Manatee’s code for right-of-way maintenance has not kept up with technology advances, but Manatee County commissioners should have a code update to approve before the suspension ends Feb. 10.
USA Groups will be ready. Its engineers are driving Lakewood Ranch streets to find coverage gaps and implement a plan, so it will know how many small cells it needs once it can apply for a permit.
It also is working to educate the public about its plans.
Edmond and a team from USA Groups spoke last week at Lakewood Ranch Community Development District meetings. It will have to get permission to use rights of way in Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, for example, because those roads are owned by the CDD. Roads in Summerfield and Greenbrook are owned by Manatee County, but USA Groups wants the public to be on board with its investment.
“We want to make sure we’re not just getting a permit, but we’re welcomed by the community,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s not really the right fit for us.”
USA Groups would own and maintain the small-cell systems, which would accommodate multiple carriers. It would pay fees to the right-of-way owner, but the amounts will be significantly lower than the taller, traditional towers standard in the industry.
