When a
Network is a Notwork
By Ken Allen
As much as I
love its features, I donÕt own an iPhone.
Yet IÕve used it and had nearly every type of mobile gadget since mobile
radio was invented, long before the invention of cell systems. But I drew the line with the iPhone and
iPad. Why?
Where I live in
Palo Alto, cellular service is the wireless equivalent of a giant pothole on
every other block. iPhone cell
service is so bad in my neighborhood that people stand in the street just to
make a call, and when neighbors sell their homes, they have to disclose that certain
cellular services are not available.
Whenever such cell phones do get a weak signal, sound quality is
scratchy, calls are spotty or dropped, web pages and email fail to load, and
texting is incredibly slow. If
mobile communication is to become a minimum essential function, service must
improve!
There is a rule
I learned while serving on the Cable Co-op Board, our pioneering two-way cable
system: bandwidth demand increases
to fill capacity, no matter the service.
There was a time when all televisions were wireless and telephones were
wired. But today it is
reversed: Over one in four
households in the US donÕt have any landline telephone, with no foreseeable end
to the trend. Yet Palo Alto lags
the national trend.
This town is the
bane of cell service providers.
ItÕs not all their fault they canÕt keep up with the demand. It seems that some in Palo Alto are
more concerned about appearance and emissions than general need. Now that virtually everyone has a cell
phone, itÕs about time we allow providers to install the equipment needed to
feed our insatiable demand for small size and great convenience.
We have been
wallowing in a sea of radio waves for over a century, bathing as it were in emissions
from everything from microwave ovens to wireless routers to flat-panel
televisions. No one has ever
drowned in radio waves. Consider
that even the most powerful cell tower produces a signal equivalent to a couple
of home light bulbs. The signal of
a cell phone next to the ear is typically about 25,000 times more powerful than
the signal received from a cell tower at a hundred yards, and cell phone output
power gets automatically boosted with increased distance.
For those who
still might have reservations, there is a solution particularly suited for
residential service: outdoor microcells
IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS. One
provider, AT&T, has proposed a system called DAS for Distributed Antenna
System. The DAS-style antennas
themselves are about two feet high on top of existing utility poles, with
back-up batteries and equipment in slim boxes along the poles. The transmitters have the power of a
Christmas tree light. The boxes
connect to the service backbone. More
antennas mean less need for cell phone power.
So why all the
fuss now? I acknowledge the
concerns of those raising questions about the proliferation of antennas on
existing utility poles. But poles
are needed anyway. Besides, our
town has had pole-mounted radio services for decades that have bothered no
one. Most people havenÕt ever
noticed the Ricochet boxes on light poles or the disguised trees and flag poles
at the edges of our neighborhoods.
And DAS antennas are already found on the Stanford campus.
A similar
unobtrusive set-up in residential areas of Palo Alto makes sense. We cannot, in a city of inherently
connected people, allow cell phone coverage to continue to degrade. We need cell sites at the edges of our
neighborhoods, and we can benefit from mini relay stations where coverage is
weak, especially as demand saturates existing services.
While it might
be annoying not to connect via cell phone to family, a reliable high-quality
wireless signal is essential for many businesses. Ford Motor Company for example, recently removed all of its
landlines at its Michigan headquarters and gave out 8000 cell phones to
staff. As wired service is
supplanted (just try to find a phone booth), reliable wireless connection with
first responders in an emergency becomes critical.
I think itÕs
great the community is providing input on DAS. It should lead to a reasonable compromise solution. While not everyone will be perfectly
satisfied, at the end of the day, the ÒpotholesÓ must be filled. I hope the City and community can come
together quickly to approve and support the installation of these
antennas.
I urge your
support. Call the City Council and
Chief Planner Russ Reich to show your support—if you can get a
connection! Better yet, send an
email (Russ.Reich@CityofPaloAlto.org).
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Kenneth R.
Allen, a long-time Palo Alto resident, is an electrical engineer and patent
attorney at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, where he has worked with
inventors of both broadcast and two-way radio systems. He is president of the Adobe Meadow
Neighborhood Association, a CERT volunteer and a County Disaster Service Worker. As such he has had to rely on wireless
communication in major disasters such as the Loma Prieta earthquake. The opinions are his own and do not
necessarily represent the views of his firm or of his neighborhood association.