UNC to receive free cell service upgrade

Cellphone coverage on campus will soon become stronger in traditionally unreliable areas, including the basements of buildings.

And the University is getting the upgrade for free.

Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are investing millions of dollars into a distributed antenna system, placing equipment on the rooftops of 13 buildings and increasing the strength of their networks, including 4G capability.

The system, which will enhance cellphone signal for a broad area across campus, will start operating at the end of the year, said Rick Harden, director of communication technologies, engineering and operations for Information Technology Services.

The companies will then test the range of the service and will install equipment to strengthen it in spots that don’t meet the level of service established in the companies’ contracts with UNC.

Harden said the coverage from other companies will not decrease due to the new system, but the coverage of the three other companies will drastically improve.

Harden said carriers are making this investment to attract more customers.

“It’s not because they just like charitable concerns,” he said. “What they see is the ability to increase their revenues.”

Harden said this new system should also help customers.

“There could be some rather interesting competition between the carriers because we’ve leveled the playing field,” he said.

Sprint has also expressed interest in joining this group, Harden said, but has not yet committed.

The new service will not only benefit cellphone use, but also help the Department of Public Safety by strengthening the 800MHz frequency, he said.

Almost all of Orange County uses this frequency, said Randy Young, DPS spokesman.

“It allows interoperability between agencies,” he said. For example, the frequency allows DPS to communicate with the Chapel Hill Fire Department.

He said UNC has not had any issues with strength of the radio signal, but that the change couldn’t hurt.

“The nooks and crannies of campus, those areas where we might have to respond that we might not have gotten as clear a signal as before, are going to be well covered,” he said.

Harden said the antenna system is “network neutral,” which means none of the three providers will be favored over another.

The project began in 2006 after the University looked at partnering with a single provider in order to guarantee reliable service, Harden said.

But choosing a single provider would have been unfair, he said, because it would have forced students, faculty and staff to switch providers. This led UNC to approach multiple services.

He said UNC’s network neutral system has become a model for peer institutions.

“We’re just one of the fortunate universities that jumped on board early enough and kind of took a different approach on this,” he said.

Letian Dong, a junior economics major, said she usually has no problems with cellphone service, except in the bottom of the Student Union.

“No one ever gets any coverage there,” she said.

She said the distributed antenna system sounded like a good idea.

“If it’s free, why not?” she said.

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