UNC campus cell service might improve

The age-old question, “Can you hear me now?,” may have become a thing of the past after the installation of new cellphone nodes this summer.

With the completion of phase one of a multi-year project, Information Technology Services has finished construction on 13 new cellphone nodes meant to improve cellphone coverage on campus.

ITS partnered with three major cellphone carriers on the project — Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile. But only T-Mobile and Verizon are in the testing phase, while AT&T should be participating by the end of the year.

“Sprint has not signed up. They’re not a part of it. If you have a Sprint phone, you’re out of luck — for now,” said Rick Harden, director of engineering and operations for ITS communication technologies.

The project aims to cover 95 percent of outdoor coverage area and 80 percent of interior campus spaces.

“The intent is ultimately to have very good indoor and outdoor coverage so that no matter where you are, the signal is transparent or the same everywhere,” Harden said.

Craig Baker, engineering manager for ITS, said the nodes are located on geographically diverse parts of campus, from Kenan Music Building on North Campus to the Smith Center on South Campus.

The University will have to pay a small service fee, but the project has been almost entirely funded by the cellphone carriers themselves, Harden said.

He said the carriers hope to earn back the millions of dollars they’re investing in the system in revenue from their customers — the students.

With the completion of the installation phase comes the start of phase two, when the carriers will test the nodes across campus to determine differences in signal strength.

Initial results are starting to show that the weaker signal is on the south and southeast portions of campus, specifically near Ridge Road, Baker said.

“We’re not sure why, and the carriers aren’t either,” he said.

But Baker said the carriers are contractually required to enhance signal in those, and all, areas by the project’s end.

Some students said they have noticed poor cellphone service on all areas of campus — not just the southeast area.

Junior Adrianna Villa, who lives in Winston Residence Hall, said she has to make phone calls in the hallway because she does not get service in her room.

“As soon as I moved in, I was talking to my mom and she said she couldn’t hear me at all,” she said.

Villa said that although she lived in the same residence hall last year, the problems with her cellphone service just started occurring.

But Harden said these types of problems will be fixed during the second phase of the project.

“Over the course of time, as things get integrated, the coverage will get better and better and better.”

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.