coverage for the Upper Pennisula of Michigan

[Murwood]

I would like to see better coverage for the Upper Penninsula of Michigan.  There is a lot of non coverage areas up there for Alltel/Verixzon but yet there are phone towers and other phones that work there.  I am talking about Lake Superior area and would love to have coverage in that area.  We are travelers and this is the only area we can not use our phones at anytime unless we drive from Newberry to Grand Marais, no coverage in between.  We camp at Pretty Lake a lot and we have no reception at all, while others are walking around using their phones.  Very frustrating.  This is a request that Verizon who is supposed to have the best coverage spread some more towers or use others in the Upper Pennisula area.  I thought it would get better when Alltel changed to Verizon but is has not.  I have actually lost more calls in my home area now the Standish/West Branch area more since the switch.  Please let Verizon know we would like coverage more broad in the Upper Pennisula for all of us fishing and hunting people who travel up there every year. 

Thanks

Renita

[nmchileman]

If you're out on the lake camping and fishing and what not you're not supposed to have cell coverage!! It's the wild outdoors! Enjoy the freedom and peace away from technology and the constant nagging of a cell phone.

Joking aside, most carriers look at adding coverage as a matter of cost/profit ratio. It costs several million dollars to add just 1 cell site, so for it to be cost effective there at least has to be several hundred users who live in that area to offset the cost. So if it's as remote as you say then really there's a low profit margin in adding a cell site in that area.

Just some food for thought.

[budone]

Several Million to install a tower and all the equipment? If it was that much there would be zero service in the UP and most rural areas in the US. I suspect closer to $250k-$500k for most towers.

As for the UP and the Alltel/Verizon conversion, Verizon roamed off the Alltel towers in many areas of tbe UP prior to the sale, so service would not improve just because Verizon purchased Alltel.

I do feel there needs to be some additions, but as the prior person posted, it would not add revenue to the company, it would just be a conveinience to those of us who live or visit the UP.

[nmchileman]

$250-$500k to build a tower? I disagree. $500k is probably on the low end. With the annual cost of leasing the land, building out the site, building out the actual tower and installing all the electronics, man power, and maintenance. All of that can easily exceed $500k for initial start up. Then you need to factor in annual costs as mentioned. So yeah, a million dollars isn't far off. I've seen cell site constructions first hand, so I can believe it.

VZW spends about $4-6 BILLION annually investing in it's network. And back when it was first launching out EVDO to all it's towers several years ago that number was closer to $10 billion. That's a lot of money.

You need to realize big companies like to spend $5,000 on a hammer and $10,000 on a drill. 

[CaribouJade]

Amen! US 2 needs more coverage, South of Ontonagon needs coverage. 

[KH-OrnEsh]

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