4 G Cell Phone Service?

[sbsp]

If St. James Township does not come to an agreement, does it mean there will not be an agreement for all of Beaver Island or can Peaine Township strike an agreement that would provide cell service just for Peaine and exclude St. James? I think it would be critical to have coverage for the entire Island and a shame to have no coverage because of St. James' reluctance to an agreement.
Hats off to who ever is driving this in Peaine Township.

Kirk D. McBride

[Jlafreniere]

Once again Jack Gallagher holding things up again by not working with or even talking to St. James. He was able to contact Verison the FCC, but would not contact Fire Chief or EMS to find out the status of the tower, he wanted to let Verison tear down. If he would work with St. James, EMS, or Fire this might not be an issue we can not just tear down our tower at this time. we have new equipment on three towers. two of these towers are already down if we lose the third tower we will be forced to put that tower back in service.

The company that is working on this is also handling narrow banding of all EMS, Fire departments, and Law enforcement towers in our three county area. Now is the worst possible time to not have a back up in place. Its time we elect a supervisor that will work with others.

[JFPowers]

Wow Gerry, when you tell a whopper you don't mess around.

Your accusation couldn't have been further from the truth. Jack Gallagher has professionally handled the negotiations with Verizon in a timely manner to attempt to procure high quality cell phone service for all of Beaver Island. He made direct attempts to contact St James Township
and was told by Supervisor Speck that two of his board members were reluctant to move this process forward effectively stalling the discussion. And Gerry, Supervisor Gallagher has documented his communications so I hope you have a set of facts to back up your accusation.

It is time for an open discussion to move this process forward as soon as possible. I have hosted the tower in town for many years now and am also in negotiation with AT&T to manage my lease with them that has only one year remaining. I have told AT&T that I am not interested in extending my lease, rather it is imperative that AT&T work with the local townships to put their antennas on the bigger towers rather than continue utilizing my rooftop which can only afford limited service to the north end of the island. I have forwarded my contact information to both supervisors on many occasions to attempt to move this process forward.

Jack Gallagher is doing the same thing, he has the best interest of Beaver Island in his efforts.

[Jlafreniere]

I would love a copy of this document where Mr. Gallagher contacted any one from EMS Fire or St. James prior to last Peaine Township meeting.

[Pam Grassmick]

Who would be against Island-wide cellular coverage for safety at our beaches or someone experiencing chest pain while away from a direct phone line? Our island townships should be eager to put this deal together. Let's not let this golden opportunity pass by to craft the best deal for the island to obtain island-wide coverage both for safety and as an economic boost for our community and our visitors. I heard one visitor remark this summer that he had better cell phone reception in a third world country. We can get this done now-just work together.

[Brad]

I can't imagine anyone is against having island wide cell phone service. This would be a huge benefit for our safety and our economic future. Our township boards need to step up to the plate and do what's best for the island. There is absolutely no excuse for not making this happen. If Verizon see us as reluctant or difficult to work with they will simply leave. We're not that important to them. We have to take advantage of this while they're willing to talk. If this falls through because of our stupidity we have only ourselves to blame.

Brad

[BobTidmore]

Gerald

Pls don't revert to the gotcha journalism practice of " i accused you so prove me wrong". You are on the record of stating Jack did not contact St. James ( I assume you mean the St. James township) so please tell us what you base your accusations on? Where is your proof?

Bob Tidmore

[DON]

We use Verison at our place on the north end of Sand Bay but I think we are just in a sweet spot plus we are using a booster antenna at our house and get 4 bars. I would love to see the expanded service so our phone would work on most of the island and especially the 4G service.

Is it possible that some of the opposition is some how financially involved with TDS as I would expect TDS will stand to lose some business if the cell service gets better.

Don Seelye

[MR]

I guess my question would be why Verizon is not using their own tower? Why move EMS/Fire equipment to their own? It just seems strange to me... The only thing I can think of is that Verizon's tower isn't strong enough. So, if Verizon's tower isn't strong enough for service, aren't we compromising the strength of our emergency communication that must stretch to all areas of the island? Yes, it would be fantastic to have cell phone service from anywhere on the island (I would love to get service at my house!!) but not at that price! If someone has an answer, I would appreciate it. I am sure someone has had to have looked into this before getting so serious--it would be foolish not to.


Thanks,
Miranda

[sbsp]

I understand that St. James Township has signed the papers to move forward, THANK YOU!
I feel more confident that the other details can be worked out starting with Monday's meeting. Island wide cell service is essential for safety and personal convenience.

Kirk D. McBride

[Trish Scott]

Verizon needs the EMS tower to provide island-wide cell service as its tower is insufficient. So what happens to the EMS service if it were to be placed on the current Verizon tower? It seems logical to assume that EMS service would suffer. Please correct me if I am wrong. If EMS service is insufficient, what does that portend for those in future emergency situations? Would 911 service be negatively impacted? Why doesn't Verizon build its own new tower now instead of trading towers? What am I missing?

Will these type of questions be addressed before the meeting? It seems that providing facts prior to the meeting is part of open government. Not everyone is able to attend the meeting due to illness, etc., I do plan to attend but prefer to have information prior in order to cogitate on it. This is too important to leave for one meeting. All stakeholders need to know what is at risk.

Thank you in advance for additional information.

[sbsp]

As I understand it, the agreement signed by St. James Township is with AT&T and not Verizon. If correct, it would appear that the Verizon agreement is still up in the air, so to speak.
I'm not sure if AT&T is proposing Island wide coverage.
Monday's meeting is becoming more and more critical to resolving the 4 G cell service for both townships and everyone on Beaver Island.

Kirk D. McBride

[Trish Scott]

Thank you Kenneth Taylor, I did read Mr. Moore's summary. The bolded sentence at the end contains IF statements. Hopefully, the concerns can be satisfactorily resolved. EMS requirements need to be met first and foremost for everyone's safety.

[sbsp]

Tonight should be a great opportunity to resolve the issues and move forward in everone's best interest.

Kirk D. McBride

[medic5740]

You can find a link to the video of this 4G meeting in the other thread called "Live Streaming the Cell Phone meeting tonight" along with the article posted last night on Beaver Island News on the 'Net. If you are interested in this topic, check out the other thread.