AT&T Service Improvements in Capitola Delayed

Cell phone service in Capitola is generally decent, unless of course you're an AT&T customer.

Back in August 2011, that the approval of the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile was expected "in the first quarter" of 2011, with the acquisition of local T-Mobile cell towers boosting service in the months following.

Well here we are in the first quarter, but improved coverage is far from a reality due to the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice's block of the proposed merger. Even without adding T-Mobile, AT&T is still the largest carrier in the country. But size doesn't matter to Capitola when current tower allotment leaves customers in the cold.

But all is far from lost for locals who have stuck with AT&T.

"To meet the needs of customers in Capitola, we will continue to invest," Kasselman said in an email to Patch. "In 2012, AT&T will be upgrading our cellular infrastructure in Capitola that enables the deployment of 4G LTE."

With 4G LTE, which Kasselman said is "capable of delivering speeds faster than many other mobile broadband technologies," Capitola customers will see data speed (including gaming, streaming, downloading and uploading) improve dramatically.

In addition, he said that the upgrade to 4G LTE "will have an impact on increasing both coverage ... and capacity," which affect signal strength and dropped calls. 

According to Kasselman, "Capitola customers with LTE devices should start seeing these new speeds in the second half of the year."