Business & Tech
City Council: Improved AT&T Cellular Coverage Coming Soon to Sierra Madre
AT&T submits plans for new co-location modification of existing T-Mobile tower in Sierra Vista Park.
"Can you hear me now?" was the only question asked--albeit in jest by Mayor Mosca--as the City Council moved Tuesday to accept preliminary plans from AT&T that will modify an existing cellular tower in in hopes of bettering notoriously bad cell phone coverage from the carrier within the city.
The item was pulled from the consent calendar by Mayor Mosca, he said, in order to highlight what he and many on the council saw as a positive step in a long-running issue for Sierra Madre residents.
The tower modification proposal follows an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile to allow the larger carrier to use the existing infrastructure for what is called a "co-location" design in lieu of constructing an independent, secondary tower.
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Practically, the approval by the city council will allow city staff to "proceed with processing [the] application" for the improvement, as well as allow AT&T workers access to the city-owned property and recognizing T-Mobile's consent to that access and eventual modification.
But things may not move as quickly as many of the town's iPhone users would like, according to Elisa Weaver, the city's pubic information officer. In an interview preceding Tuesday's City Council approval of the application process, Weaver said that it could be as long as six months before the plans are approved and the new technology is functional.
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The move by AT&T comes after significant pressure from residents on the City Council and staff to urge the telecom giant to improve cellular coverage within the city.
Perhaps most interestingly, the news comes directly on the heels of the release of Apple's iPhone on the Verizon network this week. Until now, AT&T has been the sole carrier for the popular smartphone, the Internet access and data capabilities of which many blame for AT&T's poor service.
Sierra Madre's Management Analyst James Carlson also confirmed that AT&T has expressed interest in implementing a similar co-location tower on the property of the on Sierra Madre Boulevard. That application for modification is expected to be a simpler process due to the fact that the tower is on private property, according to city officials.
