Better campus phone service could be coming soon

Poor campus cell phone service has been a problem for quite some time, but a solution could be in reach by fall 2010, a University of Richmond administrator acknowledged.

The university has been working on the cell-phone coverage problem for a while and has been in conversations with the major service providers, said Doug West, director of telecommunications support services.

"Our goal is to do something that will provide all of the carriers with an opportunity to improve their service here on campus," he said.

The underlying foundation of poor phone service lies in the location of the university, West said. Most peer institutions don't have problems with phone coverage because they are part of a community that has phone towers, he said.

The university happens to sit in a topographical bowl that hinders people's use of the community's phone towers, West said, which has forced the university to go to service providers, such as Verizon Wireless, and ask for help in addressing the problem.

The conversation about improving service goes back five to seven years, but the problem has been that the university doesn't have a potential customer base large enough for a carrier to invest $200,000 to $300,000 in a phone tower, West said.

The exception has been AT&T, which installed a cell tower eight years ago atop the Modlin Center for the Arts as part of a coverage agreement, West said.

Although Verizon Wireless users get service outdoors on campus because of a cell tower on the corner of Three Chopt Road and Patterson Avenue, they lose coverage as soon as they enter a campus building. Sprint and T-Mobile don't get coverage inside or outside, West said.

Poor phone service has caused frustration for many students.

"I lived in Dennis Hall my sophomore year and I had to put my phone in certain places to get service," said Dan Casella, a senior and Verizon Wireless user.

Senior Jonathan Calta once had a phone interview for a job and said his Verizon Wireless service had kept cutting out during the conversation. Calta's interview was not successful.

"Poor phone service cost me a job," he said with a laugh.

Parents of Richmond students have also been upset about the poor phone service, West said. "I'd say we get 10 calls a year from parents, especially new freshman parents saying, 'Hey, do you know your cell phone coverage sucks on campus?"' he said.

The university has tried to remedy the situation by offering its own cellular phone service, UR Mobile, which uses AT&T as its carrier. About 150 students use UR Mobile, along with faculty and staff who have cellular needs, West said. The university offers discounted rates for the phone service, but does not cover the charges involved in canceling a current phone contract.

The cost of canceling a phone contract with Verizon Wireless varies based on how long the contract has been in use, said a customer-service person for the company, who asked not to be named.

"A brand-new contract costs $175 to cancel," she said, "but the cost goes down $5 each month the contract is in use."

Sophomore Anne Jove said she thought the type of cell phone a person used affected the service he or she got.

But Sherri Cunningham, a regional spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, said this was not true.

"Before we approve any device on our network, we actually have a test lab with a dedicated team of device manufacturers," Cunningham said.

A device must be declared safe for network to be sold by Verizon Wireless, which means all devices would provide the same quality of service, she said.

Though the small customer base and high investment cost has deterred service providers from installing on-campus towers, West said the 2007 Virginia Tech University shootings made carriers more willing to help the university address its service needs.

Emergency communications is one of the key justification points when talking to carriers about providing service on campus, West said.

Emergency communication became every university's top priority after the Virginia Tech shootings. The University of Richmond chose a program called ConnectEd, now Blackboard Connect, as its emergency communication system, which allows the university to call, text and e-mail all students along with calling every residence phone on campus, West said.

"What we're trying to do in an emergency situation is blast out a message in as many ways as possible," West said, "so that if someone near you hears the message, he will communicate it to you in many ways as well."

One of the university's key forms of emergency communication has been the UR Alert text-messaging plan, which sends students who have signed up for the plan a cell-phone text if there is an emergency. About 70 percent of the students on campus are signed up for the text message plan, West said.

Along with the text-messaging plan, university administrators are planning to install landline phones in all dorms and apartments next year to communicate with students in an emergency, said Matt Dreyfuss, the vice president of finances for the Richmond College Student Government Association. Dreyfuss served as vice president of student services last year and worked on the phone-service issue.

This does still not solve the problem that poor cell-phone reception could cause in the event of a campus emergency. Landlines do not receive text messages, and students worry that if they were doing work outside of their dorm or apartment, they might not get the UR Alert text message.

"If you're in Gottwald [Science Center] doing work and don't have your email up, you'd be screwed," Casella said.

The service provider statistics seem to support student skepticism of emergency cell phone communication. According to a survey done last spring, 51 percent of students have Verizon Wireless, 39 percent use AT&T and 4 percent use Sprint. Verizon Wireless has confirmed these statistics, West said.

Despite these statistics and student skepticism, West is confident the university is prepared for a campus-emergency situation.

"What the Verizon statistic doesn't take into account is that we do have good outdoor Verizon coverage," West said. "We know if you're a Sprint or T-Mobile user, we may not get to you, but we feel pretty good about reaching a little over 90 percent of our customers."

"If there was an emergency, the majority would get the message in time," he said.

To address the coverage needs on campus and provide access to multiple carriers, a phone tower would need to be built on campus, West said. Though AT&T service is provided by the small tower atop the Modlin Center, West does not foresee putting more equipment on top of campus buildings. "We have very few buildings that we could put something on and have it give us adequate coverage," he said.

The university has already approved a location for a tower based on coverage and aesthetics, but West is not ready to release the location or the expected size of the tower.

"Towers can range anywhere from a 100 feet to hundreds of feet," West said. "Choosing the height and structure type are all part of the details of evaluating this."

For a tower to be built on campus, a major carrier, in this case Verizon Wireless, would have to sponsor the upfront investment, West said. Other carriers would then co-locate on the tower, allowing them to provide coverage to the university, Cunningham said.

Cunningham said Verizon officials recognized the need to enhance service both in the outdoor and indoor areas.

"[We] hope to have something in place soon," she said. "It's in our customers' interest and we want to make sure service improves for all customers at the University of Richmond.

"Our network is very strong in Richmond. We're always looking for and identifying ways to enhance service."

Verizon Wireless has invested more than $2 billion since 2000 to enhance coverage and capacity in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., Cunningham said, but she could not comment on why it had taken so long for the coverage issue to be addressed at the University of Richmond.

Though a solution seems within reach, there are still many issues that need to be addressed, West said. Completing the agreement with Verizon Wireless is the first step, which West said he thought would happen soon.

Along with this agreement, getting permission from the surrounding community will be imperative, he said.

"We haven't had meetings with community yet," he said, "and that is a big part in whether or not this happens."

Along with community permission, getting approval from the city along with zoning issues is the final step toward building a tower on campus.

"If I could say why it's taken a few years to solve the service issue," West said, "it's because of this."

West, perhaps more than anyone, is looking forward to alleviating the issue. Behind his desk is a stack of four to five binders all dealing with campus cell-phone coverage.

"Each week I believe this could be the week that everyone signs off on the agreement," he said.

As soon as the agreement is signed, the implementation phase and talks with the community will kick off immediately, West said.

Contact reporter Calvin Virgilio at calvin.virgilio@richmond.edu.