Cell Phone Towers Coming to Alton Bay

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by mcdude

I'll take a stab at this even though I know that any debate will never be won or lost on this forum and I generally avoid contentious topics. It's sad but in the tone of some recent speed limit or restaurant threads I expect to get totally attacked for expressing my minority opinion.

I think most of us have spent a fortune on summer places or to move to the lake to get away from the the hectic city/urban life. We want to enjoy the peace and quiet of the lake and get back to the simple things and enjoy the beautiful views no? Instead you get up to the lake and you are surrounded by the people/things you are trying to get away from such as fast/noisy boats, power tools and machinery at all hours of the day and night, traffic, etc, etc. I call it the increasing urbanization of the lake. Do you really want to destroy the ridgeline of Alton Bay forever with an ugly cell phone tower? Once it gets put up ...it ain't coming down anytime soon.

Now let me go back and quote from post #1


If we wait a few years there will be the technology to avoid tall cell phone towers all together. We managed all these years without cell phones. Why are we in such a hurry to be plugged in 24/7 at every conceivable location? Use your land line for a few more years until the micro cells and repeaters are commercially available/feasible! Why are people in such a hurry to make Alton Bay look like Mass or New Jersey? I just don't get it.

BRING IT ON FOLKS!!

No attack here but a respectful disagreement of sorts.

Please keep in mind that I'm writing from a local's point-of-view.

I hate it that my sister and I both have Verizon and although she lives just 7 minutes from me, I can't call her on her cell phone because they just don't connect unless we're well out of Alton-proper. Even a landline to cell is bad. Of course, landline to landline is fine.

I plan the times I can makes calls when I'm on the road by where I am in relation to all the dead-zones. My cell is used #1 for work and I am mainly self-employed these days. Communication is key to my business, as you can imagine is true with any business. I am often on the roads - whether for work, school, the kids', or whatever. My cell has to work.

For the reasons I cited earlier in this thread - cost, lack of options, etc., - I would love to drop Union Telephone from my list of monthly bills and just have my cell but really can't right now because of these dead-zone issues. I use my cell especially for my long-distance calls and those same calls would cost me more if I were to use my landline. (And before anyone suggests a VOIP option, I do use Skype when I can but it's still not free.)

I think that with today's technology and some creative engineering, perhaps there's a way to well-disguise the thing so that it's more palatable for all. We do need better service in this area and better options would be welcome. I don't want to see a tower anymore than anyone else does but there's got to be some happy-medium we can find with this issue.

At the writing of this post, the local high school is considering wind turbines and are doing a study on them. I have to wonder if those turbines could be utilized as mini-towers to help with the problem. Several mini-towers in town, well disguised, could make a great difference and bring in revenue.

By the way - as far as the technology going away anytime soon - don't bet on it. We are very far behind the times in comparison with the way most European countries are using their cell phones and have a lot of catching up to do. You are correct that once a tower goes up it's not coming down anytime soon.

In short, we don't have the infrastructure now that supports 10+ year old technology, such as G3 networks, never mind anything more advanced than that. Besides, Americans do not give in to the new technology as quickly as other countries - hence us just now going to digital televisions (and little implementation of fiber optic networks.)