Poor rural cellular coverage – Deadly timebomb?

As cellphones become the primary method of communication for a growing number of people, the lack of coverage in certain areas is starting to become a rather significant issue for a lot of people in rural or non-urban areas. In New Zealand, there is no longer an analog cellular network now that Telecom has transitioned to their CDMA based systems. The old analog 025 phones are being decommissioned as quickly as Telecom can force their subscribers to fork out for a newer model.

But there are still black holes of coverage in this country. Some of them quite close to urban areas. For example, a rather large part of the Waitakere Ranges to the west of Auckland is without cellular coverage of any kind. Where I was in Huia being just one example. Much of Huia Road, from Titirangi all the way through to Whatipu is without coverage of any kind. The ARC even had to install their own repeaters around several of the larger hills just so they could use their RT system to communicate.

This is a rather significant and dangerous blackspot. If there was anywhere someone needed coverage, its in the forest. Recent examples being the hunter that was lost in the Kaimanua Ranges not that long ago. Fortunately he managed to get himself out of there after being lost for a week or so. But there are a lot more tragic cases. The tourist tramper earlier in the year that got lost in the Hunua ranges south east of Auckland being just one such example.

While the expense is definitely considerable to put a cellular tower in these places, I consider it a very worth while endeavour. In fact, its one that I personally think should be co-sponsored by not only the Regional Councils but also Civil Defense. This would help offset the costs to the Telco’s. If the Regional Councils owned the towers, both major Telco’s (Vodafone and Telecom) would also be able to place their equipment into a single tower together instead of having to build a tower each.

I bring this up as a topic for discussion in New Zealand in part because it is very topical in the US right now. The recent tragic death of James Kim in Washington State has brought significant attention to the lack of cellular coverage in rural areas across the US. Even more frightening is the fact that with the death of powerful analog networks, there will soon be whole communities without cellular coverage.

While most U.S. cities are blanketed with advanced cell phone service at least four times over, huge patches of rural America still don’t have cell phone coverage. What’s more, the problem could get worse before it gets better when rules requiring carriers to offer older, analog service expire early in 2008.

The Federal Communications Commission in 2002 gave the mobile phone industry five years to transition their networks from analog technology to digital technology. Starting in February 2008, cell phone companies will no longer be required to offer analog service.

Cell phone operators have made tremendous strides in their network deployments, providing more than 90 percent of the more than 220 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S. with digital service, according to the CTIA, an industry trade group. But economic realities have meant that some remote areas of the country that have only analog service today may not have any service until carriers can fully upgrade their networks to digital technology.

^{Cell phone coverage holes hurt public safety – ZDNet News}

Another reason to suggest this would be the E911 regulations that the US has in place. Every cellphone in the US must now be able to give the 911 operator a GPS coordinate so they can locate the caller much faster and far more easily than just relying on the callers description or knowledge of where they are.

So this begs the question. How do we improve the chances of the major Telco’s within New Zealand expanding their coverage to include not only those remote rural areas, but also popular places “off the beaten track” like the Huia and the Waitakere Ranges; or Hunua Ranges; or the Kaimanua Ranges; or the Uruwera’s; or the Taraweras… Or any other millions of places where people go to spend time and enjoy themselves.

Take this a step further… When will Vodafone and Telecom start to announce that they are going to implement the features of the E911 capable phones to provide even more protection to their clients and subscribers? Nearly every modern phone released by the major companies has this capability, and in the US it is a requirement of new phones. So why not follow this initiative and implement it here in NZ?

The argument is quite simple. Nearly everyone has a cellphone now. In fact, most people now use a cellphone in place of getting a land line at their house, simply because of the convenience and the cost. I will personally never own a landline if it becomes possible to have DSL without being forced into a phone account to go with it. The younger generation now grows up with cellphones in their hands from the time they’re small babes (some kids have a phone from their first day of school.) When I was a kid, having a second line in my room was a big deal. Now that second line has been replaced with a cellphone. But its not limited to kids only.

Nearly everyone that has a job that takes them out of the office will have a company phone. In fact, many that don’t have to leave the office for work have a company phone anyway. IT admins on call being one such example. ;-) So the phone truly is becoming the ubiquitous communication medium that the majority of the population has now.

How many people carry a GPS device on them when they go for a day hike in their local forest? I have never taken one with me when I used to go hiking in the Waitakere Ranges. What about those that go Mountain Biking up at Riverhead? What about taking a CB or RT with you? How many people take one when they’re just going for a short walk along the local loop track in their closest forest?

The point is, you may not have these devices, but the chances are you’ll definitely have a cellphone on you. One day, there might be a series of unfortunate events and that cellphone could be your only life line… What would you do if an accident happened in a cellular blackspot?