Local officials are continuing the fight to improve cellular service in the Albany County Town of Colonie.
Colonie is notorious for cellular “dead spots." Concerns, including complaints about dropped emergency calls, spurred officials to take action. In the summer of 2022 the Town Board passed a local law allowing wireless carriers to apply for permits to add cell nodes to existing poles and structures, sidestepping the protracted process of zoning application, review and approval. Republican Town Supervisor Peter Crummey says by the following January around 10 of the new permits had been issued.
“We have many dead zones here in the town of Colonie," Crummey said. "And one of the most significant dead zones was State Route 9 in from the intersection of Route 378, also known as Menands Road, toward the Albany line. And in that one section of state road, 17,000 cars pass in and out of there on an average on a daily basis. And it was totally dead. Verizon service was totally dead. So not only for the traveling public on a busy state road, but for all of the people that lived along that corridor as well. Densely populated corridor. And I was trying to work with Verizon, to encourage the installation of these nodes in a variety of places. Ultimately, they did apply under the new streamline application process, to install as many as eight or nine of these. And sadly, they never took action on those permits, although they were granted by the town. And that was about certainly a year ago.”
Democratic State Assemblymember Phil Steck of the 110th district wrote to federal officials and major cell carriers, asking them to make a more concerted effort to provide adequate coverage.
“One of the difficulties that we've had over the years is we've got calls all the time, about the poor quality of cell coverage in Colonie, particularly in the part of Colonie where I live," said Steck. "And folks don't understand this is not really a state issue. This is a federal issue. But however, because it's such a persistent problem, we need to get active and get the federal government to help us out on these things. And that's what we're working on now. Would I like to be able to snap my fingers and fix the problem? Yes. Do I think it would be the same for our town supervisor? Yes. But what we have to do is enlist the federal government because a lot of cell services regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, not by state agencies.”
Crummey says he is happy to have a state legislator like Steck interested and involved in improving Colonie's cellular service, which he adds is becoming more reliable by the day. He says Verizon reapplied for permits and has since installed six cell nodes, one of which all but eliminated the deepest dead zones. He says calling the carriers out on a town public safety issue got them to take action, and residents and visitors have taken notice.
“I'm stopped everywhere I go," crummey said. "And people say ‘thank you.’ It's a nice feeling, because you can feel safe. And the homeowners that live in those dead zones are always jeopardized in that way. Cell phones have become a very large part of how people communicate today, whether they're in a vehicle, or whether they're in their home. And not having cell service in the town of Colonie or portions thereof, the downtown of the Capital Region, and having dead zones was not only disrespectful, but it was hurtful to our residents as well, being denied access to service in public safety situations. So we're on that, we're on the front of it now. There may be other areas that the Assemblyman might be speaking to."
Steck invites those living, working or traveling in parts of the town still experiencing cellular service problems to contact his office with the name of their carrier and approximate location of the dead zone or spotty service.
