In this age of tech and instant communication ubiquity, phrases like “can you hear me now?” are uttered far less frequently than at the dawn of the cell age. However, several Guilford neighborhoods fall into “dead zones” where cell/text/Wi-Fi coverage is intermittent at best and completely non-existent in some cases, raising frustrations and safety concerns of residents affected by these gaps in coverage.

Steve Drew, a Sachem’s Head resident who has been negotiating with the town and cell companies for years to fix the situation surrounding his residence near Falcon Road, which has a significant zone of no coverage, said the situation is frustrating residents who work remotely.

“Going back a number of years, I have written to Town Hall to say look, we’ve got a bad cell signal here. I truly believe it’s a safety issue,” said Drew.

Drew said he went to the Connecticut Siting Council, an entity that has oversight of a number of utility siting departments and scenarios, but their purview focuses more on the placement of larger projects and not necessarily on smaller issues such as the one being experienced by residents in Sachem’s Head.

“I did reach out to the Cell Siting Council, and our area was identified as a bit of a black hole. But they kind of said, ‘it is what it is’ type of response,” said Drew. “But the problem here is going to be during an emergency when somebody can’t reach emergency services, and somebody is going to lose life or property because nobody has pushed the issue with the communications companies to fill this black hole that exists in this area.”

Drew said there is a “bit of a shadow” in coverage from the Old Sachem’s Head Road water tower that runs up to and along Falcon Road and Bloody Cove beach. Drew said he often sees contractors, who appear to be aware of the situation, parked by the West Woods entrance parking lot adjacent to the railroad bridge on Rte 146, making cell calls because they know service will be limited once they cross under the bridge.

“Those guys all know to make their calls before they come into Sachem’s Head because there’s no service,” said Drew.

According to Drew, the town has been responsive to his inquiries, but there still hasn’t been any solution presented by the companies yet. Drew said he remains frustrated but hopeful that something will eventually be done to solve the issue.

“I am asking the Town of Guilford to push the mobile carriers to rectify the situation as soon as possible. It is only a matter of time before there is an incident where life or property will be lost in this blackspot area because of delays caused by the inability to communicate via mobile devices,” Drew said.

First Selectman Matt Hoey said he is well aware of the issue and has conferred with Drew in his attempts to get cell phone companies to provide a solution, such as small site-specific “towers” that can be placed on utility poles or private residences.

Hoey has a background in telecommunications and said he is equally frustrated by the lack of attention from some providers. In a 2021 email to Drew, Hoey said he was hopeful that pressure could be applied to providers to address the coverage issues.

“Our role, at best, would be to assist a grassroots effort by the impacted residents to lobby the carriers to make the necessary investments to increase service availability. I have reached out to my various municipal trade associations and Council of Government to see if there are other communities who have any success with this approach. I would expect to engage our State and Federal delegations in any efforts to lobby the carriers,” Hoey said.

According to Hoey, small units are available in the industry, but with that section of Guilford’s power and communications cables underground, implementing above-ground micro-transmission units could prove difficult.

“Many of the carriers are deploying small cell antennas to boost transmission speeds and bandwidth capacity. They are limited in range but have traditionally been mounted atop utility poles. I understand they can also, if connectivity permits, be deployed on buildings or other structures. There may be limited opportunities for these in Sachem’s Head as utilities are buried in a good portion of that area,” said Hoey. “I had reached out to the Siting Council, and I had also reached out to our legislative delegation on that so that we can continue to try and get the attention of the carriers. Though these carriers are regulated to some extent, they cannot be told where to put their facilities. (W)e continue to try and find an avenue where we can get the attention of the carriers on this issue.”

Hoey said safety issues are definitely of concern should an emergency arise, as so few residents have landlines in their homes now.

Drew said he is aware of those types of devices and has offered his property and a utility pole as a potential site for a small cell tower but has not received any response to his offer. Drew utilizes a small personal cell booster device at his home, but it is not wholly reliable as it doesn’t work well during certain meteorological conditions.

Residents of the Nut Plains fields area also complain of intermittent coverage, especially intermittent cell coverage and texting, which has interfered with working remotely or making simple phone calls. Residents of that area, Noreen and Brian Tucker, and many of their neighbors, have complained for years to their providers that coverage in their area can be completely non-existent, including no texting service.

“For the longest time, we had no service here. We have some here now, but it is still hit or miss if we don’t use Wi-Fi,” said Noreen Tucker. “We can use Wi-Fi calling now, but sometimes, if I’m down the street and not on a Wi-Fi network, I can’t even send a text. That can be frustrating.”

During the heat wave this summer, Brian Tucker, while walking his dog, met a friend on Goose Lane at the intersection of Nut Plains Road, pedaling furiously up to him, requesting a cell phone. The friend had come across a hiker in distress in the East River Preserve and was trying to get home to call 911.

“I was walking my dog, and a friend frantically road up to me saying he came across a guy who needed medical help. He didn’t have his phone, so we tried mine, and we tried to dial 911 and could not get through,” said Tucker. “He had to ride back to his house 100 yards up the street, and he later told me it took two more tries to get through. Everyone was okay from what I heard later, but there was a good chunk of time lost in trying to reach someone.”

Wi-Fi calling does allow subscribers to make phone calls, but some carriers and/or devices may not have the ability to accurately identify a caller’s location to emergency services, which functioning cell service does automatically. If a caller, such as a child, did not know their location or could not speak to dispatchers, that would compound the difficulty in locating an emergency.