Watch Out for Lake Barcroft's Bermuda Triangle

By Tom Donlan and Uri Arkin

Barcroft News Staff

So there you are, driving along on Sleepy Hollow Road, chatting on your cell phone, and suddenly you're cut off. Or you're visiting a friend on Cavalier Corridor and your babysitter needs to reach you, but all she gets is a busy signal. What's the deal?

The Lake Barcroft Newsletter staff has been looking into the ups and downs of cell phone service in our community. To test the reliability of cell phone service on different systems -AT&T, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint and Verizon. We paired off and drove around most of the roads at the Lake, watching the signal strength meters on our phones. When we found low readings, we checked the results by calling each other.

The method is not perfect: Many things can affect signal strength, and different phones on the same system may react differently. But we found some consistent results and the dreaded Bermuda Triangle of Lake Barcroft near the Potterton Bridge.

.       Three of our five cell phone services had weak signals or no signal in the area of the Potterton Bridge. Nextel went from a strong signal (4) to a drop. Cellular maintained a good (3) signal.

.       Sections 7 and 11 had the largest area of low signals.

.       Sprint had the most "dead zones" around the Lake.

.       Cingular and Nextel were the best throughout the community. Cingular dropped digital service and shifted to analog backup at the corner of Cavalier Corridor and Lyric Lane near Stoneybrae Drive, and again at the triangle of Waterway, Dearborn and Crosswoods Drives. Nextel was weakest in the area of Whispering Lane, at the end of Grass Hill Terrace, and at the corner of Farm Hill and Crosswoods Drives.

.       All five had poor service at the Holmes Run bridge near Sleepy Hollow Bath & Racket Club. We found that Sprint PCS dropped service there and Cingular dropped digital service, shifting to analog backup. Verizon reception was poor there, but didn't go away. AT&T had a garbled signal. Nextel was less affected.

Geography probably accounts for most of the problems. Cellular phones connect to radio antennas at the center of each cell, and the radio signals aren't very strong. Hills and even trees can reduce signal strength. Many cell phone systems in our area depend on antennas on the tower at the Bailey's Crossroads volunteer fire department, so it's natural that most of our communications problems come at the upper ends of the Lake.

To provide better service, the cell phone companies will have to build more towers, and there's often neighborhood resistance to more towers. There have been some creative ways around objections - putting cells in church spires, for example. Here's where to complain about cellular service:

.       Nextel: 800-639-6111

.       Verizon Wireless: 800-922-0204 or *611 from your cell phone

.       ATT: 800 888-7600 or 611 from your cell phone

.       Sprint PCS: 888-211-4727 or *2 from your cell phone

.       Cingular: 800-331-0500 or 611 from your cell phone

Contributing to this report: Paul Imse, Paula Rothenberg, Carol Donlan, and Stephanie, Paul and Nanna Kozemchak.