Phone pact cause for cell-abration

AT&T cell phone users finally are getting better reception — or any reception at all — in Cambria and other remote areas of San Luis Obispo County.

In fact, after years of complaints from local residents, emergency ser vice providers and tourists about Cambria being a “dead zone” with limited coverage, the village now appears to be in the early stages of enhanced wireless service.

The new AT&T agreements with Cellular One and T-Mobile allow AT&T customers to “roam” with phone calls in Cambria via Cellular One towers. No roaming fees will be added to their bills for the expanded ser vice, according to Deborah Rappaport, AT&T representative.

Customers with the popular iPhone and other AT&T equipment have phone coverage now wherever in San Luis Obispo County that Cellular One offers it, including Cambria.

“Customers will notice improvements in North County and the communities of Cambria, Cayucos, Harmony, San Simeon and the Central Coast wine country, including eastern Paso Robles (Highway 46), Lake Lopez, Ragged Point, Creston and California Valley,” Rappaport said via e-mail on Friday, May 28.

Bruce Patterson, Cellular One’s general manager, confirmed Tuesday, June 1, that AT&T is now using Cellular One’s two cellular towers in Cambria for voice transmission, though not yet for Internet access, data transmission or text messages.

Data services will require increasing some Cellular One equipment, he said, such as trunk lines, to make sure there’s enough room for those capacity-hogging functions.

Under the contract, Cellular One can now offer previously unavailable Internet access to its customers outside of its core San Luis Obispo County coverage area.

Both firms use the same GSM technology, while Verizon and other providers use the CDMA technology.

Patterson said Cellular One is one of the last small independent providers of cellular phone service in this county.

He said customers with questions can call 543-0100 and “talk to any of our customer service folks, who are local. When you say where you are, they know where it is.”

Other steps leading to enhanced cellular service in Cambria include:

• Preliminary steps towards installation of a new antenna are being taken at Santa Rosa Catholic Church;

•Another cellular site on an existing antenna at the old Air Force Station is going through the county planning process; and

• There are preliminary plans on the drawing board for a site on Pine Knolls.