Can you hear me now? official asks

June Casagrande

City Councilman John Heffernan wants to create a map of cellular

service in the city, showing all the areas in which each provider’s

service is available as well as the city’s dead zones.

That information isn’t so easy to come by. So far, Verizon,

Cingular, AT&T;, Nextel, Sprint PCS and SBC have not responded to the

city’s request for information about their coverage areas in Newport

Beach, Asst. City Manager Dave Kiff said.

City officials have been considering hiring an independent

surveyor to travel throughout the city with a sensor, logging

information about which cell phone provider’s frequency is in

operation at various points in the city.

Initial attempts to find a company that provides this service have

come up empty handed, but Heffernan is holding out hope that there

exists some way to get the information.

“If someone goes and gets cell phone service, they have no way of

knowing whether it will work at their home or wherever else they need

it,” Heffernan said. “You find out the thing you just bought doesn’t

work, then you’re stuck with a $200 or $250 disconnect fee.”

For Heffernan, it’s a problem that hits home. An attorney who

lives on Port Laurent Place, Heffernan has four cell phone providers

at once because none of them offers the coverage he needs.

City officials don’t have an estimate for how much a surveyor

could cost, but their best guess is that the price could be $50,000

or $75,000 for mapping the entire city.

“I’m willing to pay for it out of my discretionary budget if

necessary,” Heffernan said. “This could be the information customers

need to make consumer choices and it could also play into our role of

being a landlord to cell companies.”

Last year, the city created a policy that will allow it to rent

space on buildings, poles and other tall structures to cellular

companies for their antennas. No such business relationships have

been struck yet.

Armed with information about cell service dead zones, the city

might be able to offer reduced rates for leased antenna sites to give

providers an incentive to fill in the gaps where cell phones go dead,

Heffernan said.

In February, the city sent out letters to cellular providers

asking them to identify on a city map areas where the companies lack

strong coverage. A follow-up letter was sent in July, repeating the

request.

Calls placed Monday afternoon to representatives of Nextel, AT&T;,

Cingular and Verizon were not returned by Tuesday afternoon. An SBC

representative said that the company intends to respond to Newport

Beach’s request. A representative of Sprint PCS said that the city’s

request for information appeared to be more of a sales tool by the

city for renting cellular antenna sites.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.