January 21, 2021
Report and Survey by Robert (Bob) LeMay
Forward by Marcy G. Mermel, CCIM, CAC:
I am honored with the distinct privilege of introducing a very good friend of mine that has completed an incredible, selfless undertaking purely for the benefit of our home we call Hot Springs Village – Mr. Robert (Bob) LeMay.
Bob LeMay moved to Hot Springs Village in August of 2007. I met Bob in 2015 while volunteering to help with the installation of the new POA software E-Commerce. Our paths crossed again in 2017 when he was a participant in a Round Table discussion I was facilitating as a Board director on the Balboa Club House, and thereafter we stayed in touch, becoming friends and partners of sorts. He is one of the most brilliant people I have ever met – we often find ourselves in hours of conversation from Naval Operations stories to Governance of the Village to Quantum Physics and everything in between!
In 2018, we started serious discussions regarding the different technological issues that we, as a Village were facing, and even spoke several times with John Cooper III about his possible interest in cell towers.
It was after that Bob’s ideas and intentions really gained momentum – which brings us to the Report/Survey you are about to read. This is the result of hundreds of hours of his own time, mapping and traveling to 75 sites within the Village, at all times of the day and differing days of the week. The accumulation of the data was astounding to watch. The interpretation of it all so that we, as “laymen” can understand it and use it for our benefit and the benefit of our Village, is even more mind-boggling. For all of this, and how it will help HSV in so many ways, I am very grateful.
Here is a synopsis of Bob’s remarkable credentials to help you understand the “man behind the curtain”. I am happy to say there are plans for more phases in our future, so please enjoy, this is only the beginning!
Mr. LeMay earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1972. He then served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy in A-6E carrier flight operations.
Following his service to his Country, he completed his Masters of Business Administration at the Wharton Graduate School, University of Pennsylvania, in 1979.
After earning his MBA, Mr. LeMay relocated to Silicon Valley. He spent eleven years at Apple Computer as a software engineering manager and project manager, and four years at Hewlett Packard in product marketing and warehouse & distribution management.
Between his engagements with these two large establishments, Mr. LeMay spent twelve years as an executive in two technology start-ups, as well as an independent consultant to mainly small business operations. These career experiences included:
• raising venture capital;
• building operations from scratch;
• managing departments in high growth;
• directing groups of over 170 engineers;
• developing various decision support tools and applications in Excel™, FileMaker™, and Access™; and,
• As an executive of a company, taking it from start-up to IPO!
* * *
This is a 24-page readable and downloadable document. Please hover your mouse over the page, and you will find options in the upper grey bar to page up and down, expand, download or print.
Additionally, to fully see maps, graphs, and tables (pages 3-6 and 10-12), you can use the “zoom (out)” feature – otherwise, you will be missing some information on both sides.
cell-phone-signal-strength-in-hot-springs-village* * *
Click here to read the article in the Village Voice.
Thank you for reading. Be sure to bookmark this website. Click here to visit the Hot Springs Village People Facebook Group.
Gene Garner
01/21/2021 — 2:50 pm
I can only imagine the time and effort that went into this study, it’s almost too much to take in at one sitting.
That being said, I found two conclusions I believe are very important;
1. “The survey did not uncover any cellular dead spots for a late model cell phone.”
2. “The findings in this survey paint a bright picture for Realtors in the near term. The study shows the actual shortcomings of HSV”s cellular network are much smaller than the current press would infer. Although the network has shortcomings, they are not gaping…”
A scientific study with actual measurements and well thought out conclusions- it goes against all that we’ve been accustomed to.—Gene
Bob LeMay
01/22/2021 — 12:28 am
Gene, thanks for taking the time to read the report. I really appreciate your acknowledgement.
Tom Blakeman
01/21/2021 — 3:07 pm
A most excellent and detailed study and report. Mr LeMay is to be commended for taking the time and sharing his expertise. I’ve actually wondered for some time if anyone (or any company) had ever bothered to quantify the service level we have here. Finally, someone did. Thank you.
However, being one of the very small percentage of older villagers (I’m 73) that actually has the technology (smart phone), has some understanding of it and how it all works and actually uses it quite a bit, I must disagree with one conclusion. Principally, that conclusion (my take on it at least), that we need not be as concerned about the problem, as is anecdotally reported, is seriously understated. Simply put, if just one prospective buyer loses his way on his phone gps or can’t make a call or do FaceTime to show his wife, daughter, friend or grand kid the house he likes then that is one too many. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Nonetheless, as I said before, this is most excellent and much needed work. Hopefully, the Village leadership will use this as a tool to play hardball with the carriers to get us the still needed improvements we should already have. Used incorrectly though it could also result in furthering the idea that our status quo is just fine the way it is.
Thanks again to Mr LeMay for his time and effort.
Bob LeMay
01/22/2021 — 1:41 am
Mr. Blakeman,
Thank you for reading the report. I appreciate your comments.
You are right in pointing out that the cellular network in HSV needs improvement. The data I collected convinced me that HSV has slightly poorer service than the neighboring communities of Benton and Hot Springs, but their service is inadequate for current usage practices as well. Soon enough the expectation of our prospective property buyers will be ubiquitous video streaming, and many locations in the Village will not pass that test.
HSVP C
01/22/2021 — 10:39 am
Thank you, Bob, for allowing us to publish this excellent report. It is a great honor.
Bob LeMay
01/22/2021 — 12:09 pm
Cheryl,
Thank you for your kind thoughts.
Your website is one of the best Village services from private sources we enjoy especially considering you have a much smaller staff than the other service organizations in HSV. I doubt that many people understand how much time, effort, and skill it takes to run a website like yours with new material constantly being added to its content. So thank you for your marathon service to the community.
I also want to say how well your website operates. The article viewing includes all the options I need to view, navigate, and download documents. Specifically, my document is a little quirky in that it contains both portrait and landscape pages. Your notification system is excellent. I know exactly when a new comment is posted and I can check to see if it requires a reply. Otherwise I would need to remember to check in periodically, something I’m not so good at any more. And your comments section has a very good spell checker, I know because I am spell checker dependent.
For any individual needing to broadcast a document to a large audience of property owners this website is an unrivaled resource.
Frank Shears aka Bubba
01/21/2021 — 10:00 pm
Thank you Mr. LeMay. This study obviously took significant tine and effort to complete. You have answered questions many have voiced in one form or another and your analysis is “spot-on”.
I have heard many complaints about our Suddenlink cable internet service voiced around the Village and I believe they have similar problems the old telephone networks experienced. The last mile of copper to a premises becomes a problem with age whether it is twisted pair copper wires or copper coaxial cable. That last mile (including premises cable) typically causes 90% of the service outages.
But, we have a problem here in the Village that neither hard-wired cable nor wireless connections can resolve completely and that is the mountainous terrain and rocky soil we have here. The rocky soil makes it very expensive to expand an underground network such as Suddenlink cable service. The Mountains create cell phone coverage “shadows” that are usually left out of network performance considerations. If you live in the hills it is very costly to install buried cable and if you live in a coverage “shadow” you are out of luck for wireless data service.
Excellent report. Thank you very much.
Bob LeMay
01/22/2021 — 1:24 am
Hi Bubba,
You must have spent some time working in the phone industry. Who else would know about last mile issues?
The problem areas you describe remind me of map grids G1 & F2-I2 on pages 3-6 of the report. I believe those will be the most difficult to serve. I think there will be little more wireline solutions (Suddenlink or AT&T High Speed Internet copper) installed in HSV for three reasons. 1) Hight installation and maintenance costs, 2) younger peoples overwhelming preference for mobile solutions, and 3) although wireless access is obstructed by terrain and foliage nearly every big tech company you can think of is heavily investing in wireless (I have seen estimates in excess of $1 trillion over this decade). Rumors that AT&T will decommission its DSL network as its cellular network expands. The financial industry has been publishing articles for several years now questioning if cable companies will survive for another year or speculating on how these companies will restructure. Comcast and Charter, the two big cable companies, probably have the financial resources to withstand the current changes, but Suddenlink (division of Altice USA) is tiny in comparison and it company is carrying debt equal to 140% of its revenue.
In the short term, I believe the mountainous areas of the Village will be able to subscribe to broadband Internet service for their homes through Starlink, now in beta testing and scheduled to introduce their service by the end of this year. For those unfamiliar with Starlink the plan to provide broadband Internet service to businesses and residences via LEO (low earth orbit) satellites. They have stated the service will begin when they have 1,440 satellites on station (they had 860 up at the end of 2020), and have approval to place 12,000 in orbit. I expect Starlink to provide noticeably better service that the existing GEO (geostationary earth orbit) satellite service from Via Sat and HughesNet. [GEOs orbit at 36,000 miles above the earth; LEOs orbit at 100-300 miles]
Bubba, thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for your comments.
John Szczepaniak
02/25/2021 — 7:05 pm
In my “mountain area” there is fiber going to distribution boxes and copper cables going into homes. If they can run copper they most certainly can run fiber cable. Also much of our electric circuits are underground wiring so I do not buy that it is “to difficult ‘ to run cable in many areas of the Village.
Kirk Denger
01/21/2021 — 11:52 pm
Thank you Robert LeMay for volunteering your expertise and energy to singlehandedly report on real time strategic information concerning cellular and internet connectivity. The POA has spent millions on marketing team reports that pale in comparison. Thank you Marcy for volunteering your ability to facilitate values for the Village. You both are shining examples of the Village’s greatest assets.
Bob LeMay
01/22/2021 — 12:34 am
Mr. Denger,
Thank you for your comments. I’m please that my experience could help me produce some good press for HSV.
Tom Blakeman
01/22/2021 — 8:52 am
A couple of further thoughts: Last mile, rocky and hilly terrain, trees and such are definitely a problem. But there are current solutions to these issues regardless of the potential satellite solution. I think the biggest problem we have though, and this is nation wide, is the almost total lack of regulation of these now critical infrastructure services. Cable, internet, and wireless are all oligopolies, if not outright monopolies everywhere. People should remember that for about 100 years our country regulated such monopolies which resulted in the US having the best and most reliable electric grid and telephone system in the world. Everyone got served more or less equally and in return the providers got a reasonable return (profit). But not anymore.
It would be unthinkable for someone to want to build a home on a remote lot they own in HSV (or most anywhere) and not be able to get electricity or water and sewer. Thanks to regulation just about anyone has power. Thanks to our Declarations, everyone in HSV can demand water and sewer. And none of these put the “last mile” cost burden totally on the individual. Today’s internet and wireless are the critical utilities of 100 years ago and should be getting dealt with similarly. They are not.
More specifically, I often wonder why HSV, as a “private” community has never enforced access control of these newer critical utilities. Mandatory full service for being allowed access. Cities do it, commercial buildings do it, other developments do it, apartment complexes do it. But we don’t. Cooper actually started the original Village cable company but later sold it. He was a pretty smart guy. Didn’t that original sale include a provision for service for all – just like his Declarations did for water and sewer.? I’ve asked these questions before but no one ever provides any answer or seems to care.
Gene Garner
01/22/2021 — 11:44 am
The Declaration Article V Section 2 reserves control of certain utilities to the Developer.
“Section 2. Utilities Reserved from Declaration. Utilities except the water system and sewer system, are specifically reserved unto the Developer. It is contemplated utilities for the Properties with the exception of the water system and sewer system shall be furnished by companies so engaged in the vicinity of The Properties and the Developer retains and has the exclusive right to negotiate contracts and agreements with such companies, under such conditions and for such consideration, which consideration shall belong to the Developer, as it shall deem proper under the circumstances. The utilities referred to shall include, but not be limited to:
Natural, Liquefied or Manufactured Gas Systems,
Electrical System,
Telephone System,
Antenna Television,
Transmission and Distribution Facilities and System”
So the Developer controlled who provided the above utilities and retained any consideration ($). Keep in mind this was written in 1970 so internet service wasn’t part of the discussion. It seems the Developer didn’t want to invest in new facilities so he accepted the service providers that existed in the area, and that’s where we are today.
I think we all agree HSV needs better internet access but I don’t think ATT et al will invest large sums of money where they may never make a profit. Maybe Bob’s right, waiting for Starlink may be our best option.—Gene
Tom Blakeman
01/22/2021 — 12:08 pm
Thanks Gene. But, to my knowledge no one has ever gotten involved with Cooper to find out how that scenario actually evolved, what contracts or other agreements exist or existed, what monetary cash flow still results from the rights of way, and so on. As I mentioned, the Village History shows that Cooper did in fact create the original cable TV company here and then it was sold. Wouldn’t it be prudent for somebody, anybody, the POA in particular, to go to Cooper and find out these things and clearly disclose them? Since Cooper is still the official Developer it would seem to me that his help in this matter would be helpful if not legally required.
A bit off the subject but the power line rights of way are very poorly maintained and POA seems to be uninterested in doing anything to force the power companies to fix that problem. Take a drive along Barcelona from Cortez Road and you’ll see what I mean. The power company has decimated all the growth under the wires over the last 3 months and left a disgraceful and unsightly mess. I’ve tried to pursue this with POA and basically been told that there’s nothing they can do and it’s really OK anyway.
Astro P.
01/22/2021 — 5:30 pm
Mr. LeMay – Request please: As a new resident of HSV can you please simply tell me which cell service provider I should sign up with? I live near the intersection of Ponce de Leon and Desoto.
Thank you.
Bob LeMay
01/23/2021 — 2:36 pm
Welcome to Hot Springs Village. It’s a great place to be.
Short answer – Verizon. It signal is a little stronger throughout the eastern part of HSV and according to RootMetrics it has as good or better signal throughout the majority of the US.
The fine print – the report data was collected by late model (2018 & 2019) smartphones on 4G LTE for Verizon and AT&T service (I did not have the equipment to test T-Mobile, but the general opinion around the Village is T-Mobile is somewhat inferior throughout the Village with a some exceptions in specific locations. The RootMetric maps covering HSV also bare that out). For best inside-your-house no matter what phone or provider you have, make sure WiFi Assist (what Apple calls it) is turned on.
Wade Selph
01/23/2021 — 11:40 am
There is a setting on most cell phones that will allow you to connect via your WiFi. This gets you into the network with a high quality signal. We have used this for years and always have good service (but only when range of our own WiFi).
Thanks for the laborious survey. Interesting and useful data.
Two questions: Does anyone know when we will get our first 5G connection? Can anyone explain why our GPS units go crazy in the western part of the village?
Bob LeMay
01/23/2021 — 2:57 pm
Mr. Selph,
Yes, everybody will enjoy better cell phone performance by utilizing WiFi Assist.
In November 2020, Root Metrics reported 1.5 miles of AT&T 5G signal around the DeSoto-Balearic intersection.
My experience with both my car and phone GPS all around the Village is summarized on page seven. About half the time I noticed sluggish performance and lost signal three times but it was reacquired within a minute. A little testy to use, but workable for me. I did not test GPS west of Calella Road.
Keith Buchanan
01/24/2021 — 5:44 am
Hey, Bob. Great report, sir.
I may be presumptuous but perhaps a possible next step would be to start looking at possible future cell sites. Cellular expansion normally calls for new cell sites to be positioned roughly halfway between existing sites. Of course topography and current site “zoning ” are tricky and often prohibit new site development. Tree growth also affects the height of tower required.
Another “carrot” for MNO’s would be the cost of property. If it were donated, or available at a reduced cost, it might be the carrot needed to entice an MNO to build a new site.
Of course, nobody wants to look at a cell tower. Unfortunately, overcoming NIMBY (not in my backyard) mentality may be the biggest roadblock to further cell site expansion.
My two cents worth.
Bob LeMay
01/24/2021 — 1:20 pm
Hi Keith,
Thanks for your support. I know you know what you are talking about.
Clearly the eastern third of the Village has less tower coverage than the west and southwest, and I think I know where a tower would fit to serve the eastern Village and the commercial area just outside the east gate (I had a couple sampling sites along Hwy 5). If there was a sufficiently strong 5G signal at my house I would migrate my TV entertainment to streaming off cellular.
I’m also wondering if the weak signal in the east is due to not all providers broadcasting from every tower. I have not figured out a definitive way to determine what MNOs broadcast from what towers, but I am pretty sure not all of them are broadcasting from all towers. I’d like to chat offline about that if you have any ideas on how to research or directly measure it.
The weak area in the norther part of the Village is a tougher nut to crack. It has more terrain, denser foliage, and probably as many towers in the vicinity as anyone will be willing to invest in for awhile to come. The signal strength is sufficient to make calls and quick Internet queries, but I’m doubtful that it could support video streaming to the extend of replacing other entertainment options.
HSVP C
01/24/2021 — 1:46 pm
Here is a link to the Hot Springs Village Voice article which covered Bob and his outstanding report:
https://www.hsvvoice.com/story/news/2021/01/22/lemay-report-outlines-cell-signals-hot-springs-village/4244438001/
Robert Burditt
01/24/2021 — 5:02 pm
Bob,
I applaud your efforts for the investigative paper. Having some Telecom engineering in my background I can fully understand your method and approach on how to address or solve a current and future problem.
Unfortunately, wireless carriers are not managed the same way wireline carriers were once managed. Today, it’s mostly about the money and where the most profit can be realized. With the cellular networks being mostly non-regulated services, their responses can be lukewarm when it comes to random spotty service in what would be considered a mostly rural community. Most of the problems you identified can be attributed to 4 things, terrain, distance between cell towers, the generation of equipment at the cell towers, and the age of the device. Additionally, there can be issues associated with the platform (CDMA vs GSM) and that is partially the reason why Verizon has better service in the rural areas. Granted, as 5G is rolled out, the infrastructural differences will be lessened.
I think HSV is a great place with a lot of great things to offer, as I have visited here regularly since the 1980’s and recently became a part time resident and a highspeed network would be a great drawing card for new residents.
However, in my humble opinion, adding infrastructure to the network in HSV is the solution, but the carrier has to be willing to create a business case with the financials that support the case. Having built my share of business cases in the Telecom industry, I am afraid the data on the demographics is not enough to convince them. Granted, your numbers of high-volume users show an upward trend, but is that enough to get the carriers to take action? To make matters worse, AT&T has already announced the discontinuance of DSL with no other AT&T choice leaving us with only Suddenlink. It would appear that AT&T is abandoning the non-urban wireline customer. Without DSL, Suddenlink will be the current short-term solution.
Its common knowledge in the industry there is a lot of pent-up demand in the non-urban environment, but so far there is no magic pill. There are some fixed wireless solutions out there but the terrain and tree coverage still is the problem here. By all indications, 5G could be the savior, but most carriers are being very cautious in their rollouts. AT&T’s rollouts have been limited to high usage areas such as colleges, medical and industrial applications. T-Mobile is the only carrier that advertises a broad roll out but I have not experienced their service.
My career in telecom spanned over 40 years with exposure to many phases of the business and the direction since divestiture (1982) has totally changed their motive and directives. In today’s world, this profit-center posture has them focused on content over delivery. I totally get it, but for an “old phone guy”, it can be difficult to swallow the pill.
Thank you for your efforts.
Bob Burditt
Keith B Buchanan
01/25/2021 — 9:41 am
Hey Bob. You may want to check out the FCC website, specifically the ASR’s (Antenna Structure Registrations). Here’s the link for an SBA owned tower within HSV. It may take calling the tower owner to determine who is on which tower. Kinda interesting stuff if you have time to mine the data.
https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/AsrSearch/asrRegistration.jsp?regKey=2635231
Debbie Jones
01/26/2021 — 11:34 pm
Gene, Thank you for taking so much time to test and compile this data. We live on Arias Way and the only cell service that we can get is with Sprint and that is normally 2 bars or less. Part of the problem with our reception may be the high hill behind us. Our house is half-way up the hill and we can’t get any satellite reception with due to the hill and the tall trees going up to and on top of the hill.
Bob LeMay
01/28/2021 — 3:21 am
Ms. Jones,
Most of Arias Way is in the F3 grid in my report. In that map grid I sampled signals north of De Soto, closer to Lake Cortez. The Verizon signal was better than average for the Village in both strength and quality. The AT&T signal was much more weak and in the lowest 20% of the signal sample data. I did not have any equipment that could sample T-Mobile/Sprint signals. Because the AT&T signal there was so weak I performed functional tests at that location. I had no problem placing voice calls, making short Internet queries (the current temperature at different zip codes around the country) and navigating into and out of the area using my phone.
Bob LeMay
01/31/2021 — 4:30 pm
Ms Jones,
I forgot to add in my initial reply that cellular signals are changing and usually for the better. They need to be checked every so often to keep track of where they are at. See my reply to Barbara Haroldson below for some ideas on how you can do that at your home.
Tom Blakeman
01/27/2021 — 9:32 am
I’m hearing the “insufficient ROI” argument again. That’s been the party line excuse for many years now in the Village. Just shrug your shoulders and blow it off. Insufficient ROI. So we all stand by and watch the companies enhance service only along main roads (DeSoto) just like they do everywhere and let the rest suffer.
I believe somebody also mentioned giving a free plot of land for someone to build a tower on. That’s an idea with merit. Maybe our Village could even foot the cost of tower construction and outfitting. Somewhere recently I heard that the cost to build and outfit was like $500K. Anybody really know? Less than the total cost of a CMP, I’d bet.
Of course then there is the problem of getting the fiber to the tower and and the topography, rocky soil and such. But no one ever mentions that every home in the Village already has power lines somewhere nearby. Fiber can be strung from the same poles. Can’t it? And how much would that really cost? Or how about just increasing the height of the tower behind Cortez Fire station? That likely would extent the range over the ridge to better serve the North area. What might that cost?
It seems our POA leadership has now commissioned a task force to look into raising our assessments. Is it even on their radar to answer some of the above questions? My guess is no.
Barbara Haroldson
01/28/2021 — 8:24 am
Thank you for the great article! I recently moved within the Village, 1.2 miles & went from great reception to POOR. I have service now and then. I hope this can be resolved…I’m frustrated!
Bob LeMay
01/31/2021 — 4:24 pm
Ms. Haroldson,
There are a two things in you control that you can research and perhaps change to improved the cellular performance at your home. There are locations in the Village where one of the MNOs (Verizon, AT&T & T-Mobile) provides a clearly superior signal that the others. If you moved from an area of strong signal to one where it is much weaker then older equipment will have noticeably poorer performance than newer equipment. To research this I ask guests at my house to do something for me on their phone:
– tell me how many bars in and outside my house
– make a call
– get a weather forecast
– send me an e-mail or a picture
If their phone performs better than mine I ask what model phone they have and who their provider is. After doing this a few times you may notice a trend, e.g., the AT&T phones tend to do better than others or an iPhone 10 or 11 or 12 work better than my iPhone 6. This information will help you decide if it is worth the effort or expense to change providers or buy a new phone.
Debbie Jones
01/31/2021 — 6:03 pm
All well and good, but the cost of the new phones are prohibitive for many retirees, and even worse for moving to a different location in HSV.
Bob LeMay
02/01/2021 — 2:13 pm
That brings up a good point – new tech isn’t free. And if advertising has any effect on you, it is easy to get caught-up in a race to buy the latest features. The iPhone 12 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra can be configured as $1,400 devices, but there are many good, practical cell phones available for much less. Therefore it very important to understand what you really need versus what you like. If you are not clear about this before you go into a store to purchase then you are going to find out that cell phone salesmen are just like other salesmen and they will sell up.
There are several aspects of cell phones that drive their price from low to high:
operating system: low$ – Android higher$ – iOS (iPhones)
release date: low$ – 2018 higher$ – 2020
condition: low$ – refurbished grade B higher$ – new
screen size: low$ – small higher$ – big
technology: low$ – 4G higher$ – 5G
memory: low$ – 64 GB higher$ – more
camera: low$ – simple (1-lens) higher$ – 5-lens
model: low$ – basic higher$ – pro, plus, or ultra models
Some manufacturers have introduced an entry level line of phones notably Samsung Galaxy A series and Apple iPhone SE. The industry defines entry level phones at $500 for a new phone.
Probably the best values in cell phones are 1-2 year old refurbished 4G cell phones. Walmart carries many models. I made a quick search for some popular refurbished models all are 4G with 64 GB storage unless otherwise noted:
Galaxy A11 $130 released 2020 – 32 GB storage
TLC 10L $168 released 2020 – new, not refurbished
Galaxy A50 $174 released 2019
Galaxy A21 $180 released 2020
Galaxy S9 $204 released 2018
TLC 10 Pro $250 released 2019
iPhone X $300 released 2018
iPhone SE $320 released 2020
Galaxy S10 $320 released 2019
Galaxy A51 $350 released 2019 – 5G technology
If you are a shopper then you are in the right place, deals abound. Currently on the Samsung website with a trade-in phone you can get a new Galaxy S21 (a 5G phone) for $75 plus a cell phone contract with a major carrier.
John Szczepaniak
02/14/2021 — 12:01 pm
This may sound like asking for the “moon” but I do think that it should be mandatory that a buyer should be made aware of what communication methods are available (and viable) at the proposed home or building site. I think this is just as important as having power and water utilities in this day and time. I cringe when I hear new people find out too late that they cannot get what they had thought or assumed.
Bob LeMay
02/14/2021 — 8:09 pm
I think a better way to determine that is to use your own phone from the home site before you decide to buy. Information others would give you would not account for different providers or different phone models.
Tom Blakeman
02/15/2021 — 8:35 am
“Caveat Emptor” is always the preferred approach to home buying. Nonetheless, I do believe our POA bears some responsibility to publish some type of warnings or caveats to those buying here. Failing to do so could result in some frustrated and angry buyer with a creative lawyer suing not only the seller, and seller and buyer’s agents, but also the POA. Stranger things have happened.
John M Szczepaniak
02/25/2021 — 7:22 pm
Bob
Good cell service is fine but I think there should be some obligation on telling the buyer what HARDWIRE highspeed cable is available or not. Wired is usually far more faster then what cell can offer. High speed 5g looks promising may never be available in many areas, I do not expect the POA to pay cable installation for someone that wants to build far away in the woods but the owner should at least be informed on what communication venues are available and not leave it to the owner to discover.