In more than two quarters at Ohio University, freshman Cal Cleary's cell phone has rung one time.
Cleary is not unpopular -his friends and family call often; his phone simply does not receive the calls.
I can make calls most places on campus
but thus far I think my phone has rung once Cleary said. It just doesn't accept calls.
Cleary -who uses Verizon Wireless -is one of many OU students who experience problems with cell phone service in the Athens region. Geographically hilly and removed from major urban areas, Athens is an area where minor problems are to be expected, most cell phone service providers said.
There are pockets of Ohio which are not as good as other markets
said Laura Merritt, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless. The signal does not go as far when you're in a hilly or wooded area as when you're in a flat plains area.
However, some service providers appear to be preferable to others in Athens. In a recent survey of about 50 students, Sprint PCS, Alltel, T-Mobile and Cingular-AT&T received generally positive reviews. Verizon Wireless was the only service provider to receive generally negative reviews.
Verizon Wireless Verizon Wireless has none of its own cell sites serving the Athens area, though the company has a large nationwide roaming agreement with Alltel, Merritt said Merritt.
Bottom line: we do not hold a license in Athens
she said. We can't build cell sites there. We can't sell service down there.
The FCC determines by lottery which cellular service providers can obtain a license to serve a certain geographic area, Merritt said. Two providers can serve the Athens area using cellular technology, and five can serve the area using PCS technology. Verizon uses cellular technology.
We can't have a bunch of companies coming in on cellular technology because we only have so much spectrum
so much space
Merritt said.
The cellular spectrum has 50 megahertz of available space; the PCS spectrum has 170 megahertz of available space.
Verizon customers in the Athens area thus rely on the company's various roaming agreements, Merritt said.
Students gave Verizon generally negative reviews -reporting problems such as not receiving calls, receiving voicemails weeks after they were left and being unable to use text-messaging services.
I never get my messages
said freshman Amy Graves, a Verizon customer. I had to cancel my text messaging because it was pointless to pay for it because you don't get it. I'm waiting for my contract to expire
and I'm getting rid of Verizon as soon as I can.
But Merritt said problems such as this are not unusual.
They're not on the Verizon Wireless network
and (the network is) one of the things we take great pride in
she said. When our customers are roaming on another carrier's network
