Scott Olson, an attorney with Young/Somnmer of Albany, appeared before the Wawarsing Planning Board on January 17 on behalf of an application by Verizon for the replacement of three of their six antennas on the tower on Caston Road in Greenfield Park. Verizon rents space on the tower, but has its antennas positioned at 145 feet. The changes sought are to install antennas with power on the “C Band.” This follows lab trials that concluded last year by Verizon using about 200 megahertz of the C Band spectrum.

The C-Band, for long the preserve of satellite TV, lies between 3.7 and 8 gigahertz. The major satellite TV companies have stopped using the lower end of this range, opening it up for the cellular phone companies to step in.

Adding extra C-Band power for Verizon will improve signal strength.

Adam Koeppe, the senior VP of technology at Verizon, described the effect very well last year. “Imagine adding several more lanes to a highway. The more lanes, the more cars can get on and off the interstate and the faster they can drive. In the same way, the more spectrum we open up on our network, the more data can move across our network faster and more efficiently.”

Verizon describes this move as “turbo charging” its 5G service and significantly increasing speeds with it.

However, as Olson explained, what 5G means in rural areas is different from the high speed, high frequency 5G used in cities. That 5G is short range, the rule is basically that the higher the frequency the shorter the range. Still, the effect of these new antennas on the Greenfield Park tower will be appreciated by Verizon customers.

Verizon says on its website, “Over the next few years as additional spectrum is cleared by satellite companies, Verizon will be able to deploy 5G Ultra Wideband on all available bandwidth that it has licensed, up to 200 MHz. Every piece of equipment being deployed today is capable of the full 200 MHz of bandwidth.”

Verizon claims that it provides the best 4G LTE service in the industry, though that claim is disputed by T-Mobile and AT&T. What is clear from a quick survey of the cellular scene is that, as the TV satellite companies clear additional spectrum space, the phone companies will move in. Verizon boasts that it now holds a total of 2,035 MHz of spectrum — 294 MHz in Sub 6 GHz spectrum (low and mid band) and 1,741 MHz of “mmWave” spectrum (high band).

Beyond the tech speak, this all means better cell phone service for more customers, which is the way things are going.

The new antennas will be smaller than those they replace. In addition, two “radio heads” will be replaced. These control the tilt of the antennas remotely so that technicians don’t have to climb the tower to adjust the antennas.

A public hearing on the matter brought comments from Paul Tuzzolino, who sits on the Wawarsing Town Board and is their liaison for phone and WIFI issues.

Tuzzolino brought up the infamous “dead zones” on Route 52 and Route 209, where cell service fades out. In this day and age, he said this was unacceptable. He added that he had tested the signal at his home, which is not far from the tower on Caston Road, using both a Verizon phone and a T-Mobile phone and discovered that the T-Mobile signal was far better.

Olson took note and said that he would talk to an engineer at Verizon and pass on the information.

The Wawarsing Planning Board, having listened politely to all this, made the point that they don’t have any control over frequencies or signal strengths, only the issues related to zoning in as much as they control what a cell tower looks like, how high it can be, and where it is sited.

Olson concluded with the thought that the work would not take long and will be finished by the spring. The planning board approved the application.

More Developments

In a long-awaited move, the planning board gave final approval to the Oakridge development on Van Keuren and Oakridge roads. There had been a delay because of the need for the board to overrule a comment from the county, and at the last meeting there was not a supermajority present to do that.

The board also approved a small shift in property on Brown Road to move a shed from straddling a lot line to sitting within a lot. Also, the Dharmakaya Buddhist meditation center was granted another six-month extension on its most recent application.

The board later discussed the logging permit process used in Wawarsing, responding to complaints from some commercial loggers that the town is too strict. Robin Coleman, the code enforcement officer for Wawarsing, noted that times have changed and that what was a $2,000 bond to the town to cover damage to roads was now a $10,000 to $20,000 bond. Mary Lou Christiana, the planning board attorney, said she thought the law as written was good for the town. Coleman added that the equipment used today is very heavy and can easily damage roads and ground. Planning board member Don Schmalzle noted that the board needs to protect all the residents in the town. Chair Doug Hart said he would not be in favor of changing anything.