Cell Phone Accessibility: UP edition

Snow flies in the crisp October morning air as students hurry to get to their 8 o’clock class. Fall colors surround them as they cringe against the bitter wind and piercing snow. Many students are already on their cell phones, texting, tweeting and updating status about yet another typical day attending college in the Keweenaw on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

On Michigan Tech’s campus, cell phone accessibility is good for the most part, with a few dead zones in various buildings. However, once one gets out of the campus bubble and into the unknown of the Keweenaw and Upper Peninsula in general, cell reception dramatically decreases, as does 3G, 4G and Internet coverage for smartphones. Overall, cell phone coverage is accessible for the average Michigan Tech student on campus, despite being in one of the most remote college towns in the country. It’s the off-campus accessibility that poses the problem, for students, locals and tourists alike.

            Accessibility can be defined in a few different ways pertaining to technology.  One way, according to Kate Williams, is through literacy and/or fluency of a certain medium. If one is considered “fluent” with technology, they have three types of knowledge, as Williams says. “Contemporary skills, foundational concepts, and intellectual capabilities,” are the three things needed in order to achieve fluency. If one is fluent with technology, they can access it with efficiency and ease.

 Most students at Michigan Technological University are fluent in cell phone operation, just like any other college aged students who are also considered “digital natives” as Palfrey and Gasser describe in “Born Digital.” Digital natives, as Palfrey and Gasser explain, are anyone born after 1980 and are fluent in technology because they’ve simply grown up with it. According to Pew Research Center results, “fully 96 percent of 18 to 29 year olds own a cell phone,” which indicates that accessibility in terms of fluency is not the problem here.

According to Wikepedia, accessibility is “the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available,” or simply the “ability to access and benefit from some system or entity.” This paper aims to focus more on the physical accessibility of cell phones in the UP, specifically in the town of Houghton and the Keweenaw in general.

On campus, the cell phone accessibility is great. There’s only been a few days where it would randomly disappear, but that was rumored to be because of some science experiment in one of the buildings nearby. This is a positive for students who live on or around campus, especially when they have to make those calls home to their parents, as well as to other family members, friends, and for important business pertaining to internships, jobs, and co-ops.

It’s when one gets off campus and into the wilderness of the UP when the coverage gets sketchy. No matter what carrier, there are numerous dead zones all over the Keweenaw and Upper Peninsula as a whole. Nikki Davidson, a reporter for Upper Michigan’s Source, says that the station’s Facebook page asked viewers about where they have had trouble getting service in the area, and “the feedback poured in, naming dozens of places.” She then goes on to make a good point about how this affects people. For people on the UP, whether it be locals, tourists or students, “it’s not just an issue of inconvenience, it’s a serious danger.”

The accessibility of cell phone reception is critical in remote areas, but also hard to incorporate into such areas because of its remoteness. This seems like a never-ending and potentially dangerous cycle. With all the snow that accumulates seemingly out of nowhere sometimes during the winter in the UP, driving is often a risky activity, especially when cell phone reception is questionable. In addition, the Keweenaw and surrounding areas of the UP is widely known to attract adventure and thrill-seeking outdoor enthusiasts, from backpackers to mountain bikers to surfers. If something goes wrong and there is no cell phone reception, what happens?

As of May 2012, Verizon expanded its “local network in the UP by activating two new cell sites near Spies and Drummond Lake,” according to a news release. These sites were said to improve coverage along U.S. Highway 41 between Covington and Crystal Falls by strengthening both wireless voice and data services. This is only a small portion of the UP, though.

Verizon also claims that this new site is “part of [their] effort to expand coverage, increase capacity and enhance the quality,” of their services in Michigan. The news release also adds that Verizon has invested over $65 billion in order to make their services more accessible for clients. $265 million of that chunk was spent on Michigan in 2011 alone.

Verizon Coverage

AT&T doesn’t provide any specific information on their coverage in the UP, but according to Davidson, they claim to be aiming to “continue to enhance and expand [their] mobile broadband network in the area to provide the best possible customer service.” No recent news was found on AT&T’s expanding network however.

AT&T coverage

Simply looking at the two biggest cell phone carriers in the country provides enough information to conclude that the UP as a whole is still a long ways from being completely accessible in terms of cell phones. This can be good and bad. Some people enjoy not having a reason to be constantly bothered by the constant ringtones of voicemails and text messages. That’s why they may come up here, to get away from it all.

On the other hand, if an accident occurs and there is no coverage, people can get into trouble. Especially in a region with many natural wonders, attractions and dangers, this can definitely be a large problem.

More specifically however, Houghton and its general area including Hancock, is very accessible. This is good for on-campus students in particular. Having accessible cell phone reception in terms of voice and texting as well as data is critical for college-aged students.

Overall, a lot can be done in order to improve cell phone accessibility on the Upper Peninsula and Keweenaw region as a whole. More towers can be constructed in areas of the biggest need, starting in the more populated areas along the major highways and eventually growing to include even the most remote places. Perhaps by surveying locals and students, these specific locations can be discovered.

 It will certainly take some time, but by providing more accessibility for their clients, cell phone companies will satisfy more people across the UP as they attend school, explore the untouched territory, and hit the road on a snowy day.