AT&T To Add Antenna To Better Quad Service

Some Quadlings who subscribe to AT&T and suffer from poor cell phone reception may soon find it easier to communicate.

According to an e-mail from Associate Dean of Residential Life Suzy M. Nelson to Quad House Masters obtained by The Crimson, a team assembled to address cell phone reception problems in the Quad has agreed with AT&T to install a temporary and later a permanent antenna beginning as early as August, pending approval from the City of Cambridge.

The approval process for a permanent antenna could be completed in six to nine months, and the antenna would be placed on top of the Student Organization Center at Hilles, said Undergraduate Council representative George J.J. Hayward ’11, who said he has worked for several months to improve cell phone reception in the Quad.

Harvard administrators have concluded that installing an antenna would not detract aesthetically from the Quad area, the message said, since all equipment would be “blended” into existing buildings and would not be obtrusive to a “casual observer.”

Nelson wrote in the message that the team “does not anticipate major delays” and expects to have a fully functional permanent antenna in place by the summer of 2010.

In the meantime, a cell on wheels (COW)—a van containing signal transmission and reception equipment—could be moved into place by August, also contingent on the completion of a two to three month permit application process by AT&T and approval from the City of Cambridge.

COWs are frequently used to provide backup cell phone coverage when storms or other natural disasters have knocked out existing infrastructure.

The issue of cell phone reception was taken up by students as early as 2005 and has adopted additional importance recently after some Quad residents reported not receiving emergency text message notifications about the shooting in Kirkland House last month. Many students who use service providers other than Verizon have reported reception problems, said several Quad residents in the past.

Hayward, a resident of Currier House, said he has received over 300 messages from Quad residents about the cell phone reception problem since last fall. He complimented the University’s willingness to address this issue, which he made a focus of his UC election campaign at the time.

“Right now, we are working together.“ Hayward said. “In the beginning we had to demonstrate substantial student concern, but now we are on the same page.”

It is not yet known whether service providers Sprint and T-Mobile will also collaborate with Harvard to improve the reception quality on their networks in the Quad.

—Staff writer Laura G. Mirviss contributed to the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Athena Y. Jiang can be reached at ajiang@fas.harvard.edu.