State records cell phone no-service zones

The Public Advocate’s Office has recently contacted people across Maine who had earlier named places where cell phone service was unavailable or where calls were regularly dropped.

This effort is in order to update the “I Can’t Hear You Now” map of dead zones in Maine that the Public Advocate Office has maintained on its Website since February 2005. The map now deletes all locations identified prior to March 2006.

“It is a good idea to update the dead zone map periodically due to the fact that Maine’s wireless providers have made significant investments in new cell phone infrastructure over the past 18 months” stated Public Advocate Stephen Ward. “In view of new cell towers erected by U.S. Cellular, Unicel, T-Mobile and other carriers, there is no good reason to preserve out-dated information on the OPA’s cell phone coverage map.”

The map can be viewed at http://www.maine.gov/meopa/telephone/wireless_service.html.

The Public Advocate urges customers who continue to experience problems with inadequate wireless signals to use the OPA Website to record the location of the dead zone, the type of equipment or handset and the name of the wireless provider.

“We hope that Mainers will continue to record cell phone dead spots so we can continue to press for improvements in cell phone coverage in Maine,” Ward stated.

For more information about wireless services in Maine, go to the OPA web site for the current edition of the Ratewatcher Telecom Guide, published every six months and provided upon request at no charge.

The Public Advocate Office is an eight-person state agency in Hallowell whose task it is to represent consumers in utility matters at Maine’s Public Utilities Commission, the Legislature, the FCC, FERC and the courts.