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Verizon wins approval for fifth set of cell antennas in East Boston; some residents wonder when it will all end

By adamg on Wed, 10/09/2024 - 3:29pm
Map of East Boston Verizon cell-anntenna zones, with newest one in green

Verizon cell zones in East Boston; new zone in green.

The Zoning Board of Appeal yesterday approved plans by Verizon to install 20 new cell antennas in four clusters atop an apartment building at 319-327 Chelsea St. in East Boston.

At a hearing yesterday, a company attorney said the new antenna system, the fifth such in East Boston, would help the company meet the "now high and growing demand" in the neighborhood, in part by providing additional cell access, in part by offloading some of the calls now routed through antennas on Orleans Street.

A member of the Maverick-Central Neighborhood Association, however, questioned the need for the antennas, asking when enough is enough.

She said a Verizon rep had said at an association meeting that the new antennas would provide redundancy should the neighboring antenna system go down. "If this one goes down, then we go into number 6 and if that one goes down then we go onto number 7 and on and on," she said, calling East Boston "a small little town, and the Chelsea/Bremen area "a small little part of East Boston."

The board voted unanimously to approve the new antennas, which needed board approval because they were closer to the building's edge - right on it, in fact - than allowed by the lot's zoning. As part of their approval, board members asked the company to look at moving the antennas as far away from the edge of the building as possible and to paint or shield them in the same color as the building to minimize their appearance.

Neighborhoods: 
East Boston
Topics: 
Business
Free tagging: 
Verizon
Chelsea Street
ZBA


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Comments

By cybah on Wed, 10/09/2024 - 6:37pm.

A member of the Maverick-Central Neighborhood Association, however, questioned the need for the antennas, asking when enough is enough.

And I bet these are the same people who have Verizon Wireless and call customer service to complain when the internet is slow.

Hate to break it to this neighborhood association, but it's needed. Wireless Mobile communication is here to say and with faster speeds, you need better density on towers. It's just how "5G" works. Without it, you'll get 1998-era cable modem speeds during peak usage.

And these towers aren't just used for mobile phones, they are used by every device that uses the mobile network. Watches, iPads, in-car navigation, laptop computers, ATA devices, and on and on and on.

Let's do some math here. I'm in Chelsea so I am using this just as an example of how quickly this expands.

Between my roommate and I, we have 15 devices that use the mobile network. I live in a 3 unit building. So we're at 45 devices for just our building. Assuming everyone on my street has the same amount of devices and all live in 3 unit buildings at 25 on my block, so we're at 1125 devices for just one block. If we did my entire street, there are 10 blocks, so now we're at 11,250 devices for one single street. That's a lot of devices. Average cell phone tower can do 10-15k devices at one time.

See where I am going with this? Yes not everyone has Verizon Wireless, but its to illustrate how dependant we are on mobile devices now.

Secondly, I am having siding put on my home. I have an old Verizon landline box on the side of my building. Its never been used in the 15ish years I've lived here and just want to rip it off the side of my house. So as a test, I called Verizon (not wireless) and tried to order a landline just to see if they would sell me one. They won't. They attempted to sell me a ATA device where it's basically a box that you connect your old landline phone to that uses the Verizon Wireless mobile network.

My point: Verizon is moving away from landlines (and did so years ago at this point), how else are people supposed to get service? String and tin cans? The tower is needed to support all the new devices.

By workingdefinition on Wed, 10/09/2024 - 7:07pm.

The area in green, especially by Wood Island T station, is a total dead zone. I bet you could find people who would argue against electricity at a EB neighborhood association meeting.

By Frelmont on Wed, 10/09/2024 - 7:07pm.

I have no cell coverage down at the Forest Hills tracks all the way down the pit through Green. Is this true for all Verizon and, or some, or all of their MVNOs?