Can you hear me now?

Dropped calls. Total disconnection from cell service in some areas up-Island. People shouting “Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?” into cell phones while walking down-Island sidewalks. These are all common occurrences on the Vineyard during the crowded tourism season. 

While wireless carriers are investing in ways to address summertime connectivity, Island officials say cellular unreliability can be bad at best, and risky at worst during an emergency, especially in the summer and up-Island. 

And public safety is a concern among some Island first responders. While it may be rare for individuals to be unable to contact first responders, it’s not unheard-of. Chilmark Police Chief Sean Slavin recalled a recent case in which a person who experienced a medical issue while walking along Menemsha Hills called for help, but the call cut out, and first responders had a hard time locating the individual.

“There are big dead spots,” Chilmark Police Chief Sean Slavin said of his town, even along busier areas like North Road and State Road. “[It’s] spotty at best.”

While congestion in cellular connectivity increases during the summer population spike, it’s a year-round issue in some areas. And the spike in the summer is felt across the Island, with more phone traffic from visitors and seasonal residents. 

But local sentiments against the aesthetics of cell infrastructure, carriers have said, have delayed service upgrades. Some towns have zoning rules that restrict installation of some infrastructure. 

Jeffrey Madison, town administrator in Aquinnah, where residents have pushed for upgrades, acknowledged that cell projects are met with scrutiny on the Vineyard. 

“Any change in Martha’s Vineyard is treated with hostility,” Madison said. “People want to know how big, where, size, and whether it’s green or red.” 

Still, major carriers have been working to address the issue, and say they are moving forward with significant improvements.

Verizon, one of the major carriers for the Island, has a number of plans in the works to boost service, especially concerning the dramatic rise in population during the summer season. 

“This influx puts a significant strain on the Island’s cellular infrastructure due to the sharp rise in network usage, and ultimately results in congestion, slower data speeds, and intermittent connectivity,” a Verizon spokesperson said in a statement. 

According to the spokesperson, Verizon currently has roughly 19 “small cell solutions” across the Vineyard, but has an additional 35 more under consideration. A small cell solution acts as a “mini cell site,” and is often placed on a utility pole, specifically for one carrier to strengthen signals in high-traffic areas where a cell tower may be difficult to place, like at a beach. 

Additionally, the spokesperson said, the company is pursuing multiple projects to “enhance coverage and capacity.” That includes a cell tower through a third-party vendor with nodes in Chilmark. The company had requested to be before the town’s select board in February, but Chilmark town administrator Tim Carroll said the board did not approve the proposal, and he has not received new materials from Verizon since the meeting. 

Among its priorities up-Island, the company is looking to add antennas at the top of Aquinnah utility poles, and to add new nodes in Chilmark to boost its own up-Island network.

Meanwhile, in Edgartown, although there are some obstacles, Verizon is looking to build a new tower and use an existing one. The spokesperson said the company is continuing to “seek viable options” in the Katama Beach area, where they’ve faced “years of delays due to external ownership and zoning constraints.” On Chappaquiddick, the company is looking to “co-locate” on a tower built by another carrier, although it wouldn’t say which. That process was delayed by legal proceedings that recently concluded, and the company is “pursuing the necessary agreements to move forward.” 

Both the mini cell sites and cell towers are expected to be completed within the next two years, and the Verizon spokesperson said the improvements will include both LTE and 5G technologies. 

“We are accounting for the Island’s seasonal population surge, particularly during the summer months, when planning network enhancements,” the Verizon spokesperson said. “These months are used as a key reference point to assess traffic patterns and data demand.” 

Meanwhile, AT&T spokesperson Avery Cooper said AT&T made upgrades on the Cape and Islands ahead of the summer season to provide 5G, including the addition of “multiple cell towers to the Oak Bluffs area.” Coopers said AT&T uses 11 cell towers that provide service to the Vineyard, and “an extensive outdoor DAS [distributed antenna system] and multiple small cell towers.” Cooper did not say where the cell towers are. 

Roni Singleton, a T-Mobile spokesperson, said in a statement that the carrier is “constantly working to improve coverage on the Island.” 

Besides their own infrastructure, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile also utilize the facilities of American Tower, a telecommunications infrastructure company that operates an up-Island distributed antenna system, or DAS. A DAS strategically places nodes to enhance signal strength for cell phones. There have been more urgent calls to improve reliability in the up-Island towns, including from town officials.

An American Tower spokesperson said they’ve met various obstacles in making infrastructure improvements, although they did not respond when asked for specific plans. However, they suggested that local zoning has made improvements difficult. 

“When a carrier determines that improvements are required in a specific area, [tenants] may approach us to explore options for enhancing infrastructure,” an American Tower spokesperson said in a statement. “In some cases, local zoning bylaws, permitting timelines, or other land use restrictions can impact where and how quickly infrastructure can be deployed or upgraded. We work closely with both our tenants and local jurisdictions to ensure all conditions are met, and support reliable wireless service wherever possible.”

American Tower made upgrades to its battery backups and replaced several radio units after being awarded a new permit three years ago, Chilmark’s Carroll said. His town and Aquinnah are served through a DAS. Most Vineyard towns are covered by cell towers, but Chilmark and Aquinnah are served through DAS installed by American Tower. 

In part, that’s because of regulatory blocks voted in by Chilmark residents. Carroll said a zoning bylaw passed 15 years ago requires companies to use other options before proposing cell phone towers. 

“The public and board comments to the applicant, American Tower Corp., [were] that we need more and better coverage and better reliability,” Carroll said in an email. 

Carroll said American Tower is working with T-Mobile and AT&T to upgrade its existing network, with T-Mobile looking to build 21 extra nodes, but it’s uncertain when that will be completed.

But Carroll said Verizon’s plans to install its own nodes could cause issues down the line, since these additions would not benefit carriers other than Verizon. The “side effect” would be that there would be a “duplication of equipment” on up-Island utility poles. If Verizon no longer needs American Tower, the system might not receive necessary upgrades, and might even “cease to be financially viable when existing leases start ending in 2027,” Carroll said. 

While American Tower operates nodes in Chilmark, it does not run the 110-foot tower at Peaked Hill. That was installed by the U.S. Coast Guard, and is reserved for emergency responders. 

Madison in Aquinnah highlighted that American Tower’s system “doesn’t work very well,” and said he has been trying to “impress upon” the company that some areas, like Moshup Beach and Philbin Beach, have no reception, and that there are frequent outages in his town. 

“I think they’d like to upgrade the system, but I don’t know that they’re willing to commit to upgrades that will improve the service,” he said. 

While there are dead spots up-Island, cellular connectivity fluctuates down-Island as well. For example, 5G is available along downtown Seaview Avenue in Oak Bluffs, while a short distance away, on New York Avenue, it is LTE, a slower speed provided by an older generation of telecommunications technology. 

The issue isn’t as pronounced down-Island, but there are still concerns. First responders on the Vineyard have priority in accessing cell service through FirstNet, a service that bolsters first responders’ connectivity for emergencies. 

Tisbury Fire Chief Patrick Rolston said cell connectivity hasn’t been an issue that has been raised to him, but “sometimes it is a concern” that an individual may have difficulty reaching first responders by phone. “Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do as a fire department,” Rolston said.