This affects you if you rely on cell phones to connect with your family, friends, or work. It affects you if you expect to use your cell phone during emergencies or even if you just want to look up directions to a local restaurant. This is your opportunity to get better wireless service for you and your neighbors.
All Memorial Villages residents (which includes includes Spring Valley Village, Hedwig Village, Hunters Creek Village, Hilshire Village, Bunker Hill Village and Piney Point Village) will benefit from improved Verizon Wireless service, even if they are not Verizon Wireless customers. First, the small cell network will relieve congestion on the Verizon Wireless network serving Memorial Villages by providing additional capacity during peak times of the day or night. This added capacity improves Verizon Wireless’s network for all of Memorial Villages by off-loading calls and data demands from existing facilities. Second, these enhancements will improve the network for all of the area’s first responders. Finally, should another wireless carrier’s network fail, the Verizon Wireless network is available to all users for emergency calls and text messages.
Memorial Villages, Hedwig Village, and Spring Valley Village Police Departments all leverage the Verizon Wireless Network for vital communications across a broad range of emergency situations. Additionally, cellular service is vital in fire and hurricane-prone areas.
At home, the Verizon Wireless Network is leveraged for more than staying connected with friends and family or entertainment online. The Network supports home security monitoring, connectivity for home health monitoring devices or even tracking a lost pet.
90% of US households use wireless service. With this increase in demand from users at home and those who work from home comes the need for more facilities to meet the customer needs. Citizens need access to 911 and reverse 911 and wireless may be their only connection. (CTIA, June 2015)
To stay ahead of demand, Verizon is deploying new technology commonly referred to as small cells. A small cell network adds coverage, capacity, and increases connection speed so that more users can connect to reliable high-speed wireless service where they live, work and play. Small cells provide targeted coverage and capacity to compliment the macro cellular communication coverage umbrella enabling information flow between traditional cell sites and small cells. This design provides higher quality service and increased capacity to a dedicated geographic location. Small cell sites enhance the network for users in the selected geographic small cell area. The increased network quality helps customers during normal communication use and in emergencies.
Small cells are a fraction of the size of traditional communication towers. They use a fraction of the power and serve a much smaller area than traditional cell sites. The reduced size allows the small cells to attach to existing wooden utility poles and street lights.
Since the launch of the smart phone more than 10 years ago, Verizon Wireless has been introducing new technologies to meet service capacity demands. Today, reliable service and in-building coverage are essential to the everyday lives of Memorial Villages residents, commuters and workers. Over the past few years, the demand for Verizon Wireless voice and data services has increased greatly and network enhancements are required to keep up with this ever‐increasing demand. Maintaining a highly reliable, high-speed, high-capacity network is also critical to emergency communications. Memorial Villages residents, commuters and workers depend on this reliability of the Verizon Wireless network, especially to communicate with emergency professionals during times of crisis – including police, fire, ambulance and hospital calls.
What is a small cell?
A small cell is just like the name implies. Small cells are short range mobile cell sites used to complement larger macro cells (or cell towers). A small cell augments Verizon’s capacity in a given area. It consists of a radio, antenna, power and a fiber connection. Small cells enable the Verizon network team to strategically add capacity to high traffic areas.
Why small cells?
Demand for wireless data services has grown 18-fold over the past 5 years. Small cells are part of Verizon’s network strategy to provide reliable service and keep up with this booming demand for wireless data. Small cell networks add capacity in small specific areas to improve in-building coverage, voice quality, reliability, and data speeds for local residents, businesses, first responders and visitors using the Verizon Wireless network.
How does it work?
A small cell uses small radios and antennas placed on various types of poles like utility poles, street lights, or new poles in the public right-of-way. The coverage area can range from a few hundred feet to upwards of 1,000 ft. depending on topography, capacity needs, and more. This small focused footprint supports the latest technology-enabled devices, allowing more consumers to do things like stream video or share photos on social media during events.
Where has Verizon deployed small cells?
Verizon first began adding small cells in late 2013 across the country to meet community needs.
Does this replace the need for macro cell sites?
For Verizon, small cells are part of a balanced approach to network capacity. Verizon will continue to add traditional macro cell sites, expand its wireless footprint for increased capacity and coverage, and will keep investing in the things that keep its network running, even during times of disaster – battery back-up, generators, mobile cell sites, and more.
Where will Verizon add small cells?
Verizon looks to add small cells in areas ranging from urban centers to residential communities where there is a need for extra capacity to serve customers to stay ahead of the demand for wireless data.
Are small cells subject to the same regulation as a traditional/macro cell site?
Verizon has worked hand-in-hand with all Memorial Villages on small cell placement including right-of-way regulations and more.
Are small cells reviewed for compliance with FCC safety guidelines?
Yes. All small cells must comply with the same stringent standards under which macro communications sites are reviewed and regulated.
Are small cells safe?
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in consultation with numerous other federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has developed safety standards. The standards were developed by expert scientists and engineers after extensive reviews of the scientific literature related to radio frequency (RF) biological effects. The FCC explains that its standards “incorporate prudent margins of safety.” It explains further that “radio frequency emissions from antennas used for cellular and PCS transmissions result in exposure levels on the ground that are typically thousands of times below safety limits.” The FCC provides information about the safety of RF emissions from cellular base stations on its website at: http://www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety/rf-faqs.html.
FDA: The Food and Drug Administration’s Cell phone website : http://www.fda.gov/Radiation- EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/HomeBusinessandEntertainment
EPA: The Environmental Protection Agency’s overview of cell phone safety:
Cell phone safety:
OSHA: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Health and Safety Topics Non-ionizing Radiation.
NIOSH: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s research on protecting workers from proven and possible EMF (electric and magnetic fields) health risks focusing on RF (radiofrequencies), ELF (extremely low frequencies) and Static magnetic fields: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/emf.
NCI: The National Cancer Institute’s Fact sheets on potential risks from exposure to Cell phones: http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/cell-phones-fact-sheet.
NIEHS: The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ main page for electric and magnetic fields and potential health effects: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf/index.cfm