Colorado residents in Longmont say cellphones have become nearly unusable

Some Longmont residents say their cellphones have become nearly unusable in recent weeks, leaving them unable to reliably make calls, contact their children's schools or reach family members. The problems are drawing complaints from residents and pressure from Colorado lawmakers for a solution.

Alyssaa Bustamante-Harrison said she has struggled to get service across her neighborhood, sometimes leaving her unable to make calls even when she's away from home.

"I tried to call the school. It failed. I tried to call my mom. It failed," Bustamante-Harrison explained.

Bustamante-Harrison estimates she goes without service for about 75% of her drive.

"Just a lot of stress knowing that, if I'm away from home or not on Wi-Fi, that I might not be able to get a hold of my daughter's school or vice versa," Bustamante-Harrison said, "I've even stopped running errands during the day because I want to make sure that I'm home," she said.

Bustamante-Harrison is among dozens of Longmont residents who have raised concerns about cellular service. Colorado officials report that more than 100 people across Boulder County have also complained to the Federal Communications Commission.

Local officials believe the service problems are connected to the Table Mountain Radio Quiet Zone, a federally regulated area north of Boulder that protects sensitive scientific research from radio-frequency interference.

The quiet zone has been in place for decades and protects research by federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey.

But, as the region's population has grown and cellular networks have expanded, carriers have faced challenges balancing service needs with federal restrictions on radio transmissions.

Jake Marsing, a Longmont City Council member, said residents are dealing with more than occasional dead zones.

"We're experiencing not just dead zones, but, essentially, phones that are effectively unusable," Marsing said. "I mean, we've got a good portion of our community that are dealing with bricks."

Marsing said the need for cellular service has changed as more people move into the area and rely on mobile phones.

"As cell service providers have really increased in prevalence, and, then, as our area has increased in population density, the signal needs have changed," he said.

Marsing said carriers had about a year and a half of notice to comply with the requirements, but the changes did not happen at the same pace for every provider. Hes said many of the concerns he's heard involve T-Mobile, the carrier Bustamante-Harrison uses.

"I don't know what to do in the meantime, and we're still expected to pay our phone bill even if our phone isn't working in half of the town," Bustamante-Harrison said.

T-Mobile told CBS Colorado that it has met the required federal thresholds but is continuing to work on longer-term network solutions.

T-Mobile sent a statement that said in part, "We have now achieved the required federal thresholds … Teams are continuing to work on longer-term network solutions … That requires coordination with the federal government, so we don't have a firm completion date …"

The service problems have prompted action from Colorado's congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper sent a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the FCC, urging the agencies to meet with cellular carriers and work to resolve the reported outages.

The lawmakers pointed to signal adjustments made to comply with federal rules protecting the Table Mountain Radio Quiet Zone.

"We write to urge your agencies to assist in resolving major reported cellular network outages in Boulder County, Colorado, following signal adjustments made to comply with National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) regulations protecting the Table Mountain Radio Quiet Zone," the lawmakers wrote.

State Sen. Katie Wallace, who represents east Boulder County and western Weld County, said she believes improvements are possible.

"I don't think that this has to be the reality moving forward," Wallace said. "I think that there are ways that the carriers should catch up on their infrastructure in order to meet these new regulations that, again, were rolled out more than almost two years ago, right?" 

She said cellular companies need to invest in infrastructure that can meet federal requirements while providing effective service to customers. Wallace said lawmakers are working to connect with local governments, county officials and federal agencies while asking carriers to address the problems.

Marsing said, in Longmont, local officials need a clear list of what would help carriers restore service.

"We need to know from the carriers what they need, specifically what T-Mobile needs in order to restore effective service. If those are, you know, 'Hey, we need cell phone boosters,' if we need fast track permitting, if we need, you know. We just need the list," Marsing said.

The Boulder County Office of Disaster Management said it has not received reports from residents who were unable to reach 911 because of the cellular service issues. 

"Even if your phone shows no bars from your carrier, a 911 call can still connect using any available tower, regardless of which company you pay for service," the office said in a statement. 

The county's 911 centers are also not seeing an increase in failed calls. Even so, officials recommend residents consider backup ways to communicate in case cell service is unreliable.

The Boulder Office of Disaster Management recommends the following options:

• Use a landline or voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone
• Enable Wi-Fi calling
• Check whether your phone supports satellite calling
• Text instead of calling when possible
• Consider ham radio and keep an all-hazards weather radio

Officials caution that no single communication method is guaranteed to work in every single situation. Residents should check which options are available to them before an emergency.

For Bustamante-Harrison and other residents dealing with spotty service, the central question remains when they will be able to depend on their phones again.