Whether walking through the Quad or sitting in the middle of a lecture, a vast majority of students chat on their personal cell phones. Students willingly pay the monthly bills for this valuable service, but do all LSU students receive quality reception both on and off campus?
Many affordable plans are on the market — Cingular Wireless, SunCom, Sprint PCS and Verizon are a few major service providers for students on campus. Although these companies offer excellent price packages, some fall short when it comes to on-campus reception.
Many students have problems gaining reception around campus, especially inside buildings and on football game days. Spotty reception can result from various things. Tower and caller locations play a major role, as well as the number of people in the area and phone type, said SunCom Retail Manager Brent Yokley.
Cingular, SunCom, Sprint PCS and Verizon have towers located on the LSU
campus to increase clarity. The Sprint PCS tower is located on Tiger Stadium. The other companies’ sales representatives were unsure of the exact tower locations.
Sprint PCS has a physical site on campus and recently added extra capacity in order to handle the big sporting event days, said Brad Supple, Sprint PCS marketing manager.
“Last year, we had problems with campus reception, but it is getting better. School days are not a big problem as much as football games because of the large number of people,” Supple said.
SunCom also made improvements for on- campus clarity. It recently added cell sites on wheels to help with coverage. In the near future, SunCom will become AT&T Wireless and hopes to play a major part with LSU, Yokley said.
However, students using Cingular as their service provider express the most concern regarding campus coverage.
Nick Grow, a construction management junior, is a three-year Cingular customer.
He said the reception on and off campus is very inconsistent.
“I could get better reception using a cup attached to string,” Grow said. “A lot of students who depend on their cell phones to avoid long distance charges are unable to do so because of unclear reception.”
Other student Cingular customers feel using their cell phones on campus is inconvenient.
“My service is so bad I have to call my mom and get her to call me back in my room,” microbiology junior Shemeika Sereal said.
Meryn Allen, a marketing sophomore, recently discontinued her contract with
Cingular because her phone would always cut out during conversations on campus.
“Off campus Cingular worked great, but I mainly use my phone on campus where my reception was horrible. It just made more sense to switch over to Verizon, now I can call anywhere on campus,” said Allen.
Those interviewed from Cingular Wireless were unaware of the on-campus reception problems. They recommend students who experience difficulties with Cingular reception contact Tech Support at 1-800-351-2400.