FOREST CITY – "Can you hear me now?" A serious question, some folks in Forest City have been asking each other for years. Spotty cell phone service made keeping in contact with family and friends difficult.
“I'm in school and I have another job as well so I am pretty busy and I need my phone to be working,” said Katie Knight of Forest City.
About a year ago AT&T purchased a cell phone tower in Browndale from NEP Communications in Forest City. AT&T has been working on the tower and the results are starting to show.
For folks who live and work in Forest City, having spotty cell phone service made it difficult to run a business.
“It gets frustrating for me and the customers, and then you have to call back and can't get a hold of them, so it's hard to juggle that around,” said Jerry Sheare of G.M. Improvements.
Folks come from all over to hunt here and were concerned about bad reception and dead zone areas. Having inconsistent cell phone service was also a problem for Forest City area emergency services.
Responders tell Newswatch 16 that emergency calls could bounce around all the way down to Bucks County. The new tower can save time.
“Here we are dispatched through Wayne County Communication Center, so if the call goes through another facility or center by the time they get the correct communication dispatched for emergency, that's precious time,” said Steve Davis of Forest City Area EMS.
Emergency responders say with better cell phone service, they will be able to help hunters during hunting season and other emergencies in Forest City.