No Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antennas in the Monterey Vista Neighborhood
There are less intrusive means for Verizon to close any alleged "coverage gaps" in the Montery Vista neighborhood, detailed below.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act requires the Wireless Carrier applicant, not the City, to prove that less instrusive alternatives do not exist. Such alternatives may include collocation with existing macro cell sites or new macro cell sites in one of the City’s preferred locations. These alternatives would be outside of — not embedded in — residential zones. The City of Monterey has the authority to enforce its local municipal code to preserve the residential character of residential neighborhoods.
Background
Verizon deploys four main frequencies/wavelengths options to bring Wireless voice and data services to residential zones:
- A. 700 MHZ that has a wavelength of 16.9 inches for primarily data and some VoLTE
- B. 850 MHz that has a wavelength of 13.9 inches for primarily voice/text
- C. 1900 MHz that has a wavelength of 6.2 inches for primarily data and some VoLTE
- D. 2100 MHz that has a wavelength of 5.6 inches for primarily data and some VoLTE
Verizon antennas that send/receive these frequency/wavelength options can be deployed in various configurations, including the following:
- Macro cell tower sites using stand-alone structures (providing coverage 10-20 miles away)
- Roof and building-mounted cell sites (providing coverage 5-10 miles away)
- Utility/Light pole-mounted cell sites (providing coverage 2.5 to 5 miles away)
That’s right. These Utility/Light pole-mounted cell sites do not just transmit down the block; they can they transmit pulsed, data-modulated, RadioFrequency Microwave Radiation through the houses that are nearby on the way to the houses several miles away.
The package of 700 MHz and 850 MHz have wavelengths that travel longer distances, do not dissipate as quickly and are better at passing through buildings and other obstructions compared to the package of 1900 MHz and 2100 MHz. This trend is even more pronounced with the envisioned 5G millimeter-wave frequencies/wavelengths: Verizon’s 28,000 MHz frequency that has a wavelength of 0.4 inches and AT&T’s 37,000 MHz frequency that has a wavelength of 0.3 inches.
Given these facts, what are the least intrusive means for closing an alleged "coverage gap" in residential neighborhoods? Deploy longer wavelengths on tall macro cell towers located outside of neighborhoods.
In summary, the package of 700 MHZ and 850 MHz antennas co-located on macro towers outside of neighborhoods can provide both voice and data services to the Monterey Vista neighborhood — without deploying any Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antennas in residential neighborhoods.
The Consequences
Verizon can fine-tune the radius of transmission to attempt to achieve its Wireless business objectives, but one thing is abundantly clear: Verizon is picking winners and losers in neighborhoods when they deploy utility/light pole-mounted cell sites in residential zones.
The losers, not surprisingly, are the residents in the homes nearest the installations who will endure 24/7/365 exposures to hazardous pulsed, data-modulated, RadioFrequency Microwave Radiation at signal strengths far above -75 dBm — the signal strength needed for good coverage (five bars on your phone). These unfortunate residents will lose significant home property value (20-25% or more), lose the aesthetic beauty and residential character of their neighborhood and lose their inalienable rights to privacy and safety in their own homes — rights that are guaranteed by the US and CA constitutions. The City of Monterey must enforce its Municipal code to protect the privacy and safety of the residents of the Monterey Vista neighborhood.
Verizon has no basis to preempt local authority
Improving (rather than providing) existing coverage and providing capacity relief are NOT provided for in the 1996 Telecommnications Act or the Monterey Codes. Exaggerated and hypothetical presumptions of increasing demand does not mean a gap exists currently, anywhere in Monterey Vista neighborhoods. Circuit courts, including our own Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have consistently held that a claimed prospect of future demand cannot be the basis of a determination of whether a current “Significant gap in coverage” exists. The City must not accept the proposition that applicant has met its very heavy burden of proof that such a coverage gap exists.
The City of Monterey already has substantial evidence entered into the public record that establishes that NO SIGNIFICANT GAP in Verizon coverage exists in the Monterey Vista Neighborhood:
-
There have been over eight hundred pages of public comment sent to the Planning Commissioners and staff opposing these Verizon applications. Over three hundred postcards and many letters denied there are any Verizon significant gaps in coverage
-
Customers consistently have given testimony at two public meetings confirming seamless coverage and quick seamless downloading and data streaming on their Verizon smartphones. This testimony was not controverted by a single speaker.
-
This neighborhood is considered “built out”. There are no plans for increased development or population growth. The demographics are a largely senior population. Homes are expensive and there are few families with children. Most residents use their smartphones only when they are away from home. They have bigger screened devices in their homes connected to the internet with wired or cabled connections. The vast majority maintain land lines. They avoid using cell phones to Skype, stream movies, download emails. No resident has asked for increased Verizon data coverage. The residents of this neighborhood blanketed by this densified network do not want the “service capacity” Verizon wants to install.
-
There is already adequate existing wireless service here. Verizon customers live throughout all areas of the neighborhood and are paying substantial monthly bills to obtain the existing reliable service for which they are willing to pay.
-
Excellent coverage has been repeatedly verified by local Verizon sales representatives and by Verizon’s advertised coverage maps.
-
The YouTube posted video Proposed 13 Verizon Cell Towers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5YIBHTJ844) documents reliable calls and quick video downloads at each and every ExteNet proposed location on first attempt.
Verizon’s Goal to Provide Wireless Television is Frivolous, Wasteful and not an Essential Communications Activity
Wireless Television service not a national, state or local need or priority. It is merely a way for Verizon to wage a market-share battle with Comcast and other Cable companies — and turning residential neighborhoods into its battlefields.
Verizon can no longer masquerade its unregulated, self-serving commercial practices as those of a "public utility". It is clear that Verizon wants the benefits of a public utility (access to the public rights of way), without having to fulfill the obligations of a public utility. Verizon does not provide universal, technology-neutral communications service to everyone, without discrimination at fair and reasonable rates.
Verizon’s proposed Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antennas in front of homes is merely the cheapest way to deliver internet and video data. Verizon’s scheme to beam powerful microwave radiation wirelessly through homes 24/7/365 — through the homes of customers and non-customers alike — is disastrous. The obvious alternative — fiber optic cable to each home — is, by far, the most energy-efficient, most secure, most reliable and safest way to deliver video and internet data. Verizon is simply too cheap to install fiber optic cables directly to its customers’ homes.
This whole (utility/light pole-mounted cell sites in residential neighborhoods) is likely the involuntary selection of the City of Monterey as one of Verizon’s nation-wide 5G laboratories: grabbing the real estate now to be able to return next year to roll out Verizon’s Wireless television service — which is a grossly energy-inefficient way to move 4k video data from Point A (the pole-mounted antenna) to Point B (the few homes that might subscribe to this service). Verizon is aiming to ruin our neighborhoods over a market-share battle with Comcast. This is not a national priority; this is idiocy.
Verizon won’t admit this well-documented plan to the distinguished Planning Commission, but Verizon is not focused on cell phone coverage in the Monterey Vista Neighborhood, at all. This infrastructure is intended to provide Wireless Internet and 4k television service, which is much more profitable than cell phone service, but requires much greater RF microwave radiation exposures throughout the neighborhood. Verizon stopped expanding their fiber optic FIOS home internet and VOIP telephone service on the East Coast, because the cheaper alternative (cell antennas embedded near people’s homes), will make them more money.
http://fortune.com/2016/12/06/verizon-5g-test-small-towns/
Verizon’s Wireless TV And Internet Service Coming To Small Towns Soon
Verizon is getting close to its first large scale trials of a high-speed wireless video service to compete with cable television.
The company will roll out the service, which is based on the upcoming 5G wireless standard, in several small towns by the end of March, CEO Lowell McAdam said on Tuesday. The goal is to provide high-speed connectivity for TV and Internet service to homes and businesses without needing to run fiber optic lines to every customer.
“We won’t be charging for the service, but we will be learning from it and figuring out the distance between the transmitter and the receiver in a 5G environment,” McAdam said at a UBS investor conference in New York.
Verizon has long touted the upcoming 5G standard, which can be up to 100 faster than current 4G wireless service, as the basis for a new cable and Internet service. The 5G technology is needed for Verizon’s six year, $300 million plan to offer TV and Internet in Boston, for example.
The carrier is looking for ways to save money and crack new markets as growth in its two main lines of business, wired and wireless phone service, have slowed. In addition to 5G video service, McAdam has also targeted service for smart, connected devices in the Internet of things and online advertising, via the acquisition of AOL and Yahoo.
Verizon’s Fios unit, which offers TV and Internet service, largely ceased expanding years ago because of the expense of building fiber optic lines to customers. But the 5G wireless plan could dramatically reduce those costs. A customer would only need a typical router placed by a window to receive signals for Internet and TV service from a neighborhood-based cell tower. Verizon has even discussed deploying more numerous microcells, with new technology that can put a 5G transmitter inside a street light, for example.
“This will allow you to stop anywhere from 200 feet to 1,000 feet, somewhere in that range, we think, from the home and then make it a wireless last leg into the home,” McAdam explained. “And I think that is going to be the predominant architecture for wireless service going forward.”
In closing, please enforce Monterey’s local code to require the least intrusive means for closing any alleged coverage gaps. Allow Verizon and other Communication companies to expand Wireless services only via co-location on existing (or new) macro cell towers outside of residential zones. Finally, please encourage video data transmission in Monterey to travel from servers to homes and businesses over a set of shared, Title-II regulated, fiber optic cables — a platform on which many companies can compete without discrimination.