Raising the Bar: Atlantic Beach Facing Poor Cell Service

Residents in Atlantic Beach are making noise over their deteriorated cell phone service. Our own Jeannie Greenwald is at the center of it all – she faces a daily deluge of dropped calls and an AT&T iPhone that at times could be compared to a useless paperweight.

“I look at the phone and it says ‘searching’ – ‘searching for a signal,” she says.

The problem is hyper-specific – parts of Atlantic Beach get coverage just fine – but once you pass a certain invisible cellular boundary, you’re likely to see dropped calls, and data speeds reminiscent of ten years ago.

“There’s no way I’d cut the landline,” Jeannie says. “I’d like to. I don’t see why I have to pay for all these phones. But we need a reliable to line to make a phone call.”

There is a clear divide in the beachside town. Driving over one of the beach access roads can mean the difference between making a call – and not being able to access emergency services, including 911.

“I’d go to the AT&T store and look on the map – and I’d see our area shaded a slightly lighter color,” Jeannie says. “So obviously there is a problem here.”

Coverage maps provided by AT&T show that residents in Atlantic Beach should have 4G data services, and “better to best” voice coverage. Clearly, residents in Atlantic Beach are seeing anything but that.

AT&T insisted last year that they were working on the tower. Jeannie’s recent trouble calls have fallen on deaf ears.

“I feel a little bit backed into a corner here,” she says. “I just wish they would fix the problem. I don’t get it. I’d like a real answer.”

If you’re experiencing dropped calls or poor reception on your AT&T mobile device in Atlantic Beach, leave a comment below.