‘Drive Test’ Results: Major Gaps in Mobile Coverage Across Town

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Much of New Canaan has poor cellular service and many parts have none at all, according to a widely anticipated “drive test” or “road test” conducted this summer by a Seattle-based company.

During the July 16 meeting of the Utilities Commission, representatives from Ookla provided substantial data regarding mobile coverage – or rather, the lack thereof –  throughout New Canaan.  

“Poor to dreadful” is how one commissioner described the town’s mobile coverage during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Ookla presented multiple graphs illustrating gaps in service.

Alekhya Pulavarthy, senior product manager at Ookla, presented a chart to officials showing a period of time where about 30% of calls placed by T-Mobile users in New Canaan failed. The town “severely lacks adequate coverage,” she said, and about 93% of samples collected during the drive test fell into Ookla’s “very poor” category of service.

In addition, the drive test found that all carriers in town showed poor data call performance with high rates of failures, which “indicates a poor experience for subscribers in town,” she said. 

Pulavarthy added that “a large number of subscribers in town will have a hard time placing or sustaining a voice call.”

This lack of call connection is alarming, as it may inhibit individuals from reaching first responders during times of emergency.

The findings come as the reconstituted Utilities Commission—an appointed body that municipal officials resurrected amid the prior first selectman’s awkward push for a tower behind West School—makes progress toward recommendations on cell coverage as part of its charge to “ensure safe, reliable and efficient utilities services for the residents and businesses of New Canaan.” 

When individuals dial 911, all four carriers present in New Canaan – Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and FirstNet – are used to making an emergency call, Ookla officials said. However, this is not the case for first responders who may need to make an emergency call but are confined to a single carrier, they said. The case is the same for the police who may need to transmit certain information they wish to keep private over cell phones during an emergency. 

Ookla representatives asked town officials whether they had discussed solutions with service providers. 

Commissioners replied that they have had limited conversation with carriers as they were waiting for tangible data (as opposed to anecdotal evidence). 

Bryan Darr, vice president of government affairs at Ookla, provided some insight into possible solutions for New Canaan. 

“If a company is going to make the investment in a tower and fibers, sometimes the best site to cover the edge of a town might actually be a neighboring community – which will help them too,” Darr said. “Cooperation with neighbors who also have understanding of their coverage difficulties will be helpful.”

He added that possibly making use of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) may provide a significant economic advantage to installing a new cell tower in New Canaan. “Close connections with folks in the state BroadBand office could also ultimately assist in providing the types of infrastructure savings necessary to make some of these economics work better for the operators and the tower partners,” Darr said.

Darr added that the size of land lots in New Canaan has greatly contributed to the town’s lack of coverage. 

“You have very very large lots so the challenge for the operators from an economic standpoint comes down to density,” Darr said. “This is why rural America has such abysmal coverage. Every one of the towers costs a great deal of money “In the early days, most operators owned their own towers, a decade or more ago they sold most of their towers to the big tower companies. Many of these original towers were only meant to hold a single carrier. The higher the tower ultimately determines how many radio networks you can hang on that tower. Some cities have had difficulty with coverage in a particular area because the tower that is there was intentionally limited in its height many years ago.”

Some commissioners said that if New Canaanites expect better coverage in town, more towers must be built. 

Members of the appointed body asked how many additional towers are required in town to “dramatically increase” coverage and service. 

Darr replied that Ookla does not do those types of studies – which require significant other analysis including that of topography and foliage. 

“It’s a whole different engineering requirement,” Darr said. “We know people in that space we can connect you with but Ookla is not familiar with that.” 

Next steps include deeper analysis by commissioners of Ookla’s extensive presentation and a possible introduction of a consumer speed mobile app to citizens, which provides a way for New Canaan residents to contribute crucial data through their own devices, officials said.