BRAINARDSVILLE, N.Y.-Bell Atlantic Corp. said it has begun testing wireless local loop technology as an alternative to traditional landline telephone service for many of the company’s rural customers.
“If it lives up to its potential during our tests, this wireless service will provide some significant advantages for Bell Atlantic customers,” said James Moran, Bell Atlantic project manager for the wireless trial. “We expect this wireless technology will result in fewer service interruptions for our customers in rural areas during and immediately following severe storms.
“We also anticipate WLL will be cost effective in providing basic telephone service to rural areas,” continued Moran.
Bell Atlantic began installing equipment for the trial earlier this year, and this month began a six-month test with about 100 rural customers in Brainardsville, a remote New York community on the northern boundary of the Adirondack Park. Brainardsville was one of the communities hardest hit by an ice storm that swept across northern New York and New England in January 1998.
Following that storm, Bell Atlantic said it replaced more than 6,500 poles and nearly 600 miles of cable damaged by the ice.
The WLL technology uses a line-of-sight signal that has a range of about 7.5 miles, Moran said. The system has the ability to maintain service during commercial power outages, he said.
At the end of the six-month trial, Bell Atlantic said it plans to assess the technical and economic viability of the technology.
