Fix Pacifica: SF Chronicle: AT&T cell phone users impatient in Pacifica

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

SF Chronicle: AT&T cell phone users impatient in Pacifica

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

(12-16) 11:10 PST PACIFICA -- AT&T cell phone service in Pacifica's Linda Mar neighborhood has been out for five days because of weather-related delays in repairing a damaged antenna, a company spokesman said today.

Crews have been unable to reach the antenna, located on a mountain in Pacifica, because of recent rains, said AT&T spokesman John Britton. The only access to the site is up a steep dirt road, which has turned to muck and is impassable for the 8-ton truck needed for the job, he said.

"It's a critical repair. We have people standing by to get up there," Britton said. "But that road is very muddy now because of the rain. The rain has turned that road into a situation where we can't get a heavy truck up it."

Numerous AT&T cell phone users have complained to the company and to The Chronicle about problems with their service in Linda Mar, located at the south end of Pacifica.

Kerry Jones, 59, of Pacifica said she found it hard to believe AT&T crews couldn't get up the road.

"We have been dry for three days and there is no mountain, just the hills that surround Pacifica," Jones said Tuesday evening before today's rain moved in. "As usual, the consumer is suffering."

Britton said he didn't have an estimate for when service would be restored.