Cell Phone Coverage Boosted in Monta Vista Area

Cell phone users in the Monta Vista High School area should be cursing less about the crappy cell coverage in Cupertino thanks to a new AT&T cell site that went live Dec. 31.

"Good wireless coverage is not magic, you need infrastructure," said John Britton, AT&T spokesman.

The new cell site means better coverage and capacity on Highway 85 from Stevens Creek Boulevard, including about half of Memorial Park, to South Stelling Road, and along McClellan Road from Byrne Avenue to South Stelling Road.  The additional coverage will reach south "not quite, but almost to Krzich Place," Britton said.

Boosted coverage, capacity and speed is the gift that comes with the new site, .

Adding capacity is like adding lanes to a freeway, Britton said, and should improve cell phone service inside buildings as well as outdoors and is expected to reduce the number of dropped calls customers experience as well.

It was a nearly six-year battle at Cupertino City Hall between those who pushed for the cell site in the Monta Vista area and those who said the site was dangerous and unsightly.

The need for increased capacity has grown year after year as more people use cell phones and more cell phones being used are smart phones
which nab more of the capacity.

"People are staying connected," Britton said, through social media and any of the 500,000 apps that are out there.

"It's part of everyday life to have mobile broadband, which makes us have to have the capacity," he said.

Additional cell sites were added to Mountain View as part of AT&T's 2011 build.