Chilmark Calls on Cell Providers for Better Service

Katrina Liu Monday, September 8 2025 - 3:30pm

Chilmark town officials are hoping they can get through to cellular providers about the lack of signal in the up-Island community.

The select board last week received several letters from residents who raised safety concerns about the spotty reception in town. Many cited worries about how it could cut off the Island’s elderly population from medical help.

Some places in town the public reported having little to no cell service include sections of Middle Road, Tabor House Road and North Road.

“It is certainly inconvenient not to have cell service, but my biggest concern is that it is a health risk,” wrote residents Sarah Fox and Steven Lofchie. “Much of the population of Chilmark is elderly and I imagine many of those residents do not have a reliable way to call their physicians, the hospital or 911.”

Among the most rural towns on the Vineyard, getting strong cell service in Chilmark has been a long-term struggle. The issue has been compounded by the decline of landline phones throughout the country.

“To me, it’s becoming a safety issue because so many people don’t have a landline anymore, so if you don’t have cell service, you can’t call 911,” select board member Jeffrey Maida said.

At last week’s select board meeting, town administrator Timothy Carroll suggested that the board encourage the public to continue writing letters and the board voted to ask Verizon and American Tower Company (ATC), the company in charge of the distributed antenna system (DAS), to come to a future meeting to address their complaints. The motion was unanimously approved.

“A petition to them doesn’t do anything, but the more complaints to each carrier from each customer, it makes a difference,” Mr. Carroll said. “They have analytics and that’s how they justify spending the money to do the upgrade.”

Mr. Carroll encouraged people to call their cell phone carrier immediately when they notice dips in their cell service to put further pressure on carriers to provide better coverage in town.

Because voters didn’t approve the construction of macro towers about 15 years ago, another plan had to be approved that also followed zoning bylaws. This led to the DAS system, which consists of 38 nodes — pole-top antennas that are placed in one mile corridors on town roads, according to Mr. Carroll. At the time, the town was told that because there may be only a handful of people getting service from each node, ATC may not be as urgent in fixing problems should they arise.

Mr. Carroll also said the system in general needs to be updated.

“It’s an antiquated system, and it needs to be upgraded,” he said. “T-Mobile is signed on to have it upgraded, but they’re just one of the three tenants. The whole system has to be updated.”

Other suggestions from the select board and the public included revisiting the idea of installing a macro tower, which would have to go through the planning board before going to the town.

A date for the meeting with the phone carriers and ATC has not been scheduled yet.

Comments

Besides poor cell quality in

Jack A. West Tisbury

Besides poor cell quality in many spots of Chilmark, the fatal problem with the DAS system is that when power is lost, the cell system becomes unusable. Each antenna on a pole lacks an emergency generator to keep the system alive. The town should elect to put a couple of large antennas across town to make sure people in need of emergency services can summon them.

If we want better cell

John Chilmark

If we want better cell service we need to allow providers to build towers. Peaked Hill is the perfect place. DAS isn’t designed for use in rural areas.

There are existing Cell

MWG EDG

There are existing Cell towers in Chilmark. Are more antennas needed to increase coverage, or could more equipment be added to the existing antennas?

With the current Peaked Hill

Lisa Chilmark

With the current Peaked Hill tower being limited to emergency equipment only, they should at least allow AT&T (FirstNet) to install equipment. That would provide first responders with coverage and allow anyone to dial 911 regardless of provider.

Not having cell service is a

John Furst Pondmark Road, Chilmark

Not having cell service is a serious hazard to our health and welfare. How are we supposed to call our service provider to complain when we don’t have service?! And would a Fortune 500 company really care if they receive 5 calls from Chilmark customers? The Select Board must not delay in scheduling a meeting with ATC and the phone carriers to discuss a viable solution, including installing a cell tower on Peaked Hill.

You could write to them...?

Bailey

You could write to them...? Why do you expect the public (aka Town)solve this issue for you? It is between you, the consumer, and your provider (ATT, Verizon, FrogMobile, Net10 etc)

I know it's serious in

Gerald Edgartown

I know it's serious in Chilmark, as a few emergency situations left me with many "call failed" messages. And I have the same problem in Edgartown, often 4-5 times a day. It is stunning that we cannot get this fixed.

Cell towers bad. Cell service

William Edg

Cell towers bad. Cell service bad. More cell towers bad. Hey Chilmark, build a cell tower on town owned land!

I wonder how Chilmark

Bailey WT

I wonder how Chilmark contacted the emergency services before cellphones? Maybe it is more a matter of inconvenience and not so much than public safety? It can be infuriating not having the access you need in the digital era, so much so that i'd move!

Writing to the cell carriers

Andy WT

Writing to the cell carriers to complain seems like a futile effort when Chilmark has no one to blame but themselves when they voted to prohibit cell carriers on the Peaked Hill tower.

Sorry Tim but telling Verizon

Harry West Tisbury

Sorry Tim but telling Verizon or AT&T about problems is like shouting in the wind. There never will be enough numbers from Chilmark to be heard. The town pays for the DAS service so that's where the it needs to be addressed. Another serious issue is near the school and future pre-school. The signal drops to practically nothing. It's becoming a school safety issue as well.

you can't complain you don't

Matthew West Tisbury

you can't complain you don't have cell service if you've prohibited cell towers.The days system obviously isn't enough. Maybe rethink giving up your landlines or allow cell towers.

Now that we have dozens of

David M Eisenberg Aquinnah

Now that we have dozens of wind mills to gaze at, how much worse would it be to have to look at 3 or 4 conventional cellular towers.

Starlink --> WiFi --> at-home

Chappy Guy Chappy

Starlink --> WiFi --> at-home cell service over WiFi. Problem solved.

I commented over on the other

David F Chilmark and Stroudsburg, PA

I commented over on the other paper, but apparently I'm not worthy. I used to run a cell phone company and we used a Distributed Antenna System (DAS). There is nothing wrong with a DAS system, but they have limitations. Most of the radio frequencies used for cell service are line of site (they don't bend around hills in the way). DAS systems are usually low to the ground (top of power poles) and they only have about a half mile coverage radius.

The Chilmark/Aquinnah system runs along State Rd. So any location that doesn't have good line of site to State Rd doesn't have coverage. I would also note that the site at the bottom of Squibnocket Rd has been knocked off vertical and is broadcasting up into the air over squibnocket and down into the ground before Nashaquitsa pond.

Peaked Hill and the Gay Head lighthouse would probably cover the entire up-island area:)

Comcast to WiFi to cell

Joseph WT

Comcast to WiFi to cell calling over WiFi will do the same thing. If people don’t get a cell signal at home they should make sure they have WiFi calling enabled on their cell phones. Doesn’t solve all the problems, but at least makes it possible to call from home.

Residents worry poor coverage could become a safety hazard.