Thursday, October 16, 2008

I Want One Too

Regular readers will recall that the new home has marginal, at best, cell service. I had to give up my AT&T wireless internet and go with Comcast.

I was thus intrigued by this article on the Washington Post website. It seems that last year Cindy McCain inquired with Verizon as to putting up a cell tower on her ranch in Sedona, AZ. She would donate the land and they would pay for the tower, dish, a fence, etc. The ranch is located in a mostly unpopulated area and "the tower would fill gaps in unpopulated parts of Coconino National Forest and on about 20 parcels of land, including a handful of residences, and two small businesses open only by appointment." Verizon began the permitting process and ran into a problem with "environmental concerns." Cutting out part of the story, Verizon and AT&T decided to provide temporary cell towers to the McCain ranch.

Here's the part that gives me hope for my cell problems:

"McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said that the senator is not a regulator and that Cindy McCain received no favors from Verizon or AT&T.

'Mrs. McCain's staff went through the Web site as any member of the general public would - no string-pulling, no phone calls, no involvement of Senate staff,' Rogers said. 'Just because she is married to a senator doesn't mean she forfeits her right to ask for cell service as any other Verizon customer can.'"

That Obama fella, everyone knows he's an elitist. Cindy, John and me, we're just regular folks. I'm going to get my staff on that website pronto.

3 comments:

Gypsy at Heart said...

Absolutely! What utter naivité!!!

Jenn said...

while you at it get some help for us out here in the boonies

Unknown said...

Actually a free tower spot is a sweet deal for a cell company. I rent spots to wireless providers and they ain't cheap :-)

The great thing about being a McCain or Obama is that you don't have to "pull strings", at least not overtly. You just say "Wow, wouldn't this be neat" and it happens, as if by magic.

The tower didn't get built due to environmental reasons which probably precluded a permit. A real player could have gotten around that little hangup. Pretty sure the McCains could, especially in AZ.