Hey, what's that? New telecom tower attracts puzzled looks in Eldorado
ELDORADO - The new addition to downtown Eldorado is hard to miss.
It's an enormous silver tower rising into the sky just off Fourth Street between City Hall and the Street Department garage.
And while it's not quite clear what the tower will do once operational, it likely will enhance existing wireless service in town, the workers installing the tower say.
"It's hard to say exactly what it's going to do, though it clearly looks like a cell tower," David Parker, a worker for Infinity Construction of Buford, Georgia, said.
Parker and co-worker John Wills are finishing their portion of the tower installation for USA Mobility, a wireless provider for government, large enterprise, health care and emergency response sectors according to its website.
As Wills begins to dig with a shovel, Parker said most cellular equipment installers, by contract, are not permitted to disclose much about the equipment's capabilities.
"There are tons of privacy and nondisclosure agreements because the companies want to protect their intellectual property, so we couldn't tell you if we wanted to. We aren't given that information. Our job is to put it up and have it ready for the next crew that comes along," Parker said.
According to Eldorado City Clerk Stacy James, a letter from Mobility states that the tower is a "small cell tower" and/or a "transport facility," both of which are designed to improve connectivity in Eldorado.
James said according to the letter, a transport facility will improve the wireless signals it handles and is designed to make wireless internet through that tower on par speed-wise with a fiber optic connection.
She said there is some speculation whether it eventually will handle a 5G cellphone signal, but there is nothing definite.
"People just wonder if that's what it's going to have eventually," she said.
5G or not, Parker, one of the two installers, says his job involves a lot of questions from a community.
He said when his company puts up a new tower, it usually attracts curious passers-by.
"Everywhere we go, which is Maryland to Texas, people come up to us and want to know what we're doing, which is understandable," he said. "But sometimes, people think the worst."
He said he and Wills have heard all kinds of conspiracy theories, from government cameras to harmful energies affecting nearby foliage on trees.
Parker chuckled as he recalled one woman who said she was upset with the "evils" of the cellphone industry. Ironically, she was using her cellphone to document that particular tower installation, he said.
"She said that was the only way she could get her information out to people. I told her she could use a camera and post photos, maybe go to a newspaper," he said.
In the meantime, a couple of days of work are left for the company before they move to the next job.
"We have to dig a couple of ditches so they'll be able to run lines to this tower, but there's gas lines, power and fiber optic here in a tight area, so this will have to be dug by hand," he said.
"All of it," Wills, looking up from his shovel, said.
Then, it will be off to Little Rock, Arkansas for the next one, Parker said.
"They keep us busy, but the cellular companies have a lot of catching up to do. We're about 10 years behind Japan and five years behind Europe as far as cellular technology," he said.