Rural Boulder County residents look for solutions to cell service issues

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Bob and Judee Snell are used to peace and quiet at their tranquil home in Raymond, just off the banks of the South Saint Vrain Creek.

“It’s a peaceful, lovely place,” Judee said. “If you want to be on your own unto yourself, you certainly can be if you want to have a dinner out with some friends. You just pick up the phone.”

But when they lose power at their home, it can get a little too quiet.

The Snells and their neighbors live in Boulder County between Lyons and Allenspark, on the outskirts of the Roosevelt National Forest. Cell phone service is nonexistent. Voice calls only work when connected to wireless internet.

“Dependable cell service is over a half-hour away driving,” Bob Snell said.

In April, the lack of service was top of mind when Xcel Energy shut off power to thousands of homes on the Front Range during a high wind storm in an effort to mitigate fire risk. The Snells and their neighbors were without power for more than three days, meaning their cell phones and landlines did not work for the majority of that time.

This also meant that if there were any sort of emergency, they would have to drive upward of 30 minutes just to be able to call for help.

“We can't call 911, nor can we get a reverse 911 call if there's a forest fire or flood,” said Bob, who noted that a reserve 911 call in 2013 alerted him and Judee to evacuate during the floods that caused more than $4 billion in damages .

Back then, their phone provider, CenturyLink, had backup battery power that would last up to 24 hours during an outage. If the outage extended beyond that, the Snells say CenturyLink would come up with a generator to maintain phone service.

However, according to the Public Utilities Commission, a series of new telecommunications laws eased some industry regulations. Since then, the Snells say the batteries have not been replaced and only last for three or four hours today.

“So the argument was at the time that there did not need to be as much regulation because competition would help keep rates low as well as keep quality of service high,” PUC Telecom Program Section Chief Daryl Branson said.

Rural Boulder County residents look for solutions to cell service issues

While the PUC doesn’t have the authority to make any changes, Branson said the commission is monitoring the issue and has taken part in discussions with Boulder County, CenturyLink and Xcel to address this issue as planned outages likely will become more common.

“This is not the first time that they've had trouble up there due to power outages causing communication outages as well,” Branson said.

CenturyLink declined an interview but provided a statement, saying, “This is becoming more prevalent with scheduled commercial power outages due to high winds during fire season. We met with the Boulder Public Safety Answering Points and first responders to better understand how we can solve residential impacts when there is a scheduled power outage. We have batteries that will last up to 12 hours when commercial power is cut off, but this is a temporary solution. We have ordered new batteries to help ensure services continue for as long as possible.”

Jeanine and Bill Ellis, who also live in Raymond, have spent years looking for solutions. Bill recently spoke during a PUC meeting about this issue. He also operates a ham radio, which allows him to communicate with the fire department during power outages.

“This is not just a problem with the Raymond-Riverside area. This is a problem in a whole rural mountain area of Boulder County,” Bill said.

Boulder County also declined an interview. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office provided a statement that read, “During Xcel’s proactive power outage in April, the electricity required for CenturyLink landlines in Boulder County was unavailable in mountain and remote communities. Landlines are essential for the delivery of emergency communications, particularly in mountain communities, which have limited or no cell phone service. Boulder County continues to advocate for our residents in discussions with CenturyLink and Xcel as both utility providers deliver the crucial infrastructure and services required for effective emergency communications.”

Both the Snells and Ellises are glad that discussions are happening but are hopeful for action before the next outage.

“I would like to see these companies work together,” Judee said. “They need to get this addressed and quickly.”

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