People who live in Overland Park, Kan., should be getting more reliable cellphone signals by year’s end, thanks to some inconspicuous antenna installations.
Chicago-based telecommunications contractor Extenet Systems installed a handful of cone-like cellphone signal boosters on top of light poles throughout Overland Park.
Overland Park Public Works city traffic engineer Brian Shields says that the additions are a good alternative to building large cellular towers.
“The city’s preference is to have less polls and other infrastructure," Shields said. "Cellphone towers are still needed for main coverage, but these are just to boost signals in specific areas where they may not have coverage as good as what’s needed.”
Overland Park is leasing street polls to Extenet until December 2023. The company must pay for all upkeep and maintenance. The antennas have the capability to boost multiple signals from different wireless carriers, but it’s currently unknown which companies will pay to use them.
Extenet will start to activate the devices later this year, and more will be installed in early 2015.
