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Bridges connect, hump doesn't

Cell phone users lament their dropped calls on Tampa Bay area bridges, but the companies say the problem is getting better.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published December 26, 2005

The ubiquity of mobile phones can make it seem like the world is at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere.

But in the Tampa Bay area, road warriors speak of a baby Bermuda Triangle where mobile connections sometimes go to die.

They call it the hump. And it's a pain in the rump.

Just ask Tina Otnes of Tampa, who braves the hump on the Howard Frankland Bridge every weekday.

"You're on the phone and you're like, "Hang on, I might lose you - I'm going over the hump,"' she said. "Sometimes you do."

The stretch of Interstate 275 that unites Pinellas and Hillsborough counties also can pull you and your phone buddy apart.

St. Petersburg businessman Will Shaffer makes sure to get off the phone prehump.

"You never want to hang up on a client," he said. "You can't trust the hump."

Calls don't always get dropped, and whether they do can depend on several factors, including your phone and service provider. But everyone - including representatives from several wireless companies - agrees that it happens.

As for why, here's one clue: Disconnects also sometimes occur when travelers reach the crest of the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

The key to the problem is being in an elevated area over water. Todd Stone, an engineering manager for Sprint and Nextel, explains it this way.

Say you're crossing the Howard Frankland and talking on the phone. Your handset likely is simultaneously receiving signals from two or three of your provider's "cell sites" - places where the signal originates, such as towers.

That's fine.

Your phone likes to handle a few signals at once, so they can "hand off" your conversation as you get farther from one signal and closer to another.

The problem is when you get to the hump, and you rise from being a few feet above the water to more than 50 feet.

"All a sudden, that handset will start seeing signals from a multitude of cell sites," Stone said. "While it likes to see up to three signals, when it starts to see more than that, it can get confused."

Alice Hartnett, a spokeswoman for Alltel, called the onslaught of signals "pollution." When your phone can't figure out what signal to use to maintain the connection, it might drop the call.

On land, a bit of elevation doesn't present a problem because objects such as buildings and trees obstruct many radio waves and signals.

But on the middle of an elevated bridge, signals zip along unencumbered and carry extremely well over water, Hartnett said.

Wireless service providers acknowledge the challenge of providing uninterrupted service across long, elevated bridges and strive to reduce disconnects.

Alltel has seen improvements since it installed antennas on its towers that focus wireless signals across the span, Hartnett said. That helps your phone ignore the other signals vying for its attention.

Verizon made improvements last year to its service across the Howard Frankland's highest point because the highway is a hurricane evacuation route, spokesman Chuck Hamby said.

"If there's 2,000 cars evacuating on the bridge," Hamby said, "we don't want all 2,000 dropping calls on the hump."

Verizon added towers near each end of the bridge, Hamby said, and made changes in how signals are delivered to help ensure handsets connect with the closest towers.

Hamby, who travels the bridge often, said he's lost "maybe one" call at the hump since then: "I think we've largely fixed the problem. We certainly have minimized it."

Such efforts are music to the ears of heavily wired bridge travelers such as Mike Peppin, who constantly uses his BlackBerry and two mobile phones.

"My wife thinks it would be nice to get away from people," Peppin said. "But I don't think the middle of a bridge is the best place for that to happen."

--Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 813 226-3431.

[Last modified December 26, 2005, 00:43:13]