I need AT&T's Help

AT&T,

     I need your help.

     You are a leading wireless provider in the nation and have one of the most advanced networks the world has ever known, covering 97% of all Americans. I need you to help thousands of people and help to ensure their security by extending your wireless footprint by adding a single antenna to your network. 

     I work for a Boy Scout summer camp called Raven Knob Scout Reservation in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. We operate a several thousand person summer camp with people from Pennsylvania and Kentucky all the way down to Florida and beyond coming to spend a week learning important leadership and outdoor skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. This is a mission that we are honored to have you support as the national wireless sponsor of the Boy Scouts of America. 

     We are a progressive camp, always looking to ensure that the scouts and scouters that come to our camp receive the best possible experience. One of the most important parts of coming to camp for our numerous scouts and scouters that are several hundred miles away from home is to have easy communications with their work and with their loved ones.

     We as a camp have a very robust communications network to assist in providing these needs and to ensure the safety of scouts and scouters that visit our camp. Fiber optic cable is currently being installed in our camp that will provide exceptional internet speeds for our 11 wireless hotspots. We have had a team of dedicated volunteers install miles of buried wire, wiring camp for over 200 local phone extensions, making across camp communication efficient, and management in the unlikely event of an emergency, seamless.

     Wireless phone access is provided though varying providers. Sprint, Verizon, and Carolina West customers all have wireless coverage within the most traveled parts of our camp.

     AT&T Mobility claims to have wireless coverage in our area, but, alas, the coverage map, though exceptionally crafted to have the most accurate predictions possible for coverage, does not reflect the actual coverage within our area. AT&T phones are not capable of placing or receiving calls, or loading data within camp. 

     This has proven to be a problem for many of our scoutmasters. One example that comes to mind is when a scoutmaster’s family member had a medical emergency. He could not be reached because AT&T does not have signal in camp, causing great stress on his family during their time of need. This is one of countless problems scoutmasters have had that are great inconveniences.

     Not having AT&T service is also a threat to our scouter's safety. Thousands of people hike our back country trails, where the only form of communication is cellular phones. Having cellular service would provide a basic degree of safety to hikers, and, seeing that our camp is only, at it's most remote point, 7 miles from I-77, we believe that it would be feasible to provide AT&T coverage in our area.

     Thus, my plea to you is this: Please add a cell antenna for your network to the already existing tower that serves the local area. The tower is located on Fisher's Peak in Surry County, NC. This should provide AT&T wireless network access to thousands of your customers that are coming to our camp each year, helping to ensure their safety.

In Scouting,

Evan L.