AT&T officials answer questions from concerned residents
Photo
One of the AT&T utility cabinets installed for new internet and cable service on Delavan Drive in Janesville.
JANESVILLE — A handful of residents who attended a meeting to hear about AT&T’s plans to install utility cabinets said they were satisfied with the company’s cooperation in finding the best locations.
Wednesday night’s meeting was for residents who will be affected by AT&T’s first round of installations. The company notified them by mail of the proposed locations and will do the same for future affected residents.
Installation of the boxes, called Project Lightspeed, is needed to increase bandwidth before AT&T can offer its product, U-verse, Bentoff said. U-verse is a 100-percent Internet-based video service. It will include digital TV, high-speed Internet and digital voice services.
AT&T’s initial plans called for up to 80 cabinets in Janesville through 2008, but a company spokesman told The Janesville Gazette earlier “it’s highly unlikely” that that many will be placed.
Resident Ted Kinnaman was concerned Wednesday about where the box proposed for 509 Adams St. would be placed. Kinnaman lives on Columbus Circle, and the proposed location is in his backyard.
AT&T officials said the cabinet would be 63 inches long, 21 inches wide, 43 inches tall and sit on an 8-foot by 6-foot concrete slab.
“That’s really going to take up a lot of space,” Kinnaman said.
He was concerned that a row of bushes would be removed, but AT&T design engineer Andy Madsen told Kinnaman to call him if that became a problem.
While Kinnaman said he doesn’t have a choice where the box is placed in the right of way, he said he hopes the bushes will provide some camouflage to make the cabinet “minimally obnoxious.”
Kinnaman was the only affected resident who had questions about the proposed locations.
Three neighbors who live on Chesapeake Drive attended the meeting to learn more about the project and if cabinets would be placed in their yards.
“I would scream bloody murder if you stuck that in my front yard,” resident Judy Butek said.
If a box is placed in the right of way around her home, AT&T officials said, it would be in the backyard near other utility boxes, which she said satisfied her.
AT&T officials said it is ideal for them to place the utility cabinets as close as possible to existing boxes.
TO LEARN MORE
If you received a letter from AT&T and could not attend Wednesday’s meeting, you can call the company at the number listed on the letter or the city at (608) 755-3160.
May 19, 2008 at 7:41 p.m.
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"AT&T wisely started putting up the boxes before making a public proclamation." Are we expected to view this as a virtue? Why not let residents know what is going on and let the people decide...or do we need local politicians to decide what is good for us?
May 19, 2008 at 12:24 p.m.
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I have to agree with Third_Eye. People in this town are so opposed to progress and new technologies. Which is why this is pretty much a dying town. Once we get rid of those GM folks this town will fall apart. Even with elite & educated individuals such as myself...there are not enough of us to save this town any longer. The intelligence & growth level of this town peaked years ago, I'm afraid to say.
May 16, 2008 at 7:58 a.m.
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QwertyToo: Here's a response I got from an AT&T spokesman on that issue.
Gina Duwe, Reporter
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Batteries provided to AT&T over a year ago by a vendor that has since gone out of business resulted in small fires and other problems in four cabinets, including one in Wisconsin. While the incident rate with those batteries was very low -- 0.02 percent -- as we gained experience with them, we found they no longer met our stringent performance and safety criteria. We stopped deploying them in U-verse cabinets in the first quarter of 2007, and are replacing all such batteries across the country. All such batteries in U-verse cabinets in Wisconsin have already been replaced. We are replacing the batteries with NiCd and VRLA batteries -- different technology, from different vendors. The new batteries have a history of safe, reliable use by municipalities and other telecommunications and cable companies in similar applications. Since the network buildout is just beginning in Janesville, only NiCd and VRLA batteries will be used in Janesville cabinets.
May 16, 2008 at 1:07 a.m.
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It looks like no one asked if they were still using the u-verse boxes that occasionally burst into flames.
May 16, 2008 at 12:36 a.m.
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It's called "right of way." Apparently you don't own property.
Kind of like the "terrace."
May 16, 2008 at 12:22 a.m.
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So do the residents receive any sort of compensation from AT&T for allowing them to use their property? Or is this somehow covered under the eminent domain laws? Even if that were the case, I believe eminent domain requires that you receive "fair value" of the property you forfeit.
Hey; if AT&T wants to give me free life time, high speed internet, and phone service, in exchange for putting a box in my front yard; they can contact me anytime!
May 15, 2008 at 11:40 p.m.
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Perhaps Mr. Kinnaman could shop for some plant seeds at Cosas Tipicas. I heard they imported a lot of reasonably priced vegetation.
May 15, 2008 at 5:38 p.m.
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U-verse might be the only true competition to cable. I'm a technology geek, but unfortunately, I'm not holding my breath that prices will be much cheaper than Charter.
May 15, 2008 at 2:58 p.m.
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NIMBY is right. I already have a power transformer, phone box, and cable box in my backyard. You can have the AT&T box in your backyard, because mine is full, and I don't even have a regular phone, nor do I intend to get one, or AT&T's new service.
May 15, 2008 at 12:05 p.m.
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Janesville is NIMBY town. Everyone wants the latest technology, I see people on cell phones everywhere, yet the battles to get a cell tower up are legend. How about that TV channel for Janesville? It's in Madison now because the 'Not In My Backyard' crowd prevailed.
Taking a cue from the billboard company that put up electronic billboards before making a public proclamation, AT&T wisely started the project before attracting the NIMBY's.
In Janesville it's better to seek forgiveness than ask permission.
There was a time when people were enamored by progress, and would be proud if some item of technology was placed near them.
Then there is Ted Kinnaman.
May 15, 2008 at 11:15 a.m.
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If something is planned to go in the right-of-way, oh well too bad. The right-of-way was there when we bought the land. It's intent is for the good of the people as a whole. This is where GOOD customer service is a crucial factor. So long as they are willing to work with the homeowner to place it as inconspicuously as possible, then that's the best they should have to do. I'd sure be irritated if it were my front yard on the curb, but in the backyard at the back of the lot, who cares.
Those boxes aren't as much of an eyesore as overhead power, telephone, and cable lines in the older neighborhoods(like Columbus Circle, courthouse hill, etc.....). I'd gladly trade my wires, and my neighbors wires that run over my yard for one of those boxes in the back corner of my yard.
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