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Last week, residents in the Pinewood/Lick Creek area of Williamson County came a lot closer to better cellular coverage and eventually broadband service when a new tower was dedicated at the Williamson County Landfill on Pinewood Road.
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A new cell tower at the Williamson County Landfill will soon provide increased coverage for emergency services and residents of the Pinewood/Lick Creek area of Williamson County.
Some of the many people who made the new cellular tower possible at the Williamson County Landfill stand at the base of the tower, which will bring better cell service to the Pinewood/Lick Creek area of Williamson County.
From left: Mark Hager, Tommy Herron, Janet Gill, Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, Pat Troxell-Tant and Michael Sandifer.
A new cell tower at the Williamson County Landfill will soon provide increased coverage for emergency services and residents of the Pinewood/Lick Creek area of Williamson County.
Some of the many people who made the new cellular tower possible at the Williamson County Landfill stand at the base of the tower, which will bring better cell service to the Pinewood/Lick Creek area of Williamson County.
From left: Mark Hager, Tommy Herron, Janet Gill, Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, Pat Troxell-Tant and Michael Sandifer.
Last week, residents in the Pinewood/Lick Creek area of Williamson County came a lot closer to better cellular coverage and eventually broadband service when a new tower was dedicated at the Williamson County Landfill on Pinewood Road.
The first service provider to go live on the tower will be Verizon Wireless.
It all began with a desire to help people in poor service areas communicate. As technology has advanced with faster cellular service, internet and Wi-Fi, it’s opened up new communication possibilities.
Those possibilities quickly turned into realities and necessities when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Students and parents were learning and working from home, and video conferences for schools and businesses required faster internet access. Fast internet is available in densely populated areas, but in some areas of Williamson County, working and learning from home is more than a challenge — it’s impossible.
“It was getting to a point where people couldn’t communicate with schools and work, and I was getting phone calls,” Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson said.
Even before the pandemic, Anderson was looking for solutions to the communication issues in certain areas of the county. It was not only affecting those living in those areas, it was a public safety problem.
First responders now have computers connected with cellular service in their vehicles, and they use cell phones instead of radios. When calls come in from areas with sparse cellular coverage, it affects both their phones and computers. They have to resort to other means of communication, like old two-way radios.
“Lack of [cellular] coverage makes receiving calls for public safety difficult and can be dangerous,” said Bill Jorgensen, Williamson County 911 emergency communications director.
Anderson had numerous conversations with cellular providers and cell tower contractors and settled on Vogue Towers, a woman-owned wireless infrastructure company based in Chattanooga. The company was founded in 1995 by Pat Troxell-Tant. She and partner Janet Gill, who joined her in 1999, have built more than 5,000 towers
“Two years ago, I reached out to [Troxell-Tant], and with Bobby Cook (the county’s legal adviser), met with her about a public-private partnership,” Anderson said. “I told her I’d like to see Williamson County be the best-connected county in Tennessee with cellular and broadband. Williamson County is one of the counties in need of the ability to communicate.”
The county has two cell towers at the landfill, but they’re dated, according to Jorgenson, and shorter than the new tower, providing diminished service. One of the towers will soon be taken down once the new one is online.
“Vogue is honored to be a part of Mayor Anderson’s commitment to bringing wireless coverage to all areas of Williamson County,” Troxell-Tant said. “This tower will not only increase coverage to the Pinewood community, but ensure the highest level of safety should citizens need to contact 911 officials on a cell phone. This project demonstrated Mayor Anderson’s interest and concern for the citizens of Williamson County to have the highest level of wireless coverage.”
Verizon is already on the tower but is waiting for fiber to connect and go live, which should be within the next few weeks, Jorgensen said.
“When it happens, people will know,” he said. “We should have pretty robust coverage around the county.”
Vogue Towers will also market space on the tower to other carriers. AT&T will soon join Verizon, and T-Mobile recently signed on.
“It’s a like a vertical strip mall,” Jorgensen said. “Vogue was responsible for building the tower and will be responsible for renting space and maintaining it.”
Vogue Towers was looking to expand into Middle Tennessee, Troxell-Tant said. When the partnership between the county and company was created, three other areas of need were identified — Arrington, College Grove and Triune — but it’s likely other areas will also be identified, Jorgenson said.
Tower construction is currently underway in Trinity Park that will improve cellular service in that area on the west side of Williamson County.
“We’re looking at county-owned properties where we are able to put the towers,” Anderson said. “We’re looking for where our deficiencies are in the incorporated area and in cities and trying to develop better cell coverage and pull internet speeds in.”
The county will use funds from the American Restoration Plan and work with Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation, United Communications, Verizon, AT&T and other carriers to bring more broadband and fiber optic into the community, Anderson said.
“Wireless devices are a critical part of our everyday lives, and we not only need and expect our cell phones to work when we make a call, we also need our laptops and wireless devices to connect when children can properly do homework assignments and moms and dads can adequately connect when working from home,” Troxell-Tant said. “Towers are as much a part of our utility system as light poles and water tanks, and we appreciate being a part of the thought leadership to make Williamson County the most-connected county in Tennessee.”
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