Jewett Brook Road in the Roy Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Barnet on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger This story by Liberty Darr was first published in the News Citizen on Oct. 1, 2026. It’s a familiar reality for many people in Lamoille County: The phone call dropped. The texts won’t send. Even in the height of this digital age, there are people without cell phone service. Most recent driving test data from the state show that large swaths of the county have limited to zero cell phone service, even from major providers like Verizon and ATT. The maps show a trail of small, red hexagons — each representing a measurement of distance — following steadily through places like Wolcott, Elmore, Eden and Belvidere. These driving tests are how the Vermont Department of Public Service’s telecommunications and connectivity division keeps track of connectivity data across the state. They are done almost exactly as it sounds. Staff from the division gear up with a bank of mobile cellphones and drive between 6,000 and 7,000 miles of road to test where the service reaches. Each hex on the maps, the most recent of which is the 2024 and 2025 data, represents roughly three quarters of a square kilometer. It’s granular — and that’s intentional. That’s partly because the map provided to the state by cellphone providers isn’t always entirely accurate, according to Hunter Thompson, director of the state’s telecommunications and connectivity division. “They’re projections based on propagation from their towers,” he said. “They’re great to look at. They’re very colorful. They give people a wonderful idea of where you may get cell phone service. But they’re not entirely accurate at the granular level that we are testing at.” The division is nearing a decade of collecting this sort of data and is spearheading the state’s “10-Year Telecommunications Plan.” The last iteration was completed in 2024 and will again be updated in 2029. Four smartphones connected to a power strip charging inside a wooden drawer. Photo via News Citizen And the data is telling the state some useful information. For example, 77% of the tests that had any sort of results in 2022 saw an increase in the data speed in 2024. Within that same time frame, there was a 36% improvement across the state for tests that passed. While these could be considered wins, for Thompson, the work doesn’t stop. Cell service, he said, is no longer a privilege. Not only is it a disservice to the state’s at-risk population, since cellular service is needed to access state services for addiction or recovery, he added, “It is a bare necessity to participate in the digital economy.” Safety first Cell service is also necessary to dial 9-1-1 in emergencies. Trevor Braun, an Elmore resident and member of the town’s fire department, knows this situation well. He’s been actively involved in the local conversation around finding solutions while working closely with FirstNet, a nationwide cellular network designed specifically for first responders and public-safety personnel. It is operated by ATT under a 25-year federal contract and overseen by the First Responder Network Authority, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. “It is, I would say, potentially the biggest public safety hazard or risk in the town,” Braun said. “Because there’s so little coverage and non-existent coverage in so much of the town, when there are emergencies or accidents, people in some cases have to drive 10 to 20 minutes to get to a place just to report a serious accident or emergency.” He recalled a recent situation in which a multi-car accident in Elmore couldn’t be reported until the passerby drove to Morrisville to get service. FirstNet recently provided equipment that acts as small cellphone repeaters, which the town was able to install in the emergency shelters, like the fire department and the town garage. Connectivity is also top of mind for Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux, who Tuesday morning was just leaving a meeting with FirstNet, after switching to the provider just a few months ago. Marcoux also chairs the state’s Enhanced 911 board. “Where it affects us mostly is when I’ve got deputies on the road and they can’t use the radio or they’re trying to call in on the cell that doesn’t work, or if we’re trying to get information from a complainant,” he said. Tower talk Some of those trouble spots include the well-traveled Route 15 and Route 100 corridors, largely mirroring the data compiled from the state division. A large part of the difficulty of sustaining reliable coverage in the area is the region’s general topography: mountainous peaks with narrow river valleys. This makes it difficult to reach all the nooks and crannies in the state and, in part, describes why certain areas of towns may be covered but others are not. Thompson’s division at the state uses the drive test data to interface directly with providers, who may not even know that the services aren’t providing coverage in the way that was intended. A large part of this work is incentivizing providers to come to these areas. Thompson has made budget requests to the state to increase the pool of money to do this work, but those requests have not been funded in recent years. READ MORE “We also have what’s called an amenable landlord list, where people will get hold of us and say, ‘I have land that I would like to put a cell tower on,’” he said. “We pass that on to the providers so that they can add it to their amenable landlord list.” Cell tower applications go through the state’s Public Utility Commission, leaving little room for town or resident input — some towns’ residents don’t favor the aesthetics associated with a tall tower. That topic took up a large portion of Waterville’s most recent Town Meeting Day, revolving largely around a plan to install a cell tower. Some residents voiced passionate opinions against such a project, with many upset with how it might impact the landscape. The Hyde Park selectboard also just recently held a public hearing regarding a possible tower proposed by Verizon on Crabapple Lane. Read the story on VTDigger here: For Vermont cell users, breaking up is easy to do. ...read more read less