BROOKINGS – Walkers in downtown Brookings and on the campus of South Dakota State University are likely to have noticed some new sky-high steel poles with light–fixture arms and other high-tech looking gadgetry at the top. Obviously these skyward-reaching sentinels – eight on campus and four downtown – do more than light up the night.
“They’re called ‘small cell towers,’” explained Russ Halgerson, manager of the Electric Department of Brookings Municipal Utilities, adding that “they’re short range-high capacity.”
“They’re for times when it’s really congested, like for instance the Hobo Day parade, when a lot of people are trying to use their cell phones and the existing cell network just can’t keep up. Also like Downtown at Sundown, football games, tailgating and on-campus activities, are really when they’re going to be used and can help the most.”
Halgerson defined short range as “when the signal strength is only a block or two. So if you’re within a couple of blocks of the small cell tower, you’ll get improved service; and you can call anywhere you want, with the signal coming from the tower itself.”
He said putting up the towers “had been in the works for a couple of years. They’re not actually hooked up yet; they’re probably going to be hooked up and energized or commissioned, I would say, in the next month.”
Halgerson did point out that SDN Communications is the installer and owner of the towers: “We (BMU) serve the power to them, and we were with them on the design and locations of them.”
SDN Communications provides the infrastructure and connects the support poles to underground fiber for Verizon Wireless, according to an SDN blog.
Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.
Register photo: This small cell tower is located in downtown Brookings, at the corner of Fifth Street and Third Avenue.
