Wheeler codes officer: cellular service coming
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

WHEELER - Cellular phone service may soon be available along a 20-mile stretch of state Route 53 between Kanona and Prattsburgh, according to the codes enforcement officer for the Town of Wheeler.

Representatives of Velocitel, a wireless infrastructure service provider, met recently with Samuel Presley, codes enforcement officer for the Town of Wheeler, to review possible locations for microwave towers between Kanona and Prattsburgh. Presley told The Courier he and Velocitel personnel located up to five possible locations around Kanona and up to four locations in the Prattsburgh area.

The towers may be erected by the end of the year, Presley said, with initial cell phone service provided by ATT. However, Presley added, the towers will also be available to other cellular service providers.

Presley called the Kanona- Prattsburgh corridor along the Wheeler valley "a black hole" for cellular service.

"We have people stop here every day to make their phone calls until they enter that black hole," Presley said of his wife's Route 53 business, Signs Plus. "You can't get any service until you're north of Prattsburgh."

The towers will be located along the mountain ridges overlooking the valley, at a height of 1,800 feet above sea level, Presley said.

Velocitel, he added, has not yet filed a building application for the project. "But I'm the guy who issues the permits," he said.