AT&T: Gunnison Valley has new network capacity, too

“The added benefit should be felt soon”

The latest word from AT&T related to the area’s network cell coverage is that it’s better than it was. You just might not know it yet.
According to AT&T spokesman Alex Carey, the Gunnison Valley got a couple of “carriers” added to the local cell towers shortly after Christmas this year, which he compared to adding a driving lane to a highway, allowing more traffic to move faster.

“Crested Butte and the Gunnison area now have twice the capacity of Telluride,” Carey said. “The added benefit should be felt soon,” as the service rebounds from the influx of activity in the winter months.
Telluride recently scored a temporary cell phone tower, courtesy of AT&T, to improve the network coverage inside that town, along with a carrier to improve the network’s capacity. The upgrades were a reaction to what Carey described as severely limited service in the Telluride area after AT&T took over Alltel and a subsequent change in technology.
“The big difference [between coverage in Crested Butte and Telluride] is we have less spectrum available for use in Telluride, which brought the need for the new site,” Carey said. “We were largely responding to customers’ needs and complaints. We had heard from our customers and stakeholders in that area, so we acted as quickly as possible.
“And,” Carey continued, “we haven’t had the same sort of problems reported to us in your area”—despite the numerous complaints to the company after a rough Christmas-New Year’s period when scores of people complained about dropped calls and poor reception.
The spring break period also slowed down cell service in the north end of the valley.