By A. Passerby

Have you wondered about our oddly majestic cell tower as you pass by the BV Fire Station #8? Recent improvements have been undertaken, and I caught up with Caleb Krantz at Xclusive Wireless, the company that conducts work on cell towers, and also installs solar panels and charging stations.

Towers can accommodate more than one carrier, but so far Verizon is still the only carrier on the Bennett Valley tower.  The tower has been upgraded to Verizon 5G service, and the technicians have added radios and more antennas. 

The logistics are  interesting--the towers are manufactured, installed and owned by a company called American Tower Corporation (!), who leases the land they are on. ATC in turn rents out space on the tower to the various communications carriers.

The fake tree decorations on these towers are produced by a company called Stealth Concealment, who create all manner of semi-convincing add-ons: plastic, fiberglass, or acrylic "bark," "branches," and "needles". The vertically oriented antennas at the top are fitted with "socks", very cunningly covered in phony foliage. This process is customized and expensive: it can add $100,000 or so to the baseline $150,000 cost of a tower. It somewhat alleviates neighbors' distaste for naked cell towers, thereby rendering the towers more modest and presentable. 

As of this writing, it is not clear how to lobby for more carriers--for now, Bennett Valley is limited to Verizon only--and it would be great to have more choice. My correspondent Caleb said it is a lengthy process, usually years in the making, to get new service added. But for now, we can enjoy our 'uncanny valley' pretend pine tree!