Sometimes living in “the sticks” can be frustrating. The area of Ham Lake where we live (near Carlos Avery and Coon Lake is a virtual dead zone for most cell phone service. When we moved here years ago, few people had cell phones or needed to be so “connected”. But as a REALTOR®, it is very difficult to keep in contact with buyers and sellers when you have poor cell phone service. And I have noticed that I am not the only one that finds a good connection on the MUST HAVE list for a home either. I have noticed over the years of selling acreage throughout that things have changed. These days it is a common occurrence to see buyer flip out their phone in during a showing in communities like Ham Lake, Linwood, Wyoming or C
olumbus to see how many bars of service they will receive at a particular home.When I switched over to Sprint from previous wireless provider about a decade ago, it was because the sale person handed me a Twin Cities coverage map that included Ham Lake. I happily headed home with my new phone but soon discovered I had NO service. I remember calling tech support and having a smart-mouthed tech quip, “What do you expect us to do? Put a tower in your yard?” Not missing a beat, I answered, “YES!” He responded that my neighbors might not be too pleased. (Actually, they would have been ecstatic as they need answer their phones at home from time to time too.)
Okay…so there is no tower in our yard. And our unenhanced service is still less than perfect but Sprint did finally come up with a solution—The AIRAVE
. It’s like a mini cell tower for your home. It takes about 5 minutes to set up through your broadband connection and it really works! Now I no longer have to stand in the middle of my driveway facing east without moving to have enough of a signal to use my cell phone.
So homebuyers if you find the perfect home at the perfect price but there aren’t enough bars to make a call on your cell phone, the Sprint AIRAVE might be the perfect solution!
Copyright 2010 Teri Eckholm
