Dropping Calls at Home? Raving about AIRAVE in Ham Lake MN!

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 Columbus 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 

More Bars in Ham Lake is a Good Thing—Cell Phone Bars that is!

A late holiday present arrived to those living in Ham Lake, Linwood and Columbus near Carlos Avery. It appears a new cell phone tower is being constructed just to the north of the intersection of Crosstown and Broadway. We noticed the amazingly huge pole being raised a few days after Christmas. My teenagers, with their new internet accessible phones thought that maybe it was a mirage. After pinching each other to make certain they weren’t dreaming, they cheered that our area of Ham Lake was finally going to be connected with the rest of the world!

Now to some in this rural area, this is an eyesore not a Godsend. But as a REALTOR who drives down Lexington (County 17) and Broadway (County 18) daily and has to use a mobile phone as part of my business, I know that the bars are few and far between. If you are lucky to have a connection, the conversation almost always breaks down to gibberish while traveling this stretch of road…And if you live anywhere in the vicinity of Coon Lake and Carlos Avery, you are often walking around your acreage to find that perfect spot where a signal will come through to make a call. Heaven forbid if you are one of those people, like me, that pace when conversing! Calls are dropped all of the time. So as nearby residents, my family has been watching the progress of the tower and patiently wait until the panels go live…Hopefully it is soon. The spot in my yard where my Blackberry comes in is not sheltered from the elements. And there are still a few weeks of winter cold ahead…and spring rain…etc.

Copyright 2009 terieckholm.com