Some students get good cell phone reception on campus, while those who don’t try different approaches to get signals.

Kristy Kidd, a junior marketing major, said the reception on her Verizon cell phone is “fantastic,” but the same does not hold true for her roommate, who has Cingular Wireless service.

Kidd said her roommate intended to use her phone for all purposes, but she is forced to mostly use NIUTEL phone service, and to use her cell for work-related emergencies.

When Kidd’s roommate uses her cell phone, the voice on the other end is very soft. Kidd said her roommate usually gives up on the calls, but if she does not, the call eventually will be disconnected.

Kidd said her roommate’s phone is worse when she makes long distance calls.

Chevelle Gandsey, a sophomore math major, also has Verizon service. She said the only place she does not get service is in Faraday Hall at the front of the lecture halls, a problem she remedies by sitting in the back.

Adam Kolenda, a junior electrical engineering major, said no cell phone reception in school buildings may not be a bad thing. This is because it minimizes cell phones ringing during class and the distractions they cause, he said.

Kolenda has T-Mobile service and said there are some places, like between and inside certain buildings, where he does not get reception. He said he deals with the lack of signals by knowing where the spots are, and would rank T-Mobile service a seven on a scale of 10.

There are many factors in cell phone reception, said Carolyn Schamberger, a Verizon spokeswoman said. These may include leaves on trees, topography and how cell sites are strategically placed.

Schamberger said cell phone networks were not originally made for people using cell phones indoors, but rather, for those on the go. Many times, cell phones will work indoors, but at times, signals may be weak for that reason or others, such as use in a cement building.

This may explain why Verizon customer Janelle Oler, a junior corporate communication major, said she gets good reception in rural areas and around campus, “except in the older buildings that were made in the ‘no reception age.’”

Still, Oler plans on switching her service at the end of November when her contract is up. She said she probably will sign up with U.S. Cellular because of the good things she has heard and read about it. She said she had not heard anything about U.S. Cellular service in DeKalb.

This is a subject Renisha Holmes, a freshman sociology major, knows all too well.

Holmes, who bought her phone from a U.S. Cellular store in Chicago, soon found out she did not get good service in DeKalb. Holmes said calls often drop off and she sometimes hears static on the line.

Holmes also realized that when in DeKalb, her phone was constantly roaming, and she was charged extra for the calls she made. When she called U.S. Cellular, she was told DeKalb was not in her calling area.

Bryan Zidar, a spokesman for T-Mobile, said he suggests customers try their phones in all areas they will use them in within the first 14 days of purchase.

He said T-Mobile will waive the $200 early termination fee within this time, and the customer will be charged only for the minutes they have used if they decide they do not want the phone.

Junior psychology major Firouzel Gonzales uses Sprint service, and said her phone has good reception everywhere except on a stretch of Hillcrest Drive, where calls are sometimes lost.

Schaumberger said there is some truth in the advertising, at least with the Verizon “can you hear me now?” commercials. She said testing vehicles, which she describes as “souped-up Ford Taurus station wagons” drive around the country with two boxes in the back, testing service.

The boxes continually make calls on Verizon and other competing networks. Schamberger said the networks are monitored at the Verizon offices and by the drivers of the vehicles. They look for lapses in service in order to improve the network.

Three vehicles currently operate in Illinois.

Shamberger said there are temporary cell sites in some areas that improve service known as cells on wheels. There has been one in DeKalb for six or seven years, and it is scheduled to be removed when a new cell tower is constructed on top of Zulauf Hall in December. Another cell tower on campus is in the works, but the location has not been worked out yet.