CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — For customers and businesses on William Street in Cheektowaga, they’ve all had the same complaint for the past several years, there’s no cell service, and they’re tired of waiting for a fix.
On William Street in Cheektowaga, from Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School to Union Road, Chad Berst always has the same phone issue.
“This section of William Street, I’ve always called ‘the dead zone,’” Berst said. “Verizon or Spectrum Mobile, I’ve always had service in this area drop off to a point there’s no data coverage at all.”
Despite the elementary school sitting just a few blocks from the thruway, he feels that picking his son up from school is always difficult.
“Text messages especially, anything data related just wouldn’t go through there.”
And shopping in the Parklane Plaza just a mile down the road is no better.
“It’s very frustrating, especially at the counter of the store, trying to access Apple Pay, and it just will not work for anything,” Berst said. “Then you hold up the line, everybody is waiting for you to go, and you’re only way to pay is just not working.”
When 7 News reporter Derek Heid drove out there, the issues happened to his phone too.
His phone went from having perfect service while driving on the thruway to dropping down to just one bar of service in the plaza’s parking lot.
When it comes to cellphone coverage, both Heid and Berst have one thing in common, Verizon is their carrier.
While waiting in line is an inconvenience for shoppers like Berst, it’s a major issue for local businesses in the plaza, like the Empire Smoke Shop and Have A Great Hair Day Inside.
“Well, it can get frustrating when I’m trying to work my technical devices and it just keeps failing and failing,” Hairstylist at Have a Great Hair Day Charlene Farruggio said.
“Some people’s transactions don’t even go through, and they’ve left already,” Empire Smoke Shop employee Rezhwan Radha said. “Once they come back, I tell them it didn’t go through, and it [leads to] a whole argument.”
Plaza owner Don Pieczynski feels that it’s frustrating he can’t fix his tenants’ internet issues.
“My hands are kind of tied, I don’t have much to say about Verizon’s issues,” Pieczynski said.
Pieczynski, his tenants, and customers like Berst all hope to see some improvements.
“I’d like to see a representative come out and address the issues,” Pieczynski said.
The Cheektowaga Town Supervisor did not reply to an interview request.
Verizon said in a statement:
“We know Western New York relies on Verizon. We're preparing to submit an application to the Town of Cheektowaga to enhance our 4G LTE and 5G services to boost network capacity and coverage in that area. In addition, our engineers are working every day to investigate additional local opportunities and improve the overall customer experience in Cheektowaga and beyond.”
This isn't the only area in Western New York that has issues with cell service.
7 News recently spoke to neighbors in Akron who voiced their concerns about unreliable service in their neighborhood.
"Verizon cell reception in Akron has been an issue for everybody probably for the last year to two years," explained Village of Akron Mayor Brian Perry. "I've had calls dropped myself."
