By Andrew Douglass ‘15
Staff Writer
Students throughout Merrimack’s campus are constantly making phone calls, sending text messages, and using various social media apps. They do all this from the palms of their hands on their cellphones powered by many wireless providers. In particular, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint work flawlessly on campus while our nation’s “largest wireless carrier”, Verizon, is constantly dropping calls due to overall lack of reception. Senior Business major Brendan Sullivan states that his phone searches for service all day with almost no success at securing a strong connection. “I wake up and drive to school with 100% battery life, and by the time I finish for the day my phone is practically dead. It’s almost unbearable.” said Sullivan. Merrimack Alum, Brittany Desmond, had her fair share of issues with Verizon while she was residing in Ash and Monican. Desmond said “having to go out in the hallway every time you want to send a text message is extremely inconvenient” which is still a problem resident’s face today.
On October 28th, President Hopey addressed the Merrimack Community regarding various things happening around campus at the Mack Meeting. When the issue of Verizon’s poor reception on campus came up, Hopey made the impression that Merrimack is currently planning on installing a device that boosts overall Verizon service. However, Associate Vice President of Communications, James A. Chiavelli reports that “we’re in negotiations with Verizon but there’s nothing concrete to report, including timeline”.
