A Verizon outage that began after a storm knocked down a cell tower off Charter Boulevard in late May is still leaving service spotty around Vineville Avenue and Forsyth Road. More than a month later, workers in Macon are still trying to get through calls, meetings and studio check-ins without steady service.
Kailee Rowland, the studio manager at Orange Theory, said the coverage gap is a “hole” in service that stretches down Forsyth. She said many members ask to get onto the WiFi because they do not have service, and her weekly Facetime meetings sometimes drop because of poor cell reception.
Charter Boulevard tower repairs
A portable, vehicle-mounted cellular tower now sits in the Piedmont Macon North hospital parking lot. Verizon said the temporary tower is meant to keep service consistent around the area where the old tower stood, while repair plans are still being worked out with the landowner at the site.
Verizon also said a taller tower should improve coverage once the permanent work is done. The company said the site owner, not Verizon, is responsible for completing that work, which leaves the pace of the fix tied to a separate decision-maker even as Verizon keeps the temporary setup in place.
Forsyth Road service gap
Emily Turner, who works at beem Light Sauna, said it is hard to make calls when she is not on the WiFi in the office. Taylor Braswell said she cannot get service heading toward Wesleyan College or farther north near Tattnall Square Academy, showing how the weak signal reaches beyond a single storefront and into the surrounding area.
That gap is the practical problem for residents and workers who rely on service for calls, meetings and basic communication during the day. Verizon said, “As they are still finalizing their plans, a definitive timeline for the permanent tower replacement has not been established yet. We are in ongoing communication with them.”
Piedmont Macon North parking lot
The temporary tower is doing the short-term work, but the permanent fix still has no set completion date. For people around Vineville Avenue and Forsyth Road, the immediate reality is a service pattern that remains uneven while the tower replacement moves through the landowner’s process.
