5G ‘Q-tip’ poles swab up the streets

This week, there were two more 5G Verizon small cell towers erected on Gasparilla Island. They are part of a series of Verizon “small cell” wireless towers that will provide a secondary service in addition to the cell service from the new cell tower downtown.

“One live ‘small cell’ on the very north side of the island is in service,” said Christina Moon Ashraf, from Verizon Corporate Communications, in an email to the Boca Beacon. “Six small cell poles have been installed on Gasparilla Road and Gulf Boulevard, but won’t go live until Q3-Q4 as they are still under construction.” 

Across the island, the poles are black, with a wide nubbin added at the top. They are formally called “small cells” by Verizon, but they have been nicknamed “Q-Tip” cells by both critics and fans, as they have an area at the top that is wider than the base. Across the nation, neighborhoods have been frustrated at not only the appearance of the poles, but their locations, and have been frustrated because they are considered a utility, and have little power over the process.

There is a sense across the nation that there is no going against the towers, but in one case, a tower has been moved from its original location.

The tower on Gasparilla Island in Charlotte County was moved from its original location, and is now partially hidden behind cabbage palms at Gasparilla and Gulf.

Ron Drake of the Boca Grande Club and a member of the board of the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority was successful in getting the pole at the north of the island to move a few feet. It was right next to a manhole cover.

Drake invoked public safety and local officials, and got it moved from right by the road, to a place a few feet back, slightly behind a palm at the corner of Gasparilla and Gulf.

He reached out to the installation crews when he saw flags for the pole just inches from a manhole cover. It was also in a place where it could be hit. 

“It was much closer to the road,” said Drake. “It’s less obtrusive and it works.”

The question of how they look has been less of an issue here on Gasparilla Island, as the towers are smaller than the urban small cell towers. They have also been painted black, unlike the tower in Placida Park, which is gray.

This does not blend in as well as black, which has traditionally been the color of utilities, from creosote-colored telephone poles, to railroad ties.

The “Q-tip” moniker came from the website Reddit, where some appreciate the better service that they provide, and others decry the way they are inserted into the urban fabric. They created a stir on New York’s Upper East Side, where they were inserted willy-nilly along sidewalks and next to historic buildings. 

There are some benefits to the smaller towers, separate from better and faster wireless service.

The tech website Gizmodo just published a study from University of California San Diego called “Desify and Conquer” that said that the towers would help increase battery life in cellphones, and save energy, as the signal does not have to travel so far.

The study’s authors explained it in layman’s terms, comparing people trying to communicate with a toy loudspeaker from a distance, and two kids talking in nearby trees. “Compare this to a person B, who’s just perched on top a nearby tree, and hence both you, and the person B can communicate without loudspeakers.”