Cell phones have been part of local stories for some time. The Oyster Bay Water District tried to put cell phone carriers on their water tower on property leased from Oyster Bay Cove but were fought by the village for several years. Today, that has been resolved, and Nextel is installing its equipment there this week.

While there is great controversy about cell phones, not having service can be quite a problem. When I've used my cell phone while riding as a passenger along Route 25A my T-mobile phone has cut out as I approached Cold Spring Harbor Road to the east and around Martin Viette in the west. It appears that each carrier has to have a local location for our cell phones to work. I experienced that same glitch this year while on vacation at Quilting by the Lake, a quilt art conference held on the SUNY Morrisville campus. Because my carrier didn't have service in the area, I had to find another way to get phone service. I used my calling card number to charge calls.

The SUNY Morrisville campus is changing to cell phone service and a Nextel tower was being put up this summer. When students arrive in September they will be given Nextel cell phones.

I went to Morrisville with a new cell phone and thought I had solved last year's problems with the telephone system. Unfortunately, T-Mobile didn't have service in Morrisville. A campus representative said, "After all, we are a technology campus." In preparation for that they took out all the regular phones from the dormitories, except for pay phones that only accepted credit or calling card calls, no cash.

Interestingly, there was service in nearby Utica. There, Walter Karppi received several wrong number cellular phone calls on Friday, when he came up by train to pick us up for the drive home. Finally, several wrong numbers later and at about 1 a.m. when a woman called and said she was sure it was "Alex's" number, he asked where Alex lived. The woman said the Hamptons and he explained that the area code for Suffolk County had been changed from 516 to 631.

He had a few more wrong numbers on Saturday, but by now, we are sure Alex Baldwin has informed his friends of the change. Well, it was nice to know someone was making phone connections.

It appears to us that the national cell phone system really needs some tweaking. Remember when you could pick up a phone anywhere in the USA and find help, could reach your family, and were not alone. With today's complex cell phone system, the public is at the mercy of the carriers. A system that was working has been cut up into little pieces to the detriment of all.

The fact that each carrier has to have its own network all across the USA doesn't make sense. There is something seriously wrong with the system and we hope the FCC looks into what it has created.

Next year, as we prepare to visit Morrisville, we will be sure to call ahead and find out what cell phone carriers work in that area. Life keeps getting more complicated - while it certainly is at the same time getting better. We do love progress in spite of the glitches.

-DFK