Ave Maria cell service issues raise safety concerns for residents

AVE MARIA, Fla.—Residents in Ave Maria are facing a significant challenge with their cell phone service, which they describe as dangerous. Despite the presence of two cell towers in the area, residents report frequent connectivity issues that can affect emergency response times.

Kevin Schang, a resident of Ave Maria, shared a concerning incident.

"Had a friend of ours in here who was choking on a piece of meat, and while his wife was trying to call 911, the son-in-law did the Heimlich maneuver, dislodged the meat, but the call she could never get through to 911," said Schang.

Emergency services detected the call and responded, but Schang and his neighbors have switched carriers due to poor service. Schang switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and noticed some improvement.  

"What I don't understand is that we have two cell towers here in Ave Maria, and we still have a problem," said Schang.

Verizon stated that it is continuously adding improvements, including new radios on a tower near Schang's house.   

WINK News tested the signal near Schang's house and in Ave Maria and found a solid signal in both places now.  But that doesn't mean the problem is solved.

"With more and more people coming into Ave Maria and into the area, with two other developments coming in, we have issues where sometimes the call will go right to voicemail," said Schang.

Alan Spencer, another resident, echoed these concerns at a WINK Listens event.

"We have great coverage in 160 countries, and we don't have to pay extra for it, but I don't have service outside my garage and sometimes not even in my house," said Spencer.

Residents are awaiting new towers, but county approval takes time. Verizon acknowledges the challenges in this fast-growing area and is working with the county to expedite the process.

"Driving down Oil Well Road toward Immokalee Road, there are, there is an area where you just, you just, you know, you drop calls, or you just don't have service," said Schang.

Verizon is collaborating with the county to streamline zoning and ordinance processes to accelerate the addition of towers. For more details from the county, developer, and Verizon, visit our web story. 

Provided below are the full statements provided by Verizon, Collier County, and Barron Collier Companies: 

Verizon: 

Eastern Collier County has posed challenges for telecom providers due to the lack of county ordinances governing cell sites. We’ve been working with the county to create zoning and ordinances, and in 2025, added small cells along Oil Well Road in East Collier and several macro cell sites, which have significantly improved service. We have more cell site activations planned.

For <address #1>, we added radios to a tower 1 mile from the address that has greatly improved service in this area. This customer should no longer be experiencing the same issues they had prior to December. 

For <address #2>, the radios added to the tower mentioned above should provide a noticeable improvement in downlink speeds in this customer's area.    

Barron Collier Companies, Developer of Ave Maria: 

Currently, there are two cell towers under construction in Ave Maria. Barron Collier Companies has also executed leases with communication companies for two additional tower sites and is working on a third, bringing the total to five potential tower locations.

Barron Collier Companies has worked with every tower developer that has approached us, and we will continue coordinating with tower developers to identify appropriate locations based on current and future growth in the area.

Collier County Response:

Cell coverage is not provided by the government; it is provided by private companies such as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.  Collier County provides zoning allowances for cell providers to develop towers in most zoning districts, some by right as a permitted use, others by public hearing through the conditional use process. 

So, if an area is identified as needing better cell coverage, the cell providers will check with the county to determine the required zoning district, and from there, they will identify a willing landowner to develop a tower on their property.  It won’t be the cell provider that builds the tower; a tower company, such as American Tower or Crown Castle (essentially vertical real estate companies), will construct the tower and then lease it to the cell providers. 

The tower will be required to satisfy zoning requirements through a site development plan as well as all requirements of the Florida Building Code.  Essentially, the county’s role is to provide the appropriate zoning allowance for towers to be developed and to review the tower against our zoning code and the Florida Building Code.  It should also be noted that the county’s policy is to promote county-owned land to host cell towers where appropriate.