Cell dead zones challenge residents

Jake Kiessel gets requests every morning to call his customers before arriving at a repair stop.

If only he could. “If people say to call them before I get there, that doesn’t always work,” said Kiessel, an appliance service technician who works for a Traverse City store and resides near Lake Leelanau.

He does his best, carrying cell phones signed up for Verizon and AT&T services. Usually both have bars, sometimes only one works, and when traveling through notorious “dead zones” for coverage in Leelanau County both phones turn worthless.