Cell Tower Reconstruction Aimed for April 2012

Reconstruction for the Rockbridge Road earlier this month won't take place until late April of 2012, said a representative for Crown Castle, the company that built the cell tower.

"We're working closely with the county officials and the [cell phone] carriers to take down the existing structure and replace that with the new tower," said Sandy DeSostoa, director of marketing and communications for Crown Castle. The April date is what the company and the county officials have been working on in terms of schedule, she added.

One major downfall to the fire is the lack of cell phone service, which many residents have complained of. DeSostoa also said all of the phone companies are currently working on bringing mobile carriers to the location, which Verizon Wireless has confirmed to already doing.

For Verizon Wireless users, a "COW," or a cell on wheels, has been on location since the evening following the fire, said Kate Jay, a representative for the company. The COW is a "fully functional, mobile cell site" that provides customers with "voice, 3G EVDO and 4G LTE data service in the interim," Jay said.

It was not known when the other mobile carriers will be up and running in the area.