For some East Halls residents, making cell phone calls from dorm rooms is now a lot less annoying.

New Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless cellular sites on top of East Parking Deck were activated recently, enabling more East Halls students to use their cell phones without going outside.

The Verizon cellular site became operational in late January, and the Cingular site was activated about two weeks ago, said Jeff Kuhns, the university's senior director of consulting and support services.

Lauren Fuhrman (freshman-accounting), who lives in Bigler Hall, said she could now use her cell phone in her hall and in her dorm room.

"Before, we had to like hang out the window, but now I'm sitting at my desk," she said.

She said the improvement in service was immediate, not gradual.

Alyssa Carson (freshman-accounting), who also lives in Bigler Hall, said she had trouble getting service in her dorm as well.

"I had to go outside to get service," she said.

She said she thought most of the people on her floor used Verizon service, but Cingular service had always worked in the dorm.

According to a Verizon press release, the new cell site increases coverage in East Halls, Beaver Stadium and some of the football tailgate areas. Coverage at The Village at Penn State and along portions of Park Avenue and Vairo Boulevard was also improved.

Call volume on Verizon's Pennsylvania network increased by more than 40 percent in 2005.

Verizon invested more than $250 million last year in network maintenance and improvement in Pennsylvania, according to the press release.

Don Carretta, Verizon executive director of the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia networks, said Verizon had been expanding coverage in the State College area for several years.

"[East Halls] is one of the few spots on campus that we didn't cover very well before," he said.

Caretta said his daughter, who lives in East Halls, had also noticed improved cellular coverage.

He said Verizon was working with the university on future projects, but "nothing imminent" was planned in the next few months.

The new Cingular site replaced a temporary site, Cingular Wireless spokeswoman Ellen Webner said in an e-mail message.

Webner said the Cingular site improved in-building coverage and provided additional coverage and capacity.

Webner said eight new cell sites are scheduled to be built this year in central Pennsylvania. She said Cingular will be investing $225 million to build 135 cell sites in central and eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.

Kuhns said companies lease the building space on campus to install cellular sites because it is often difficult to find space off campus to install towers.

"If [cell phone companies] can show there's a need, we'll certainly work with them," he said.

Kuhns said the majority of Penn State students use Verizon Wireless or Cingular service, but Sprint, Immix and T-Mobile also operate in the area.