People in one growing area in Montgomery County say they have a huge problem -- they can’t get cellphone service in their neighborhood.

The problem is not just annoying, it could be dangerous if someone needs to call 911. This issue is going on for customers who use various cellphone providers, and they say nothing is being done to fix it. They contacted KPRC 2 Investigates for help.

It’s nine o’clock in the morning and Montgomery real estate agent Shelly Raines has a very important business call to make. Shelly’s about to have a very bad day.

“Call failed!” said Raines. “I can’t even make a phone call!”

Welcome to life in the Woodforest community where homeowners say they’ve been battling cellphone disruption, dropped calls and horrible coverage. The issue has been going on for years for customers who use AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Home construction is booming in the rapidly growing neighborhood with over 10,000 people and close to 4,000 homes. The more people who move in, it seems the worse the cell coverage problem gets.

“Well, it’s absolutely terrible,” said Chanel Raesis. “There are many of these parents that are panicked because they can’t get ahold of their kids because text messages won’t go through, a phone call won’t go through.”

“My biggest fear is that when you call 911 someone’s going to die because you cant’ get through,” said Marc Meyer.

“Pull your head out of your a** and get us some towers out here. I mean, it’s not that hard,” said Raines.

How serious is the problem?

A group of neighbors gathered together to share their cellphone coverage concerns.

We asked the group how many of them can’t even make a cellphone call right outside their front door. Every person raised their hand.

We asked how many can’t make a call inside their own home. Every person raised their hand.

We asked how many can’t make a call within a mile of your house?” Every person raised their hand.

We even had one of them try and call Investigator Bill Spencer. The call failed.

Developers of Woodforest said the problem is there are cell towers to the north and south of this community. But clearly, at least one more tower is needed.

Chanel Raesis worries most about her two children needing help someday, but can’t reach her. Even cellphone signal maps show she and her family are getting zero coverage where they live.

So what are the cellphone companies doing to resolve this issue?

These neighbors say they have contacted their cellphone providers multiple times, trying to get answers to this problem. KPRC2 Investigates has asked for interviews and an explanation of what is being done to help the people of Woodforest get the cell service they deserve.

AT&T and Verizon both sent us statements, essentially saying they’re always looking at ways to improve their networks. (See full statements at the bottom of this article.) Despite our requests, T-Mobile kept saying they would respond to our questions but failed to send us a statement.

If you live in an area with lousy cell phone coverage, what can you do?

Solution #1:

 Switch your cell phone to wifi calling. Go to settings, click on connections and choose wifi calling. Now, turn that on and if you have wifi in your home, this should work.

Solution #2:

This is a lot more involved and expensive. You can buy a cell phone booster system that requires you to put an antenna on top of your roof to pull in a weak cell phone signal and broadcast through your house.

Solution #3:

 Switch to a different cellphone company that may have a stronger signal.