Starting in March 2022, the department store Globus at Marktplatz will be undergoing substantial renovations. During this 4-year renovation phase, Globus will be moving into a smaller location at Freie Strasse 50, where the Globus outlet is currently located. However, this renovation will have an impact not only on the department store itself but also on everybody living in or visiting the city center—by affecting their cell phone services!

In preparation for the construction phase, the cell phone antenna currently on the roof of the Globus will be removed on February 23, and as a result, network reception in the area serviced by this antenna will disappear. In other words—the area between the Marktplatz and the university will become a virtual mobile dead zone.

Swisscom has been aware of the upcoming disruption and has unsuccessfully been looking for a replacement location for the antenna for several years. This is a huge blow to Swisscom, which advertises that it has the best mobile network. Mobile phone calls will still be able to be made outdoors, but indoor phoning will be limited at best. They also warn that surfing the net outdoors should still work at low speeds, but a powerful WLAN will be needed for indoor surfing.

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