As cellular phones increase in popularity on the ISU campus, students are having more and more problems staying connected.

Brandon Hummel, sophomore in mechanical engineering, said he uses his phone for the majority of his calls. He, along with other ISU students, have been experiencing brief lapses in service in the past month.

“At first I thought my battery was dying,” he said.

Hummel said the latest lapse occurred at Saturday’s football game against the University of Northern Iowa when he was trying to call his brother about tailgating.

While he had just made a call, his phone made a beeping sound, like a busy signal, whenever he tried to make another.

“It’s just frustrating when you want to make a call and are unable to talk because your service is out,” Hummel said.

Brian Werner, co-owner of both The Wireless Stores in Ames and one in Iowa City, said these lapses, known as spot outages, are not uncommon at football games.

“Spot outages typically occur due to increased use,” he said.

Rachel Studer, junior in anthropology, said she also has been experiencing problems when she tries to make phone calls from her apartment just west of campus.

“My phone keeps giving me messages saying, `This call cannot be made from a pay phone,'” she said.

Werner said Ames has one tower at Brookside Park and another is going up between Ames and Boone to better serve customers in west Ames and the surrounding area.

“Students with problems are encouraged to call the company for further information and make sure that the problems are recorded in their account,” said Werner, adding that the two Ames The Wireless Stores sold about 800 mobile phone packages in August.