LOS ANGELES For the past few months he’s been living out of his car. Now that he’s having engine trouble Adam Bland is going to be stuck for a while.

One thing that’s working for him: the free phone he got from the government.

He’s allowed 2.15 gigs of data per month. Given his living situation, it’s a lifeline he uses a lot.

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“More than I like to admit to. I’d say about two hours out of the day collectively,” said Bland.

Just feet from Bland’s parking spot in South Los Angeles, the wireless infrastructure provider Crown Castle did some work on the fiber optic cable. They attached something called a small cell.

This will boost the 4G internet access for people as far as a quarter of a mile away, including Bland.

Building a cell tower would be more powerful and would reach a lot more people, but it would also be a lot harder to do. This method is simpler and uses the lines that are already running near the power and cable.

In L.A. there’s service almost everywhere. Since there are so many people, though, it can slow your connection.

Crown Castle has installed more than 2,000 small cells in the past two years in L.A. They have plans for hundreds more with the long-term goal of offering ultra-fast 5G service.

A new FCC order went into effect this year, which speeds up the installation process.

“Everyone should have the same access to fast internet whether you’re in a high end community or an under-served community like South Park,” said Mike Kavanagh, the Senior Vice President of Sales and Chief Commercial Officer for Crown Castle.

Cell service providers are searching for holes in broadband coverage to fix. These are usually high traffic places with a bunch of people using data all at once.