Please help me find out who is on this tower!

[Airb330]

Ok, this tower is bugging the heck outta me. It is sorta near my moms home (2.5 miles I think), when I am at my moms home, if I point my phone at it, with the antenna up, it gets stronger, same with Sprint. I went and found the thing today, and Verizon and Sprint seemed stong in the area, sometimes, othertimes weak. It is the ODDEST looking tower I have EVER seen. I will take a digital picture tommorow of it for you. I *need* to know who is on it. It says it was constructed 02/03 sometime, I dunno bout that, but there is some BRIGHT light on it which was added around december, which is very annoying, that light brought the attention of the tower to me. I must find out, it is driving me nuts. I am going to email American Tower, but I doubt they will tell me anything, though Crown did tell me who was on their tower.

FCC Info on the ugly thing

American Tower Info

[larry]

How many sets of panels are on it? The tower could still be in the final stages of construction and might not be fired up yet. I believe any tower over 200 feet in height or near an airport has to have lights on the top.

[Airb330]

Yeah Larry the thing is pretty tall, and the light is wayyyy too bright, no planes will be hitting this thing. From what I can tell....there are NO panels of any sort I have *ever* seen. There is a brown building next to it, usually that is Cingular. But, like I said, nothing looks like panels. You know Velveeta (cheese, sp?), and how they make mac and cheese, well those odd shaped shells, that is what looks like is all over this thing. I have never seen anything like it, so I am really stumped about it. If I go outta my way to take a digital picture, I'll put it as my author icon so I can show you. Looks f-in retarded, and rather ugly. My service has not gotten any better, nor Sprint, so it is not a CDMA carrier. The odd thing is, near it, I get damn good Verizon and SPCS signal, but the closer I get, the worse. Close to it, I barely get Sprint, and get a bar or two on Verizon. This thing is bothering me!

[ZaphodB]

They look like pasta shells? That sounds a lot like the analog towers we have round here.

[Airb330]

Yep, that is what it looks like. The thing is literally covered with them, at least 6-7 I think. It's all crappy outside, I dunno if I will venture out there. If it is an analog tower, then it's Cingular, or Verizon, but why the heck would they only have analog on there?

EDIT: I noticed this thing since they put a bright light on it, guess it was around Nov/Dec 02. The tower was built in June 02. So why analog only...if that's what it is? Though at one point it says it was ATT and they were going to build it in 97 (1st issue) then it changed to American Tower, then it says though that American Tower has owned it since 1988....yeah OK which one is it? 1997 issued, 02 built? Or built in 88? Geez, this is a mess.

[larry]

That does sound sond very odd. I don't know what to say. If you can get a picture I would be interested in looking at it.

[NYCDru]

Are you basing your signal strength on the bars or test mode numbers?

And also, do you know if leaving a phone in test mode all the time is good or bad for the phone?

[Airb330]

I was in test mode, but it was easier for me to remember the bars then the actual -db, but they seemed to correspond with the bars (for once). I don't see how leaving it in test mode will affect anything. Comparing Sprint and Verizon, the comparison is fair since I am using the same phone, just forcing it over to Sprint via *22803. I think I'll head out there when I go to my mom's house later, since it is now bright and sunny. I might leave when it's dark, and that will obviously not work for a picture, but I'll try to get one soon.

[larry]

I don't think that forcing a Verizon phone over to Sprint by calling *22803 is an accurate way to tell Sprint signal strength, especially with an LG. The best way to do that would be with a Sprint phone. A Sanyo would give you the highest reading while an LG would give you the lowest. I can force my Sprint phone over to Verizon and be right under a Verizon tower but still only have two or three bars. Phone's from other carriers cannot accurately give you a signal from another network I don't think.

[Airb330]

While that does seem to make sense Larry, my father has a Virgin Mobile phone (2119b) and it shows very weak coverage in the areas mentioned too. One can make and receive calls, but the quality goes downhill. I did take pictures of this ugly tower today, and I will upload them tommorow when I am at my dads. Sprint did seem very strong around the tower, except when I was right under it. But, when I got about one mile away, it when downhill really quick. I hope to hear from American Tower tommorow. So it seems Sprint has a crapload of towers around here, yet their service is weak as I mentioned in my other post. Not fair, and does not make sense! Also, Verizon seems to have NO towers even close to here, yet their service is great. Nearest Verizon tower is over 5 miles away. Yet Sprint has two (If that odd-one is Sprint) within 2 miles of me, yet it is very weak inside, and very good outside. This house (moms) is not an RF blocker, since Verizon and Cingular (yes 800 I know, but with far away towers) do fine.

[bobolito]

Those are microwave telco towers. There are many of those all over NJ. Those horn antennas you see link them to other towers of the same kind making a national network. The idea behind them is that they should withstand natural desasters (or war) and still be able to maintain the network operating even if the wireline networks go down because this is a complete wireless network. You can shut down the power grids and the Telco networks and these things will still be operating. AT&T basically invented this idea back in the 80's for fears of a war with Russia. I guess the idea has been revived once again for fears of terrorism. Many of them are not even operating all over the US and were transferred to American Towers from AT&T. American Towers owns a lot of these towers with horn antennas if you look at their database. Sometimes cellular carriers rent space on them and put their panels there. In your case, it looks like no cell carriers are on it.

I wonder if the NIMBYs would like one of those in their backyards [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[ZaphodB]

Originally posted by: bobolito
Those are microwave telco towers. There are many of those all over NJ. Those horn antennas you see link them to other towers of the same kind making a national network. The idea behind them is that they should withstand natural desasters (or war) and still be able to maintain the network operating even if the wireline networks go down because this is a complete wireless network. You can shut down the power grids and the Telco networks and these things will still be operating. AT&T basically invented this idea back in the 80's for fears of a war with Russia. I guess the idea has been revived once again for fears of terrorism. Many of them are not even operating all over the US and were transferred to American Towers from AT&T. American Towers owns a lot of these towers with horn antennas if you look at their database. Sometimes cellular carriers rent space on them and put their panels there. In your case, it looks like no cell carriers are on it.

I wonder if the NIMBYs would like one of those in their backyards [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

If you don't accept it in your backyard then you hate America! Be patriotic! Dying of cancer at 45 years old is a small price to pay for your part in the war on terrorism!

[larry]

Originally posted by: Airb330
While that does seem to make sense Larry, my father has a Virgin Mobile phone (2119b) and it shows very weak coverage in the areas mentioned too. One can make and receive calls, but the quality goes downhill. I did take pictures of this ugly tower today, and I will upload them tommorow when I am at my dads. Sprint did seem very strong around the tower, except when I was right under it. But, when I got about one mile away, it when downhill really quick. I hope to hear from American Tower tommorow. So it seems Sprint has a crapload of towers around here, yet their service is weak as I mentioned in my other post. Not fair, and does not make sense! Also, Verizon seems to have NO towers even close to here, yet their service is great. Nearest Verizon tower is over 5 miles away. Yet Sprint has two (If that odd-one is Sprint) within 2 miles of me, yet it is very weak inside, and very good outside. This house (moms) is not an RF blocker, since Verizon and Cingular (yes 800 I know, but with far away towers) do fine.

Here's what I've discovered about the Sprint brands of phones:

Kyocera: Will drop down to 0 bars fairly easy but you will still often have a decent signal on 0-1 bars.

Samsung: Will drop down to 1 bar very easily but call quality still often seems as good as 4 bars.

Sanyo: Rarely drops below 2 bars and often show 3 or 4 bars in very weak sigal areas. This is partly the reason why people think Sanyo's are the best.

LG: Seems to have a signal meter very similar to the current Samsungs.


But any of these phones will have a perfect signal if you are directly under a Sprint tower unless the tower is on a building and you are inside the building.

[bobolito]

Sanyo: Rarely drops below 2 bars and often show 3 or 4 bars in very weak sigal areas. This is partly the reason why people think Sanyo's are the best.

I also think that part of the reason Sanyo's are overrated is the way their signal meter behaves when compared to other brands. Just a matter of visual impression. The difference can't be that radical as some people portray it.

[larry]

Yes I agree. If people see a higher signal they will believe they are getting a better signal whether they actually are or not. It's psychological. But Sanyo's could very well be the best. I'm not disputing that. It's just that I haven't seen much of a difference excpet for the way their meters behave.

[Airb330]

Yeah, that tower wouldn't survive any better than a regular tower....stupid. Man, it's such a great location too, like theres nothing near it (no NIMBY crap), but in a very central location. It's my author sig. at the moment to show you.

[bobolito]

Here are the pictures...

[Airb330]

Thanks, Bobolito, I am about to look. I made a page with some of my Sprint/Verizon findings and a picture of the tower. Click HERE

[Airb330]

No fair! I clicked on pictures and nothing came up the other day! Made me go out of my way again, stupid American Tower. So, basically this site is a waste, a waste with a really bright light that drives me nuts.

[DandyDon]

Never mind, see you know about the FCC search link.

[Airb330]

American Tower called me, which was disturbing, I expected an email, but the guy told me Verizon wireless is on that tower, and that ATT might be coming soon too. Well where the heck are Verizon's panels then? I also didn't get good Verizon signal there, Digital or Analog. Had decent Sprint service to the south(SE maybe) of it, but that was from the relatively close Sprint Tower. When I started back towards my house, Sprint went downhill quickly, while Verizon had better service. Maybe Verizon is on this tower....but they have their service spread out wierd, and with no visible towers...so whats up with this tower?!

[larry]

If Verizon was on the tower you would have had a solid signal everywhere around it, especially right under it.

[bobolito]

Either they gave you the info about the wrong tower, or Verizon leased space in that tower but has not built yet.

[scottb]

Originally posted by: Airb330

[snip...]
just forcing it over to Sprint via *22803.
[...snip]

When I force my phone to Sprint (it's *22805 for me) it immediately switches itself back to Verizon. Does your phone stay on Sprint's signal?

[Airb330]

No it does not. As long as I am on the call I am on Sprint, otherwise as soon as I disconnect, back to Verizon I go. I suppose it is due to the PRL.