Phone Masts - Your Opinion??

rebel.ranter

towel401 wrote: »

GSM repeaters. you can buy them on ebay for about 200 eur. less

You can get in trouble for installing a GSM repeater, it is illegal. Illegal for the following reason, the mobile phone companies pay a license fee (quite substantial ones) to operate exclusively in the paid for band.
By installing a repeater you are broadcasting illegally. In fact those EBay 900GSM ones repeat all operator GSM 900 bands, so you'll be peeing off all the operators.

towel401 wrote: »

and you're not going to get in trouble for running one because the signal from them isn't strong enough to be picked up from outside the building.

One other thing to remember is that a repeater transmits too, it has to to get the uplink signal back to the base station.

towel401 wrote: »

even if it was illegal to use a GSM repeater nobody is ever going to even notice that you're running one.

I tested out one of those EBay ones, they are cheap & nasty with poor power control. I would also imagine that the reliability would not be 100% meaning you could cause degradation to the operators network. This would lead to investigation, then lead to ComReg getting involved. Similar to GSM jammers, some of these have been confiscated by ComReg.

towel401 wrote: »

i think multi storey car parks install gsm repeaters, as do lots of other buildings like that. I don't think they are all installed by legally licensed operators. its usually people who own the buildings that install them.

This is also incorrect, operators install them or employ approved 3rd parties to install them.

rebel.ranter

opr wrote: »

I remember hearing a good one about Meteor in their early days when the coverage they provided was beyond bad. I am sure its an old wifes tale but i thought it was pretty funny.

They had 2 or 3 portable phone masts that the would drive around the country. Basically if the got a few complaints about coverage in the same area they would send one of these off to this place and park it up for a couple of days to provide better coverage and then move it off to appease more complaints in another area when it was needed

Opr

Definitely an old wives tale!!! With Base stations it is definitely not a case of just rolling it in! The tasks involved are quite complex.
Yes there are portable masts, they are generally used for concerts or can be put in place while a permanent solution is being pursued.
The worst thing a network can do is provide coverage & then take it away. They would do everything in their power to maintain coverage in an area once it is provided.

towel401

rebel.ranter wrote: »

You can get in trouble for installing a GSM repeater, it is illegal. Illegal for the following reason, the mobile phone companies pay a license fee (quite substantial ones) to operate exclusively in the paid for band.
By installing a repeater you are broadcasting illegally. In fact those EBay 900GSM ones repeat all operator GSM 900 bands, so you'll be peeing off all the operators.


One other thing to remember is that a repeater transmits too, it has to to get the uplink signal back to the base station.


I tested out one of those EBay ones, they are cheap & nasty with poor power control. I would also imagine that the reliability would not be 100% meaning you could cause degradation to the operators network. This would lead to investigation, then lead to ComReg getting involved. Similar to GSM jammers, some of these have been confiscated by ComReg.


This is also incorrect, operators install them or employ approved 3rd parties to install them.

so who makes the good, high quality repeaters that won't cause any trouble on the network?

rebel.ranter

towel401 wrote: »

so who makes the good, high quality repeaters that won't cause any trouble on the network?

Powerwave make a good quality repeater. There are other manufacturers out there too that have high standards. The EBay one even came with a dodgy power supply

ednwireland

byte wrote: »

Excellent coverage, and get paid for it?! :eek: Where do I sign?

worst place to get a signal is underneath a mast mate of mine lived in a block of falts with a mast on top in london had terrible mobile coverage

Fratton Fred

There are loads of different options available now. Companies that have large offices can have indoor cells, these look like smoke alarms and work off a base station in the basement of the building, this hugely improves indoor coverage. You can also get street Level Micros. Not sure if these are in use in Dublin, but I know that Vodafone did a deal with a pub chain to put hundreds (if not thousands) in London, Birmingham and Manchester. These sit on the front of the building like an alarm box and again, feed into a small base station in the building.

With regards mobile sites, these are used for either temporary coverage, ie concerts, sporting events etc or if a site has had a major failure. They can be set up in a couple of days and run off a generator. The only problem is, put a big metal mast in the middle of a concert and people will climb up them to get a better view!!

As for the Garda stations, are these GSM/3G base stations, or are they for the Tetra network that is going in?

mk6705

Fratton Fred wrote: »

As for the Garda stations, are these GSM/3G base stations, or are they for the Tetra network that is going in?

They'd be O2's GSM/3G base stations. I presume by the tetra network you mean the new digital Garda communications system, they'd be there too I guess.:)

worst place to get a signal is underneath a mast mate of mine lived in a block of falts with a mast on top in london had terrible mobile coverage

Are you sure it was his network? :P

byte

ednwireland wrote: »

worst place to get a signal is underneath a mast mate of mine lived in a block of falts with a mast on top in london had terrible mobile coverage

Yes, you'd be right there. Directly underneathh or directly above would probably be dead zones.

kirving

Sure in town mobile panels are painted to look like brick work or whatever color the building is. The ones that look like trees are brilliant too, noone notices them so they dont complain. Although steel fencing around a steel tree looks strange from the bottom of them!

Fratton Fred

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Sure in town mobile panels are painted to look like brick work or whatever color the building is. The ones that look like trees are brilliant too, noone notices them so they dont complain. Although steel fencing around a steel tree looks strange from the bottom of them!

They fit them in Lamposts, flag poles, even church steeple now, although the churches are keen on the money, they don't like the thought of pornographic material going through a mast on their premises!

rebel.ranter

Adro947 wrote: »

They'd be O2's GSM/3G base stations. I presume by the tetra network you mean the new digital Garda communications system, they'd be there too I guess.:)

All networks now have access to the Garda masts & any OPW building.

ironictoaster

I don't know what to think of them tbh. I remember they caused havok where I live as they attempted to put a 3G mast outside my school.

http://www.briangreene.com/bhg/category/mobile/

projectmayhem

creggy wrote: »

I don't know what to think of them tbh. I remember they caused havok where I live as they attempted to put a 3G mast outside my school.

http://www.briangreene.com/bhg/category/mobile/

They do realise that there are about 6 relays (smaller towers) in pubs and a certain supermarket nearby which are probably worse then just having 1 tower.

I remember a protest there with oul wans standing around with signs and no less then two of them were using their mobiles to chat to people.

towel401

rebel.ranter wrote: »

Powerwave make a good quality repeater. There are other manufacturers out there too that have high standards. The EBay one even came with a dodgy power supply

Lol that isn't surprising. this sort of ****e from guangdong is usually quite bad. i bought a phone battery from there that wouldn't last an hour, counterfeit CF cards, etc.