CellTower
Latest
Ukraine war memorial given eternal LED torch, cell antenna
An eternal flame that once blazed via good old fashioned science has now been given a new lease on life thanks to modern technology. This Cherkassy, Ukraine war monument, erected in honor of fallen World War 2 soldiers, had been sitting extinguished given the price of natural gas after the fall of the Soviet Union. Now, though, the bowl has been gifted with a LED marquee simulating a flame, which covers up its alternate use as a cell tower. Sure, beauty's in the eye of the beholder and we're fairly certain this hasn't been accepted with universal approval, but if you ask us, and admittedly we're biased, the more LEDs the better. [Via Hack a Day]
Bell Canada cell tower in Calgary confused, thinks it's in Edmonton
If you live in the 7 Street and 7 Avenue, S.W.,area in Calgary, Alberta, are a Bell Mobility subscriber, and noticed a pile of long distance calls to Edmonton on your current bill, feel free to blame Bell. Apparently a new tower in that area was not set up properly and thought it was in Edmonton, so calls placed through it during October and November could result in long distance charges. Bell has patched up the problem, but the onus is on you, dear subscriber, to find any billing errors and phone them in for a credit. We'd love to hear about your outrageous bills, so if your wallet's hurting this month, or a teenager's in the doghouse because of yet another $300 phone bill -- when it really wasn't their fault, this time -- please drop us a line.[Via HowardChui]
FCC to revise emergency backup power rule for cell towers
Even though the FCC could have simply overridden a White House decision to reject the backup power requirement, it's deciding to reel in its ego and revise things for the betterment of all involved. After taking a fair amount of flack for its emergency plan being too outlandish and impossible to afford / implement, the agency has stated that it will issue a new proposal "with the goal of adopting revised backup power rules that will ensure that reliable communications are available to public safety during, and in the aftermath of, natural disasters and other catastrophic events." Details beyond that are scant, but we suspect the whole "at least eight hours of backup power" could be changed to something smaller. Moral of the story? Don't ditch that Y2K preparedness kit just yet.[Via mocoNews]
FCC's cell tower backup power plan gets spiked by White House
The White House's Office of Management and Budget has rejected the FCC's plan to require carriers to juice most cell towers with at least eight hours of backup power, citing a failure to solicit public comments. In this case, "public comments" would particularly refer to the CTIA and its members, which had sued to stop the FCC in its tracks; besides the staggering cost of outfitting a majority of towers with backup power systems, carriers have argued that they already have sufficient disaster recovery plans in place for making sure service interruptions are held to a bare minimum following a loss of juice. The FCC says it's "considering [its] options" following the ruling; technically they can overrule the OMB on the matter, but they'll just be staring down the barrel of the CTIA's suit if they do.
Verizon Wireless to launch its own Samsung Ubicell
We figured it was only a matter of time before someone else took Samsung up on its offer of a branded Ubicell for their network, and it seems as if Verizon Wireless will be calling the two spot. After Sprint launched the CDMA femtocell (dubbed AIRAVE) for users with lackluster service at home, the unit was widely regarded as amazing, magnificent and just downright stupendous. According to a new filing with the FCC, Verizon is hoping to provide those same wonderful emotions to its own customers who are already frustrated with dropped calls and terrible service at home. Obviously, there's no mention of a price or release date, but judging by the user manual, installation and operation will be exactly the same -- and yes, that means it won't operate without a GPS lock proving that you're currently situated in America. Now, if only a universal GSM version were right around the bend, we'd be pleased as punch.[Via CellPhone Signal]
Sprint wants to dress up cell tower, town says no
As the number of wireless customers grows, carriers must add cell towers to fill in gaps in coverage and dead spots. More often that not, there's a heated debate between local residents and the wireless carrier regarding where to place the cell sites and how to make them as visually unobtrusive as possible. In the small town of Philomont, Virginia, residents have turned down Sprint's offer to build and disguise a local cell site as a 106-foot barn silo. The cell tower was described as "visually obscene" by one of the local residents, suggesting the company instead share a 100-foot flagpole already used by Verizon. Naturally, Sprint's not so keen on the idea, pouting and screaming that it doesn't like to share (actually, they had some excuse about not having access to the best spots on the flagpole because they're already in use) -- but any way you slice it, take note that rural Virginians value their silo-free skyline over extra bars of reception.
Cell tower and GPS traces now standard fare in courtrooms
Although cellphone tower location registering has been used in courtrooms for some time, we just knew that the GPS capability and morewould be put forth for use in cases where even better location granularity is required. Well, what do ya know: it's here. For alleged murderer Darryl Littlejohn, he knows it all to well. While movement from tower to tower is not exactly a new strategy for attorneys to use when arguing cases, it's use as an alibi can go either way. Critics say that rush-hour wireless traffic can shunt signals to towers that cause accurate tracking to be obfuscated somewhat, while others say criminals can plant their handsets away from crime locations for later use as an alibi. Yeah, we love when lawyers begin grasping the technical ins and outs of wireless towers and advanced tracking methodologies.
Oceanside California hopes to dress up cell tower
As far as love hate relationships go, cell towers rank way up there. Everybody wants better mobile coverage without having to see an ugly tower peeking above the trees in their neighborhood. The Arts Commission from Oceanside, California, has set its sights on beautifying one particular tower that gets peeped by a few hundred thousand people a day from a nearby freeway. The plan would have the thing bedecked with netting and sea birds in an attempt to blend in with the pleasant coastal theme. We find that by simply staring at our feet and wearing ball caps all while chatting on our cells usually helps us ignore them. Good luck Oceanside.[Via textually.org]
Miffed cell suscriber goes on tower-destroying rampage in APC
We'll take our warfare small-sized and mobile-friendly any day of the week, thank you very much. Seems an angry cell subscriber likely had the ride of his life wiped all trace of frustration from his soul by rampaging through Sydney destroying six cell towers in an Armored Personnel Carrier. Charged with malicious damage, break and enter, predatory driving, and driving in a dangerous manner, the mad driver was arrested on his way to a seventh appointment. The driver's name and carrier in question aren't mentioned, but we can assume he won't be worrying about cell reception where he's likely to end up -- unless, of course, it was all just an accident.
