How does Sprint add service to an other wireless providers cell tower?

[christopherc18]

Just wondering how the process begins if Sprint wanted to expand coverage without going through the paperwork for construction of a new tower. For example, coverage where I live can be little to none since there are tons of trees and having many hills is not helping it in the New England area. In my neighborhood I see a cell tower that only has one set of antennas. It's definitely not a sprint tower since I get no service.

[A454nova]

I know I'm not on your topic, but if you have good internet, 10Mbps+. Look into the Airave. Because you don't have service there, Sprint will send one to you free. It plugs into you internet and gives you a mini cell tower for your home. Voice and 3G.

 

Sprint Link

 

I have 3 of these, and they work wonders. Note tho, my buddy is out in the rural and has one of my lines. He only has like a 1.5Mbps Internet. It works just fine, he does have to reset it once in a while. The other 2 are on a 10+ and never have issues.

[digiblur]

No need to have 10+ megabits. Its all about the latency and jitter of the line. One voice call on it only pulls about 100 kilobits or so.

[S4GRU]

The biggest deal for Sprint adding service coverage through new sites is cost. Tower site leases, engineering, equipment. Sprint is not in the position to add sites at the moment.

 

They are only adding sites in places where either...

 

A. They are spending boatloads of money on roaming fees and thus adding coverage will be cheaper

 

B. They have a lot of customers already in that area and they are very vocal

 

Sprint is only adding approximately 50-100 sites per year currently.

 

However, when Sprint wants to add a site, the first thing they try to do is identify a rough location of where the site should be ideally. Then they check the databases of their tower companies (American Tower, Crown & Castle, etc.) to see if they already have a tower with space available where it is needed. If they do, and they can come up with acceptable lease terms, they then proceed with engineering, permitting and eventually equipment ordering and deployment. In the fastest track, this takes 6 months.

 

If there is no existing tower to work from, the costs and time it takes go up to a year or more. Because then they hire out a company to build a site that Sprint leases back. Sprint owns very few of its sites. They sold them off a few years ago.

 

This is just a very basic explanation. Hope it helps.

 

Robert - Posted from my E4GT with ICS using Forum Runner

[MacinJosh]

So much for hoping Sprint will put another site up in Pahrump. We only have 2 or 3 cell towers total in town. And of course, there is nothing near me. The closest tower to me is almost 6 miles.

[JPSmith]

If there is no existing tower to work from, and the location is urban or suburban, it can take years or be virtually impossible to get a new tower built; local government approval is required and there are typically endless rounds of deliberations and public hearings which often generate NIMBY opposition from people who live near the proposed tower site. In my community, attempts by AT&T and T-Mobile to erect new towers have gone down in flames in the past few years.

[S4GRU]

If there is no existing tower to work from, and the location is urban or suburban, it can take years or be virtually impossible to get a new tower built; local government approval is required and there are typically endless rounds of deliberations and public hearings which often generate NIMBY opposition from people who live near the proposed tower site. In my community, attempts by AT&T and T-Mobile to erect new towers have gone down in flames in the past few years.

 

Same issue in Santa Fe, NM within the city limits. AT&T wanted to put a concealed site within an abandoned chimney of an old church and people fought it. It still hasn't been approved two years later, AFAIK. Crazy.

 

Robert

[Duffman]

No need to have 10+ megabits. Its all about the latency and jitter of the line. One voice call on it only pulls about 100 kilobits or so.

Actually, only 40Kbps per conversation. You are spot on. Speed is not the problem. Line quality is.

 

Also, don't buy. If you have an indoor coverage issue, Sprint will send you an Airave at no charge. http://sprint.com/airaveaccesspoint