The National Association of Tower Erectors today unveiled a video entitled “Be Your Brother’s Keeper” that focuses on the importance of the planning, procedures, equipment and training necessary to perform a successful tower rescue. The video includes an interview with an experienced industry safety instructor walking through a rescue scenario and discussing the measures that must be planned for and implemented …
Techs’ irrational Wyoming bar shooting might have been racially motivated
Two tower techs were arrested early Saturday morning after they allegedly shot a man outside of Mingles Lounge, a popular night spot off of South Douglas Highway in Gilbert, Wyo. According to a police affidavit, D’Marco Lee Jones, 23, of Detroit, Mich., has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and felony destruction of property in the case. His co-worker, Andreas …
Tower techs shouldn’t be the Rodney Dangerfields of field services professionals
Carriers frequently extol the skills of their purported in-house talent pool required to build out 5G or manage restoration efforts following hurricanes, but in most cases, those workers are from industry infrastructure contractors. Last month, Wireless Estimator pointed out that in a Sprint promotional video CEO Michel Combes said that Sprint was going to be successful because of “Our people that you …
Thanks to nation’s unsung tower techs, Florence’s NC cell site outages are down 77%
When Hurricane Florence’s full tally of cell site outages was identified in North Carolina on Sept. 15, tower crew restoration companies had already been servicing many of them, and the 1,063 outages were reduced dramatically to 787 the following day. Restoration efforts in North Carolina have brought the total of sites out of service to just 245, a 77% improvement …
Cell site outages in North Carolina cut by one-third in one day as networks rebound
Hurricane Florence restoration efforts in North Carolina have brought the total of sites out of service to 8%, a 32% improvement over yesterday’s outages, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 18, 2018. However, Columbus County, hard-hit in the past couple of days by massive flooding, saw a 78 % increase in new sites out …
Carriers’ post-hurricane snow job promos beginning to flood the media
Carriers are trying to outdo each other in presenting how well their network faired following Hurricane Florence’s slow destructive dance across the Carolinas. Now a tropical depression, Florence is still a life-threatening storm as widespread flooding continues to destroy homes and cut off communities from resources and cell service. Yesterday, in a press release, Verizon said their “network continues to withstand …
Cell site outages aren’t always aligned with commercial power outages
Assessing the correlation between commercial power outages and the ability for cell sites to keep operating with a backup power supply will be a work in progress for months to come as carriers and FCC analysts review data obtained through Hurricane Florence research. An initial question might be why Pamlico County which currently has the Pamlico River flooding New Bern and …
North Carolina’s cell sites on the mend, but Onslow County gets hammered
Hurricane Florence restoration efforts in North Carolina in the past 24 hours brought the total of sites out of service to 11.8%, a 13% improvement over yesterday’s outages, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 17, 2018. However, Onslow County saw a 31 % increase in new sites out of service, raising the county’s total …
Some N.C. counties’ cell site outages continue to increase as Florence’s flood levels rise
According to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) report for Sept. 16, 2018, 13.6% of North Carolina’s cell sites are out of service as a result of Hurricane Florence, down from Saturday’s 18.4%, but rising flood waters are seeing some counties’ outages rising. Although the agency’s out of service cell site numbers are the best information available, they don’t …
FirstNet delivers for agencies responding to Hurricane Florence
Hurricane Florence put FirstNet to the test. And the public safety network has been standing up to the challenge, according to AT&T. The carrier said they have been working across national, state and local agencies to keep emergency responders connected to the critical information they need to communicate and coordinate their storm response. Here are a few highlights of how …
First known communications casualty from Florence is National Weather Service’s four transmitters
Hurricane Florence has brought widespread flooding, torrential rains and devastating winds to North Carolina and South Carolina, and has taken out a communications network designed to warn residents of its scale and progress. At 9:47 a.m. this morning, NOAA’s National Weather Service announced that all NOAA weather radio transmitters in Eastern North Carolina supported by the National Weather Service in …
A ‘super cell tower’ in the stratosphere leads Fast-Forward Friday’s news stories
Fast-Forward Friday is Wireless Estimator’s latest news offering that provides an overview of relevant industry news stories presented during the week by other media that were not covered by our staff, along with a link to the article to go upstream and read it in its entirety. After all, the articles’ authors did all the heavy lifting, and capsuling their content and …
Hurricane Florence’s ‘ground zero’ cell tower starts to be battered by storm’s outer rain bands
There was no collective sigh of relief from wireless infrastructure technicians and management as Hurricane Florence was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 2 storm early this morning. Instead, news that the storm has widened and may stay over the coast of the Carolinas for a longer period of time, causing extensive flooding and cell site fuel resupply …
New Hampshire tour has FCC Chairman Pai educated by the state’s largest wireless contractor
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today visited the headquarters of Green Mountain Communications during a trip through the state of New Hampshire. Chairman Pai heard from the executives and employees from Green Mountain Communications about the opportunities and the concerns facing the company – and the industry in general – for the 5G deployment in providing services for the building, maintaining …
Former NATE Chairwoman Pat Cipov inducted into Wireless Hall of Fame
The Wireless History Foundation (WHF) inducted five individuals into the prestigious Wireless Hall of Fame during an awards ceremony that was held last night at the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif. The Wireless Hall of Fame event was held in conjunction with the 2018 Mobile World Congress Americas Conference that is taking place this week in Los Angeles. The Wireless …
Fictional ‘Hurricane Cora’ cripples hundreds of cell towers
A fictional “Hurricane Cora” crippled numerous states on the East Coast in a simulated narrative created by FEMA and Argonne National Laboratory in May that is similar to the real-world scenario that is unfolding as Hurricane Florence, now a Category 4 storm, is ready to devastate the Carolinas. Senior leaders from the White House, along with more than 91 federal …
Infrared LED obstruction lighting is not required: FAA Obstruction Evaluation Manager
An ambiguous recent change to the FAA’s Obstruction Marking and Lighting bible left some obstruction lighting managers with the impression that the Advisory Circular (AC) now requires towers with a new FAA determination to include infrared (IR) LEDs in the L-810 and L-864 systems to make the red lamping more visible to Night Vision Imaging Systems (NVIS) and Night Vision …
Florence’s aftermath will see how hardened networks actually were
As the country’s wireless workforce marshals logistic resupply bases, for the next two days the nation’s carriers will extol the virtues of their hurricane preparedness capabilities’ public relations campaigns as to why they – and only they – can ensure a strong and reliable network when Hurricane Florence decimates the East Coast. As if they all used the same Word …
Not power, but tower structures will be put to the test as Hurricane Florence devastates the East Coast
It is now expected that Hurricane Florence will hit the East Coast Thursday as a powerhouse Category 4 storm, and possibly a Category 5, and the damage could be extensive – and long-lasting, especially for cell towers. A Category 4 hurricane has winds of 130 to 156 mph on the Saffir-Simpson Scale of Hurricane Intensity Initial winds of up to …
Contractor cash flow could be the real culprit in the US’s inability to quickly roll out 5G
It’s the delayed payments, stupid! Commentary – Although we’re treated to almost a daily dose of news about how macro and small cell siting issue delays could adversely impact a successful 5G buildout in America, initial data from Wireless Estimator’s industry-supported Terms of Payment Survey indicates that carrier-generated cash flow problems of contractors could be 5G’s Achilles heel. To draw …
