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Cumulus DC cluster evacuated over suspicious package leads Fast-Forward Friday articles

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

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 …

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Carriers’ fuzzy Hurricane Michael outage math doesn’t add up

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week chided carriers for their slow progress in restoring wireless service in areas close to where Hurricane Michael made landfall. He called it “completely unacceptable.” Yesterday, he complimented broadcasters for their stellar job. “Another familiar aspect is local radio and TV broadcasters were unsung heroes in their first informer roles and in the aftermath,” Pai …

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FCC wants input on tower and other costs to be incurred by repacking

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

The FCC released their “catalog of potential expenses and estimated costs” yesterday for LPTV stations and TV translator facilities, and for FM radio stations, expected to be incurred as a result of broadcaster repacking, and is asking for public comments. “While we believe the catalog is relatively comprehensive, it does not cover every possible expense for every situation, nor is it …

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NATE UNITE 2019’s keynote luncheon address will feature Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson

In Associations News, Featured News by Wireless Estimator

The National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) announced today that Willie Robertson will deliver the keynote address at the NATE UNITE 2019 Conference in Grapevine, Texas. The event will take place February 4-7, 2019 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center. NATE UNITE is widely regarded as the premier and most comprehensive education event in the wireless and broadcast …

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‘Hallelujah’ heard from Mexico Beach Mayor as Verizon service is restored on his phone

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Hard-hit by Hurricane Michael’s devastating winds and cut fiber lines, Bay County, Fla. saw little improvement yesterday in the number of cell sites that were down, going from 216 the day before to just 214, but this afternoon there was a marked improvement in service as the dominant carrier in Panama City and Mexico Beach, Verizon, brought service back to …

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Florida’s Governor calls out Verizon and AT&T’s poor service in hard-hit Bay County, Florida

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Florida Governor Rick Scott at a press conference yesterday regarding Hurricane Michael restoration efforts said, “One of the most frustrating problems is telecommunications.” “Now, after clearing the roads, communications are the first priority, and power. We have an unbelievable problem in Bay County — Verizon is down and AT&T is up, but the county services are on Verizon. In other …

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Hurricane Michael mauls cell service in three states after cutting through Georgia

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

When Hurricane Florence slammed into North Carolina on Sept. 17, it kayoed 718 cell sites, according to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) which listed the counties that could suffer service interruption in four states. Hurricane Michael, the third-most powerful storm on record to hit the U.S., and the worst in 50 years, has almost doubled the number of …

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Motorola’s Florida half-billion dollar payday approval leads Fast-Forward Friday articles

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

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 …

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Wireless infrastructure failed his city’s first responders: Panama City Beach Mayor

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Panama City Beach saw some catastrophic damage, and localized flooding and power outages, but faired considerably better than its sister community 15 miles east, Panama City, which also took a severe hit, and many locations look like a wasteland after Hurricane Michael, the third-most powerful storm on record to hit the U.S., and the worst in 50 years, devastated Florida …

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Whether Dish Network builds 50,000 towers or collocates, contractors will benefit

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Although media headlines state that Dish Network is considering building 50,000 towers throughout the nation at a cost of $10 billion to launch a new 5G network, it’s doubtful that they will, but collocations are a strong possibility for towercos. FierceWireless broke the story that Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said at an investor’s conference that the company could spend up …

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Some site acqs might have to confront ‘colo in a can’

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

In the past, site acquisition professionals had to debunk the belief that cell sites were going to be so small in the future that communities would be left with an abundance of unnecessary rusted, teetering macro sites. The newest hurdle they might face is that Drexel’s College of Engineering has published research that they have found a method for spraying invisibly …

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NATE hosts UAS operations showcase event in D.C. Beltway at Crown Castle site

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Key stakeholders from federal government agencies, industry and media participated in the inaugural NATE Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Operations “Field Day Showcase” yesterday. This dynamic drone experience was held at a Crown Castle tower site located in Gainesville, Va., in close proximity to the Washington, D.C. beltway. At the event, attendees were provided an opportunity to witness live flight demonstrations …

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FirstNet’s 72-dedicated deployable network assets ready for Hurricane Michael

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Public safety agencies subscribing to FirstNet now have access to the full fleet of 72 dedicated deployable network assets.  And many of them might be needed later this week if Tropical Storm Michael reaches hurricane status and comes ashore in Florida. AT&T said it is ready for Hurricane Michael and has “an arsenal of disaster response equipment and personnel on standby.” Florida Gov. Rick …

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Industry’s first-ever influential contractor survey’s deadline is October 10

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Make your company’s concerns count As wireless contractors are acutely aware, contractor firms in the industry have experienced trends that have seen payment terms go from 30 days to 60 days, and now are settling in at 90 to 120 days, placing an undue financial burden on contractor companies. It’s not whether these terms could potentially compromise safety and  hinder …

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Repack cuts commercial UHF broadcast stations to below 1,000

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

According to newly released statistics by the FCC, the nation saw an addition of 110 broadcast stations added to its ranks during the third quarter, with the total number of commercially licensed UHF stations dipping below 1,000. In addition, there are fewer AM radio stations and far more FM translators and boosters. (VIEW BROADCAST CATEGORY COUNTS BELOW) Translator stations are primarily not new stations, …

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Maintaining top tower talent, NWSA, and small cells best practices at NATE WIN Florida conference

In Associations News, Featured News by Wireless Estimator

The NATE Wireless Industry Network (WIN) will be hosting its Southeast Regional Conference on Oct. 29, 2018 at the Hilton Garden Inn Pensacola/Medical Center in Pensacola, Fla. The conference will focus on key industry safety initiatives as well as other educational presentations, and offer tremendous networking and professional development opportunities for attendees, according to WIN Director Scott Krouse. The conference …

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Fund set up for MasTec construction manager’s family after he died in weekend tower collapse

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

On Saturday morning, Ken Mitchell Waddell, 30, of Crossville, Tenn. kissed his wife, Cadie, and their five children goodbye and drove 45 minutes to Cookeville to help erect a 70-foot guyed tower for a ham radio operator on private property. Late in the afternoon, expecting him to be home shortly for dinner with their five children, she  received  the horrific news that her …

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Sprint paints a terribly bleak survival picture for the FCC if merger is nixed

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator

Earlier this month the FCC, which is reviewing the planned merger of T-Mobile and Sprint Corp, said it had paused its 180-day review clock to give the agency time to analyze a large, complex submission on benefits that the proposed merger would create. On Wednesday, Sprint took a different path to grease approval by the agency – providing a presentation …