Cell tower locations... why is this classified information?

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rg1204 - 27 Jul 2003 00:03 GMT

I went to a local t-mobile store and they said they cannot tell me the
locations of the towers in my area. They keep telling me about the
coverage map. I already know about that I said. My problem is that
AT&T who is who I have now as a carrier sucks in certain areas of
Cherry Hill, NJ. So, I want to see if they share the same locations
as AT&T and just where drop off points are in my local area. For
some reason, nobody knows. Why is this so secret?

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PDA Man - 27 Jul 2003 00:22 GMT

During a terroist attack the last thing we need is the boys from Towel World
taking out the communication infrastructure.

> I went to a local t-mobile store and they said they cannot tell me the
> locations of the towers in my area. They keep telling me about the
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> as AT&T and just where drop off points are in my local area. For
> some reason, nobody knows. Why is this so secret?

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Thomas T. Veldhouse - 29 Jul 2003 16:07 GMT

> During a terroist attack the last thing we need is the boys from Towel World
> taking out the communication infrastructure.

Yeah right, they are going to plant a small bomb at every tower ...

Tom Veldhouse

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Joseph - 27 Jul 2003 00:28 GMT

>I went to a local t-mobile store and they said they cannot tell me the
>locations of the towers in my area. They keep telling me about the
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>as AT&T and just where drop off points are in my local area. For
>some reason, nobody knows. Why is this so secret?

It's not a secret, but you won't get the information from the
carriers. Go to google.com and type in "tower locator" and first hit
will be berkana.com. They don't list all, but some are listed. Some
are listed by carrier, some are listed by "antenna agregator" as
several different companies may be using the tower and just lease
space.

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Donald Newcomb - 27 Jul 2003 01:45 GMT

Cell tower locations are not secret. There are places on the net where you
can search for FCC-registered towers. (I don't have the address right now.)
The problem is that the towers are registered by the *owners* not the
*users*. Thus, in one area the towers T-Mobile uses may be registered to
"XYZ Tower Corp", in another by "Powertel", etc. There was a time when my
local cellular company kept a map with a push-pin at every location where
they had a tower. Those days are long past. There are cells that cover only
a few blocks downtown or inside large buildings. It would be impossible to
list all the locations. The other thing is that the companies don't really
want you to know the details. Also, the situation changes from week to week,
if not day to day. The companies are afraid that if they show something on
the 1st and have to change it on the 14th, they'll be looking at a pack of
lawyers.
--

Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
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news.east.cox.net - 28 Jul 2003 23:40 GMT

Spectrasite, a company that builds and maintains cellular towers for
multiple carriers(you have more then one carrier on the pole). Their sight,
not only told where the towers were, but had pictures of the towers, as well
as pictures of the views from the towers. In addition, I beleive a visit to
your town or cities zoning office would get you the information you desire.

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