On business trips I often do not have the time for pleasure excursions, but the last time I went (September & December '04), I managed to snap off a few quick shots of a couple of cell sites, and they are here below for you to see.
The wonder of England is that the vast majority of the land is relatively flat - not much for hills and valleys. Cell towers are very close together, and the major carriers (like Vodafone) offer as much as 99% coverage of the pupulation of the entire country, which is simply total saturation. For all my travels, even inside the belly's of buildings, I had service with my phones.
All cell towers (monopoles mostly) are very close to the ground. Over the thousands of miles I travelled across the country, I did not see any monopoles that went higher than the tree line. Occasionally, you will see cell antennas on tall buildings or on power line structures, but the majority are low to the ground, thus requiring many sites. On the highways (carriageways), it's rare to go more than 1 mile before seeing your next cell tower. That makes it hard to select good ones to photograph!
As you probably already know, England and most of Europe offers mobile phone service on three frequency bands: 900Mhz and 1800Mhz; and 2100Mhz for 3G. The dominant technology is GSM, but there is W-CDMA (Wideband CDMA) also being deployed, but it's currently limited in coverage. Close to London there is W-CDMA service, but not out in the 'burbs. I have no experience with W-CDMA there. Perhaps someday?
Mostly all of the carriers used mircowave backhauls to other remote locations due to the sheer number of cell sites delpoyed in a certain vicinity. Almost all cell sites have at least one microwave dish present on the tower for this backhaul. Also, most configurations are sectorized. I never saw any omnidirectional antennas. I did see some sites with only partial sectorization in heavily populated areas. I was told that many sites in London are microcell installations, along streets, and inside buildings. They are very strict with the use of mobile phone operations while in a car. If your driving, it's against the law to talk using your hands. Hands-free car kits are a requirement.
The wireless providers in UK -England include:
Orange |
 |
Click here
for a UK Cell Site Location Tool |
On my trips I carry two phones, one that is on the Vodafone network, and another on O2.
Now for the photos....
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