[strickja]

Thought this would be easy because of FCC filing requirements, but I can't seem to find a site that will allow an address or zip to be used to locate cell towers on a map relative to it; googled and found a number of sites claiming it but all the data was very outdated or the sites were dead (antennasearch.com). Any ideas ?

[Redneckbutlerboy]

doesn't show the towers but if you go to Support | Answers to your cell phone questions | AT&T, formerly Cingular and click coverage viewer you can put in an address and change between voice and data coverage.

[strickja]

Yes I have done that, part of the rub here is AT&T claims they have coverage at my address (-94db or better is minimum for stated coverage) outside, while the reality is more like -100-110db, which doesn't make for a great experience on voice or data and pretty useless in the house; I have given up on them doing anything about it, the CSR's and Supervisors simply say "the map shows we have coverage and your service contract doesn't guarantee in building coverage" despite the fact I am standing in my yard with a db meter while I talk to them. I am disgusted and would drop them if I had a choice, I have been a Customer for 10+ years but have grown to despise the big, slow mentality; anyway, I am trying to locate coordinates for a directional ant to hook up to a repeater, AT&T CSR told me today "it looks like its southwest but I don't know which way your house faces"; I gently explained that map coordinates were not dependent of which way a house faces. I would like something a little more exact but they won't provide it. if they won't build the network I will !

Forgive the rant !

thanks for the input

[jeffh]

You might be able to find the tower using Google Maps. According to the help screen, "The My Location service takes information broadcast from mobile towers near you to approximate your current location..." Currently Google Maps is showing my location as a 1700-m circle centered on the nearest cell tower. Depending on the towers near you, it might be as simple as running Google Maps and letting it pinpoint the tower for you. If more towers are nearby, it may triangulate; I don't know. In my case it's simply pointing to the nearest tower.

[Inifekt]

Customer support has a tool. Call them up and ask them what towers you have around you and see if they can give you an estimate how close one is from your address.

[vincet]

I know of site called Billshrink.This site allow us to know about mobile coverage.May be you'll get some help from this.

[MBW]

Yes I have done that, part of the rub here is AT&T claims they have coverage at my address (-94db or better is minimum for stated coverage) outside, while the reality is more like -100-110db, which doesn't make for a great experience on voice or data and pretty useless in the house; I have given up on them doing anything about it, the CSR's and Supervisors simply say "the map shows we have coverage and your service contract doesn't guarantee in building coverage" despite the fact I am standing in my yard with a db meter while I talk to them. I am disgusted and would drop them if I had a choice, I have been a Customer for 10+ years but have grown to despise the big, slow mentality; anyway, I am trying to locate coordinates for a directional ant to hook up to a repeater, AT&T CSR told me today "it looks like its southwest but I don't know which way your house faces"; I gently explained that map coordinates were not dependent of which way a house faces. I would like something a little more exact but they won't provide it. if they won't build the network I will !

Forgive the rant !

thanks for the input

I too have AT&T, a digital signal strength meter and coverage that makes their map look like fiction. Some genius in engineering put the closest tower at the bottom of a river valley two hilltops away. I have a mast-mounted high-gain Yagi and signal amplifiers and still get 0.5-2 bars at best.

So every few weeks, I recite all this to customer support and they write it up as a ticket that goes to the tech crew so they can go visit the tower and double check its configuration.

If I do it enough, it should turn into a flag to escalate the issue and may eventually get to an RF whiz zmart enough to figure out that either the tower needs to be taller or they need to add another tower - or to get me into the femtocell beta program.

[strickja]

Thanks for the responses; if CS has a tool, they are keeping it a secret; I gave them an exact street address and offered lat/long, but they still reply in generalities; "it looks like" and "its about"; sorry I would think they had better information ; ant will go up this weekend, generally facing SW ! its so absurd to be talking about coverage in a major metro suburb.

[strickja]

problem with the repeaters are they only repeat/amplify the crap signal you are getting, even with directional ant ; I spent some time with a repeater mfr tech and its a chicken and egg thing, they can't perform if the signal is not good, we don't need them if the signal is good. Only really stellar application is like my Dad's house which is cinderblock, re enforced concrete; no bars indoors, 5 bars out, run the ant outside and repeat a strong signal, viola !

[Inifekt]

It's called MTI Map Tool. It doesn't give exact distances, so you have to estimate, but you can easily tell if you're with in 3 miles, 5 miles, 10, etc. It'll even report damaged and under construction towers.