Cell Tower Abandoned or Neglected?

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kiwirock

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# 259793 22-Oct-2019 18:35

I'm not sure if this abandoned by Woosh, or neglected by one of our carriers?

This is Invercargill, corner of Herbert Street and Queens Drive. I assume this cabinet is part of this tower. I could be wrong. It's been like this for quite a long time now (in to the months). If it's just neglected, I'm sure there would be gear in there that's going to be costly to replace if it's not abandoned.

Cheers,

Gavin.

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'That VDSL Cat'
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Spark

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# 2341997 22-Oct-2019 18:45

Looks very 2D, but certainly no licences on the 3 carriers...

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DjShadow

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# 2342001 22-Oct-2019 18:50

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Looks similar to the defunct Woosh towers that still stand around Lower Hutt

halper86

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# 2342003 22-Oct-2019 18:54

I go past there very often and that cabinet has been knocked over very recently (past month or two). Not sure if it is a cell tower as hio said there is no licence or trace of it on any gis map. I assume the cabinet got hit by a car accident.

hio77

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# 2342004 22-Oct-2019 18:55

My comments are purely based on the panels used :)

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halper86

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# 2342006 22-Oct-2019 18:59

DjShadow:

Looks similar to the defunct Woosh towers that still stand around Lower Hutt

My question is why (if it was) would there be a woosh tower in the middle of a suburban area?

Also as far as I've known, that the tower has been there the 15 years I've been alive :)

DjShadow

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# 2342007 22-Oct-2019 19:02

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If memory serves me right, Woosh was selected to provide rural broadband coverage across southland so they would of had coverage across Invercargil.

They went belly up a few years ago, they didnt keep up with technology I believe.

halper86

44 posts

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# 2342008 22-Oct-2019 19:07

DjShadow:

If memory serves me right, Woosh was selected to provide rural broadband coverage across southland so they would of had coverage across Invercargil.

They went belly up a few years ago, they didnt keep up with technology I believe.

You have a point, my grandparents live out of town and they used to have 1.5 mbps (at best) with woosh and then everything went bust. Now they're on RBI (which is a whole other story)

kiwirock

648 posts

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# 2342015 22-Oct-2019 19:19

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Sounds like an abandoned tower of Woosh's.

Woosh had a couple of towers in town. I used their service back in 2009 when it still cost the earth for normal 3G mobile prices down here. It was quite handy for people that moved around a lot.

I think that tower was erected while I was out of town between 2002-2008 so 15 years sounds about right. It was there before I went to Otago for a while.

I might ask the council to make sure it's disconnected or removed before it's more of a safety hazard. It shouldn't need to have electrical tape warning around it if there's no power to it. If it's abandoned, it's about time it was disconnected and removed given its current state.

Cheers,

Gavin.

quickymart

4690 posts

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# 2342019 22-Oct-2019 19:23

Would the council do it though? Who took over Woosh's assets (transmitters etc), or are they just being left to rot?

mattwnz

15214 posts

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# 2342020 22-Oct-2019 19:24

If it is on council land, and it has been abandoned, I presume they are no longer getting any money from leasing the land. I wonder if the contract had anything in it for removal at teh end of it's life. eg Having the money in a trust account if it ever needs removing so ratepayers don't have to foot the bill, or if that is a risk that they take?

DjShadow

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# 2342024 22-Oct-2019 19:36

Would the likes of Spark, Voda, 2D or even a WISP be interested in buying it?

KiwiSurfer

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# 2342025 22-Oct-2019 19:41

The tower is definitely Woosh. But the cabinet doesn't look Woosh at all. Is there any Woosh markings on it? How far away from the base of the monopole is it? Woosh usually had their BTS cabinet very close by often right at the base of the tower (unlike VF/Spark/etc who didn't seem to mind putting their cabinets further away).

Here are a couple of my pictures of Woosh sites. Not very many I'm afraid but you can see the similarities between your photo and the Woosh monopoles I've taken photos of. (Edit: There are 4 'pages' of photos, click the link at the bottom to go to next page etc).

https://pole.net.nz/gallery/index.php?/tags/16-woosh

kiwirock

648 posts

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# 2342026 22-Oct-2019 19:44

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There are some small units around the base of the antenna, very small. If I have the time tomorrow I'll take some closer pictures of the base of the tower. I've also flicked an email to council to ask what that cabinet is about.

KiwiSurfer

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# 2342027 22-Oct-2019 19:47

DjShadow:

Would the likes of Spark, Voda, 2D or even a WISP be interested in buying it?

2degrees has co-located on a number of former Woosh sites (and I suspect many were installed while Woosh was still in operation). However over the years I've seen a few of these sites disappear and replaced by a 'native' 2degrees build. 2degrees' Cockle Bay site is a good example of this if you go and look at the Street View photos from previous years and compare to the current photo. So I would suspect no as I'm assuming it's probably not worth the effort anymore to retrofit current gear back onto the Woosh monopoles.

hio77

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# 2342032 22-Oct-2019 19:56

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KiwiSurfer:
The tower is definitely Woosh. But the cabinet doesn't look Woosh at all. Is there any Woosh markings on it? How far away from the base of the monopole is it? Woosh usually had their BTS cabinet very close by often right at the base of the tower (unlike VF/Spark/etc who didn't seem to mind putting their cabinets further away).

Here are a couple of my pictures of Woosh sites. Not very many I'm afraid but you can see the similarities between your photo and the Woosh monopoles I've taken photos of. (Edit: There are 4 'pages' of photos, click the link at the bottom to go to next page etc).

https://pole.net.nz/gallery/index.php?/tags/16-woosh

Totally forgot to check James's site for pictures!

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

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