How do they fix or upgrade a mobile phone tower? With a very big crane, that’s how.
It wouldn’t be a job for someone with a fear of heights.
In my family, my sister gave up her landline when she moved last year, and in her household now relies totally on mobile phones for making calls (plus naked DSL for internet). My mum has (without moving) just switched from landline to mobile as well. I moved to VOIP at home plus mobile earlier this year — it’s been pretty good, though occasionally the modem needs rebooting.
We’ve all given up the landline due to costs, and needing to have a mobile anyway. Are others doing the same?
13 replies on “Pics: How they fix mobile phone towers”
2001 is when I started preaching the landline as dead – noticed I nor anyone I knew was calling landlines nor even had them in our contacts, so I removed my handset and never hooked one up again. A couple moves later had naked, and a couple years later again WiMAX so disconnected the line outright.
Strangely most people I know are only just starting to disconnect them even though they’ve not used them in years, I think it has felt like something they needed and taken a long time to realise they haven’t.
In my mind I saw it as dollars going down the drain,
I’ve been “naked”, DSL that is for years but really I still have a landline, as from others point of view my “landline” number still works and I use it just the same via a cordless phone. From the point of view of faults though I still very much have a “landline” as I’m vulnerable to faults in the ageing copper wiring within my building, out to the street and to the telephone exchange. And due to pricing changes the pricing of naked DSL is much the same as ADSL+phone, I think I save 5 cents a month.
The real question is have you abandoned your landline number so others can call you without expensive timed, mobile charges. No I’ve not, as I don’t want to inflict the charges on other people. Also a mobile number seems to imply a lack of place or permanence which a geographic (0[2-9]/d{9}) number doesn’t.
Yep, I do not have a mobile at all. Although some form of internet access could be handy to find out up to the minute transport information.
Otherwise the landline is fine. except for right now which it seems disconnected.
Otherwise, it is always there. never needs to be on charge like a mobile phone does.
I hate phoning someone on a mobile phone, because ‘I do not know what the person is doing’.
I am passionate against ‘Mobile driving’ (Drive while talking on your mobile) and other safety issues, so I refuse to call people on their mobile. I always go for the landline when I have the choice.
We stilll have a land line. It’s much cheaper to ring fixed local numbers from this phone for a long or longish conversation than to do the same with my mobile (I’m on AldiMobile $5 a year plan). Calling a 1300 number and being stuck “on hold” only costs 30 cents from a landline, would cost a lot more from mobile.
It also means family members can phone us for a long chat (eg my mother in law) and it only costs them 30 cents, not $30.
Finally, the quality of the sound is, on average, much better on a landline.
I think it’s a case of the “more technology”, the “worse the quality”.
I do still have a landline and Bigpond Cable, but only because it’s actually cheaper to bundle them together than to have the cable by itself. I certainly never use the landline, and it never rings, so it’s really kind of pointless.
Still have landline for Mother calls. Telstra has made it so cheap, it is pointless giving it up.
They’re a scourge in our modern society ! If i had a choice between UGLY mobile phone towers and the mobile phone, Mess wise, i know i what I would vote for !
I actually prefer really big cranes… although I prefer when they calculate the weights correctly and don’t end up punching through the floor of suspended slabs, such as this one in Sydney…
http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=24840&stc=1&d=1223467383
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u201/stripeyjack/Pic2250t.jpg
Try living in the outer suburbs! I live in the hills and not only is it close to impossible to get naked DSL (iinet, etc don’t cover our area) mobile reception is terrible in most of our house, so we just keep our landline (even though that has bad reception too). Since Telstra is the only network with decent coverage we don’t have enough internet allowance to switch to Skype either. And everyone forgets that calls to and from landlines are still cheaper than calling to and from mobiles.
consider yourself lucky nathan. I still have a landline which still rings about 4 times a day with sales calls from india.
Same times every day, so I don’t bother answering any more.
Trying doing repairs on a broadcast tower. I don’t think a trip up a crane is really in the same league as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU7WyuC8Hy8 Its over half a kilometre up; he climbs the last fifty metres with only his arms and his legs (plus occasional breaks.)
I don’t have a landline. They seem a little dated. Phone lines are for carrying the internet aren’t they?
@Charlottle – if your landline has “poor reception” something is either wrong with your handset, or your phone line. I’d borrow a corded phone from a friend and see if that fixes it. If it doesn’t, call Telstra and they will be obligated to fix it.
Additionally, iiNet might not cover your area, but even Telstra usually offer ADSL 2+ plans.