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Exact cell site locations would be considered competitive strategic information by most carriers, who spend a lot of time, money and energy selecting the right
by ridaj 7y ago
Exact cell site locations would be considered competitive strategic information by most carriers, who spend a lot of time, money and energy selecting the right cell sites to cover the right markets at the right cost. Also, they change all the time, eg when leases expire, when customer traffic patterns changes, when there are upgrades, etc.
- LadyCailin 7y agoI don’t buy that. I’m sure the way that they select the sites in the first place is probably proprietary, but once you start broadcasting radio frequencies, it’s trivial to pinpoint the location of the towers, so there’s absolutely nothing stopping anyone, particularly a competitor, from mapping them out quite easily.
- georgeplusplus 7y agoIf it’s done quiet easily as you claim, then why hasn’t it been done already?
- ridaj 7y agoCosts $$$ to have techs drive around the land with that kind of gear...
- LadyCailin 7y agoSure, but if a company is thinking about expanding into another area, they're already going to be doing that, whether or not they need to also know about their competitor's towers.
- raxxorrax 7y agoEncryption helps against IMSI-Catchers, but you can also just implement a form of secure tower identification if ISP want to keep their secrets. The mexican cartels could do it if the urban legends are true. edit: And as others have said, it compares a bit to wanting to keep the location of a lighthouse a secret.
- elithrar 7y agoThis is categorically untrue. They are not a secret due to the approvals required at a local level and by the FCC. Many carriers lease space on the same towers, or have agreements to lease space from others in certain markets. You almost never get the site placement you want: you are operating in a built environment and have to work within those constraints. The problem is that knowing the co-ordinates of the tower does nothing to defend against Stingray-like devices: coordinates aren’t a means of authentication.
- ridaj 7y agoI'm not sure what approvals you're talking about. For individual small sites in already-built structures, neutral-host sites, or for leasing agreements with other operators where you're just putting a new cabinet in an existing site, what approvals are needed that would publish cell site locations?