Ahead of the 2015 Pan-Am Games set to take place in Toronto next July, Rogers and Bell want to install a cell tower at the Caledon Pan Am Equestrian Park, reports the Caledon Enterprise:
A report at council on Tuesday said the town received an application over the summer for a 50-metre-tall shrouded tripole tower with two associated equipment cabinets in a chainlink fence enclosure. It would sit on the Pan Am site at 200 Pine Avenue.
The proposed location puts the tower next to the entrance to the Pan Am game site, and a neighbouring woodlot. The town reports it will be set back 59 metres from Pine Avenue and 170 metres from the nearest residential unit.
There’s a gap in coverage in the area, hence the proposal to install another cell tower, which will be shared by both wireless carriers. The town has met with both Rogers and Bell to have talks about the possibility of including a fibre optic link.
Coverage maps for the area from Rogers and Bell indicate the area is covered by LTE networking, but the fine print reads “Actual coverage area may vary from map graphics.”
While the town can make comments on the proposal, such as a councillor’s request of whether evergreens would be used to disguise the tower like those seen in Muskoka, Industry Canada has the final say on the matter.
Ensuring fast and proper cell coverage during a popular sporting event would mean more data usage by customers, particularly visitors willing to use data roaming on Rogers and Bell, seen as a lucrative source of revenue for carriers.
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“lucrative”? For a one-time event? Where cell phones are urged to be turned off/muted? Where Canadians already have data plans? And most international people will wait to get back to their hotel for W-Fi?
I don’t see “lucrative” being a factor. The only factor may be that, if it’s a dead zone, then Bell & Rogers probably figure they may as well add coverage, just so they can live up to their claims for coverage in the area, and so that people don’t publicly bitch that Caledon wasn’t covered.
You don’t think international visitors will be sharing photos and videos to social networks in real-time? That uses data and costs a lot for international roamers.
Do you have stats to back up your statement that international visitors will head back to their hotel Wi-Fi first, or did you just pull that out of the thin air?
the roaming fees bell and telus were able to charge during the vancouver olympics essentially paid for their joint hspa and + networks
How is that relevant?
completely not relevant i just enjoy typing things that clearly do not pertain to anything
Apparently so
yep, two major telcos teaming up to benefit from roaming charges has zero relevance and is in no way a precedent for two major telcos teaming up to benefit from roaming charges
plus the pan am games are the poor mans olympics, for shame
So comparing the entire Olympics to a single, remotely isolated Pan Am event makes sense to you?
’nuff said I guess.
considering were talking about a tower, absolutely
As I stated, I don’t think very many will feel it is necessary to use expensive data in real time. Certainly not enough to offset the cost of a tower during the short time of the event, let alone enough to be lucrative.