Inside a 4GEE Street Pole Mast Site - the tech that gets 4GEE to you

[Peter_C]

I'll give you a little introduction to myself first before we get to the technical stuff. I've been one of the EE Community Stars since June 2017. Since then, I've found that I really enjoy helping customers with any complex network queries. Although I don't currently work within the mobile industry, I've developed a keen interest in the subject over the years and gained a huge amount of knowledge. I analyse mobile network infrastructure, monitor performance and changes and love keeping people up to date with new developments through my various social media platforms.

Masts

EE has lots of different mast types to provide your 4GEE experience. In cities, these are often on the roofs of big buildings but, of course, not everywhere has big buildings with suitable roof space! This is especially true of residential areas, where there is also the added need for any installation to be visually appropriate. Such areas are where compact street masts, known in the industry as Streetworks poles, come in. These are located in all sorts of places - you probably regularly walk past one without noticing!

 
Possibly the most common type of EE Streetworks pole, referred to colloquially as a ‘lollipop’.

Contained within the shroud of the lollipop (sadly not sweet!), there are usually three panel antennas. These are connected to the cabinets below by cables very similar to what you use for your TV aerial.

 
EE pole mounted antennas

Cabinets

Typically, EE has two main cabinets for their broadcast equipment: one which houses the 2G and 4G equipment (1800MHz) and one for the 3G (2100MHz). Let's take a look inside the 2G/4G cabinet first:

The insides of a Huawei 3900a for EE 2G/4G 1800MHz.This cabinet is manufactured by Huawei and looks a little bit daunting inside but, once broken down, it is quite straightforward. At the top is the power supply. Just like your phone, the equipment cannot just be run straight off the mains as it needs a lower voltage. Underneath the power supply are the basebands, which are essentially the brains for this part of the mast because they do a whole array of processing to keep all the devices around connected. Finally, at the bottom of the cabinet, are the radio units. These handle the actual radio wave transmitting and receiving, a bit like our mouth and ears do for voice respectively.

Next up is the Nokia 3G cabinet:

EE Nokia cabinet

This is almost identical in terms of the functional units inside the cabinet; it has a power supply, basebands and radio units. The fibre that connects the mast to the rest of the EE network is also visible.

So that's a quick look inside typical EE street mast's hardware. If you have any questions, feel free to tap 'Reply' below. Otherwise I have much more similar content on my YouTube channel and website.

[Lee_H]

Brilliant blog @Peter_C

[wileybusiness]

Very interesting.

[DonDino]

Such a detailed and informative post! Do you know if there is a way to visually identify which network a certain "lollipop" belongs to (i.e. without using a cell id app/map)? Or do they all look exactly the same?

[Peter_C]

@DonDino This type is solely for EE (and 3 via 3G share). For the other types of poles like Jupiters, recognising the operator comes down to the cabinets they have or looking at labels if near. My website shows the cabinets the different networks use on the monopole pages: http://pedroc.co.uk

[DonDino]

Thanks for that, will have a good look through your site and your YouTube channel!

I've also been wondering how these street poles are connected to the rest of the network - do they connect via radio or do they jack into the Openreach fiber/broadband infrastructure under the cabinets?

[Marj3]

This is very interesting. Where I live there is no fibre and internet is very slow.  I have heard of people hosting masts on church spires in country districts but I don't know if that is old fashioned nowadays. I am churchwarden for our local church and, if these masts are still used, I would be interested in finding out about them, but I don't know who to contact. Do you have any information about such things, please?  Thank you

[Peter_C]

@Marj3 - Apologies about the late reply. It is very common for masts to still be built into churches. In terms of these streetworks sites and further information about getting one, you would be best off contacting EE Networks team. @Leanne_T could you help?

[Leanne_T]

Thanks @Peter_C

We have been in touch with @Marj3 previously and have passed all the details needed to our network team 🙂

Thanks. Leanne.

[Marj3]

Thanks for these replies. The network team haven't responded and it is a while ago since the details were passed on so I wondered if there was any way of contacting them myself please?

Thank you

Kind Regards

Marjorie

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Marj3

The network team will contact you if/when a mast is needed in your area.

Thanks for your continued interest. 🙂

Chris

[Gordon57]

Interesting to see under the Nokia cabinet pic the words 'fibre backhaul'. Is this fibre from an exchange, even in areas with no fibre broadband (FTTC etc) available? 

[livemodern]

Such a detailed and informative post! Do you know if there is a way to visually identify which network a certain "lollipop" belongs to

[Peter_C]

@livemodern yes, the cabinets are different! Also there is usually some form of signage on the pole and/or cabinets.

[abhishekpatil]

Hi @Peter_C,
I work for TFL and we need to power down one of the cell phone mast for about few hours. Whom shall I contact?