Mast Locations (within the coverage map)

[ginge8368]

Something I've found quite useful whilst checking for a recent issue with service for my Father In Law with O2 is that within their coverage map you have the option of having the location of their masts appear as an overlay when searching. It doesn't give anything away as to what frequencies are transmitting or that, but you get a blue dot showing where the masts physically are. (We discovered that his closest one was hidden on the side of a building nearby!)

Being able to identify where mast location are in relation to a particular address would be enormously helpful for all manner of reasons  - not least to see if where you live, work or will be travelling to may or may not have a good chance of a signal.

I've had a quick look through other community posts to see if there was any info regarding this at all, and whilst I didn't get a definitive answer from what I could see I definitely did see quite a few similar questions asking as to how to find their nearest mast. 

Is this something that has perhaps already been suggested and if not, is this something that could be looked into at all?

[Chris_B]

@ginge8368  remember when 5G was launched and masts got vandalised mainly because it was a cellular mast it might not of even had 5G on it and the idiots doing this was just doing it because they could see them.   EE probably will never do anything like pin point the actual location of a mast because of this very reason.  

[bristolian]

I can sympathise with your interest, many people would be quite surprised how many network sites are in place where they'd least expect them.

EE do have a policy of not publicising their site locations beyond statutory requirements such as planning applications. The previous reply has alluded to one reason, and there's no obvious commercial gain to be had by doing so.

[Northerner]

Hi @ginge8368 

@bristolian is correct. You can try searching your local planning office for locations. 

Thanks 

[ginge8368]

All fair and valid points, though I would be interested to know what the proportion of masts being vandalised are O2's versus any other owing to the locations being freely available via O2's website, but perhaps that's going too far down the rabbit hole.

I mean there are of course third parties which have this information available such as cellmapper.net (and I've had a look myself, but of course it's handy having the details quickly and easily available from the network directly) but I guess in the interest of mitigating any potential damage that it's not a viable avenue for EE to explore.

Thanks for responding though folks - just thought I'd throw it out to see what others thought 🙂 

[EssexBoyEE]

I agree with you on the 02 website Coverage Checker and Mast Locations (and on the 02 App) its a nice feature, a better feature that often gets overlooked on the O2 Checker is that as you move the Map around the Centre Cursor if you stop, wait a second or two, then the Signal Strength Indicator gets updated, meaning you can get a good indication of predicted Signal Strength at any Map location, love this feature. 

Cellmapper is your best friend for actual Mast locations of any Network.

[thecableguy]

I use Cellmapper.net , excellent website giving all kinds of information about the frequencies, directions and distances covered and more. Pretty up to date also. 

I was able to use it to find a transmitter further away than a local one so I could point an external antenna to a 5G mast instead of a 4G mast.

[RapidChill]

https://www.signalchecker.co.uk/ works perfectly, allows you to see in real time what signal is like to for data, calls and 5G. Surprised me how accurate it actually is. Well worth checking if you are stuggling for signal it certainly answered my questions.

[Kfarr]

Personally, I found it of little use.

According to this, we have a good signal at my postcode, in reality, nobody on EE can get a reliable signal at all, we have to rely on wifi calling. 
Complaints to EE fall on deaf ears, the system says we have a good signal, therefore we must all be mistaken 🤦🏻‍♂️

[Chris_B]

@Kfarr  No network will guarantee a signal indoors as this is one of the main reasons for Wi-Fi calling.  The building can be blocking the signal and the coverage map does state it’s only a guide not a guarantee of service .    The coverage map is based on computer simulation and doesn’t take into account the topography of the landscape and you home.   You’ve not seem anyone in your home testing the signal strength.  

According to the coverage map, I shouldn’t expect a 5G signal in my home only outside but yet I have a fantastic signal of 5G within my home.