Tips on renting a tower or a place to mount your antenna (details coming later)
Tips on renting a tower or a place to mount your antenna (details coming later)
For the past year since relocating, I've been dealing with slow internet—10mbps download and 1mbps upload—while being 800 feet away, AT&T and Xfinity offer gigabit speeds. I’m okay with that, but it’s frustrating. I’m considering investing in either Ubiquiti NanoBeam Gen2s or Litebeam Gen2s for a point-to-point setup. This would let me connect to a tower near a cell site and extend the signal via Ethernet from my router to a second antenna at home, which would then reach my house through a switch or additional router. My goal is around 400mbps. The main challenge is finding a suitable spot to place the first antenna, given my budget of $3000 and the inability to afford monthly fees for a tower. I don’t want to install equipment on someone else’s property, and there aren’t nearby businesses close enough without obstructions like trees. I’m not sure how to reach these companies—they don’t display contact info. At 14, I can’t just attach gear to another person’s roof. I really doubt I could secure a tower even with $10k, especially since my parents don’t grasp this technology and they’ve already tried other options.
Well, regardless of the situation, you’ll need your parents’ help. State regulations say minors can’t sign contracts alone and enforce them in court. Most companies won’t even contact you once they discover this. You should also keep in mind the rules about renting space on utility towers—local public utility laws and federal guidelines apply, along with the fact that utilities are tightly controlled. This usually means your parents will be involved again, especially since contracts aren’t legally binding for minors. I just wanted to highlight how challenging this process is and how important it is for them to understand what’s at stake.
Don't stress, I know I can't do anything until I reach 18. My parents seem to get it, and they really want better internet speeds. What I meant was they don’t grasp things like frequency or speed measurements in megabits per second. I’m planning to install one on a building, but hopefully the nearby trees won’t cause issues. I’ve heard that in areas with lots of trees you can use 2.4GHz antennas, though I doubt it since everyone’s WiFi is also on that band. Even losing half the speed would still leave around 200mbps. I found inspiration from YouTube creators like rmp5s and Crosstalk Solutions. Thanks for the reply. Edit: Regarding the paperwork, unless I planned to place an antenna on a stop sign, I probably won’t have any major concerns because these Ubiquiti antennas use unlicensed, open frequencies such as 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
I anticipate a solid rental rate for a tower if it isn’t directly owned by the cell carriers. There’s little chance any carrier would let you share their space. Adding service at a site could also pose challenges. Just because AT&T declined doesn’t guarantee Comcast won’t. I expect Comcast to demand a substantial fee—quotes have reached $50,000. You’ll incur costs for every foot of cabling, equipment installation, and labor. Optical nodes, fiber, and amps aren’t inexpensive. The final price depends on the work required. Being 800 feet away doesn’t automatically mean they can simply run 800 feet of coax; they might need new fiber, a node, and then the coax setup, which can be very expensive.