Is Wind Away disabled at SFU / Burnaby mountain?

**Lamenade** · 02-25-2012, 09:32 PM

I've been on co-op the past two semesters and came to the mountain a few times in the past week and I can't roam on away for some reason. I have both a windows phone and a nexus s and they fail to connect to away. What could be happening? Anyone have any insight? Obviously there is no home zone reception and it is declared an away zone...which is a problem. I have no problem connecting to away elsewhere.

**ECBomb** · 02-26-2012, 12:44 AM

No clue, but I really want reception on campus. It's sooooo annoying having to bring 2 phones around with me...not to mention that my call forwarding hasn't been working for 2 weeks and I haven't had time to look into it.

I thought Dave Dobbin in Mobilicity's HoFo meetup last year said the Rogers exclusive ended at the end of 2011. So how come the new guys haven't been able to put towers up yet? Maybe its more to do with politics but it'd be nice to have an answer or update on universities.

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**thecerealguy** · 02-26-2012, 05:48 PM

Stewart Lyons said that they were having difficulties with approval from local government. The monopoly that Rogers had is indeed over. Just gotta get approval and tower will be built. Well for Mobilicity.

**ECBomb** · 02-26-2012, 06:27 PM

Ah, ok thanks. Just saw on his response on Twitter regarding the issue. I'm hoping that if Mobi can get it, then that means WIND will be able to get it as well. So definitely a good sign!

**rivolette** · 02-26-2012, 06:30 PM

SFU/Burnaby mountain is problematic with ALL carriers. I've used my Wind G2X, iPhone 4S on Telus mobility, iPhone 4 on Rogers, and a friends Blackberry Storm 2 on Bell. They ALL get full or near full signal bars but internet connectivity is near zero. Not a problem exclusive to Wind.

**ECBomb** · 02-26-2012, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by rivolette

SFU/Burnaby mountain is problematic with ALL carriers. I've used my Wind G2X, iPhone 4S on Telus mobility, iPhone 4 on Rogers, and a friends Blackberry Storm 2 on Bell. They ALL get full or near full signal bars but internet connectivity is near zero. Not a problem exclusive to Wind.

The problem with WIND and Mobilicity isn't the data...it's that they have no signal to begin with, which is a big issue.

**savbers** · 02-26-2012, 09:30 PM

Originally Posted by thecerealguy

Stewart Lyons said that they were having difficulties with approval from local government. The monopoly that Rogers had is indeed over. Just gotta get approval and tower will be built. Well for Mobilicity.

That's weird cause they technically don't have to ask the city to put up a tower. So once they get approval from federal government and the city starts getting in the way they can just ignore them and put it up anyhow

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**rivolette** · 02-27-2012, 12:20 AM

Originally Posted by savbers

That's weird cause they technically don't have to ask the city to put up a tower. So once they get approval from federal government and the city starts getting in the way they can just ignore them and put it up anyhow

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Entirely not true. They Need approval from the city. They can't just throw a cell tower anywhere they damn well please.

**dcorreia** · 02-27-2012, 01:20 AM

Cell towers are jurisdiction of the federal govt and local gov't approval is not required in most cases but they can try to make your life more difficult.

Originally Posted by rivolette

Entirely not true. They Need approval from the city. They can't just throw a cell tower anywhere they damn well please.

**Fortissimo** · 02-27-2012, 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by dcorreia

Cell towers are jurisdiction of the federal govt and local gov't approval is not required in most cases but they can try to make your life more difficult.

Correct. The recent change after the report on antenna support structure (tower) with Industry Canada has made it a little easier for owner for these support structure, but still not a 100% clear cut issue. Jurisdictions do overlap in many things. The problem comes down to the language being used. The federal side recommends what is termed "consultation" with the local jurisdiciton; in other words, not a real "approval", but something like a gentleman's agreement, to appease the local authority. But the tricky part is that what is involved in the consultation is not detailed at the federal party, only up to the local authority. And this is how the local authority can "make things difficult" as you put it here.

So for all intents and purposes, many from the business interests would simply view it as needing a "city's approval" because they don't see a difference in the reality part.

There is the government and then there is the government.

BTW, consultative process often would include getting the community's opinions as part of the "collective thoughts", so in some geographies, such as west side Vancouver (wealthy neighbourhood), it's almost impossible to get enough cell towers erected because of opposition from the residents (wealthy and powerful people). And thus, ironically, the coverage has always been challenging in these wealthy neighbourhoods also. It's funny actually.

**Dave114** · 02-27-2012, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by savbers

That's weird cause they technically don't have to ask the city to put up a tower. So once they get approval from federal government and the city starts getting in the way they can just ignore them and put it up anyhow

Lyons' tweet mentioned "local approvals" not specifically the city. Considering the place is basically a university up top surrounded by a park at lower elevations (ergo crappier tower siting), there's lots of room for obstacles. (As I understand it, the residential stuff they've been building up there still is somewhat controlled by the campus... although I could be wrong about that).

Spent way too much time around SFU in years prior...

**Lamenade** · 05-15-2012, 06:25 PM

Anyone hear any news lately? I still am not able to connect to Away which basically makes my phone useless since there is no Home Zone on campus. I find it funny how UBC is able to get two towers in the past 1.5 years.

**ECBomb** · 05-15-2012, 08:10 PM

It could very well be SFU being greedier than UBC. If it's not a money issue, then I really don't know what could be holding up both WIND and Mobilicity on installing towers up there. Thought the Rogers exclusivity is over, so that shouldn't be the issue.

**thecerealguy** · 05-15-2012, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by ECBomb

It could very well be SFU being greedier than UBC. If it's not a money issue, then I really don't know what could be holding up both WIND and Mobilicity on installing towers up there. Thought the Rogers exclusivity is over, so that shouldn't be the issue.

This is all speculation but I have a strong feeling that there should be a SFU tower soon as Stewart Lyons said that there were a big bunch of towers that are going to be built before the end of spring for Vancouver. Also he said that the Burnaby municipal government process for tower approval takes a long time and that's what has been slowing them down. I can roam up on the mountain so I'm fine but I have to manually mash my 'select automatically' button a million times for it to connect to rogers. Although you guys could ask him on twitter.