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Verizon Cell Towers on Apple's Campus Likely Mean Little

Friday July 16, 2010 2:26 pm PDT by Eric Slivka

Screenshot from Macworld's coverage quoting Jobs on Verizon cell site

Multiple sites have noted that during today's iPhone 4 press conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs mentioned that the company has cell towers for both AT&T and Verizon on its campus, unsurprisingly sparking speculation that the existence of a Verizon cell site supports hopes of future support for the carrier on Apple's portable devices.

While several of these sites have indicated that Apple is unlikely to have invested in the Verizon cell tower infrastructure if it wasn't using it to test Verizon-compatible devices on its campus, the reverse is actually true -- carriers pay considerable sums of money to private landowners for the right to erect towers on their property.

This certainly isn't to say that Apple isn't testing Verizon-compatible equipment on its campus, but to suggest that the mere existence of a Verizon tower is evidence in favor of it is simply reading too much into things.
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C00rDiNaT0r
21 months ago
maybe t-mobile, or any other US carrier for that matter, should pay and have their cell towers installed there now.
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jsf8x
21 months ago
I love my Droid but an iPhone on Verizon would be great
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jamone13
21 months ago

maybe t-mobile, or any other US carrier for that matter, should pay and have their cell towers installed there now.


Why? I'd bet most Apple employees are using iPhones and thus AT&T, with Verizion being the only likely 2nd option for the masses. Since they have such good AT&T signal around that part of town I don't see why they would want/need another carrier. Signal quality is AT&T's main drawback. Also Apple employee pricing for iPhones and AT&T probably rocks
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goobot
21 months ago
it wouldnt matter. they prob have microcells that they use to test. plus they have those buildings that cancel out all out side signal when testing the antenna.
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danielchow
21 months ago

maybe t-mobile, or any other US carrier for that matter, should pay and have their cell towers installed there now.


i believe mobile providers do pay to have their cell towers installed on private properties. (ps: did i understand your comment correctly; that is mobile carriers get to install their towers private properties without a lease or some sort of agreement between parties?)

for example, i have a friend who operates a large resort property in asheville, north carolina, that leased out a parcel of land for a mobile provider's cell tower. i don't recall how much. it was either $25,000 per month or $25,000 per year. since real estate is higher in california, then i assume the lease would be greater than in north carolina.
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C00rDiNaT0r
21 months ago

Why? I'd bet most Apple employees are using iPhones and thus AT&T, with Verizion being the only likely 2nd option for the masses. Since they have such good AT&T signal around that part of town I don't see why they would want/need another carrier. Signal quality is AT&T's main drawback. Also Apple employee pricing for iPhones and AT&T probably rocks


i was thinking if they ever use other carriers on campus and have good reception they might consider developing a new iphone compatible with their network once the AT&T exclusivity expires.

and if they were on the apple campus, verizon wouldn't be the only one that the rumors are mentioning..

by the way, how did those "verizon is getting the next iphone" rumors begin?
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C00rDiNaT0r
21 months ago

i believe mobile providers do pay to have their cell towers installed on private properties. (ps: did i understand your comment correctly; that is mobile carriers get to install their towers private properties without a lease or some sort of agreement between parties?)

for example, i have a friend who operates a large resort property in asheville, north carolina, that leased out a parcel of land for a mobile provider's cell tower. i don't recall how much. it was either $25,000 per month or $25,000 per year. since real estate is higher in california, then i assume the lease would be greater than in north carolina.


so theoretically if i buy a mansion and agree to have a lot of cell towers installed there (assuming all carriers want them there) i can potentially have my mortgage paid off, and be better off than renting to people who might skip rent or trash the place?
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SteveLV702
21 months ago

so theoretically if i buy a mansion and agree to have a lot of cell towers installed there (assuming all carriers want them there) i can potentially have my mortgage paid off, and be better off than renting to people who might skip rent or trash the place?


ya but a lot of eye sores for your new mansion :)
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spydr
21 months ago

i believe mobile providers do pay to have their cell towers installed on private properties. (ps: did i understand your comment correctly; that is mobile carriers get to install their towers private properties without a lease or some sort of agreement between parties?)

for example, i have a friend who operates a large resort property in asheville, north carolina, that leased out a parcel of land for a mobile provider's cell tower. i don't recall how much. it was either $25,000 per month or $25,000 per year. since real estate is higher in california, then i assume the lease would be greater than in north carolina.


Apple must be running desperately low on cash ;):D
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eastercat
21 months ago

ya but a lot of eye sores for your new mansion :)

You can always disguise them. ;) Anyway, think of how awesome your signal would be. No matter which network you're on, you'd always have five bars.

Apple must be running desperately low on cash ;):D

Either that or Jobs likes to mess with people's heads. Hmm, I need to drive up the share price . . . I know, I'll spread another rumor that Verizon is getting the iPhone. Who knows, Jobs might give them another chance, but I'm not even going to try and predict that one.
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