New local mobile phone mast now live - can 3 use it?

[Chrysanth]

It's near us, and we could see the physical structure being built a year ago, but it was then a mystery to us.  Our Three mobile phone signal (the only one that could reach our area at all) is extremely weak, but nobody seemed to know whose mast it was.  It wasn't marked on Comreg's map (too early, and/or wrong type of mast), or on Cellmapper's, so I enquired about it back then in this forum.

Your tech people made a lot of effort to help, but could find nothing about the mast.  All they knew for sure was that Three hadn't built it.

Also that 3 had no plans to build any in our area, though that wasn't unexpected, as O2 and 3 had always been careful not to raise false hopes of any prospect of improving our signal.  (Both carriers would have checked the physical condition of the mast it was from, if they could.  But we hadn't a clue where it was, and for some reason their usual checks etc failed to find it).

I later heard that the new mast was probably an Eir one.  (Then our bank recently added two-factor authentication by text for online payments!).  And we've just happened to hear that it's defininitely an Eir mast.  But also that it's now gone live, and that raised a new hope.

Last year, I'd gathered from extensive searching on the subject that it looked like a certain type of low-profile mast being built in rural areas with little or no mobile phone signal, where communications are most essential.  I think the purpose most commonly mentioned was encouraging/enabling people who can work remotely to do just that, and also encourage local businesses and communities.  (There was a scheme involved; I can't remember what it was called, but think it was Europe-wide).

I also gathered that the infrastructure was designed to be usable by more than one network.  But that's the nearest I could get to being certain, with failing to find any consistent term for that system. (Anyone know?)

Now that the situation's changed, will Three be availing of the mast (if it is indeed possible)?

I'd really like to stay with Three, and their ideal (in this household) PAYG plans for both mobiles and router (and their customer service!).

I know Gomo is an option, but first want to check whether Three could avail of this mast?

I don't know how much that would depend on customer demand.  Or how it could be measured.  (I could imagine existing Three customers looking for a new place round here just driving straight through, with zero signal on the nearest road!).

The mast has now appeared on Cellmapper's map, complete with a name/location, and I could include an image of that in private messaging.   (I didn't see any more identifying info, but think authorised industry contacts can).

[Chrysanth]

In case it helps, the mast scheme I was trying to remember some name for was under Section 254 regulations.  I think that's all I I could find out as an outsider, and not very memorable!  (Only found it by looking at our previous PM discussion).

[Three_Niall]

Hey @Chrysanth, thanks for your patience with this. So I have been checking this for you with the Eircode you provided me with when we spoke in PM and I can confirm that there isn't a new mast that has been activated in the area. 

In order to get more information on whether the mast is a telecommunications mast and the company it belongs to I would recommend checking the ComReg Site View Map. 

[Chrysanth]

Thank you for looking into it, Niall.  (When you say no new mast has been activated here, I assume you were talking about Three's own?)

I couldn,'t find any way of contacting Eir about the mast (at least, without ringing their Sales number from somewhere), but I think a question to Google may have found the name of the rural scheme I'd read about, as in this image.

 It may be an AI reply (it was hard to tell at the time), but I think it rang a bell.  i also remember reading somewhere that, if the new mast is indeed part of such a scheme, whoever is in charge of it should notify the other mobile phone providers once the mast has gone live.

Do you know whether the relevant section of the Three company has received such a notification re my area?

[Three_Niall]

That's right when I say no mast I mean that we haven't erected a new mast in the area however by going to the Comreg Map above you may be able to locate the telecommunications network associated with the map if its been connected already.

As regards the above Mosaic Agreement that you have found through Google, I wouldn't have any information on this or any internal notifications that may have been received, the only information I would have is the mast that you would be connected to via our maps. 

[Chrysanth]

Thanks, but I'm already long familiar with Comreg's site view map (and don't know when this mast will appear on it, if at all).  And should Three ever avail of it, we'll know about it here, as my husband's signal would suddenly become excellent.

I knew that enquiring here about Mosaic or similar would be a long shot, as the industry seems to take safety, security & privacy very seriously.  (But with only a short answer needed, it just seemed worth an ask!).

 One last thing (hopefully!), to help weigh up the options;

If I port my existing Three mobile number to Gomo, if our Three signal later improves for some reason, will I be able to port the same number back to Three PAYG?

And should I factor in losing the legacy plan I'm now on?  (I can of course easily check out the other Three plans for comparison).

[Three_Niall]

@Chrysanth the site viewer map would contain the location of every mobile telephone mast, the operator which owns or controls each mast and the types of mobile services provided at each mast so if the site isn't on the map this could bean that it's either not active or it may not be a telephone mast.

You would be able to move your number to GOMO and then back to Three however if you are on a legacy prepay plan you would only be able to select one of the in market plans if you decide to return to the network.