Wade4Wireless

Reflections on Tower Climbing


My View of Tower Climbing from the Outside In.

I turned 60 in 2024. While this doesn’t mean much to you, I am happy to have made the age with few health problems. I feel pretty good actually. I think I am one of the lucky ones. As we age, we tend to look back. Not just at the fun times, but all of history trying to pick up any lessons to gain wisdom. To be honest, I don’t feel much wiser, only more cautious.

This causes one to reflect on the past and how it treated me. I often talk to people I have worked with. Sure, sometimes I long for the good old days, but I also remember the sacrifices. The weeks of travel away from home. My divorce and the pain of trying to work while your home life fell apart. The health problems that sneak up on you when you think everything is going so well. The loss of time with your family that you sacrificed for work. The reality that some dreams will never come true. Even some pent up bitterness I thought was behind me.

Yet, I feel fortunate. I have a great wife and a pretty good life. My kids are all healthy and financially stable. They are starting families of their own. I feel very lucky.

Yet, when I start seeing history repeat itself I get upset. While our country has problems, there is only so much I can do about that. Unfortunately, I feel the same way about the climbing industry. I am at a loss at how to improve it at this point, especially when history keeps repeating itself.

I was a tower climber over 20 years ago, yet I remember what it was like. I was one of the lucky ones, back when NATE was growing and the industry was profitable. Those were the days. We actually cared about each other and our fellow climbers. It was a career and not be just a job. Experience was key to getting business and winning jobs. The worker felt valued.

Ah, those were the days. We would win business based on experience, price, qualifications, and relationships. If you did good work you got the next gig. It was that simple. Reputations mattered. If you had a good name then it was a great. We did what we could with the team we had. Completing the job end-to-end for the customer with our teams of climbers, engineers, project managers, and professionals. 

Ah, the good old days where we were friends with our customers and knew them quite well. We would go the extra mile to help them.

Then, one day, the prices of the services dropped to rock bottom. The companies would outsource most of the work to the lowest bidder. Why, this thing that was called the Turfing model came a long and it was quickly adopted, by not only Cell Carriers, but by everyone. From public safety to transportation to government to anyone who wanted tower work done.

Suddenly the work was offloaded to one contractor who would hire another and then another until there were several layers between the end customer the actual workers.

Then, wireless communications work became a commodity where the experience meant a lot less than the bottom line.

We had so many agencies ask us for a proactive quote and then take our proposal and strip our logo off of it to put it out to bid as an RFP (Request for Pricing). I saw this happen again and again until I had to be careful about my offers, watermarks became a necessity after getting screwed again and again. 

We saw all the safety requirements in every offer and while we spent a fortune on safety gear and reliable equipment as well as training. Unfortunately this meant nothing to the customer. Sure, they put in all the requirements in the bid but rarely followed up to see if their contractors they hired actually had the gear, training, and followed any safety practices.

How do I know this? I would go around and look at other contractors that took work from us. I was usually in the market anyway, so I would watch them from a distance to see the quality of work. It was not my problem anymore but several customers would ask if I could come back and fix work done by others. I would say it would be time and materials and estimate how many days it may take. They would tell me they didn’t have any money left and would ask me to do it for free. Then I would respond, why pay the other contractor for unfinished or shoddy work? I would also say our workers like to get paid. 

Don’t get me wrong, if I had a shot to get back in or if they were a long time customer, I would help where I could. I didn’t mind if the light at the end of the tunnel was sunlight and not a train coming at me. 

The only exception was utility companies because they understood the value of training and safety whereas few others in the industry did. They would offer good work, but not consistently since wireless was only a small part of their connections and backup. 

How bad was the industry? If you want to see the deaths by year, Wireless Estimator did a good job capturing them here. Unfortunately 13 deaths a year didn’t raise many eyebrows until ProPublica did a few reports back in 2012, links here and also here. The latter was on PBS’s Frontline. Unfortunately, it took a few more years for the FCC and DOL/OSHA to create a workshop to cover this, which I was a part of. Link found here. This was key to opening eyes and bringing light into NATE to support the rights and safety of climbers. FCC created safety documents, found here.

There were several apprentice programs, safety programs and schools, and other groups created to focus on climber safety. It was in the limelight until it was. 

Then, when the 4G builds started to dwindle, so did interest in the industry. Since demand and salaries were much lower, it was a job and not a career for most. Some were able to run profitable businesses but many just moved on waiting for 5G to come about.

Then it finally happened, the 5G build happened, but not like the 4G build. T-Mobile did a great job getting their network built and incorporating the new Sprint spectrum into its mix. This was actually good for newer climbers as they entered the interest. 

I was further away from climbing than ever, working for a large OEM and happy to be there. Good company, good job, good pay. I felt fortunate to be there and with the team I was working with. There are always ups and downs, but it was great to be somewhere safe and reliable.

Unfortunately, the climbing industry was starting to decline a bit. There were many class acts out there that worked hard and had good teams that they took care of. But it seemed there was a shift in the industry that my old friend Richard Bell pointed out in this recent video, link here. 

I am not sure how many of you have seen this video but it shows how the industry is starting to decline even more. It’s going to come down to money, respect, and demand.

There will be a shift in the workforce from the tower industry to the fast food industry. With minimum wage going up in 20 states in 2025 as the tower climbing prices are dropping will cause a major shift. Why risk your life if you can make just as much serving up a burger? Also, fast food has set hours, will pay you for the hours you worked, and follow labor laws. Starbucks and Amazon have unions now, something the tower climbers have tried to start for years with little interest from unions. 

As it is today, climbing offers a rush. They get to experience a comradery that most industries never get. Unfortunately, the fun wears off when the business gets in the way. They get tired of jumping from company to company to make an extra $100 or in search of that elusive steady paycheck with benefits.

My heart goes out to an industry in need of an overhaul and love.

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