I’ve then made a call on my cell phone and the radiation emitted by the phone was indistinguishable from background radiation when the phone was 20cm away from the measuring device. This means that everyone going for a walk on the beach or living nearby is now exposed to a constant microwave radiation level equivalent to being 20cm away from an active cell phone, except this exposure covers the entire body and not just the head, and takes place 24 hours of every day. How this will affect people in the long term remains to be seen.

I am saddened that a walk on the beautiful and remote Huia beach now involves a suburban-strength microwave bath. Another spot where we could get away from it all has been lost.

Edit: Kristina’s next comments focused on tin foil and alien invasions and culminated in sexually derogatory verbal abuse. Not a single logical argument was expressed. She is now banned from commenting on this blog.

The initial cost and the on-going health risks fall onto everyone. Vodafone gets to own the asset and make money with it. Only some people benefit from the services. And the services cost a lot to use: between $99 and $274 connection fee, then $90 per month for 24 months (or $350 early disconnection fee).

People who want to be “better connected” through microwave networks should live closer to the city where cell phone coverage is excellent. Why try to bring the city here if you moved away from it?

Land-based broadband is a different story – each property owner has a choice whether to deploy it or not and it does not generate any microwave pollution. It is also cheaper, faster and more reliable. This is the technology that should be used instead. We already have it in Laingholm and it is excellent.

Sadly, it looks like the Whatipu Lodge and the nearby campsite will have cellphone coverage with 3G cellular broadband as a result of this tower. You can check here by typing in the address and selecting “RBI coverage within next 12 months”:
http://www.vodafone.co.nz/network/rural/

I’m not sure what you mean by radio transmitters on the motorway. As far as I’m aware all of those are cellphone towers. They have similar radiofrequency radiation levels.

By the way, here is a good online map that shows where all the cellphone towers are located. The new tower is already shown on the map.
http://gis.geek.nz/infrastructure.html

1. Some people are excited about the convenience of a new technology, but without rational questioning of how this technology works and what side-effects the use of this technology might have in the long run.
2. Others think this through and rationally state their concerns, along with suggesting technological alternatives.
3. Instead of responding to the rational arguments, people in the first group respond with irrational ridicule and name-calling. This approach is often chosen because of inability to refute the arguments or because of intellectual shortcomings.

Basically:
– “This new technology is so great!”
– “Yes it is, but because of the way it works it is likely to have damaging side-effects. Here are the sources of research. Why don’t we use this other safe technology instead?”
– “You’re a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist.”

How can we have a constructive discussion like this? Personally, I don’t mind for people like this to microwave themselves as much as they choose to. What I do mind is that everyone else in their vicinity is also affected.

If there will be further responses from the supporters of the tower or of this type of technology in general, I invite you to respond with your reasoning in response to the reasoning in the article. Then we could have a constructive debate.

At this stage the building consent for the tower has been granted and the tower should be built and operational in the next several months.