My family has an offer for a lease for placement of a internet tower on our ranch. They are offering $100 a month, which we think is too low.

Anyone know what the going rate for internet tower leases?

For how long? Surface damages provision?

I wouldn't expect to get much more. Like JJMt said, get some free service from it for sure but don't expect much more than what they are offering.

I would check around with others that have a tower on their property. In the hill country I have heard rates from $500-700 per month

The property is in Wilson county, south of San Antonio

I'd push for more, but realize if you push too hard they may go to a neighbor.

My folks had a cell phone tower on their property and got $700 a month for like 8 years.

Is it 5G?
Any family live on the ranch?
If so, proximity of houses to proposed site?
Is it to serve a stretch of road or new community?

I think you made it pretty clear in your OP that by Internet tower, you are talking about microwave or some type of wireless tower (local ISP)... as opposed to a cellular tower (Verizon, AT&T, etc). Some of the rates mentioned in this thread seem to be for cellular rather than ISP towers.

I've known folks who have allowed Internet towers on their place and they get free Internet but not a whole lot more. The local ISPs don't have the budgets of the cellular companies.

Cell towers are a whole other discussion when it comes to rates. I have one on my ranch and am getting over $800/month.

And I second JJMt to have the agreement written where they will remove the tower and restore the area back to original use should they stop using the tower.

C@LAg said:

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say hello to two headed deer and cows.

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This guy says you have nothing to worry about...

BrazosBull said:

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I would check around with others that have a tower on their property. In the hill country I have heard rates from $500-700 per month

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One of the biggest things that landowners lie about is how much they get paid for for their leases. Its a problem when dealing with a new landowner that "heard" that the neighbors are getting paid way more for their Oil/Gas lease, Hunting lease, pipeline etc etc etc. I see it a lot.

I've been in that business before. Unless there are 500+ houses in a 5 mile radius of you, there is no way anyone is paying $700/month to lease land from you. It doesn't make any economical sense. The infrastructure costs are already significantly higher for fixed wireless internet.

The only way anyone is going to make that much per month is if the tower is in a prime location for either a long backhaul run from a large company (unlikely), or you pay to build the tower and have multiple companies lease space on it.

I would seek an initial surface payment for land damage/construction of the tower (depending on the footprint, maybe a few thousand dollars).

Next find out how it will affect your taxes, the tower will have a high tax value compared to rangeland so make sure your annual/monthly lease payment is enough to generate a profit after taxes.

I have found that it is not actually (at least in most cases) companies like att or verizon owning the tower but third parties that just lease tower space or transmitter/reciever time to the big companies so the chance of getting a good internet deal might be slim...

Also make sure like already mentioned to protect yourself for the future. Understanding of fencing around the tower, gate/road access, what happens if it is not is use anymore, tornado knocks it down, etc...

The folks on my NextDoor think 5g internet transmissions cause radiation poisoning, so beware.

5G requires multiple towers and so far is urban only. This is not 5G or cellular. As others have said this is likely a local WISP. In my experience they sometimes offer just free internet so $100/mo. is good. Better if you can get both.

SAWgunner said:

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BrazosBull said:

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I would check around with others that have a tower on their property. In the hill country I have heard rates from $500-700 per month

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One of the biggest things that landowners lie about is how much they get paid for for their leases. Its a problem when dealing with a new landowner that "heard" that the neighbors are getting paid way more for their Oil/Gas lease, Hunting lease, pipeline etc etc etc. I see it a lot.

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Haha, I use to negotiate Oil & Gas leases. The best was when I'd sit down with a landowner and after making my offer they'd tell me that their neighbor down the road got paid x amount. I'd smile and say that's funny, I don't remember leasing them that high.

Not only do you get a tower - you also get a 'buzzard-commune' starter kit as well.

Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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The folks on my NextDoor think 5g internet transmissions cause radiation poisoning, so beware.

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The same people that can't seem to figure out how to keep their dogs from escaping constantly?

Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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The folks on my NextDoor think 5g internet transmissions cause radiation poisoning, so beware.

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Apparently the president of the united states thinks windmills cause cancer.

They put up one of these a few miles from the family farm. It's a lot smaller than a cell phone tower. And so few people are able to access it, I can't imagine the provider is able to pay much of anything and make money on it.

rootube said:

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Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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The folks on my NextDoor think 5g internet transmissions cause radiation poisoning, so beware.

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Apparently the president of the united states thinks windmills cause cancer.

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I bet nearly all of the materials used to construct a windmill are known to cause cancer in the state of California.

There's a certain energy level (frequency) below which a photon simply doesn't have the energy to knock an electron out of its orbit or affect the nucleus at all. If you can't do that, you can't do any DNA damage AT ALL with the electromagnetic radiation being emitted. It is perfectly safe.

The only damage you can do until you get up into high UV rays, X-ray and Gamma Ray frequencies is thermal heating. EM from a power line or radio waves from a cell tower would have to be extremely close and of very high amplitude to cause this heating. Again, you'd have to be standing right in front of a transmitting antenna for several minutes to get heated to the point of steam burns.

RK said:

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rootube said:

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Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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The folks on my NextDoor think 5g internet transmissions cause radiation poisoning, so beware.

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Apparently the president of the united states thinks windmills cause cancer.

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I bet nearly all of the materials used to construct a windmill are known to cause cancer in the state of California.

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Ha! Now that is exactly what the president should have said. That would have cut to the real issues and is demonstrably true without putting on a tin foil hat.