Category Archives: Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Jim Grasty of ALLTEC Talks about Lightning and Surge Protection!

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On today’s show I learned so much about lightning protection and surge protection. How do you protect your equipment from lightning, from surges? What about all the little surges that kill your equipment over time? I have the surge protection answer man, Jim Grasty, on the podcast to tall us some real world stories and give us solutions. Planning is the key, the more you do up front the better chance you have to not only increase your uptime but save money in the long run. Most companies seem to want to save money up front only to spend carelessly on maintenance. Well, I am getting ahead of myself, sorry, I am just excited to bring this to you.
Tower Safety for all your safety training!

So who is Jim Grasty and ALLTEC? Well, Mr. Grasty’s global business experience, as well as over thirty years in engineering and product design/development, has provided a solid basis for the successful completion of numerous critical projects requiring lightning protection, surge suppression and grounding site surveys, engineering studies and reports, and lightning risk analyses. In addition to his training, planning and supervision responsibilities, he has led over a hundred surveys and designs for lightning protection and electrostatic hazard mitigation in flammable environments. His research and technical coordination of product/design capabilities to achieve site specific lightning and electrostatic protection goals has provided state of the art implementations and assurance to diverse facilities world-wide.

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Now, who is ALLTEC? That is the company that can give you end to end solutions for not only lightning protection, but surge protection in general. It’s not just about the big surges, it is about the breakdown of equipment over time. Now that we have fiber on the tower, it helps, but we are still bringing larger copper power lines down the tower and into the shelter as well as power in from the street. All of this could lead to disaster without the proper grounding and protection. ALLTECis a company that can provide your specific solution no matter what it may be. They provide you with the best solution for protection, they take all information into consideration when building a plan for you. Price may be an issue, so make it clear what your budget is and what your needs are. Also, think about your maintenance budget because what you spend up front may save you more money down the line. Proper planning could save you a lot of money down the road.

Lightning Flash Density

Lightning protection is a big deal, for those of you that do it you know what effort goes into protecting a tower site. Getting the 5 ohms to ground is quite a feat sometime. But, what happens when a data center takes a hit? Think it doesn’t happen, well, Jim brings up the story of a Google data center that got hit and wiped them out, the story can be found here. It was in Belgium and really disrupted the cloud services back in 2015.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

Other surge protection pain points are not only when equipment blows due to that big surge, but what about when all the small surges start to cause problems. Jim explains what is happening over time when that happens. They aren’t noticeable problems at first but over time your equipment may fail or worse, become intermittent. Then you troubleshoot until there is not end only hoping that the equipment fails so you know what to replace. I have been there and done that! It is a serious pain point that will not only disrupt service but costs a lot of money in man-hours trying to figure out that is failing. Of course, no one looks at that as a surge protection problem, do they?

One thing that comes up again and again is planning. Plan to do the surge protection up front and you save a lot of money on maintenance down the road. That is why the owner or lead person has to be involved because then you see the larger end to end picture that affects not only the installation budget but the maintenance budget and the spares budget. One thing I learned in deployment is that everyone looks at the high cost of deployment but maintenance doesn’t seem to get noticed until the warranty ends, then it’s a real issue. By the way, not many warranty items cover lightning strikes, am I right?

TOWER CLIMBING: AN INTRODUCTION (The book about getting started as a tower climber)

 

Well, you heard me talk about it but your best bet is to listen to Jim on the podcast. He tells us about solutions and real world stories. He covers mostly telecom but also explains how they protect data centers and building and more. Jim is really a well-rounded engineer when it comes to surge protection. He won’t point you in one direction, but in the right direction for your needs.

One thing that Jim brought up is that you need to face reality, sometimes you can’t design the perfect system, not cost effectively, and he knows that. So they do make the effort to balance your budget with realistic expectations. Especially for tower sites, it could take too much copper to reach the ideal goal, so set the expectation to a realistic goal. All they ask is that you know your goal for the situation.

Well, you heard me talk about it but your best bet is to listen to Jim on the podcast. He tells us about solutions and real world stories. He covers mostly telecom but also explains how they protect data centers and building and more. Jim is really a well-rounded engineer when it comes to surge protection. He won’t point you in one direction, but in the right direction for your needs.

One thing that Jim brought up is that you need to face reality, sometimes you can’t design the perfect system, not cost effectively, and he knows that. So they do make the effort to balance your budget with realistic expectations. Especially for tower sites, it could take too much copper to reach the ideal goal, so set the expectation to a realistic goal. All they ask is that you know your goal for the situation.

Jim tells a few real life customer stories about grounding situations for a tower site with really rocky ground. They found a way to make it the best grounding solution you could get for a better grounding situation for a good price.  Proper planning made the difference and save the customer money by not going the trial and error route.

If you want to see what ALLTEC can do, visit http://alltecglobal.com/ but your best bet is to visit the resources page at http://alltecglobal.com/resources/ to see what they can do. We talk about this in the podcast, the “Lightning Risk” icon and you can see options that help you assess risk, I think that is pretty cool. Go ahead, try it, you know you want to!

For more information from ALLTECand about lightning and surge protection call 800.203.2658 or 828-646-9290 or go to these resources:

They offer a lot of good information.

So let me know what you think, email wade4wireless@gmail.com when you think of something to say!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

SOW Training Cover

Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion? Would it hold up in claims court? Would you rather plan up front instead of fighting for it after the job is done?

Scope of Work tutorial for the contractor to keep both sides doing the right thing for payment.

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Bob McCook Explains D3M Radio Solutions

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Today I have Bob McCook on my podcast and he explains the best way to take your system from the pre-sales design phase all the way to the customer then delivery and then to maintenance. This is such a great solution for any VAR, (Value Added Reseller) to create the design, present to the customer, then give them a package that they can use for maintenance after delivery.

Pain points:

So ask yourself, how many processes do you have from pre-sales to delivery to maintenance? Is it seamless? Do you have an easy way to keep track of the BOM and the system design? Does the delivery Teldio_D3M_Logo_Grey_1000pxteam see the same or even similar documentation that the customer saw when they bought it? What about the tech that has to maintain it, does the tech see what was delivered or do they have to make their own spreadsheet? That is another thing, how do you look at the system? Are you using a combination of Visio or AutoCAD and a spreadsheet and maybe even a PowerPoint deck Tower Safety for all your safety training!that is now a PDF? Then you have to keep track of those manuals, the PDF files you need to troubleshoot. What about the config files, where do you keep those? Are they on your laptop or on a server at work. When you’re at the site, do you have access to all of this? What is the backup tech is called while the main tech is on vacation, then what? All of these problems are covers in this podcast.

d3m timeline

What about Bob?

Bob is a pretty cool guy that for one, has a great voice, who co-founded Teldio. Teldio created solutions for radio communications. He did this by building apps for 2way telephony. While he solved many problems in that area I was interested in D3M. We talk about what D3M really is and what problems it will solve in wireless deployment. Learn more at http://www.d3mradios.com/#/what-is-d3m.

What is D3M, really?

This solution stands for Design, Document, Deliver, and Manage, D3M, get it? With this app you can create a design with something that will show you the design, site and system, and from that it will build the BOM for you to take to the customD3M-Design,-Document,-Deliver,-Manageer and show them the design then present them with the system BOM with the ability to break it down to the site BOM. Very easy to create sites then replicate them.

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The D3M system design is not just for sales to take to the customer, it is for the customer to keep so that they have a complete record of the as built, it is for the delivery team to use this to build the system from the design and BOM, and then it is passed onto the maintenance teams so that the site tech has a complete design, system and site, along with the BOMs, and they have a place to store all of the files and PDF books in a common area for any tech to access. How cool is that? It has the complete solution for sales to delivery to maintenance.

Learn more and listen to the podcast!

Bob does a great job explaining what this can and will do for anyone who is designing and delivering a system. It really is a great solution. Beginning to end.

When you go visit http://www.d3mradios.com/ make sure that you click on the “Try it for free!” button and take the tour, see how you like it. If you prefer a live demo, you can book your own demo, go to https://d3mtraining.youcanbook.me/index.jsp and set a date.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

FYI – if you want more of an incentive to sign up, the folks at D3M are offering you, the hard workers in wireless, a 10% discount when you use the following code to subscribe, WADE4WIRELESS10, while signing up for your subscription. That’s right, 10% off any annual D3M subscription!

d3m 10% offer

d3m Display

I signed up and it is very easy, you need to fill out the form. Make sure you look at the agreement all the way to the end, you need to do that before you can click “I have read the agreement”. You can’t move on until you scroll all the way to the end. Then complete the information and you’re ready.

What’s nice is that they have demo project that comes up so you can see something and play with a project. It is easier for the first time to click on the demo and start moving things around and making changes. From there you get the idea of how to make changes.

Go ahead, try it, you will like it. I know, it reminds you of Visio. However, then you go to the Fleetmap icon at the top and you see that the bill of materials, BOM, is already there for you, so you don’t need to open Excel and build a spreadsheet.

From there, if you look at the icons at the top right, then you see you can share with team members, export the project, take notes, and more. It really is easy to use.

Learn more in this demo video:

Learn more by going to http://www.d3mradios.com/#/what-is-d3m and signing up for a free demo.

See it from beginning to end at http://www.d3mradios.com/take-a-tour/ when you can.

Maybe this drawing will help:

d3m Arrow

What does a customer say?

“D3M is such a powerful tool with everything you can do with it. I haven’t seen anything like this in the industry. It makes things so efficient from beginning to end, to have everything documented, have a drawing of how everything is laid out, a bill of materials and inventory right there in front of you and the files all update quick and easily. I was blown away! It’s a more efficient and easier way to do things.”

For more customer testimonials, go here.

TOWER CLIMBING: AN INTRODUCTION (The book about getting started as a tower climber)

Feedback, email wade4wireless@gmail.com when you think of something to say!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

SOW Training Cover

Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion? Would it hold up in claims court? Would you rather plan up front instead of fighting for it after the job is done?

DRONES at AMAZON!

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Tower Safety Veteran Patents Credentials Verification Service (CVS) to stop The Fraud

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Today I wanted to talk about how we can clean up the tower industry’s sloppy credential problem. There are several companies out there that fake safety credentials and certifications! Advanced Safety Pros’ Founder, Clifford Wilcox found a way to improve the system of uploading, tracking, and verifying a field worker’s credentials. This is a way to really improve the certifications by having them verified by the school itself.

QREDENTIALS

If you think we need a great way to clean up the problem of poorly accredited credentials, fraud, and industry-accepted certifications, then listen to the podcast and hear what Cliff has to say. This solution can be used across so many industries, from medical to security to the wireless industry. I think it’s a great solution to verify that ‘people are who they say they are’!

Some background on Cliff. Cliff is a self-proclaimed, serial entrepreneur with over 30 business ventures in the past 40+ years.  Tower Safety for all your safety training!He currently serves Atlanta-based Integrated Tower Services as a Business Strategist and Manager, partners with his wife at CW Productions – based in Wyoming, is the President and Senior Safety Consultant for Advanced Safety Pros Corp – based in Reno, Nevada AND is Founder and Chief QRedentialier “KWER-dential-ear” for “QREDENTIALS”.

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This latest brainchild is a great way to manage credentials for all the people that need to keep track of their certifications and documentation. The person that has to manage all of these for the workers can keep it in an Account that keeps it readily available and easily updated anytime they need it.  Then, to take it a step farther, QREDENTIALS Black Diamond membership even verifies the certifications and credentials to make sure that they are legitimate with the school that is on the document. Then anyone can see that it’s the ‘Real Deal’.  Not all can be verified, but the Climbing credentials, Emergency Responses, along with the OSHA 10, really MUST be legally provided and verified, right?  Take 2 minutes to watch “MEET SAL” on QREDENTIALS‘ Home Page or on YouTube at https://youtu.be/cmEXZG2EMEk

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

QREDENTIALS solves the problem of tracking and verifying the credentials in the field. The uniquely generated QR-code for each Member makes it easy for the safety inspector to verify the credentials of each worker of every site. By using a smart phone, you see the people on the tower, real-time and then you easily access their credentials by scanning the QR-code for verification.  It is quick and easy.

Pain Points:

For the field worker – carrying the binders full of certifications and keeping them in the truck but available. Also, keeping it up to date.

For the safety manager – keeping all the credentials in one place, keeping the binders up to date, keeping track of all the certifications and credentials for each employee.

QREW QUBE-v.3.0Or the field manager or foreman – looking for the binders and keeping each binder available as tower hands change crews.

For the safety inspector – looking at the binders and verifying the workers in the field and trying to see what is outdated or not valid.

Problems resolved:

Now, the climbers and foreman can keep one badge with a QR code, not worrying about updating the binder because the safety manager will keep the QR file updated.

TOWER CLIMBING: AN INTRODUCTION (The book about getting started as a tower climber)

The safety manager no longer needs to make copies. They can just upload the files to the directory on the website.

For the inspector he can scan the QR code and see the credentials immediately and then look at the climber with a smartphone to verify the climber on the tower is who he says he is.

To learn more about QREDENTIALS go to https://www.QREDENTIALS.com/ and see all that they have to offer. You can sign up for free at http://app.qredentials.com/Account/Register and you can get free training just by asking at https://www.qredentials.com/free-training.html to see how to use it properly.  Also, check out the early stages of products, customized for your Account, at the QR-STORE by checking out, Qrew-Qubes, Office Qubes, Smart Binders, Scanner-Aligners, all COMING SOON at http://www.shop.advancedsafetypros.com/ASP-STUDENT-STORE_c2.htm

8 - knowledge is wonder

Desk Qube

Reach Cliff by emailing him at Cliff@QREDENTIALS.com or go to https://www.qredentials.com/ and see how to reach him.

So let me know what you think, email wade4wireless@gmail.com when you think of something to say!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

SOW Training Cover

Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion? Would it hold up in claims court? Would you rather plan up front instead of fighting for it after the job is done?

Scope of Work tutorial for the contractor to keep both sides doing the right thing for payment.

tower-family-foundation-e1447069656192

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Kathy Brand Takes Training Personally

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Today I talk to Kathy Brand, CEO and founder of Tower Safety and Instruction. She worked for AT&T doing outside plant and CO work Tower Safety for all your safety training!for years. In the interview she talks about how the lack of respect for safety training was commonplace. This encouraged her to start the school for one of the most dangerous jobs, tower climbing. She feels here school stand for workplace safety by showing the students the value of safety. Kathy has done a great job building this school from scratch. Being a woman owned business in a male dominated industry has been challenging to say the least.

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I have put what I could in the blog, but listen to the podcast to get to know how she got this far and how she deals with challenges in the tower training industry. Just a warning, there are a few swear words in this and adult language, so be prepared when you listen.

There are so many training schools in the tower industry, what makes one stand out? Kathy tells us that its 1) honesty – being aware of the challenges that the climber will see on the job, 2) Accountability – proactively taking action and making changes when needed, and 3) Integrity -, inspiring and coaching coworkers to perform safely. Training coverage includes tower safety and rescue, CPR/First Aid, and OSHA 10. Maybe you need. Kathy understands that companies make training decisions around budgets of money and time. We can’t always send people away for a month to be trained, but we do want them to be trained properly by a reputable school, preferable one that is state accredited.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

Today’s tower installation industry calls for the tower tech to learn so much on the job. The RFP process in carrier work has made training tough because the payback is so low. Some of these RFPs and reverse auctions are literally a race to the bottom that discounts the cost for safety.

So what Tower Safety and Instruction will do is make the training personal. They not only will train their students, but Kathy will stay in touch with them well after the class. The support after the class is very important because we all know that in this industry the learning only begins with the training. Anyone in the field should be trying to sharpen their skills weekly. It doesn’t always mean in the class room but on the job. If you need a resource, then you have someone to call for support. This is very important for the tower climber to grow their skills.

The students in this school are learning by doing more than reading and climbing a tower. The classes are interactive where the students tell stories of what they really see out there in the real world. While the learning environment is fun it shows the climbers what real world problems they may run into and helps them prepare for the day when they may have to make a decision of whether to do something stupid or not, which (sadly) usually is a decision of keeping your job or quitting. We have egos, especially among climbers, but the goal should be to become better and make our fellow climbers better for knowing us.

Training is serious business and Kathy makes every effort to make her students take it seriously. That doesn’t mean you can’t make jokes and be light-hearted, but make a point to take the safe part seriously.

TOWER CLIMBING: AN INTRODUCTION (The book about getting started as a tower climber)

One more thing, this school had drone training for the wireless industry, how cool is that? I think it’s a breakthrough for the industry to have a resource for drone training.

To learn more go to www.towersafety.com or reach out to Kathy at Kathy@towersafety.com and see how she can help you out.

Kathy mentions the Keven Gambold interview, link found here.

More information on NCCO found here.

More information on SPRAT found here.

 More on IRATA found here.

More on Akida dogs.

More on the Akida dog and Nicole Simpson.

HAM Radio license information.

So let me know what you think, email wade4wireless@gmail.com when you think of something to say!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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Do you know how to build your SOW?

Scope of Work tutorial for the contractor to keep both sides doing the right thing for payment.

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Keven Gambold Explains Using Drones for Tower Work

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Today, just for you, the Unmanned Experts CEO tells us why drones are a great tool for tower work. He explains how frustrating it is to wait for the FAA to open up the rules for drones so that the commercial work can happen on a widespread scale. How training really matters, and that you need to be trained the right way. You will appreciate his knowledge on drones for commercial use and the history of the FAA’s inaction over the last 10 years or so.

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LinkedIn LTE Small Cell, CRAN, and DAS Deployment

He also goes in the proper way to handle lessons learned, in other words, writing them down isn’t enough, you need to implement changes. Something that I am guilty of, documentation without action. Action matters. Training does matter, knowing the rules matters. And yes, you can use drones for tower inspections legally, today. He could do it 24 hours after you call him to do the inspection!

Tower Safety for all your safety training!Keven is a great guy, someone who can articulate his points about drones for commercial use very well. I really enjoyed talking to him and I think you will learn a lot from what he tells us. He is candid and honest when he talks about drones and regulations here in the USA.

I would like to thank Keven for taking the time, and getting a new phone, and for his openness and honesty on this call. I also want to thank him because my recorder crapped out 10 minutes into the call and I had to start over. Being the professional that he is, he not only started over, feeling the Déjà vu but he gave an outstanding interview! He is just a fascinating guy!

I met Keven through Kathy Brand at Tower Safety and Instruction who partnered with Unmanned Experts to provide drone training for tower workers. I think that it’s a great idea to have 2 leaders in their respective industries work together to provide certifications for people who see this as the new way to get things done efficiently, safely, and cost effectively. Tower workers will find ways to make this a safe alternative to climbing for simple inspections and for site surveys. Now that this is going to move ahead and the FAA is going to clear the way for commercial use soon, I hope, we can make a new viable tool available for the tower industry.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

Unmanned Experts not only will fly missions for you but they are also offering training. They partnered with Tower Safety and Instruction to offer drone training for tower workers who meet the qualifications. At this time, you need to have a manned pilots license and drone training to fly legally. Tower Safety and Instruction understands that some people want to get a head start in drone training, so they developed this partnership to have people properly qualified for drone work at towers and to make sure that the students understand the rules and regulations before doing commercial work. It is very important to be certified in the work before doing any tower work. I am a firm believer that you need to be certified before going on a tower site. Working with drones is no different.

Learn more at http://www.unmannedexperts.com/ and there is a training available at http://www.beflightready.com/ if you’re interested.

The FAA has a site for unmanned aircraft systems at http://www.faa.gov/uas/ if you want to check that out. Go to http://www.faa.gov/uas/civil_operations/ to learn more about commercial applications. If you want to see what Section 333 holds, go to http://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/ to learn more.

So let me know what you think, email wade4wireless@gmail.com when you think of something to say!

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

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Scope of Work tutorial for the contractor to keep both sides doing the right thing for payment.

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How to make Close Out Packages Simple

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I understand that the close out package is a key KPI for most tower work done today. To close out the site you need to have all of the information documented and presented in the format that the customer, usually a carrier, wants to see it. They want all of the information in a specific format. Not only that, but each carrier has their own way of doing things. There really isn’t a standard between carriers, and it would even vary from region to region.

So let’s look into this, what is a close out package? The complete closeout package includes several things, let’s look at the list.

  • As built drawings. This includes the floor or ground-plan and the equipment on the tower. The equipment with detail, as it is built with serial numbers and color codes and everything.
  • The component settings at the time of the installation.
  • All test results from the installation, including PIM, fiber, RF sweeps, and so on.
  • The equipment list, the BOM.
  • Pictures of how it looked and of the serial numbers upon final installation.
  • Final commissioning and power up data.
  • GPS data.
  • Antenna height, azimuth and down tilt data.
  • All equipment data, serial numbers, rev levels, etc.
  • All cable information.

What does this mean to the crew doing the close out? They have to have all of the data included in the package. They have to have all of the serial numbers, azimuth, GPS data, color codes, and so on all documented in a document that the carrier can use and is acceptable in their system. Remember, a year from now they will look at it and rely on this data to verify the site information if they troubleshoot or do an inventory or when they upgrade to the next rev lever or expand.

One of the main obstacles from getting paid is that the closeout packages were not clear, but now they are pretty specific. Then the problem was that the pictures have to be perfect, so with today’s technology, that is not as hard to do. Problems like the OEM’s Radio Head serial number is on the side that is tight to the tower, you know what I mean, seem to crop up all the time. Getting the pictures right the first time, another issue. Making sure you didn’t miss equipment on a sector and the attitude that what you have is “good enough” won’t cut it. Normally a requirement of the close out package is to see all the serial numbers and have all of the pictures perfect. Everything must be taken into consideration prior to the visit and done right while at the site the first time.

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Because of all of these requirements, most crews could not get it done in one visit. There was always something missed that the crew had to go back and do another climb. When you budget these things you think, one visit, but you only get paid if all the information is right, so what so you do? You take the hit and go back and finish the job because some money is better than no money. You want to get future work and you think you learned your lesson, but don’t get complacent! Wireless is not an easy business for the contractor! It is hard work!

So when my sponsor, Tower Tracker Pro, put together this article, I thought it would help some of you out there that do close out packages. It is a big business in the carrier world. Even though there aren’t any major rollouts at this time, there should be some soon. Also, this may be a requirement in the small cell world just on a smaller scale. Documentation is key.

What they have done is lowered the price of the package and also provided you with detailed instructions on how to use the package, along with how to download a free demo. Go ahead, it’s an app on your smartphone, download it and try it, see if you like it. These instructions are step by step.

Tower Safety for all your safety training! So here it is, their press release with all of the step by step pictures in it. They walk you through the close out package demo process step by step. Who knows, maybe you will learn something! So pay attention! It has information about how they setup the package and their new lower pricing. Also, remember to try it if you have a smart phone, you can search for Mobile Epiphany in the app store and download it to your phone! It’s really easy!

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Here is their press release:

Close Out Packages made easy with TowerTrackerPro

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Tower Tracker Pro and Touch Mobile COP are a close out package system that includes a mobile app for Android Phones (and tablets if you prefer) and iPhone/iPad devices as well.  It also includes a PC app for your office people to get those images quickly reviewed, organized and ready for their client.  The Mobile app allows tower hands to collect data and images from the tower in a very simple way.  The photos are then automatically named (any way you want!), automatically stamped with date, time (and GPS if you want) and then sent to the cloud where they can be pulled down to the admins desk in preparation to send them to your client.  The hours saved in admin work and tower revisits (which can now be eliminated!) are pretty darn significant.

Their pricing is extremely low considering the power and capability of the system in combination with the fact that they include phone call support to your tower hands at no extra cost!  No matter how many images your company collects on a single tower and no matter how much data you collect, they charge $1 per photo BUT their maximum price per tower is $50 (as of the writing of this article) no matter how many photos you need from that tower.  That is incredibly cheap considering all that they provide and how well their system works.  And you can give the app to every single employee you want to give it.  They just download it from their device’s app store.

http://www.towertrackerpro.com/pricing/ 

You can even try their Mobile app for free by taking the following steps.

  • Go to the app store (if you have an iPhone) or the play store (if you have an android device)
  • Select search (of course, you have to be connected to the internet for any of this to work!)
  • Enter the company name “Mobile Epiphany” into the search engine

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  • You will find their app called “Touch Mobile”

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  • Download it to your device
  • Run it.
  • You will be looking at a login screen. At the bottom, you will see a button that says “try demos”. Press it.
  • 7
  • This takes you to a screen with multiple demos you choose, but the top one is called “Tower Tracker Pro”. Select it
  • 6
  • A blue window pops up asking you for your contact information. Please fill it out accurately.
  • Once you have entered your contact info, it loads tower tracker pro.
  • First add a tower to one of the projects
  • Then select the green photos and forms button.
  • I think you can figure it out from here!
  • If you want a full explanation, call the company for a complete demo.
  1. They also include a true reporting tool. Client data and images can instantly be run as standard reports (PDF, excel or Word format) if your clients prefer their results in a reporting format.  Their reporting tool with built-in standard reports is included.  You can even pay them extra, if you want, to develop custom reports just for your company.  This capability makes their solution even more unique and useful to our industry.
  1. Images in particular are handled with extreme detail and represent the best close out picture image system by far.
  • They will be named automatically.
  • They automatically will go into the proper project folder and site folder so keeping your images organized is simple
  • They will all have date time and GPs stamped on the face of them.
  • The systems saves you as lot of time and transmission costs by reducing the image resolution to the size of your choosing and the compression of your choosing. So those massive pictures that come out of your camera will now only be about 100K and they look perfect!
  • Some providers insist that every picture have metadata (Also called EXIF data) inside the image. Tower Tracker Pro ensures that every image has this data in it.
  • In addition to placing images into a folder, they also provide an image viewer tool that lets you see all the of a given tower, the comments of that image, the name of the image and all the meta data in simple to use viewer. See the image below.  One click of the thumbnail image and you are looking at the full image.  It’s very click and very efficient.
  1. When you buy Tower Tracker Pro from Mobile Epiphany, you can use their technology in 2 ways.
  • The first way to buy this technology is for those who want their tower hands to be guided EXACTLY through a close out package as set forth in your clients Close out package documentation. In this approach, you pay Mobile Epiphany some services dollars upfront to have them build you an exact version of your clients close out package.  It guides the tower hand, while they are on the tower, through each and every image they have to take and every piece of data they have to collect.  Tower Tracker Pro helps your people in the office eliminate the many lost hours of work required to organize photos and helps eliminate the expensive tower revisits that occur when you don’t have a tool like this.  It guides both parties (the Tower Hands and the Office people) to know when the job is done.  Its keeps them incredibly organized in real-time.

Below, you can see screen shots of the photo log as it appears to a Tower hand on his iPhone or Android Phone and you can see screen shots of how your office people in charge of managing those images can see them organized.

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4

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As an example, if you got a Close Out Package document from a carrier that very specifically laid out the exact 75 images you need to take on each sector of the tower and which ones you needed to take on the ground, Mobile Epiphany will build you that exact list of image requests so that the tower hands can see exactly what images they have taken and which ones they have not.  It’s worth the money if you plan to do multiple towers with the same requirements.  They tend to charge between $1000 and $2000 for the initial setup of specific close out packages if they don’t already have them built.  If they already have them, they don’t charge anything.  And think how much you will save by eliminating return visits with a guided process for all your tower hands.  Here is a list of the close out packages they already have built.

This greatly decreases the risk of having to return to the tower.  And since you can get your images in the office within moments of them being taking, your office people can see what they need to retake or what they have not yet taken.  Simple communication between office and tower (a cell phone call, text message or email!) can result in NEARLY ZERO RETURN VISITS!!  This is not a theory.  One of Ericsson’s best tower hand companies, ATLAS SOLUTION INC, recently proved to Ericsson that they were able to drop their return visit rate from about 70% to less than 5% and were able to close out their packages on the same day they started them using this technology.  See the charts below.  When they performed their SPOT training with Ericsson, they were the only company in the nation to have no remaining images due at the end of the very day they started it.

 2

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  • The second way to buy this technology is to use their generic system for close out packages. All the photos taken will be auto-named based on the category of photo you select from a pre designed menu.  You can even give them a list of choices and they will add it to your version at no additional cost.  Below, you can see an image of the view from the Tower Hands iPhone, a view from the Administrators desktop (showing the folder structure and final named images placed on their PC) and a view of the report that the reporting tool generates.
  • The advantage of buying a generic system is that there is no upfront services cost. You only pay per tower.  You don’t have to pay them any upfront services fee to build something specific for your project.  You just buy the system and start using it.  The disadvantage is that the image slots must be guided by some check list known to the Tower hands.  Also, even though the images will be nicely organized and named, the naming convention required by your client may or may not be the naming of the photo you get.  We know that sprint, for example, has very specific naming conventions.  You may have to update the image names on your own if you have this type of customer and you are not using a close out package system designed specifically for our project.
  1. In summary, I strongly recommend you pay for custom services if you plan to do the exact same close out package multiple times and return visits are common and costly in your company. You can save a ton of money.  You can save much more than this technology will cost you.  Projects which pay your company many thousands of dollars per tower that you repeatedly make the one time cost of a custom close out package well worth the money.  For projects which pay much less (like smaller pay maintenance efforts), it makes a lot of sense to simply use their generic close out package system and save the services dollars for custom builds.

You won’t be disappointed with what they can do to help you company.  Also, you can visit their website to watch their videos.  They are very informative.  http://www.towertrackerpro.com/landing?s=website-W4W

And that’s it!

Remember, close out packages are serious business. So make sure you’re ready. If you do reach out to them, don’t forget to tell then Wade sent you.  I hope you learned something today, I know that I did!

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Be smart be safe, and pay attention!

See ya!

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Rick Ledford Explains Comstar Training

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Today I have Rick Ledford of Comstar, www.Comstarusa.com goes over the training that Comstar offers. He is the COO of Comstar. I would like to thank Rick for taking the time to talk to me, it was a great talk. Now the audio at the end got a little choppy, sorry, but the interview is great. Rick talks about how the training has evolved past just certification into a full-blown course for not only tower workers, but RF and field works. This school Rick has put together goes beyond the 2-day training program into a full-blown course for field work.

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It would be best if you listen to Rick, but the course is going to prepare you for more than just the climb. It has all the certifications built is and troubleshooting techniques to take you beyond just being a laborer. You get fiber certification, climbing certification, first aid certification, and more. You learn to sweep fiber and RF lines.

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If you take the course at the college, then the students are required to have a valid driver’s license. They also get drug tested, so you know this person is clean. These are all things that I don’t see any other class room doing.

Training is something that needs to be taken seriously. My audio was bad at the end but Rick made a point to say that nothing on the tower is worth your life, so when working out there be sure to be safe and put your life first. Don’t take unnecessary risks.

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Comstar highlights:

  • 47 various classes:
    • 16 various fiber classes
    • FOA certification.
    • ETA school.
    • 4-day certified Fiber Optic Technician.
    • EXFO training.
    • ODM training.
    • Tower safety and Rescue training.
    • Civil requirements training.
    • Course length can range from 4 hours to 15 weeks.
  • Courses are acknowledged by SACS, (Southern Association of College and Schools.
  • Approved for VA Training.
  • FAFSA approved for federal funding.
  • Assist in placement of students who take the 3, 6, and 15 week courses.
  • Providing consulting services to improve efficiencies and safety within companies.
  • Learn more at http://www.comstarusa.org/training.

Rick is very thankful for the support of all of his partners! He wanted to be sure I mention all of them.

There is a long list:

  • Comtrain – tower training for safety, fall protection, rescue, and rigging.
  • ETS International – offers 80 technical certifications for basic communications, fiber optics, workforce readiness, IT, and renewable energy.
  • Better Metal – Communications industry distributor of infrastructure products.
  • CommScope – Creating the infrastructure that innovates including end to end high performance solutions for critical communications and more.
  • Cumberland University – a private 4-year institution founded in 1842 located in beautiful Lebanon, Tennessee.
  • ODM – Optical Design Manufacturing provides innovative optical test equipment that is simple, affordable, and scalable.
  • Zayin Fiber Optic providing optical networks design and consulting, instructor and leadership programs, organizational workforce development, and more.
  • FOA – The Fiber Optic Association is setting the standard for approved training for FOA certification providing training in over 40 countries.
  • Heartland Solutions – providing a full range of communication construction and contracting services in the most safe, responsive, and efficient manner possible.
  • EXFO – providing test, service assurance, and network visibility to enable carriers to assess and optimize fronthaul and backhaul.
  • Primus – providing solutions to power business, education, and research. Connecting individuals and entire communities.

I appreciate all that Rick is doing and has done for the industry. He is watching TIRAP and the NWSA closely so he can be prepared to support both programs.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

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Can Sprint Get Back to Good?

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Commentary and my opinions!

Can Sprint get back to #3? Boy, Sprint keeps telling us how great their network is, then they make announcements that they are going to put the minimal amount of money into the network. Trust me, if you are a Sprint vendor, you feel the pinch. They aren’t just driving the prices down, they just say “no, we really don’t need to expand or upgrade or improve” to most of the vendors out there. That’s OK because apparently they have a $10 Billion bond debt due in a few years. So why is it that all of the other carriers seem to be making money but Sprint can’t seem to do it? I was listening to RCR’s Martha DeGrasse talking to Iain Gillot about the Sprint situation. Sprint is really in trouble. Can Marcelo Claure make the difference? Can Softbank pull them back to #3? Can anyone help Sprint get out of debt? Does anyone know where all the money went?

So Sprint is pulling back the spend, no kidding. Did anyone bid on the NGN offer over a year ago? I worked it and what a waste of time. Holidays and weekends spent to make that company happy and they didn’t do anything really. I know that they are doing a little, very little.

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So let’s look at what they are doing. They are removing the Clearwire Huawei gear and replacing it with 2.5G LTE gear, it’s about time. They are only doing this because they have to. It is part of the budget. The one thing I don’t see from Sprint is anything to do with VoLTE or SDN or anything to really bring the network to a LTE only network. I guess they are really counting on CDMA for voice will through 2020, it’s crazy that they have no money and yet they expect to maintain a legacy network. Way to go Sprint, well thought out. Spend less now so you can maintain legacy discontinued equipment 3 years from now. Good move genius! I guess if you don’t have the money to get new tires for your car, you hope it stays on the road until you have the money. Good luck with that!

So even though Sprint has a smaller workforce that the other guys and they seem to have a heavy management structure, I guess they can turn the ship around. I really hope so because it you look at T-Mobile; they seem to be making all the right moves. They are advancing their network, building out VoLTE, LTE, densifying, everything they need to do to sunset CDMA, saving them more money I the near future, and they have a great system. Verizon, which goes without saying, is not only doing all of this but they are building a network that is 5G capable, densifying, building out VoLTE, improving their services, and making it the shining example. Then you have AT&T who did put a lot of time and money into the network and continues to advance, but they think that they have plenty of coverage for now in most markets. They have been working on different deals but that means that they just haven’t been investing in the network the way I think they should be. Can they get back on track? Who knows, maybe they think their fine. Let Verizon lead the way.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

 

Let’s play the “What if” game about bankruptcy!

What if Sprint declared bankruptcy? For one, Legere at T-Mobile would have a field day with a string of new commercials! For the industry it would be a major hit. All the stock prices would go down. Softbank might look really bad, but then they could re-organize the debt and manage it better. Would Softbank be able to keep its hold on Sprint? I think so, but they know it would be difficult and it may create more problems that solve them. They are already falling behind the technology race, (VoLTE and SDN) compared to the others who are racing to sunset CDMA. I don’t see them doing this until that $10B in debt comes due around 2020, and it would be a last resort, but it may save them.

Let’s play the “What if” game about a takeover!

We are pretty sure that the FCC and SEC in the USA would not let that happen unless Sprint would go into bankruptcy, but even then it seems more like Sprint mismanaged the money rather that a competition issue, so it may not happen even then. The government would really have to “pity” Sprint to make that happen. So who would take them over? When listening to Iain Gillot with Martha DeGrasse on RCR, it would have to be someone like Vodaphone.    But wait! Softbank already took them over, and look how that’s going! So the takeover already happened, but was it the wrong partner? We all thought that Softbank would put money into Sprint, well, it doesn’t look at way. They are making Sprint think about every dime they spend, something that they should have been doing long before this. Let’s remember that Sprint was already taken over and it doesn’t seem to be pushing them ahead except for the fact they really seem to be making some good financial moves. They are working to get out of debt. So maybe Softbank is making the right moves. I just want them to move ahead with the network, but if you don’t have the money, you start positioning yourself to be more fiscally responsive, which Sprint does appear to be doing right now. Maybe Sprint needs to make these moves to save themselves.

The Network is Falling Behind

Yes, the network is falling behind but Sprint is trying to build the company back up. They are making moves that will help them get the money to do something again. People are looking at Network Vision like it was a failure, but they have a large network built the best way they could at that time. I could go into what they did wrong, but what’s the point. Now they are trying to build around what they have and move ahead. Unfortunately, it will put them behind all the big boys. They don’t seem to care. I think Sprint is so bad off financially that they need to make moves like this. All their previous moves put them here. Do you know that in 2018 they will have a 2015 network? Does that bother anyone? I know you think that the older network would be cheaper to run, but it’s really not, the LTE network is much cheaper to run that a combo LTE and CDMA costs more money to maintain and grow. It’s really better to sunset the older network to save on maintenance costs.

Comparisons:

Hey, we all see T-Mobile moving ahead quickly with LTE, and Verizon is always pushing ahead. AT&T has been spending money on other parts of the business, but they know they will have to keep pushing and all of those carriers see that VoLTE and NFV play an important role in sun setting CDMA. They all know that the sooner CDMA/GSM goes away the less money they have to spend to maintain an older system. They also know that LTE is a common system, soon becoming a commodity. It will be cheaper to build, easier to expand, and OEM interchangeable. The OEMs don’t like that but they understand that its part of progress.

All those companies should have everything in place for 5G. Sprint on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be moving anywhere with advancing the network for 5G, and I think it will hurt them. They think the network is good enough. I get it, financially they are trouble and they want to get back to good. Apparently they feel that to get back to good the network has to stay where it is, so that in 2020 they will have a 2015 network. This shows that the vision for the network is to maintain. I understand they have a small cell plan, and it may take hold in 2017 at the earliest. This will put them behind the rest.

What’s Next?

I hope they get back to good, seriously. Once that happens they can improve their network and become a leader again, but for now they just seem content to be #4. They have to realize that T-Mobile is building out their LTE network to be one of the best, densifying and moving to VoLTE, so they can sunset CDMA and start to decommission the old system. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all want to do this because the savings will be huge! LTE is already a commodity and the OEMs can already work in each other’s networks, so they will continue to drive down the costs of equipment. They created the turf system to drive vendors down, but they also see a decline in quality, (you made your bed, now lie in it).

One thing to think about, by the time Sprint builds out their NGN or small cell deployment or whatever they do, it looks like it will be too late to be cutting edge, in fact, they will deploy so far behind that catch up may not happen. It would be a complete replacement to get back to where the competition is. But hey, who cares, marketing will save them. If you can’t be the best be the cheapest, right, wasn’t that the original plan? By the way, how is that working out?

Listen, I am rooting for Sprint, I hope all the carriers succeed and grow, seriously. Sprint needs to become a major competitor. they won’t do it by sitting still. Standing still means you are falling behind, and that is never good in this industry. You know, they could always sell pagers, maybe that is going to be their niche, pagers, not phones.

Can they do it?

I hope so!

Feedback? Email me, wade4wireless@gmail.com.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

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Art King is the King of Enterprise Small Cells

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In this show we have a small cell legend. Art King of SpiderCloud, who had a great career in IT and made the move into carrier small cells for the enterprise. He actually had the idea for the enterprise small cell long before it was a thing. He would collaborate with the SpiderCloud gang before he even worked there with ideas and suggestions. Then he spoke about how he transitioned from Nike to SpiderCloud, who was lucky enough to snag this enterprise small cell visionary.

This guy has done a lot for indoor carrier coverage. Think about it, when 5G rolls out this will be the critical piece of the puzzle. He really understood Enterprise IT better than almost anyone. He saw that Wi-Fi would be the stepping stone to what the carriers can provide today.

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Art brings so much value and history for you to learn everything you can about the enterprise small cell and the evolution of indoor carrier wireless, from the licensed spectrum to LTE-U to MulteFire to 3.5GHz CBRS. It’s all good stuff, so you should set aside an hour and learn from this guy.

We discussed how the mobile phone evolved into the smart phone, thanks to the iPhone, Apple, (along with AT&T), was a game changer for the wireless industry even though Apple never made a base Tower Safety for all your safety training!station, just the smartphone, the end device, and it changed the world when AT&T decided to sell it. Now most people can’t live without a smartphone in their lives. Art does a great job of explaining early iPhone and AT&T history and how it affected the enterprise wireless solutions. He was on the forefront of that revolution.

You will enjoy the stories that Art has to tell us, he goes through history of not only the enterprise IT, but wireless in general. If you have the time, then listen to the full interview. It is full of value!

I also asked who will pay for the enterprise small cell moving forward. I thought maybe the shift would happen in 3 to 5 years but he stated that it is much more immediate and brought up a study, http://scf.io/en/documents/162_-_Enterprise_demand_for_Small_Cells_by_vertical_market.php, where 30% of enterprises would pay for their own coverage in their buildings today. Even though 30% said they would never pay because it was up to the carriers However, there were 40% undecided but would consider it if the price and technology were right.  With over 320,000 potential enterprise small cell customers in the USA, you can see the market is ready to boom.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

I really would like to thank Art for taking the time to be on this call. He is a great guy that I was lucky enough to talk to at the NEDAS event in NYC in 2016. He was great to talk to and someone I am lucky enough to know. He is changing the future of enterprise and carrier wireless with his innovation and progressive ideas about the enterprise wireless evolution.

If you have the time and want to stay on top of what SpiderCloud is doing for enterprise, then go to http://spidercloud.com/einsider and see them on YouTube, https://youtu.be/-kt6gGiNNPA to learn more and keep up to date with what SpiderCloud is doing for you. They also have a blog at http://blog.spidercloud.com/ which is worth looking at and subscribing.

Art also has a slide share presentation about the enterprise small cell, found here, http://www.slideshare.net/SmallCellForum1/mediumlarge-enterprise-small-cell-deployment-case-studies if you want to see what he presented to Small Cell World Summit 2016 where SpiderCloud won the “Excellence in Commercial Deployment (Enterprise)” award, http://www.spidercloud.com/news/press-release/spidercloud-wins-small-cell-forum%E2%80%99s-excellence-enterprise-deployment-award-third-.

Art with Martha DeGrasse of RCR back in 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwgbQrZpNmo.

Follow Art on twitter, @ArtKingg to keep on top of his appearances. Art will be at PCIA the week of May 23rd, 2016. Amit Jain will be at TIA the week of June 6, 2016.

Feedback? Email me, wade4wireless@gmail.com.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention.

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Steve Yapsuga Talks Wireless Integration

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I met Steve at the NEDAS show and got to know him afterwards. He is an easy guy to talk to about wireless, we all love wireless. The groups he works with are really something. They are all there to help inform you, the wireless worker, about the wireless industry. DAS, Small Cells, and all things wireless. Your knowledge is growing well beyond what travels through the airwaves, now you have to know networking as well as the hardware and antennas to get it out there. Steve goes into how he saw the evolution of the networks go from having coverage to having bandwidth connectivity.

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Steve is a founding board member of NEDAS, the Northeast DAS and Small Cells Association. They just had a conference that I went to, links here and here, that cover DAS and Small Cell issues and solutions. I am a big fan of NEDAS because you have a group of people that cover real world problems for DAS and Small Cell integrators. The system integrators are doing all that they can to install and implement these systems cost effectively and efficiently. That is no easy task when you have so many obstacles like permitting and aesthetics.

Steve is also a board member of the MD DC Wireless Association, MDDCWA. This wireless group gets together to keep the wireless leaders in the MD DC area stay informed. Pretty impressive.

He is also a founding member of Dense Networks, a group that is covering the consolidation of wireless, big data, and broadband. This group is helping the wireless industry understand the convergence of all the data formats into one seamless network. This is where you learn all that you can about where broadband is headed. Very impressive.

He is a smart guy, over 15 years of experience in distribution and emerging technologies, over 10 years at Tessco, and an Executive MBA degree from Loyola.

In this interview he tells us not only about the evolution of the wireless business but where it seems to be heading. Steve forming Dense Networks shows us how the convergence of Big Data & Analytics with Mobile Internet and the Internet of Things along with using the cloud will change the way we do business. Not only that but in wireless integration the system integrator will need to think differently about how to design and build the networks. The HetNet is going to be taken very seriously moving forward.

Wireless innovation is something that we often talk about but we don’t always worry about because most system integrators are worried about the immediate need for systems. They are trying to put together something that can be used right now. Technology is changing rapidly but we need to make the systems that are out there today work and be reliable. This is not easy task. While we want to focus on what’s next, we need to make today’s technology work the best we can for today’s customer. We also have to make plans to expand and improve for the future. It all becomes b=part of the formula. Steve is pretty good at explaining this.

Get the Wireless Deployment Handbook today!The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute.

This is a long interview, almost 50 minutes, so make some time to learn what makes the industry move forward with this innovator.

Tower Safety for all your safety training!I would like to thank Steve for taking the time on a Saturday morning to talk to me. Once again, it shows his commitment to the wireless industry when this is the only opening for an interview. Most wireless innovators know it takes a deep commitment to not only be innovative, but to inspire the rest of us to learn and become better at this craft. Thank you Steve.