Sprint is showing signs of life in the deployment world, can you believe it? They seem to be moving ahead, mostly through Mobilitie! This is great news. I have been learning more and more on this and I thought I would share.
Sprint is pushing for a way to streamline and improve the small cell deployment process.Specifically outlined in a letter that Charles McKee sent to the FCC, letter found here, which discusses the meeting Sprint’s Marcel Claure and Vonya McCann had with the FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn, (who I am a fan of because she often speaks of tower workers safety). Sprint apparently shared their growth plans with the Commissioner. Mr. Claure expressed how important it would be for Sprint to cost effectively deploy the small cells without the costly delays that jurisdictions often incur by having ridiculously slow and complicated permitting processes.
Tower instruction and training at www.towersafety.com
With Sprint’s massive job cuts are Mobilitie’s gain for the work. It looks like Sprint will rely on Mobilitie for the deployment. Mobilitie will boom this year when they take on the network expansion for Sprint, but they may not get paid for it until who knows when. Remember that Mobilitie will be doing the deployment work for Sprint with the small cells and mini macro deployments. Just a not, the mini macro may look like a small cell installation, but with way more power out, pay attention to that little fact! Another thing I am seeing is that Sprint & Mobilitie are looking to do as much as they can without getting the tower companies involved.
Sprint, (Mobilitie), has a process in place for deployment, but it’s all the outside factors that get in the way causing delays and raising costs. For example the easements, permitting, zoning, and problems running backhaul. Depending on which jurisdiction you’re deploying in, things could go well or things could move at a snail’s pace. Many jurisdictions slow down the small cell installation and also the fiber runs. I am still a fan of wireless backhaul, but that takes proper planning, one thing most people don’t want to take the time to do up front, just my opinion there.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is a reason some jurisdictions are cautious, most of them don’t do it to be jerks, they are just trying to understand what will be installed and what the repercussions will be. Most local jurisdictions don’t always want better coverage if there will be problems, I see both sides. In the past some carriers installed noisy and ugly sites causing the local residents to be up in arms. You need to have balance with aesthetics. You need to mutually respect each other’s opinions, right? Remember that the protests can lead to the removal of a site. Since there are so many jurisdictions to deal with, streamlining, (like Mr. Claure is asking the FCC to help with), makes sense but we need to show the local residents respect.
I am a fan of small cell deployment and Sprint is pushing for a way to improve this, I am on board! I believe they would qualify their mini macro as a small cell at this point to speed up the densification, if it happens. Let’s face it, we all want to deploy.
Let’s not overlook the fact that Mobilitie has been preparing to deploy by asking to install on poles and install new poles just like Crown Castle has been doing. I am told that they want to replace the existing poles with taller and stronger poles for the mini macro and small cells, (again like Crown Castle has been doing). They have already sent project notes of out to city offices, like the letter they sent to the California City of Ojai, document found here. The document clearly outlines a high level plan to deploy small cells.
I was conversing with a friend of mine, Omar Masry, AICP, City Planner of San Francisco, about this.
Per Omar, “The City of San Francisco has signed agreements to allow Mobilitie to potentially install their facilities on City owned steel light and transit poles (which hold up electric wires for buses and light rail). However, as of yet no design has been approved. T-Mobile and Verizon are actively collaborating with the City on the installation of Small Cells (technically C-RAN) on existing poles. The equipment primarily involves two Ericsson mRRUs (plus an external antenna for the Verizon nodes). One challenge involves the design of the mRRUs with cabling exiting out the bottom of the enclosure then rotating back before entering the pole. Staff requested 90 degree connectors but the carrier declined. However superflex cabling was used instead to reduce the gap between the bottom of the mRRU and the pole entry point to five inches. Preferably equipment manufactures would create a variant for steel pole installations with reduced cabling visibility through alternate port locations (e.g. rear). Another challenge with the Extenet-Verizon deployment was that the initial design proposal did not include required electronic gear (cabling and combiners). This required additional redesigns to shroud the equipment at the base of the external antenna; and ensure the design was compatible with the historic districts and streetscapes that characterize San Francisco. AT&T Mobility had previously submitted applications to attach wireless facilities to steel transit poles, however the design was not approved as it featured bulky equipment enclosures and antennas on steel poles in primarily historic residential areas. Staff looks forward to working with carriers on ensuring designs are compatible with the City’s streetscapes (without noisy cooling fans , flashing lights, and logos/decals typically associated with more challenging DAS nodes on some wooden poles), while providing robust and competitive broadband services. Photo Examples of these (and other) design challenges can be found at: http://www.slideshare.net/omarmasry/slides-from-a-wireless-cellular-design-panel”
So it looks like Sprint may be moving ahead through Mobilitie. I am hoping they deploy this year sometime before it’s too late! Mobilitie is the densification deployment team for Sprint, remember that. They will be the team rolling everything out. The mini-macro deployment could be referred to as small cells because, quite frankly, it’s easier to work with, just like the CRAN deployment. Those working with Verizon and T-Mobile know it’s easier to just lump it all into the small cell category. There are plenty of signs that they may do something soon!
Deploy, deploy, deploy! You can never have enough wireless deployments, am I right? Macro, small cell, CRAN, and DAS all are part of this amazing HetNet world we live in! Let’s deploy!
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
I don’t know how many of you are 1099 workers or W2 employees or hire them, but I want you to be aware of a few things. This is to help you out whether you run a business or if you are the worker. I would like to thank Lisa Hudspeth, Human Resource Specialist, contact info is hudspethld@gmail.com, for helping me put this together because I am no legal or Human Resources expert. I just thought this is something you should know and I put it together the best way I could to help the worker and the employer. I tried to remain unbiased.
A quick note, this is a very long post, so if you prefer to have a PDF of this post email me at wade4wireless@gmail.com and I will send it out to you.
The wireless industry has had problems identifying 1099 and W2 work. Most companies want to hire 1099 workers because they feel they can get out of taxes and workman’s comp. It has been an issue in the courts or at least in arbitration. I hope this shed some light on the subject.
Many workers look for work and the 1099 offers them a quick way to get paid. They need to understand the implications of this work as does the people hiring them. Without being properly educated then you quickly wind up in court if someone gets hurt or feels they got screwed. Remember that it’s all fun and games until someone gets injured on the job. Prepare yourself for the consequences of making the wrong choice.
First off, let me explain the difference. A full-time W2 employee will have completed a W4 upon getting hired. This needs be done immediately, for both the company and the worker to get the taxes aligned. You may have an option for insurance and you should be covered by workman’s compensation.
If you are a 1099 contractor, then you are an independent contractor. Being an independent contractor the company you contract with only owes you pay for the either the hours you work or the task you complete according to your contract. You are considered a contractor. This means no benefits, and no workman’s compensation provided by the company that you’re contracting with. So if someone offers to make you a 1099 employee, you are not an employee but a contractor, again not an employee. Understand, you are a contractor, not an employee, get that into your head! You do NOT get the benefits that an employee would, no insurance or workman’s comp unless you pay for it. Are you familiar with FICA, FUTA and SUTA? Better get on top of this if you are a 1099.
As a 1099 worker, what are My Self-Employed Tax Obligations?
As a self-employed individual, generally you are required to file an annual return and pay estimated taxes quarterly.
Self-employed individuals generally must pay self-employment tax (SE tax) as well as income tax. SE tax is a Social Security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners. In general, anytime the wording “self-employment tax” is used; it only refers to Social Security and Medicare taxes and not any other tax (like income tax).
Before you can determine if you are subject to self-employment tax and income tax, you must figure your net profit or net loss from your business. You do this by subtracting your business expenses from your business income. If your expenses are less than your income, the difference is net profit and becomes part of your income on page 1 of Form 1040. If your expenses are more than your income, the difference is a net loss. You usually can deduct your loss from gross income on page 1 of Form 1040. But in some situations your loss is limited. See Pub. 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (For Individuals Who Use Schedule C or C-EZ) for more information.
You have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. If your net earnings from self-employment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Form 1040 instructions (PDF).
Learn the Rules!
If you own a business, you need to be aware of the laws that surround 1099. When you hire these people they are not on the payroll and you have no income tax withholding, no employment taxes, no liability for acts of employees, no federal state discrimination laws that cover only employees, and no obligation to pay any benefits.
While this sounds good to the employer, there are disadvantages to hiring 1099 workers. For example, there is a basic understanding that independent contractors can choose whether or not they want to come to work without the fear of losing employment. They have the ability to control their own hours, and can typically get things done on their own terms without having to adhere to strict company policies – as long as the work performed has been completed and lives up to the standards that the employer has set out. It is not necessarily an “hours for wage” but it could be a “completed task for wage”.
Wireless Deployment Handbook, Small Cells, CRAN, and DAS editions.
If you think it doesn’t matter, then guess again. There have been sizable awards for high-profile companies such as Microsoft and Time-Warner/AOL due to misclassification of employees as contractors. So, you may want to consider that the potential pitfalls of how retaining independent contractors can outweigh the short-term savings in benefits and reduced paperwork for some firms. On the other hand, if the people you are engaging do meet the criteria of the IRS regarding independent contractors and you have well-crafted professional service agreements in place with each one and you are careful in administering their contributions and status, you will be fine.
One thing that really pushes the 1099 movement in tower work is workman’s comp costs. You see it all depends on the comp rate. Businesses gets better with age and the comp rate should drop. What is the comp rate, it’s calculated like this. A climber’s workman’s comp rate could be $28 per $1,000 of wages, (assuming $1,000/month wage). Let’s assume that for 10 climbers the payroll is $40,000 a month so the comp part would be $1,120 per month. Get it, $28×40=$1,120. I don’t know the exact wage so you will need to know it for your business.
Why does getting out of paying workman’s comp insurance sound to appealing? In the tower industry the workman’s comp insurance is really high, almost as high as scaffolding workers. I believe they may be the highest, but I couldn’t find proof to back that up.
Why go one way or the other?
Why would an employee want to be a 1099 worker? Freedom to work with many customers and set their own schedules. Maybe it could be the only option they have to get work. It may be something where the worker wants to come and go as they please, and set their own schedule, and maybe they have a bunch of customers. They also have the right to walk away when they feel they have to.
Why would an employee want to be a W2 employee? Benefits and stable work, in theory anyway. Layoffs are very common in North America and the companies can do it with little or no notice.
Why would you want a W2 employee over 1099? You want a valuable part of the team that can be an asset. This is someone you don’t want to share with the competition. You see, under IRS rules they are an employee if you direct their entire day, tasks, and training. Do you direct their daily tasks? If so then you need to consider making them an employee or risking a lawsuit.
Why would an employer want a 1099 worker? Maybe to complete a temporary task or to help in a work crunch or to complete a project. It would be a temporary need or it may be to call in an expert for a project. This way they don’t need to pay all the taxes and insurance required for a W2 when they only need temporary help for a project or task.
What you need to know.
If you are a W2 employee, you should have agreements between you and the company you are working for. Make sure to review the employee handbook with the company policies. You may have a contract that includes scope of work, a non-compete/compete clause in your favor, and compensation. You should fill out a W-4 IRS form, an I-9 immigration form (if needed), and an application.
If you are an independent company, then you should carry a plethora of insurance, if you have more than yourself working then you should hire an HR professional to complete your own handbooks, applications, I-9’s, job descriptions, business license, contracts, employee files, background checks, drug screens. It is important to everything you hold dear about your income to do due diligence in providing the proper insurance and documentation.
If you are a 1099 then what you should have a contract between you and your employer, (using the word employer or 1099 makes my life easy!) The peril of using the word and accepting the word employer or employee ~we have entered a verbal employment agreement that I can make supersede the original agreement and collect on any benefits due, payments for WC, Fines for the Company if you cause me grief in the form of SSI- FICA, FUTA, SUTA. I would chew them up spew them out! ) should be a contract. This will protect the company and the worker, but most people on both sides don’t bother or they are afraid to fill one out. Why? You may think it’s so that you have work, but in the end you may look really stupid when you don’t get paid or the business gets ripped off. It is a 2 way street that hurts both parties both ways.
I talked to so many people that say there is a real problem here in the US and it’s in the Southeast but I have nothing to back that up other than people telling me how bad things are. I think it’s important that both workers and businesses need to know the rules around this.
When does the worker become an employee even though he is a 1099? Will the worker get any benefits then?
If the contract is ignored and you are told to do something that is out of the scope according to the paperwork (SOW). (Remember my Scope of Work training and all the talk about it being part of the contract?) You are given additional assignments. You are asked to stay or show up, do a company chore, train employees that are not yours. A good attorney can bring a co-employment issue in, meaning while you had good faith that you were your own boss…you were not. Is any of this sinking in?
What if the company won’t pay the 1099 worker, what can the worker do?
Take his contract to an arbitration hearing. If a check is missing from the payment schedule then the contractor should stop all work and collect all employees as to cease and desist until his contract is resigned or continued. So this means you will miss work if you are the worker and that the company must go to hear your side of the story! It’s not a win for anyone but it proves a point if you are the worker that you won’t be pushed around.
What if a 1099 worker gets hurt on the job?
Then surely he has his own insurance…. Right?
Why they put “Contract” in Contract Work.
Safety, drone, and crane training for your teams!
What do you need to know about contract work? Well, let me explain, straight from Lisa Hudspeth, (Human Resource Specialist, contact info ishudspethld@gmail.com), first off make sure you have a contract. What is a contract? It is an offer of work and compensation based on the needs of 1) the company and 2) the contractor. The contract can be handwritten. It should be signed by both parties. This contract is the “be all” of deals. It’s could keep you from being “let go” or be good tender for exchange of goods helping insure you are paid at the appointed contract times.This could be a scope of work, and I have a tutorial here on how to write and read one. Make sure that if you use the SOW, it is signed by both parties!
The contract could allow you to stop working if you’re told your check is lost or “messed up”. Be sure if you call yourself a contract worker, you have a contract. Business owners should beware if you call yourself a contract employee or employer then the word “employee” holds strong issues with the courts. Reminder to the business owners and the contractors out there, don’t be afraid to dot your I’s and cross your T’s. Prevention is the best cure, and in this case the contract may prevent a lawsuit going forward.
Classifying a Contract Worker.
QuickBooks has a good round of questions that ask businesses if they are workers or 1099, let’s look it over. It can be found here. I will sum it up:
How regularly does someone work for you? In other words, are they working for you daily? Are they working for you part-time, occasionally, or just for specific projects? See the difference? Full time, W2 is likely, even if it’s full time for a month. Part time could go either way. Part time or every Friday is very different from daily, get it?
Do you as the boss set the persons schedule? Do you, seriously, do you tell the person when and where to be on a daily or weekly basis? If the worker sets his own schedule, then things lean towards a contractor. If you set the schedule, then leaning towards W2.
Do you, as a business owner, instruct or supervise the worker? If yes, then you are training and providing direct supervision, W2. If the worker is doing all of that on their own then it would lean towards 1099.
If additional workers are hired, who does it? The business or the worker? Business leans towards W2, worker leans towards 1099.
Who provides the tools? I believe this is obvious.
How is the worker paid? Hourly or weekly or monthly or a fixed schedule, leaning towards W2. On a project basis or commission, then it would lean towards 1099.
Is your worker economically dependent on your business? Yes leans towards W2, No leans towards 1099.
Does the worker make decisions that impact personal profits, or losses? Yes leans towards W2. No leads towards 1099.
Is the worker working for you indefinitely or for a specific period? Indefinitely leans towards W2. Specific time leans towards 1099.
Are the workers a core part of your business? Do you need this person to increase profits and is he critical? Yes leans to W2 and no leans to 1099.
Be aware of the SS-8 IRS form!
By the way, if you are a 1099 worker or have them work for you then you need to be aware of the SS-8 form, found here. Why? This form keeps both parties honest. You heard me, education is the key. Many workers can make the transition either way, from W2 to 1099 or 1099 to W2. Just look at the form for more information,
So what can you do business owner or worker? Did you ever hear the term “prevention is the best cure”? The plan ahead! Make a contract prior if the partnership is a 1099. Why, to protect both parties so that when something bad happens the court or the arbitration goes well. If you think it won’t happen to you, then you are rolling the dice. In Vegas they didn’t build the casinos because they lose a lot, they got the money because rolling the dice and losing. Are you willing to take that chance? If you’re a business owner you have a lot to lose and if you’re a worker you could lose everything with no chance for help. Write a handwritten contract if you have to, just get something in writing. Many of you know I have SOW tutorial found here. Did you know that the SOW can be a legal contract? Find a way to protect yourself.
A quick note, this is a very long post, so if you prefer to have a PDF of this post email me at wade4wireless@gmail.com and I will send it out to you.
Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
I got an email, also seen here, from Telecom Careers telling me that Mobilitie is looking for several positions! I have them listed below but could this mean that perhaps the Sprint Densification plan is going to move ahead? I hope so. I mean look at the jobs listed below. I got this right from the email. Send those applications in people!
Explore over 40 opportunities at Mobilitie here and here
I smell a deployment about to happen! What do you think? I hope this means more work for the deployment teams everywhere. I don’t know what it will be like to work with Mobilitie but it can’t be any worse that dealing with Sprint, right?
Remember that it all starts with site acquisition and RF design. Then you move into low-level design and site design. It doesn’t take long to get things rolling but there are always delays.
I am hoping that by looking at this hiring schedule that Sprint may finally be ramping up to move ahead with the densification project as well as the 2.5GHz expansion.
Tower Safety for all your safety training!
Now, I am not saying things are all peaches and cream at Sprint, for instance, the layoffs are already starting even though the bulk will hit in January, article here, where an 11% reduction in the workforce. According to the article there are about 31,000 people work there today. So over 3,300 people will be leaving. Now all of this comes after Marcelo Claure announced that he would be promoting a few people to regional presidents.
One more thing, Sprint will no longer sponsor NASCAR, that is over and done with. So Sprint will survive for another year.
Another question that lingers, should Comcast take over Sprint or T-Mobile? Why not, it makes sense. Even though Comcast has a deal with Verizon Wireless to sell carrier services, then maybe they would jump in with both feet. They have the money and they have motivation. It would help them put AT&T in its place by competing on the TV delivery and in wireless. Comcast said they were going to move into the wireless market and run trials with Verizon.
Now, let’s get back to the Sprint deployment. I still believe nothing will happen until mid-2016 and that will probably just be the densification project. I don’t’ know when the 2.5GHz expansion will take place but maybe not until 2017. Sprint just can’t seem to handle the expenses right now. I hope that the deployment is good for the deployment teams, but anyone that has dealt with Sprint knows that they will try to get as much as they can for as little as they can. So beware of losing money on the venture. Remember that deployment should be win-win, not “win then suck the life out of my deployment teams leaving them broke”. Let’s be fair, to do this work at a loss means that you should not do the work at all! Don’t underbid unless you are prepared to lose money.
Why do I bring up the bidding? Because in a Light Reading article, found here, they mention how Sprint/SoftBank is going to do small cells differently. They already awarded the hardware to Nokia and Airspan, which most of you know about, and Ericsson may get a chuck. They passed over the small cell leader, Alcatel-Lucent, maybe because Nokia is about to swallow them up or they wanted cheaper small cells. The real reason is mainly because the backhaul had to be something easy and cheap. They don’t want to pay for fiber unless absolutely necessary, enter Airspan. A smaller player and yet one that has a complete solution and is probably able to undercut the big boys to gain a small percentage of the market share. Can’t blame them unless they lose money, then it all looks stupid.
Now the other player for indoor, from what Dan Jones of Light Reading says, looks to be a player for indoor. This should make CommScope very happy since the own Airvana.
Remember that this is Sprint, and they may change everything and that they put out so many RFPs in the last year that your head would spin if you had to keep up with all of them. I admire the people working at Sprint for burning through the cycles and I hope those loyal people get to keep their jobs after the massive layoff that Sprint has planned. I know that many of them worked through holidays just to make sure that Sprint would have the pricing. By the way, if you ever have worked through the RFP process with Sprint then you will see that it is not easy and it usually is about price, my observation and opinion.
When will they deploy the small cells? Who knows, I hope the mini macro happens soon, but the reality is that they won’t be ready until mid 2016 from what I am seeing. Maybe they will surprise me by deploying sooner, but I doubt it. If anything they may push it out to 2017.
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
If anyone is following the battle for #3 you see that T-Mobile got the position. Can they hold it? Who is going to make the long-term difference? Let me tell you what I see from a deployment stance.
Don’t get me wrong, the marketing plays a big part. I think that Marcelo Claure of Sprint and John Legere of T-Mobile are geniuses at marketing, although I think Legere has the edge. They both see to be able to build marketing programs that reach out to the smartphone user. The difference I see is that Sprint’s message is “we are cheap and will give you a cheap plan” versus T-Mobile who says “We have a reasonable plan with free video and our LTE coverage is great”. I think we all see the difference but in the end the customer wants a working system for a reasonable price.
Business wise T-Mobile seems stronger at this moment in time. T-Mobile wins here if we just look at the stock price, When I wrote this, Sunday December 6, 2015, T-Mobile came in at $35.45 versus Sprint at $3.53. It is obvious that we hear about all the problems at Sprint and all the cool stuff T-Mobile is doing that T-Mobile is moving up while Sprint seems to be standing still. Some would say Sprint is moving backwards, which, in this industry is what happens when you stand still. Let’s move on shall we?
T-Mobile on the other hand is aggressively building out with an impressive steady build plan that will improve their densification in major population areas. I am really impressed by what they are doing and the move to VoLTE. WOW! This is impressive to me and it shows that T-Mobile is not only committed to changing the industry by becoming the anti-carrier and plans but they are really improving their network. They seem to be boosting the network by leaps and bounds.
So when I look at the 2 competitors I see T-Mobile actually making a real difference in the network and growth. Meanwhile Sprint seems to be falling farther and farther behind. I know that we all expect them to do something big in 2016, but will it be enough or will it be too little too late. I will give Sprint and Softbank for the most creative financing. That deal they pulled off to get $1.1B of cash was amazing. WOW! Then they will be cutting out $2.5B of costs by cutting the workforce, meaning huge layoffs. Then they have to deploy the network they promised in their densification plan. Then they will have Mobilitie finance most of it for them. So will Sprint become a shell where the network is owned by Mobilitie and the devices will be owned by Mobile Leasing Solutions. So Sprint is finding a way to deploy a network and sell devices with little financial outlay. Let’s hope they can stay afloat long enough to make it happen.
T-Mobile on the other hand has been making investments that really look great from a system perspective. They have all the marketing savvy but they have the network to back it up. The video offering they have now is really impressive and the fact they have the vision to go complete LTE, for data and voice, is amazing. The way they offered VoWiFi before any other carrier did was awesome. They are pushing all the other carriers into a position they weren’t ready for yet. They seem to have an impressive vision for their future.
The funny thing is that Sprint has all the 2.5GHz spectrum that any other carrier would love to have, but they are moving so slowly because they apparently don’t’ have the money to do anything with it. They have a plan to densify, but they have been putting all of their vendors through the ringer and trying to cut the prices down to the point where most deployment teams wont’ want to work with them. I know that I have talked to many people who have participated in several RFPs that it is hard to take Sprint seriously any more. They have personally made so many vendors back down and say “don’t call us until you’re serious”. Do you remember when the rumor was that they were going to deploy over 70,000 small cells, then it was mini macros, for the densification program. What has been done since then? Not much. They seem to be slowly adding 2.5GHz to the towers, which really is an extension of the Network Vision plan. Sprint has such potential but they can’t seem to get out of their own way. All the money seems to be going somewhere, but where? I mean, I don’t see it going into the network, do you? They are cutting an already overworked workforce. They just don’t seem to be a company that the vendors I have talked to really want to work with anymore. The best thing they could do it allow the vendors to deploy the small cells and DAS systems for them. “Free the Indoor Small Cells”. They could allow them to deploy the system for them. It would just take building a process then they could get out-of-the-way, just wishful thinking on my part.
From what I see, T-Mobile is making all the right moves to win this war. I think that they are positioning themselves to push AT&T and Verizon. They might not win on coverage but they can give them a run for their money. While coverage is an issue, they have a good overall plan and they are sending a consistent message. Meanwhile, Sprint seems to be sending a message that they are the cheap guy and the margins are bleeding for it. But hey, what do I know, I just want to see all the deployment teams busy again.
I am reading “Lessons in Life and Business” by Elon Musk and he has a quote that I think would apply here. “Focus on signal over noise. A lot of companies get confused. They spend money on things that don’t actually make the product better.”
Deploy, deploy, deploy!
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
I found a video that is interesting, if you are into massive MIMO, which is being proposed for outdoor work. I think this is interesting because Professor Dr. Wolfgang Utschick talks about how MIMO works. He gives a long and detail explanation (snooze). I listened to it because I really find it interesting. This is how I spend my Saturday mornings, seriously.
The video,https://youtu.be/zhncADqR9rg, goes into great detail about the complexities of how the MIMO works down to the signal level. This is a really smart guy giving a boring delivery, so I will break it down for you, if you listen to my podcast you may find it more interesting than the video. Let me tell you my version, lots of antennas = better signal propagation both ways, with better noise rejection and more throughput. Multiple signals going in and out simultaneously allows for the device and BTS to work better, clean up the noise and errors so that the customer can get some kick ass bandwidth. That is the name of the game. Then he talks about the multi user MIMO works y using the same signal. Then he sums it up by going over the beam forming properties of the antennas.
What does this mean to you? Well deployment teams, it means that the RF designers will be working with multiple antenna systems. It means that the site designers and the site acquisition teams now have to work with MIMO antenna systems wither on a building or on an antenna or small cell or DAS. Yes, they will be deploying these for DAS. Don’t think it’s something new, look at what Wi-Fi has been doing for a few years, and they are big into MIMO. Now they want LTE to do more than 2 antennas, up to 8 or even 24. This will have to balance with practical installations to what your device, (smartphone) can support. They have to work together after all.
Let’s not forget the installation teams will be dealing with larger or heavier antennas and more cables on the tower. That’s right, bigger and heavier. What about the remote radio units, they were just starting to get smaller and now they will be bigger or they will add more. You will find out soon with 4T4R and 8T8R.
Then there is optimization, the drive teams will need to get new devices to test with. So this will add complexity not only to the system but the testing as well. Just like with carrier aggregation, the MIMO upgrades will make things more complicated.
What will the carriers say? Well, they are already deploying 4T4R, 4 transmit and 4 receive MIMO, and some are doing 8T8R. They are working their way to 16T16R. How cool is that? I believe they will push to do more if it is cost-effective. Some carriers saw this as a ploy for the OEMs and antenna companies to sell more equipment, until they saw the payback. Yes, the payback of efficiency and bandwidth. They are going to do all that they can to improve the pipe, like this and carrier aggregation. All ways to get the biggest bang out of the bandwidth they have.
To get the most out of this, they need to shrink coverage areas as well. So in doing this they may not really need to maximize MIMO. I think to find a balance between the cost for MIMO and the cost to deploy a site will maximize the investment. They want a reasonable coverage area based on loading. In the old days it was based on population but now in the world of data it’s a balance of population and usage. Now the carrier’s system is becoming more and more of a pipe. They know they can’t do it all, but they can provide quality coverage to the mobile masses. They have to do this within a budget.
The goal is to make sure the user has a great quality of experience, (QoE), for the right budget. Of course it could be better but at what cost? The equipment and the services start to run up the CapEx and to maintain something like that may run up the OpEx although I am not sure how. The only thing I see is backhaul will be bigger, equipment maintenance, and maybe tower rental. There may be more that I am missing.
How does CapEx go up? Let me tell you the obvious, the hardware goes up. The antennas cost more, the radio heads cost more, chances are the BBU and the hybriflex cable costs more. It all adds up. They to install it, extra weight, extra testing, extra optimization, and all the little things all add up. It ain’t free! All those nickels and dimes add up to hundreds or thousands a site.
So when looking at the new LTE systems, now you see the complexity that is in a simple design. You also see that budgets play a part. Not every carrier can throw money at these issues but they will do what they can to serve the user and to have bragging rights. Going to LTE gives them bragging rights, doing VoLTE also really helps.
There is a long-term goal as well. If they can get the LTE system up and running then they can start to decommission 2G and 3G systems saving on maintenance and service 2 systems as well as freeing up that bandwidth for 4G. Get the old systems out, maintain the current system, and save money while increasing the QoE for the user. It all makes sense to me.
What about 5G? Well, from what I have been reading is that the 5G will be an extension of what they have now. I know that the carriers do not want to start swapping out gear so soon, especially in 2020 if they don’t have to. They want to just add-on to what they have or they want to do it all through software upgrades. Why spend the massive amounts of money if they don’t have to. After all, we went from 3G to 4G in a very short time. Why not use MIMO and other ways to improve the system? It all makes send to me to have the hardware ready for software updates. Let’s decommission the 3G system before we replace the 4G equipment.
I am hoping that 5G will change the IOT, meaning machine to machine where we can get real-time readings for our power meters, gas meters, and water meters. I know that they have this in some parts of the country but not where I live. Hell, they don’t even read the power meter every month so if I have something in my house that is sucking down power I don’t know about it for 2 months! Just venting here but I see great things happening soon. I know the utility companies are waiting for federal grants to move ahead, but come on! I can see my bank statements and credit card bills in real-time. Let’s get started on making the meter reading happen in real-time.
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
I know what you’re thinking, DAS spectrum is not dedicated, but what if it were? Now that the carriers don’t want to pay for a shared DAS system in venues, we should come up with alternatives to getting them into large venues. DAS is needed in the industry for coverage. We can play favorites for coverage, but how do we provide coverage for all carriers? Let’s explore some options.
DAS is still booming, in fact, I found a really cool website, http://www.daspedia.com/where you can find some DAS information. I really think its good stuff. DAS for LTE will continue to boom. Yet, the carriers no longer want to pay for a shared DAS system. What will we do? Will the work go away?
NO! I don’t think so and I will tell you why. The coverage is still needed and while we all love Wi-Fi, the voice handoff from VoLTE to VoWi-Fi is still not as clean as anyone would like it to be, it may get better but this is why LTE-U is taking off. So this leads to my question, “will LTE-U become the new shared system for carriers?”
Well, Verizon is pushing things in that direction along with Qualcomm. It seems like all the OEMs are joining the party because they are providing solutions with carrier aggregation and LET-U, so it seems to be moving ahead.
I know that the debate between a safe coexistence between Wi-Fi and LTE-U is still up in the air. In fact ask anyone that is associated with the cable companies or Wi-Fi groups and they think that LTE-U is just one step down from the Antichrist, at least it feels that way. Cablelabs did some tests, http://www.cablelabs.com/fair-lte-u-coexistence-far-from-proven-in-cablelabs-qualcomm-testing/where they have undeniable proof that LTE-U will devastate Wi-Fi. But then we can look at Qualcomm’s letter to the FCC, http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=60001084962and see that Wi-Fi and LTE-U can live happily together and thrive in this new world that is coming. Actually Qualcomm said LTE-U is less of a problem to Wi-Fi that Wi-Fi is to itself, which I believe, because I have been places where there are 5 hotspots and coverage is not so great. To be fair, RCR did a segment on it here, http://www.rcrwireless.com/20150701/test-and-measurement/lte-u-testing-5-studies-and-their-results-tag6 which does a good job at pointing out all arguments.
Can’t we all get along? Seriously? Should let them fight it out? It looks like LTE-U will be a new opportunity for deployment. It looks like the FCC will allow LTE-U and LTE in the 3.5GHz lightly licensed band, so that means we can deploy CRAN and small cells with carrier bands, Wi-Fi, LTE-U, and 3.5GHz! Let’s go and deploy. LTE-U is coming in one form or another, and it should allow the carriers to share the bands. That means the design, engineering, and deployment teams will get a new wave of work! That’s where I am interested, the next phase of DAS may not only include Wi-Fi and carriers, but LTE-U.
Just think if you have a new player that uses LTE in 3.5GHz for access to the devices? Or it could be used as backhaul. Is that cool or what? Who would do 3.5GHz as a carrier would? Well it has been done, http://www.gtigroup.org/35ghz/overview/2015-03-20/5820.htmlin Japan and China. Wouldn’t it be cool if the lightly licensed band here in the US would be a step up from Wi-Fi but a step down from the billion dollar carrier bands? I am just dreaming here but the band works, so why not see if we can deploy it here in North America?
It’s funny you would ask, because 2 small companies you may have heard of, Google and Nokia, are already working towards a test, http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/nokia-teaming-google-lte-u-35-ghz-spectrum/2015-09-14. This is big news, to me at least, because it will open up new venues for deployment. I see this as a great way for the carriers to pay a third-party to share in a DAS system that is cost-effective to deploy. All they need to do is roam onto this system. Easy peasey lemon squeezy, if the FCC adopts that band for testing with enough bandwidth! Oh, that’s right, they did, http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/fcc-votes-adopt-new-35-ghz-spectrum-sharing-plan-innovation-band/2015-04-17back in April! So what are we waiting for? The OEMs to make something, it takes a long time, then someone needs to deploy it and test it, like Google. Then the carriers need to do interoperability testing, IoT, into their networks. Then we will have 150MHz of bandwidth to play with, lightly licensed bandwidth for the small business to build and be deployed. Oh boy, it’s always exciting to see something like this happen, innovation! I would like to thank the DOD, department of defense, for freeing the bandwidth! Free with only the threat of radar interfering with it, and radar is high power so that may be a problem. All the more reason to put it indoors for DAS and small cells. Thank you FCC chairman Tom Wheeler!
I know that it would also be a great backhaul technology, which now that there is 150MHz. Having that much is a start so we could use it effectively. I see an opportunity here.
Something to think about!
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
Happy Thanksgiving USA! I am thankful that I get 2 days off for this, how great is that? I worked through enough holidays to thank GOD that I have 2 days off. Yes, as I get older I really appreciate my time off so that I can create this content for you.
Most asked questions to me? “Are you hiring?” and “Who is hiring?” I have told many of you people where to find a job. So I thought it would be a good idea to lay out some sites that most of you could find work. I get people reaching out to me all the time for work. By the way, the best thing you can do is look for work and reach out to your contacts to see who is hiring. As much as I hear people ask me “Dude, can you hire me today?” it really is not the best way to get a job. Especially when I give so many of these people websites and advice and they say they don’t’ have time to do any of it. Clicking on a website and completing the forms takes time, but it helps you prepare for the job search and get clarity on what you need to do.
Build a resume. Name, contact information like email and phone numbers and address. The put on a list of certifications along with previous jobs. RCR did a good story on this http://www.rcrwireless.com/20141007/workforce/how-to-become-a-tower-climber-resume-building-job-search-tag8that may help you. Remember, be honest. If you lie and get caught it will come back to burn you. I know many people keep some things quiet but this industry is pretty small and tight. However, if you tell someone the last guy is a jerk, they may agree with you. They may hire you anyway.
The best thing you can do is build a good network. Many good people out there, who are easy to get along with, can get a job by word of mouth. I hear about this on Facebook all the time. Remember that I may be looking soon, so for all of you reading this, think of me! One more thing, the more bridges you burn the fewer options that you have. Friends are great and the more you help the better off you are. Let’s look at the formula for getting recommended: Good worker + friendly + quality work + honesty = good recommendations.
I recommend building a profile on LinkedIn so that companies can easily see your profile. This way they know that you are a real person, not some guy screwing people out of hours and equipment. By the way, a key part to fitting the profile is not to steal equipment. I see on forums about people that screw companies all the time. Most of you will react to this by saying, “well look at what they did to me!” I am not here to argue, but respect is a 2 way street. So if they screw you, quit. If you are good and you have a good network, you should be able to find something. There are always exceptions, depending on where you live and what you want paid.
Another thing you can do it track your credentials, your certificates, everything you have been trained for on this job. Keep the certificates. If they are PDF forms or emails, keep them on a personal email account or personal computer and on a thumb drive. You can also use a service like QRedentials which has free registration right now. http://app.qredentials.com/Organizations/Details/19
Also, it pays to learn. Reading books, blogs, and listening to podcast are for people that are interested in becoming better. That’s why I put together the Wireless Deployment Handbook for LTE Small Cells, CRAN, and DAS, so that you have an edge on others that do deployments.I also put out a newsletter which has learning linksin it so that the people that read it really gain expertise in what part of the deployment they may be interested in. Unfortunately, to be honest, some people I talk to really don’t’ care, they just want a job, not a career. Do you know the difference?
So where do you look? Let’s look at this list here.
Finally, don’t forget to look on Craig’s list. That is very local, but I see jobs posted all the time, for instance I listed some below. I don’t know why they list on Craig’s list, it doesn’t seem professional to me, but it may be very effective.
By the way, so you know about being a 1099 employee or have you been one? Tell me about it and sign up for my newsletter below. I want to do a story on the 1099 employee and I need input on the good and bad.
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
That’s right, with the RFP coming out in December, probably on 12/31/2015. We are all anticipating the release. For so many reasons. Who will bid on it? Who will risk it? Who will take a chance on building the nationwide LTE system for public safety? Is it real or did the government just waste tens of millions of dollars? I built a hypothetical list just for you. We talk about this all the time, especially at work because of the $6.5B, yes, billion dollars that is up for grabs. I know, they had $7B, but honestly, how much will trickle through the government before the contractors and OEMs see any of it?
Well, I hope it is real because it is a lot of work. What’s that, how did they waste all that money? Well, first, FirstNet spent a ton of money putting together their group and going through several people to get the stability it needed. Remember this; government can’t just go and build with investor money. You have to play nice with all the government agencies that want favors in return. Remember that everyone has a kingdom to protect. One thing they should know is that this would bring a lot of work to every state and every industry.
Let’s not just look at the federal money spent, the states spent a crap ton of hours preparing for this and trying to figure to build a case to opt out. I don’t think any of them will but they spent the cycles trying to build a case to get out of it. Why? That’s their job, to weigh both sides so they can make an educated decision.
As for spending so far, look at the road shows , the testing, the labs, the promotional work, the states hiring consultants (which does not come out of the federal money but your state taxes), the congress and senate burning time on this, the companies that are preparing to respond. All this is money and time spent for something that we all hope will happen.
Sorry, that is off the point, let’s get back to the bidding contenders. Who can take this on? Who is interested? Well, I have built a hypothetical list of groups that I know of. Now understand that some people don’t want to bid on it. I built this list because we have been talking about this all week with the RFP coming up.
OEMs – like Alcatel-Lucent/Nokia and Ericsson. Honestly, it’s too big and I don’t think they can do what FirstNet wants. The draft RFP made it clear that FirstNet wants to partner with a carrier for roaming purposes. It will also be more of a build, operate, maintain, and handoff model which the OEMs don’t want to deal with. Think about it, would you want to finance a network like this just to sell equipment? That’s what Sprint is looking for, how is that working out?
Rivada – they seem to think that they can build a relationship with the carriers to use the FirstNet spectrum. They have a plan to let the carriers bid on the spectrum to generate revenue. Cool idea in concept, I wish them the best.
General Dynamics – They want to and they are big enough to do it. But, can they fit the model? Can they manage this without getting a black eye? Can they work a deal for roaming?
Motorola – Will their deal with Ericsson make them a contender? Did LA-RICS give them a black eye or show they got experience? Motorola used to be a power house in public safety, in fact, they were the team to beat in wireless communications at one time. That’s right, they did everything from car radios to satellite to paging to cell systems to cell phones to Nextel. They were the team to beat in public safety. You could not walk into a site without seeing the batwings exposed on equipment. If you don’t know what I mean, then you are too young to understand. By the way, do you still see the Motorola Logo in sites? Of course, but not like you did 20 years ago, you know I’m right! They also did networking equipment in the days of framed relay and modems, (if you’re asking what that is, use Google to look it up, again, I am in my 50s, get over it). The flaw I see here is that Motorola did not learn from the carriers by partnering with one OEM, how stupid? All the carriers knew better. They know that you need 2 or 3 OEMs to play it safe and keep innovation alive and make it competitive. I say that they made an obvious mistake right up front, in my opinion.
IBM – Why not? They are big enough and I would say they could do as well as Motorola. They would build processes to handle all of this and they could make it happen and they could build the relationships with the carriers as well as anyone on this list.
Black & Veatch – I believe they could do it but would they want to when they could just as easily do regional work for any of the above? They are positioned well for the deployment, but FirstNet wants so much more than to deploy a network, too much for Black and Veatch to want to deal with. I think they know what they are good at, managing deployments, they don’t want to get in over their head with the operate and maintain.
Others – Who else could do this? I am sure there are plenty that when they look at it they think they could, just like the little engine going up the mountain, “I think I can, I think I can” but when they read the RFP, they will see it’s so much more than deploy, it deploy, operate, maintain, provide immediate coverage. That’s a huge plate to fill for any one company especially when FirstNet wants a SPOC, (single point of contact).
What about carriers? Here is the target audience for what they are looking for. Voila! You have the target integrator for FirstNet because you have an instant carrier. This is what FirstNet wants, at this moment in time. This is what I see as the master plan. The RFP will have all the requirements to build a system on top of a system using that valuable spectrum. Too bad the carriers are having 2 auctions prior to the actual deployment. You see they now have spectrum. Let’s list them out one by one.
Verizon – this is the target but does Verizon want to do this? It doesn’t appear so. They already make a ton of money off government phone contracts and they have a government division. They seem to have a pretty solid and profitable business. Do they want to do this for some spectrum that they may or may not be able to use? Ask them, I believe that they know if the system has an issue or if the relationship sours they will lose more in the long run with public image and future government contracts.
AT&T – Here is a contender that may sign up because they love more spectrum, they need more spectrum, and they appear to be interested. They could do it but could they meet the land mass coverage that is required of FirstNet? I don’t think they could and I don’t think that they want to, but if they sign up they will be required to. Is it worth it?
Sprint – Seriously, Sprint, don’t they have to get going with the densification project after cutting over $2B from their budget? They don’t want to deal with anything like this right now.
T-Mobile – They won’t want to cover all that FirstNet has and chances are good they don’t want to deal with it. It is a large offer. Too large for them to really take seriously at this time. They certainly don’t want to cover all the landmass that will be required.
CCA members – They probably can’t cover the land mass without T-Mobile and/or Sprint, too bad. I think that this group would be awesome at this,. Seriously, if they could step up and take this on. I know that CCA probably couldn’t manage this on their own, they would need help, but I have a list above of plenty of system integrators that would be happy to help.
T-Mobile with all the members of CCA – Awesome! I would love to see this happen because CCA could cover most of what T-Mobile can’t, and these teams could do it! I also believe that the spectrum would be very valuable to the CCA members. Seriously, they could use it since they don’t get many breaks on bidding with the FCC. Deep pockets generally win. T-Mobile, again, won’t want to deal with this but if CCA could build a team then T-Mobile could step back and concentrate on the network whilst CCA manages the build and integration while T-Mobile could operate and maintain. All that for some extra spectrum and $6B. Suddenly this team would make a play for #2 with coverage if they looked like one system. Hey, just my thoughts here.
AT&T with CCA Members – Here is an ideal situation, again, in my opinion. AT&T already has interest and they have the network and the experience. CCA could fill the holes. They could cover the landmass that AT&T can’t or doesn’t want to. What a concept. Could AT&T and CCA work together, who knows! I would like to see it but it probably won’t happen. I think this is what should happen since it could really change the landscape of the industry. One more thing, it would really put Verizon in a tough spot because these 2 together would over shadow Verizon’s network. T-Mobile, being a member of CCA, probably would not let this happen. Sprint is also a member of CCA, but they have their own problems to deal with, they might protest but I don’t think that they would get in the way.
Did I miss anyone? Let me know below the links. I just think we need to see that FirstNet really limited their options by asking for a single company to deploy. That’s what happens with you only want to deal with the SPOC. They will soon realize how hard that can be, to only get information from one person. If you’re like me and every other analyst I know, you will soon realize to listen to many sources before making a decision. Even then you can be wrong, but you have done your due diligence.
There is one option I didn’t mention. The states could build it. If this went back to the states, what would happen? I think we can tell the active states would kick ass. I mean the big boys like Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, and many more. They want to move ahead and move now. I believe they don’t want to wait. They seem to have an exact idea of how to deploy. Unfortunately they don’t see any good way to opt out, it could lead to disaster. They also are hoping to use their backhaul assets for the system, but if the carriers are used, that probably won’t happen.
By the way, I am looking forward to getting a ton of small cell and DAS work from this in about 3 years, seriously, there is a lot of work coming if this happens. Oh, there I said it again, the big “IF” word again. I really hope it happens soon.
I like you all to know that I just don’t make this up. I actually read a lot of articles. I have a list of my sources for you. That is why there are so many links in these posts.
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
Attention carriers, free the indoor LTE indoor small cells so that they can be deployed with iDAS! This is specifically for the enterprise and building coverage, since you already freed the small femto cells. You are the ones holding the industry back, not the other way around. You say you don’t want to pay for iDAS, but how can anyone else when you control the small cell? Small Cells can be deployed for home office, let’s free them up for the enterprise! Why? Let me tell you why.
The carriers say they don’t want to pay for indoor DAS but indoor small cells are part of that system, aren’t they? The carriers control the release of larger small cells, well any eNodeB for that matter. The VARs, (Value Added Resellers) want to sell and install these systems for large enterprise but they need to work through the carriers, maybe even to purchase the equipment from the carriers. If carriers want to save on these costs, then set up a system to approve the small cells and low power BTS for DAS systems so you can hand it off to someone who can sell it to the building or business owner. Again, I mean that the indoor small cells are so controlled by the carriers that they can’t be deployed by anyone else. It’s like a small cell hell!
Let’s build a better model like the femto cell, for instance, homes and small offices are able to have anyone install the femto cell. Let me explain this model. You may have heard that T-Mobile is handing the CellSpot femto cell out to customers for free. This will help build a coverage model similar to what Comcast did with Xfinity Wi-Fi, hand out hotspots, (Cable modem or femto cell), and put your default ESSID on a Wi-Fi hotspot and then all of you customers can use it. It is a complete plug and play device, one that most carriers offer home users at some point, even with Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi calling may change this, but T-Mobile made it sexy and smart. They get expanded coverage for the price of a box and shipping.
I believe that SpiderCloud is building this model for their small cells. They know that the carrier does not want to deploy indoor small cells everywhere, but the carriers have to build a better process. So why not do this for all businesses that want iDAS and indoor small cells? Let a contractor handle it! An approved contractor (of course) installing an approved unit.
As for carriers, I believe that T-Mobile is handing out the femto cells, but not anything larger. I think AT&T was going to set up something that would have them hand them, (sell them) to end users that wanted to install them. I didn’t hear of anything like this from Verizon. I know that the technology is catching up but I think that if they would allow the approved contractor to buy them, preferable from the OEM to save money unless the carrier would be able to get them really cheap, the contractor could do the rest. Building out the network for the carrier.
How should carriers do it? Build a process where the vendor gets certified by the OEM and the carrier. Then the carriers will vette the vendor for being a real business and take a look at their safety programs. Then let the vendor sell to the enterprise and landlords! It’s that simple carriers, get out-of-the-way. Don’t worry about the vendor making you look bad because I know you can set up a feedback system so that the end customer can grade the vendor. Help them improve or boot them out. Build the process today.
Now, on the network and equipment side, you need to do several things. You need 1) Plug and Play, 2) an auto-config neighbor list, 3) power control, 4) get certified VARs to call the integration center, and 5) monitor PCMD data. Then you can let the VAR build your system and improve your coverage! Am I making any sense yet?
Readers, I know that many of you are blaming the OEM, right? But the reality is that the carriers have a firm grip on the small cell since it connects to the network.
Free the small cells to the vendors and let the network grow organically. Increase the pipe with little or no expense! Put the growth on auto pilot for heaven’s sake!
In case you wonder why carriers control deployments, look at the reasons below:
Approvals: The OEM has a lot of work with the carrier prior to even being allowed on the network. You see, to get on the carrier’s network you need to put all small cells through lab tests, minimum 3 months, to make sure they are certified and won’t take down a site, cluster or harm the network. Anyone who is working on the OEM side of small cells understands that this takes a lot of time, energy, money, and lab support. It doesn’t happen overnight, in fact, if it happens in 3 months you’re doing incredibly well.
Integration: Another thing is the current commissioning and integration of a cell onto the network. It usually needs to be planned. It is still not automated except small femto cells used for home and SOHO, (Small Office Home Office). The reason being is the core. You have several locations that the cell could connect with, and it may be different for each region. There is not an easy way for it to locate the core that it should be talking to. So they either preconfigure the cell or they do it on site. This seems to be tedious but in my opinion, the process should be automated.
Optimization: Finally, the ever so important neighbor list. This is the list of neighboring sites that the cell could interfere with and hand off. They want a clean handoff, no drops. Also, you don’t want self interference; you want a good cluster frequency plan. Don’t forget the power setting has to be just right. All key factors in the optimization phase of deployment. An optimized network is a happy network. Happy networks mean happy customers.
Maybe Wi-Fi and LTE-U calling will change this. With the license free options you can already get internet access and make a voice call over Wi-Fi. Comcast has a serious Wi-Fi network that people could use If only Comcast would create a better core for voice, VOIP, or VoWi-Fi, so that they can complete voice calls. It looks like they are working towards this from what I have read, but who knows. They recently announced the deal with Verizon so maybe they will move ahead with a real heterogeneous network.
Q with A&A – (Questions with actions and answers)
Q) Are small cells plug and play? A&A – They should be! Femto cells usually are, so all indoor cells should be, get on that today! Tell the OEMs that it is a requirement.
Q) Do I have to preconfigure the cell ahead of time? A&A – Get the OEM or a vendor to set up a system where it will be ready to be put on the network. It could be through your office or the OEM or let the VAR do it! One of them could load a configuration file so that when the installer gets it all they need to do is power up and connect to the internet or some type of backhaul.
Q) What if it interferes with a neighbor? A&A – Monitor the site when it goes in and catch the PCMD data from the units in the building to update the cell. This is work, but chances are you’re already doing this or you have a SON server doing this. This should be automated.
Q) What if power needs adjusted? A&A – See above, monitor, adjust, done.
Q) What if the carrier feels they need to install the small cell? Action – Don’t do it! The OEMs are already training people so just verify certifications. Get out-of-the-way!
Q) Who will configure the radio? A&A – Build basic configuration files. Could be the VAR or it could come preconfigured.
Q) Who will certify the installers? A&A – Let the OEMs manage the certifications! They are doing it today. Carriers need to verify that the VAR is certified to commission the small cell. Again, they need to be trained by the OEM. There should be a certification for installation and commissioning.
Q) Do carriers have to stock the small cells and spend the extra expense tracking and shipping? A&A – Don’t do any of it except create the process! Let a warehouse, distributor, OEM, or the VAR do it. If you want complete control then manage and warehouse everything, but the reality is that you should work a deal with a distributor, VAR, or OEM to stock them, prep them, and install them. All the VAR should need to do is call you to verify configuration and date of install. Let each group do what they are good at.
Q) What if it’s a large iDAS system? A&A – Don’t get involved unless it’s a high-profile venue! Let someone else do all the work. They should be buying all the equipment to make your coverage better.
Q) What will the cost to the carrier be? A&A – Let the VAR’s buy direct. If you do this right you should only pay someone, a PM, to manage the process. The business, building or venue owner will pay for the installation and the small cell just like you want them to do for DAS. You need to define the process and approve the vendors. Get out of your own way!
Q) Where will we find these VARs? A&A – They will come to you if you have a contact or group they can talk to! Seriously, this business will boom because a ton of companies want to do small cells and iDAS, just make someone available to them. Set up the process to get contractors approved. Get the contractor vetted and move on to the next one. Seriously, why make more work for yourself? If they screw it up, then deal with it or throw them out of your system.
Q) What if the enterprise or venue calls the carrier? A&A – refer them to the nearest 1 or 5 VARs. Build a database of VARs by region. Let the customer run the RFP or bidding process. Let the VAR fight for the work.
Q) How do we let the VAR know what band to install? A&A – Create a process where they can either access a website or let them call the regional team for information. I like the website because it is automated with little human interaction.
I would recommend having the carriers approve indoor small cells and then letting VARs deploy them as part of the iDAS and indoor small cell systems. For indoors, the carriers don’t want to pay for the installation unless they have a large payback but a VAR will do it for the cost of the installation. Hopefully the business will pay for.
The carriers, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint need to go to the next level for indoor deployments. In this case I would recommend letting the VAR do the installation for enterprise and for business. Let the VAR work with the end-user for installation of the indoor small cell just like they would the iDAS systems. Honestly, what are they waiting for? They just need to approve it for their system then the PnP, plug and play, should do the rest. Make the investment in a decent SON system and then hand it off to the VARs! Let them sell it to the businesses and enterprises! Let them improve coverage at the request of the end use, not at the carrier’s cost. Get out of your own way! Don’t forget to automate the system!
I think that this is what the carriers want. They can control their end of it with the testing, the labs, and the approvals. They can then hand it off to the VAR to sell it and install it to improve coverage. Just like everyone wants to do with Wi-Fi. Comcast figured it out. T-Mobile is giving the femto cells to the end-user. Let’s create a system that works with this business model.
Don’t get me wrong, there will be a learning curve. If you don’t have a clean way to do this now then get busy! You should have done this already! Automate, integrate, and then grow!
Carriers say they don’t want t pay for iDAS, what about indoor small cells. Here is an opportunity to let go.
If you are a vendor, a VAR, an installer, here is a golden opportunity for you to get in on a booming market. Coverage is the name of the game! Maybe LTE-U will take off, I know that Verizon has plans to deploy in 2016, or so they say, but wait and see.
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Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
This is not a happy story, only read this if you are prepared.
How could a guy that is highly respected, an icon in the communications and broadcast tower industry have a fatal accident? How could this happen? I am trying to figure this out. I spoke with someone with some knowledge of the circumstances. Some of you may have heard of, or know Ernie Jones. He was highly respected inside of and even outside of the industry. He helped write the safety standards. He was a respected member of NATE. So how could this happen?
What do you think? Is it complacency? Was this someone who didn’t pay attention for a few minutes just to let this happen?. Simple mistakes can mean tragedy in this industry. Distractions can be the difference between life and death, literally.
Let’s talk about tower elevators. Years ago, there was really only one primary elevator manufacturer that designed, fabricated and supplied the conveying system for tall broadcast towers (1000’+ towers). That manufacturer is no longer in business and thus, no longer supports those systems. Regardless, these elevators need to be maintained and/ or repaired. Finding skilled technicians that can provide that service can be a challenge. Perhaps, on the fortunate side, tall towers are not installed as much anymore. The need for tall broadcast towers is far less than the shorter wireless structures. For this reason, the tall tower owners rely on the few most experienced tower companies to work on the tall towers and the elevators. If you are a cell tower climber then you may not have been over 500 feet, that’s OK, just understand that the number of experienced tall tower companies that service that industry are far less than in the wireless industry. It is a shallow resource pool.
Let’s talk about riding up the elevator. Broadcast tower elevators are designed, like any elevator, with a maximum lift capacity. Usually, they can hold two workers and a few small hand tools. Unfortunately, like a lot of construction equipment, not everyone uses them as the manufacturer intended. Additionally, like with other construction equipment, sometimes the safety devices are disabled or ignored. However, most tower owners do their best to maintain the equipment and enforce compliance as best they can. All of that said, I have been told that, depending on how many workers go up, you may ride inside or on top. They could use the elevator to pull up rope or to haul up equipment when they can. This is common. As mentioned above, some workers may disable the safety switch on the elevator door. They do this for a number of reasons but mostly because the switches have problems, fail. We’re all careful, right? We know what we’re doing and yet something like this happened to one of the most experienced people in this industry. How did this happen?
Ernie was on the tower to complete a structural study of the tower. He was there with a crew working on the mapping the tower. The day of the accident the crew had completed the tower mapping and was released to drive back home out-of-state. I was told that Ernie had realized that he was missing some important information and needed to go up top to collect that information. He had the elevator, no climbing, right? He had taken the safety precautions of wearing a belt and riding the elevator, he had let the broadcast engineer know that he was heading back up, he had been careful to tie off, he had the Y lanyard/ fall arrest to observe 100% tie off. So what happened?
He didn’t observe 2 rules that are critical to working on any tower. 2 things that people get complacent over. Myself included. Do you know what they are? Read on.
Again, as I was told, he went up to complete one task. Apparently he did it. Then he got ready to come down. He got back In the elevator. He called down to the TV station engineer to let him know that he was coming down. Then he hit the down button.
The elevator ride down is generally 15 to 20 minutes. Not a quick ride. What Ernie did not realize was he was still tied off to a cross member outside of the elevator. A cross member outside of the elevator. The station engineer recalls hearing the elevator start down and then almost immediately stop. He listened for the elevator to start again but did not hear anything. After several minutes he tried to reach Ernie on the radio, nothing. He tried calling Ernie on his cell phone and still nothing. The engineer knew something was wrong, he didn’t know what. He knew that there was a problem!
The engineer continued to call Ernie on the radio and his cell phone. He could not hear anything. As he waited for the elevator to come down he got worried! He called 911 for help. The police and the fire departments showed up. They didn’t know what to do, according to the engineer. The engineer called for tower crews to see who could get out there immediately. He found a tower crew and they got there.
The elevator never came down, everyone is gathering at the base of the tower and no elevator, no word from Ernie, just silence. Can you imagine how they felt? The tower crew arrived. They knew it would be a 45 minute climb. They wanted to climb up immediately. The fire department stopped them because they thought there was potential hazards up there, obviously they didn’t know what dangers were there. This is common when people don’t understand what’s on a tower. More delays and still no word from Ernie. No elevator and time is wasting away.
No one can reach Ernie, no word, just arguing at the base of the tower between the crew and the fire department.
The engineer explained that the crew needs to go up ASAP. He explained that there aren’t hazards that the climbers couldn’t deal with. Finally the fire department concedes. The tower crew heads up.
They climb all the way up, 40 minutes or so. What they found is not a pretty sight. They find Ernie, pinned to the top of the elevator! He had the weight of the elevator pinning him to the roof of the elevator because his lanyard is still connected to the outside cross member. His lanyard was holding up the weight of the elevator with Ernie pinned to the ceiling of the elevator. All the pressure of the downward elevator was forcing his body to the ceiling.
The pressure of the lanyard pinning him to the ceiling caused asphyxiation. Apparently he could not breathe! He was gone by the time the crew arrived. There was nothing they could do to save him. There is only the job of freeing his body and getting him down to have the rescue teams see what they can do. This is something that will stay with that crew forever.
No one can understand the pain the crew felt when they saw this! It is a memory that will haunt them forever.
What happened? The speculation? You see, with the changes in broadcast recently, with the upcoming 600MHz auction, there has been a lot of work due to the changes that will happen in broadcast. Ernie has been doing as much as he could since he was uniquely qualified. You see, Ernie is in demand right now. He was great at what he did and he was called by many broadcast tower owners for help. He tried to make them all happy. He tried to do as much as he could. He tried to get as much work in as he could. He was just shy of 65 years old.
So what happened on the tower? This is all speculation from my source. He was not paying attention and he did not take a climbing buddy up with him. These are 2 common mistakes in the industry no matter who you are. These are 2 things that mean the difference between going home safely at night or not. Ernie should have had a buddy with him in case he missed something, and he did miss something. He never unclipped from the cross member outside the elevator, so when he hit the down button it pulled him up to the top of the elevator. Very tight! Pinning him to the roof of the elevator with the safety harness squeezing him. The lanyard was connected several feet up forcing the harness to become very tight. The weight of the elevator pulling down on the lanyard and harness. Ernie was pinned to the roof, unable to breathe. It looked like he was able to hit the kill switch with his foot. After he hit the kill switch they think the elevator dropped a bit more and there was no way he could hit the up switch, so he apparently died of asphyxiation. This is a very sad day in the industry. You don’t realize the mistake until it’s too late.
This could happen to anybody, please, make sure that it doesn’t happen to you. Be smart, pay attention, and make sure that you have someone with you on the tower that can see you or provide immediate assistance if you get into trouble. Your life depends upon it!
Give to the Hubble Foundation because if you don’t help these families, who will? Who supports Hubble? The wireless workers and the tower climbers, that’s who! With no support from the carriers or NATE, so it’s up to you!What if it were you? Would you want help? Who would help you if you were hurt? Who would help your family, your spouse, your children if something happened to you? Do you see the people who are hurt?
