Tag Archives: LTE

How to Finance DAS Systems

December 28, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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What if I gave you a way to remove an obstacle in deploying DAS systems? When selling DAS, usually the price can be in the way, even though you offer your best price, you may need a way to help the customer pay for it. Maybe this will help you move ahead in your next DAS deployment. You all know that the carriers are not crazy about smaller shared DAS venues any more. T-Mobile made this very clear with their recent statements that they don’t want to pay for DAS systems. They are tired of paying for these systems and getting a limited return. They are not alone because Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint were already headed in that direction. Small cells are going to help drive the cost of DAS systems down and now that LTE is taking over, the new systems will be all digital. It also looks like they will be a mix of Wi-Fi and LTE-U. Here is a way to help the enterprise and real estate companies pay for the systems.

By the way, the carriers need to free the small cells!

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Before you start to panic, the large venues, like stadiums, will continue to be paid for by the carriers using a combination of LTE and Wi-Fi for content delivery. As you know everyone is using their phones and tablets to see the replays and the extended coverage at these games. The NFL gets it because they offer enhanced services in most stadiums for the people who pay to see these games. They want you to appreciate the game by seeing it live and seeing every possible angle on your device. That is really cool!

Back to the smaller venues. I just watched a presentation that Iain Gillott of IGR put together to show that most users of smart phone rely on it indoors. I would say in an enterprise environment. He sells the report here if you’re interested. This is a growing area of concern but the carriers no longer want to pay for any DAS systems. So the business or building owner will need to pick a carrier and then install. Now Wi-Fi makes it easy, if you install Wi-Fi then you offer them a data solution. But what if they need to make a call or if there is an emergency and 911 becomes an issue. If there is no voice coverage in the building then the problems compound. Many work places no longer rely on landlines, so the wireless coverage is crucial!

Voice still matters! If someone collapses do you text someone for help? Just like public safety coverage in large buildings. The first responders need to stay in touch with their crews on every floor, whether it’s the roof or the basement, everywhere in between is a critical area when there is an emergency. Lately there have been many emergencies here in the US such as fires, bombings, and shootings. What about a medical emergency? If you have a heart attack you want to make sure they can do what they can on the scene so you are stable for the ride to the hospital. That’s how I see it. First responders need to have seamless coverage.

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So I see the need for DAS and not just for the carriers but for public safety’s first responders. This is becoming a requirement in most cities. I am sure that building owners will push back because of the additional cost, but when someone dies in their building they may see the need. I have an example of an ordinance for Riverside, California, which has requirements for public safety radio coverage in buildings of excess of 50,000 square feet here. City of Irvine, Ca, here. Seattle, Washington, here.

First off, I would recommend that the carriers let go of their hold on the front end, it could be a small cell or the BTS, I wrote about it here, but they need to come up with a system to allow DAS to get installed so they stop being the bottle neck of the process. They say that they don’t want to pay then they won’t let anyone else install the system. Well, which is it Verizon and AT&T? Make up your mind to let the public do this so they can help your coverage. Public safety groups are so happy when someone offers to put in a system for them. They don’t push back, they say thank you!

This is where Sentry Financial can help. They will finance the DAS system for creditworthy customers so that the installers and vendors get paid. Then the owner can make reasonable payments over time and it will be a write off for them all the same. See the win-win? The vendors all get paid, the building or business owner meets the requirements without all the upfront costs.

I had a conversation with Jenn Faber (jfaber@sentryfinancial.com ) of Sentry Financial Corporation, the director of business development, about financing these systems. I am interested because I plan to work with small cell and DAS side of the industry more and more. This is a segment that is booming. We just have to come up with ways to make it affordable.

So Jenn told me that financing is a great option for the larger DAS systems going in, why? Because it provides a model where the financing is taken care of ahead of time. Here are some questions I asked her.

What DAS systems would you finance?
1. All DAS systems for creditworthy end users. Financing may include passive or active equipment as well as design and installation.
Who would finance these systems? Would it be enterprise, building owners, government entities, utilities, small to medium businesses, installers, or who?
1. We will provide lease financing to all creditworthy end-users including enterprise, building owners, utilities and middle market companies (e.g., revenues >$50M and positive net income last 3 years, tangible net worth, and audited financials).
What price range would the DAS system be in?
1. Minimum project cost of $250,000, no maximum if the end-user’s credit supports the transaction.
What OEM do you see deployed the most often?
1. Primarily SOLiD, CommScope, TE Connectivity (now part of CommScope), Corning, and JMA in DAS.
Do you have a requirement for the integrators doing the DAS installation?
1. We typically work through the OEM or integrator partner and rely on their expertise for the installation. Nevertheless, the integrators must be experienced and reputable.
When financing, what would the payment terms be like for time, like 5 or 10 years?
1. For DAS the lease term generally ranges from 36 to 60 months depending on the business accounting, tax, and other objectives of the end-user. At the end of the lease term, the end-user had the option to: purchase the system, upgrade the system, or extend the lease term.
Do you work mostly with the DAS contractors or the end-user when finding the business?
1. We typically work through an OEM or integrator partner (DAS contractor) to enable them to offer the lease financing solution to the end-user customer. We have also worked directly with the end-user.
How would a potential customer go about getting financing with your group?
1. An OEM, integrator, or end-user may contact Sentry directly, information below. Sentry typically starts with a high level overview of the project, project costs, and financials of the end-user (3 full years and most recent interim financials). If the end-user is a public company, we can get their financials online. The creditworthiness of the end-user must support the transaction.

So there you have it, all you need to know about financing a DAS system. This is one more way you can deliver DAS to your customer, one less obstacle that the integrators have to contend with.

For more information about Sentry Financial Group contact the people below.

Jennifer Faber

Director, Business Development

(801) 303-1113

Bo White

Director, Business Development

(801) 303-1137

Scott Young

Chief Executive Officer

(801) 303-1111

So remember that wireless deployment will have challenges but here is a way for you to remove one of them.

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New Hampshire in or out of FirstNet

December 18, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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Hello FirstNet fans! Guess what, a precursor to the dreaded FirstNet RFP! In case you didn’t see it, the state of New Hampshire issued a FirstNet RFP, (Request for Proposal) for a FirstNet system. The PDF link is here for all of you to see and yes, it is publicly viewable. UrgentComm did a story on this here. The Department of Safety put it out there. Why? I don’t have the inside track so let’s consider the reasons.

So here we are, less than a month away from the FirstNet RFP and look what New Hampshire’s Dept of Safety does, they have to upstage FirstNet by issuing their own RFP, how cool is that? By the way, if you need another FirstNet history lesson go ahead and jump to page 8 of the RFP, it’s all there, again. Let’s go to page 17 where New Hampshire outlines the scope for the FirstNet deployment. It looks like they used the FirstNet RFP as a model and shortened it to 56 pages so that they get an idea of who would partner with them.

First off, if you have to work on these RFPs, it is a nightmare! In this case, it seems obvious they are looking for a partner and pricing. It doesn’t look like the partner will be an integrator, my interpretation. We have to prepare for the big one in a month and now it appears that New Hampshire is covering its bases. They probably want to see who will bite, before the big FirstNet RFP, so they understand the risks of opting out and the pricing. Will they Opt Out? Probably not but now they have done their due diligence.

It seems that they are looking for someone who can design and create a system for their state or a carrier with a system already in place. It seems they want to compare pricing with this versus FirstNet. I think that it’s great they’re looking into it, but seriously, how many people will have the time to look at this? The FirstNet RFP will be released in about 3 weeks and right before a huge holiday season. I know that we are all eager for work but this should really be handled along with the existing FirstNet RFP. It will be hard to stay motivated on this knowing that they are using it to compare.

So what can you do? Wait for the large system integrators to respond or see if a carrier picks it up and then see if you can tag along as a smaller vendor. See if they will pick you up as a partner.

Remember that this may or may not be used, so for the smaller integrators to spend time on this may be a drain on your resources. It looks like they are going to use it to compare the option of opting in or opting out. If you are the one responding then you know how long it will take to formulate a respectable response. Hopefully you can do this with the real FirstNet RFP in a few weeks. Maybe do them altogether as one. Can it be done? Will the teams be able to work together? Only you know what your teams can and will do. I know some company’s setup firewalls between teams so they can’t necessarily share resources.

So it looks like they are going to use this for a comparison to FirstNet just in case they want to opt out. It looks as though they hope to see who the partners would be. It looks as though they think that this can be done with the FirstNet RFP, if I am reading this right.

I hope that helps, just a quick update on FirstNet.

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Maybe Sprint is moving ahead!

December 10, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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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!

Network Real Estate Senior Manager – Atlanta, GA
Training Specialist – Costa Mesa, CA
Quality Specialist – Chicago, IL
Safety Director – Newport Beach, CA & Chicago, IL
DAS Design Engineer – Newport Beach, CA
Architecture & Engineering Specialist – Chicago, IL
Director of RF Engineering – Newport Beach, CA
Real Estate Attorney– Newport Beach, CA
Technical Solutions Mgr for Backhaul – Multiple Locations
Manager Forward Logistics Deployment – Chicago, IL
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?

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(You know you want to!)

Look at my Wireless Deployment post, found here, and see that these are all the positions that are generally used in a carrier deployment.

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.

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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.

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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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LTE MIMO Deployment Notes

December 3, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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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.

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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.

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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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Free the LTE Indoor Small Cells!

November 19, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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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!

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Who agrees with this? I listened to the RCR interview that Sean Kinney did with Jonathon Adelstein, the CEO of PCIA, and he appears to feel the same way. He thinks that the carriers should not be held responsible for a utility like broadband. He was actually talking about DAS, specifically iDAS, but he has to know that small cells are part of the new DAS systems, right? This guy of all people should understand this. Digital DAS, LTE DAS, get it? Small cells play a part. So it appears that PCIA is all in, but the carriers want the installs to be paid for by others and yet they won’t let go of the control! Well, which is it? It’s going to be hard for you to hand off the DAS without the indoor small cell. Get your head out of your butt and wake up! Make the change today! This is LTE; analog BDAs are not going to cut it anymore!

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.

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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!

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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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Wireless Deployment Handbook for LTE Small Cells and DAS

November 12, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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I get asked questions about small cell deployments all the time. The first question is “how can I do the deployments?” and the second question is, “how can we deploy small cells and DAS systems efficiently for less money?” Most people don’t know the end to end process of what it takes to deploy. Once you learn the process you can start to dissect it to build a better process.

All the questions add up. What are the differences between indoors and outdoors? What are all the steps? Why is it so expensive? Do you still need to optimize? Do you need to do e911 with LTE small cells? What can be done to make it more efficient?

Introducing the “Wireless Deployment Handbook for LTE Small Cells and DAS”. Written for the deployment teams.

A document to help the deployment teams understand the end to end process. The handoffs are very important. Covering deployments to make them easy to understand. This will be a living document to be updated as the industry changes, (the great thing about eBooks is that you can update it and send the updates out to the people who bought it). See all the steps that cover end to end deployment. Look at the planning and how it is laid out. This will help the teams that are planning to go from macro deployments to small cells. Look at this as a tool for learning all the steps and how to plan for your part. Why not learn from my mistakes?

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For me, this has been a learning process over the past 3 years. The original thought is that it would be a “cell site” but smaller, which it is, but I learned quickly that the model is cost prohibitive. The backhaul is still an issue The process has evolved and I realize now that the models have to be cost-effective to sell. So I thought I would record what I have learned by putting together a book that would outline the end to end deployment process.

Where to get it!

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A partial table of contents so you can see what’s covered!

Naming Overview (Abbreviations and Acronyms)

A Quick Note on Deployments

What is a Heterogeneous Network?

What is a Small Cell?

Why Install Small Cells?

What is CRAN?

Why Install CRAN?

CRAN Deployment Notes

What is DAS?

Why Install DAS?

iDAS

oDAS

DAS or Small Cells?

Will DAS and Small Cells Work Together?

What is a Mini Macro?

Why Install Mini Macro Cells?

Unlicensed Bands

How Does Wi-Fi Fit In?

What is LTE-U?

Carrier Aggregation

Carrier Aggregation with Wi-Fi, LTE-U, and LTE

Voice

Connections – Backhaul and Fronthaul

Backhaul and Fronthaul Options

Backhaul Planning

CRAN and Fronthaul and oDAS

What is involved in deployment?

Project Management

RF Design

Site Acquisition

Site Survey

Site Design

Network design

Installation

Commissioning

Integration

Optimization

Inspections

Value in Partnerships

Deployment Evolution

Installation Skills for Small Cell, DAS, and CRAN

Fiber Connections

Copper Connections

RF Connections

Mounting the Small Cell or CRAN RRH

Pole Mounting

Strand Mounting Notes

Stealth Mounting Notes

Grounding

Overcoming Challenges: Problems and Planning

RF Coverage versus Offloading

Permitting and Zoning Challenges

Backhaul and Fronthaul Challenges

Power

Mounting Assets

PIM Testing

Tiger Teams

Installation

Planning Overview

Don’t you think it’s about time that the end to end deployment is laid out so that field workers get a good understanding of wireless deployment of small cells and DAS for the carriers? I do, so I took a few months to put together this deployment handbook to give a view of the end to end deployment steps for LTE small cells, DAS and CRAN. Why? Because this will help you make your part of the process easier. Helping you plan and build a price model. You may not be the lowest bidder, but you will be the smartest bidder. Plan ahead for not only the pricing but also the work flow. Handoffs were a problem in the past since the teams didn’t know what was next. When the teams are all on the same page then the process becomes more efficient. Most people think it’s just the installation, but there’s so much more when you look at it end to end

“Plan ahead” is more than a saying, its good business. LTE small cell and DAS can be confusing. This book will help you understand, in layman terms, what is happening out there. The learning process can be costly, so why not get an edge? Knowledge is power and having a reference really helps.

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LTE-U vs. Wi-Fi! Carriers vs. Cable Companies! Free Spectrum!

September 14, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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Michael Buffer says “Let’s get ready to rumble!”

Can you believe that companies are fighting over unlicensed spectrum? Seriously, who thought this could happen? The people who invested so heavily in Wi-Fi, like Comcast and Google , are angry at the carriers, specifically Verizon and T-Mobile, who want to make the most of the license free spectrum by deploying LTE-U. Who knew 5.8GHz would be so valuable? The unlicensed spectrum battleground!

Hey Comcast, if you want to take out an opponent, then buy T-Mobile so you have one less carrier to worry about. Just a suggestion.

Why would deployment teams care? All of you that work in deployment will care because if LTE-U takes off then it will mean a lot of work because it should be all new equipment deployed. I don’t know who will be the first to roll it out, but it will need to be engineered and built. If they don’t do it then it’s Wi-Fi as usual, with all of the updates and hopefully some new spectrum soon. Think of it! If the cable companies roll it out first and they are in the best position to do so, then they could command the spectrum, or try to. From what I have seen, it takes the carriers a long time to deploy anything. The cable companies are nimble, they could do it quickly if they wanted to spend a few more $$$$$$$$$. Money is the issue, read on to find out more.

Why do Wi-Fi groups care? These people spent a fortune building out Wi-Fi and they are counting on all the people with smartphones and tablets to subscribe to their service. They were also hoping to get the carriers offload traffic to make more money on the side. This may hurt their business and they are also worried, (in the US), that the LTE may tramp on the Wi-Fi signal. There is no listen before talk in the US, which is you ever worked in Wi-Fi you see daily on your spectrum analyzer. I think that most companies don’t bother with spectrum analysis for Wi-Fi anymore, what is the point? Seriously!

Some background. I believe you all know what spectrum Wi-Fi runs on and that Wi-Fi is the only thing there. I think most of you know what LTE-U is, but for those of you that don’t know, here is my take. LTE-U is where Qualcomm (and Ericsson) worked together to create unlicensed LTE format in the 5.8GHz band where Wi-Fi currently runs. They are doing this to make the carriers systems and smart phones run more efficiently and because, (so they say), they can push more bandwidth through the same band. The carriers will be happy because it adds a great deal of efficiency to how they manage spectrum. Of course they say is will be a win for the consumer because they can access more data in the “free” bands. Hey, if Qualcomm says it then it must be true, right?

Technical report on LTE-U found here.

3GPP LTE information.

Linksys explains 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz.

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In other news:

The Wireless Deployment Handbook should be out soon!

So the FCC has to determine if Wi-Fi and LTE-U (and/or LAA), can coexist. Can they, of course, but the issue here is probably not technology, it has more to do with business and politics, in my opinion. You would be given the option to buy a Wi-Fi or LTE access point for your house, wouldn’t that be cool? You know you would get LTE just because it is the latest and greatest. You would try to get it before anyone else did just to say you had it first. I wouldn’t because I am cheap and I would wait for the price to drop. But hey, that’s just me. I just gave up my iPhone 4s a few weeks ago because it worked and it was reliable.

So what is the big deal? The FCC has to approve LTE to be run in this spectrum. No big deal, right? Wrong!!!! Apparently some Wi-Fi groups see this as a threat! It could be the end of Wi-Fi as we know it. They think that the Wi-Fi civilization would end. Would it, who knows? I remember when most Wi-Fi units were in the 2.4GHz range, and many may still be there. By the way, did you know that your microwave heats up the food using the 2.4GHz band? It just uses a massive amount of power. Just something to think about next time you have a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi unit sitting next to your body. Don’t worry, the power difference is huge! Microwaves put out massive power and then bounce it around to make sure your Ramon noodles are hot. Sorry, back to the point.

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The FCC has to make a big decision. On one hand they have the carriers who pump a lot of money into the economy and who finally found a way to make real money in this band. Then you have all the Wi-Fi advocates that sell a lot of hardware to people like me who love Wi-Fi access at home. I really do. To be honest, I think I would put in a LTE box at home if it worked the same and had more bandwidth. I don’t care, I just want great speed to upload blogs like this and to watch stupid videos on YouTube and to download my music! Isn’t that what a free society is all about, great internet access? Do most people care about the pipe? The only part of the pipe they care about is the monthly price, right?

So who is in favor of LTE-U? So far, Verizon and T-Mobile! They love the idea and they let the FCC know that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, (that is before we had to have sliced whole wheat bread because white bread is bad for us). I understand Verizon’s position because they want people on LTE because that is their bread and butter, they want the best performing system and they know that when people roam to Wi-Fi performance drops dramatically, making the system look bad when in reality it’s the Wi-Fi coverage. I think that T-Mobile is realizing that as well when they release Wi-Fi calling. I think that they see that Wi-Fi calling in a home with one Wi-Fi hotspot works very well but in a public place, like a train station or hotel lobby, it really sucks because of coverage and interference. I believe that with LTE-U they may be able to clean that up, but this is only speculation on my part.

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Who is against LTE-U? Comcast and Google who already deployed tons of Wi-Fi hotspots. I also see that Republic Wireless and Cablevision are against it and for good reason because they just invested tons of money in Wi-Fi hoping to make money in offloading to the carriers, but if the carriers go LTE-U, then they may build out their own systems and not use any of these people. They would have to share the band with LTE and no longer get to have Wi-Fi hotspots along with all the other Wi-Fi providers out there. Google already wrote a letter to the FCC explaining how the carriers would look at the Wi-Fi providers like the cable companies as competitors. I don’t know about that argument because in a capitalist society competition is considered good. So is Google saying that the carriers should partner with the cable companies? Not a bad idea, but if the FCC would not let AT&T take over T-Mobile, would they allow Verizon and Comcast become solid partners or merge? Maybe, who knows, but I don’t ever see that happening. Rumor has it that Comcast is looking into buying T-Mobile, making them a competitor or the other carriers anyway.

Who is neutral? Apparently both AT&T and Sprint. AT&T has a conundrum because they deployed tons of Wi-Fi, signed Wi-Fi roaming agreements with Sprint and T-Mobile, and yet they see the benefits in LTE-U, they really do. Sprint I think has too many other things to worry about, For instance Marcelo Claure is working to create a profitable company by following Softbank’s plan, so I understand why this is not a top priority. If I were him I would let T-Mobile worry about this issue.

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How will the FCC make this decision? I think they will look at the arguments, and trust me the carriers are very powerful on capital hill with the help of PCIA and CTIA, so they have a strong edge in that department. They will look the Wi-Fi advocates and possibly listen to Comcast, who has lobbyists but they are not always popular with the Feds. Google, who is also against LTU-U has many friends in capitol hill, and they may use them if they decide to pick a fight, I really don’t know why they are fighting this but I know if they want to fight they will convince us that they are doing it for the greater good in society, that seems to be a common argument with them and I usually fall for it. Then the FCC will weigh in to see what effect this will have on future auctions, will LTE-U actually make the carriers utilize more free bands and lessen the need for licensed bands? This is the economics of the FCC . I don’t think they have anything to worry about since they just soaked the carrier for billions, which you and I will see as a slight increase in our mobile phone bills. I know they sold off assets to pay for it up front, but these carriers are smart, they will make the money back quickly after they deploy. It really feeds the economy with the deployment services (billions of dollars for RF, tower, and engineering workers) and then all of the commercials of who has better coverage, (millions for advertising companies), and plans will be on TV and on YouTube, I’m just saying.

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Something to think about, if the carriers do win and LTE-U or LAA is deployed, then the deployment teams will see income from a brand new deployment, a new market, new hardware on the scene. This will really stimulate work for the teams that previously deployed Wi-Fi or LTE. They could be called into action to engineer and install equipment for carriers. The OEMs of Wi-Fi would have a new product to build and sell. I see the economic stimulus for the field works.

Who really wins? Probably the OEMs that make Wi-Fi gear. They will sell more product. Ubiquity will make a cheap product that most people will deploy and Ruckus will make carrier grade product. Then you have all the other in between. The cable companies will probably deploy their own gear or they already have contractors doing it. The carriers will go through the lab testing phase, then through the field testing phase then finally deploy. The carriers will probably put it out to bid, lowest qualified bidder, so make sure you understand your Scope when you deploy!

So what do you think? Is this really a big issue for you, the end-user? Or is this just a political issue? Are the carriers really trying to take over the world and starting with Wi-Fi or are they trying to help out the consumer by lowering device costs? Do you see Comcast and Google trying to save Wi-Fi as we know it or are they holding on to an old technology by refusing to change or give up their investments? What will the FCC do? Will they weigh their decision only on technology or will they follow the political road and let the lobbyists fight it out on Capitol Hill? I guess we will see.

Stay informed!

This is something you may want to read, a letter that is signed by Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Competitors working together for the common cause of supporting LTE-U! http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=60001098662

More stories if you’re interested!

http://www.rcrwireless.com/20150827/carriers/lte-u-fight-plus-4-more-things-to-know-today-tag4

http://www.law360.com/articles/668282/google-at-t-out-of-tune-on-lte-u-repercussions

http://www.wsj.com/articles/cell-carriers-battle-for-wi-fi-airwaves-1440543853

http://www.eweek.com/mobile/regulatory-fight-brewing-at-fcc-over-lte-u-access-to-wifi-spectrum.html

http://www.networkworld.com/article/2941873/wireless/lte-u-is-coming-to-take-your-wi-fi-away-consumer-advocates-warn.html

http://fortune.com/2015/08/26/wifi-battle-brewing-cell-phones/

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2976474/wireless-local-area-network/carriers-want-your-wifi-lte-u.html

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Wade4Wireless BlogCast

Wi-Fi, LTE, LTE-U, and Aggregation

August 10, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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That’s right, everyone was thinking that LTE and Wi-Fi would compete against each other for center stage in deployments. I know that the carriers favor licensed bands but the customer want bandwidth, they don’t care how they get it. They don’t want to pay too much for the connection either. So here is there the love story begins. They have a common bond, bandwidth for the user. This is something that anyone with a Smartphone loves, bandwidth!

I am hoping to get this out at a time when T-Mobile is making the push for VoWiFi along with the VoLTE. They really seem to moving ahead at full steam with this and I am impressed. Kudos to the OEMs working with them which I think is Ericsson, Nokia, and Cisco. I am sure there are more involved but the way this is rolling out in the urban areas is really impressive! Verizon Wireless has the capability to do VoLTE and it works well. I think the end game is to sunset the 3G network. Not many people are willing to pay more for VoLTE. Sure, it may sound better, but would you pay to sound better? I don’t think that most people would. I think that the real goal is to shut down the 3G system and save all that money. That is my opinion.

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I congratulate T-Mobile for pushing the envelope with Voice over Wi-Fi, (VoWiFi). They are realizing how hard it is but they did it and it works! Who knew LTE would push the unification of Wi-Fi bands and the licensed bands even closer. That VoWiFi would be the rage after VoLTE. Actually, in Wade’s World, I see the cable companies pushing VoWiFi because they have it deployed everywhere. What a concept! I can’t wait until we see Wi-Fi only smart phones. We actually have Wi-Fi only tablets that can use apps, like Skype, to make calls over Wi-Fi. This was going to be a solution early on for the carriers with LTE, to have an app make the call, but there were too many issues, especially if there is an emergency, but I don’t know much more about why it didn’t succeed.

This was very hard to research, at least for me, it just gets so confusing and I have yet to find one document that can really explain all of this without crossing lines and adding confusion. Even the Mobile Broadband Evolutions document found here didn’t add much clarity for me. I read this and I think to myself that I used to be an engineer, now I can’t even spell E-N-G-I-N-E-E-R without getting a headache.

If you’re wondering why this is going to happen, then you might not realize that the data demands of the public are crazy! Everyone is using more and more data on their devices. Why shouldn’t they? I mean there was a day when we had to “plug-in” to do anything. There was a day when the only reason to get on a computer was to work. Now, look at all the online communities and all the apps and Facebook. It’s a crazy world full of data demands that will only get worse as people want to watch more and more streaming video on their devices. It’s already happening! Remember when we thought gaming would sink the network, well, let’s look at video. It’s very demanding but only the tip of the iceberg!

So the OEMs had to figure out a way to get LTE and Wi-Fi to play nice together. Really it was Qualcomm who came up with the plan, (with some help from Ericsson), and they have several different ways to do it. Whether you think it’s good or bad, let’s look over the different options.

By the way, most of these will likely be used in a small cell environment, usually inside a building or a stadium where the heaviest data usage happens. I would expect this to be used out on the street unless it’s like a city street with outside seating. This really covers the licensed band sharing the load with the unlicensed band. They will be working together. Now remember that the backhaul is still an issue, so if the Wi-Fi and the carrier share the backhaul then there is a new bottleneck that could constrain data. Just keep that in the back of your mind when reading this.

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Wi-Fi offloading – this is how it is currently being done, basically you offload the data to the Wi-Fi if you have coverage. If you make a call or if there is no readily available Wi-Fi, then you use the carrier’s bands.

Wireless Unified Networks or Wi-Fi Integration – Think of Wi-Fi as it is now just working with LTE as a partner. Alcatel-Lucent calls this Wi-Fi boost and Cellular boost. Wi-Fi could provide the bulk of the downlink and the LTE carrier provides the bulk of the upload while providing little download to clean up the spectrum. This would require no change to Wi-Fi as we know it today. Pros are if the Wi-Fi is clean you can use all the bandwidth to carry data, for instance if you are in your home with no interference and the kids aren’t streaming video. The con is if you are competing for bandwidth or the backhaul stinks or if there is interference on the Wi-Fi, then there are issues. This works with your existing Wi-Fi, it’s just an upgrade the carrier has to do on their system and a software upgrade in your Smartphone. This would be up to the carrier to make the changes on their network, the way I understand it.

LWA – LTE & Wi-Fi Aggregation – so here is where it is the similar to the above but the LTE adds a carrier for download, hence the aggregation. This will need the carrier to upgrade the small cell but the bandwidth is increased even more to the device. This may require an upgrade to the Wi-Fi AP. LWA likes to have the Wi-Fi and LTE together, at this time, for synchronization purposes. This will change as evolution happens. I believe this would need to be a new or upgraded device for the end-user, (maybe a firmware upgrade will do it), I am not clear on this right now. Pros are that the speeds should be great and that the Wi-Fi can remain the same. Cons are that the UE needs to be upgraded or changed out. This is being trialed as we speak by carriers and OEMs.

LTE-U – LTE Unlicensed – This is going to work on its own or with LAA, so I thought I would give a brief overview. This works in the 5.8GHz unlicensed band. You know, where Wi-Fi resides. To be clear, it ain’t Wi-Fi but the LTE protocol that must learn to coexist with Wi-Fi. It is literally LTE transmitted in a license free band, probably in the 5.8GHz band in the USA. In theory, it could have 2 to 5 times the throughput of Wi-Fi along with better coverage. The Wi-Fi advocates are worried about interference, which I think is funny because Wi-Fi coverage and interference causing quality issues, so seriously, this is the argument? I know it has listen before talk, but anyone who worked on Wi-Fi and sees about 8 other hotspots in the same area has to realize that interference is there whether you admit it or not. Did you ever try to connect in a train station or airport? Look at all the hotspots on your smart phone and just think that they are all trying to coexist in that one area. To me the one company that I know of that made a great inroad in the problem is Ruckus with their smart antenna technology, pretty cool that they control the signal based on interference. Ruckus has more information here.

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LAA – Licensed Assisted Access works with LTE-U, LTE Unlicensed. This is all new equipment, so the investment is in hardware as well as software. Truly a Greenfield deployment, the way I see it anyway. The Wi-Fi access point would be replaced with the LTE-U access point, therefore no Wi-Fi, just LTE in unlicensed bands. This would require a new user device, (new chipset). There are also many issues with how it would co-exist with Wi-Fi. Ericsson has an entire presentation here. The theory is that with carrier aggregation the uplinks and downlinks would all work together in sharing the load. This way you appear to have an awesome pipe, so much data passing through multiple bands that all appear to be one pipe. WOW!

MuLTEfire – which is Qualcomm’s new offering where LTE could be completely unlicensed, but could also work with the licensed band, I really don’t know. It’s very new. Qualcomm is always thinking about how to make better wireless chips. They know they need to build in the WOW factor. I have to admit, I said wow! I see great possibilities with new bands that are lightly licensed because they could open up new markets for backhaul and other last mile services. Remember that 5G is moving ahead and will be here in 5 years or less, Probably arriving around 2020 in time for 5G.

At some point Qualcomm is going to have to pick one or two, but it appears they have all their bases covered, I mean how many more options will they create? Will they promote all of these? I have no idea but Dr Paul Jacobs at Qualcomm probably has a pretty good plan.

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I am no expert and this is something that takes some more research. I am learning so much about bringing it all together. The one thing that is really going to help is carrier aggregation. The carriers are trying to make the spectrum they have become more efficient. That is also the theory around densification, it has to add so much value and when spectrum costs billions, yes billions, then you need to figure out how to get the biggest bang for each Mega hertz.

So as you can imagine there are Wi-Fi groups who are not happy about this, I mean after all, Wi-Fi has been around forever and they are constantly updating the Wi-Fi protocol to make it faster and more efficient. I am impressed with how they constantly improve what they have. They have done all they could to make it better for the carriers. They probably worry that LTE-U may replace it. I would think that there is so much Wi-Fi out there that this probably won’t happen. The way I see it, if Verizon Wireless has their way they will be using LTE-U all over so they can improve the customer experience without buying any more bandwidth than they need to.

I hope that helps you figure out what is going on out there. This is moving ahead very quickly but the carriers will test it before releasing it. That doesn’t mean there won’t be bugs but they will make sure it doesn’t affect their systems. To gain more information go to http://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2014/07/la-lte-and-laa.html for great input on this subject. Nokia has more information. You can download Nokia’s presentation here. Another good link, http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/4-standards-cooking-lte-unlicensed-fcc-tech-chief-asks-more-details-verizon/2015-08-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal.

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What is a Mini Macro?

August 5, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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So what is a mini macro? Well, let’s look at it as a single sector cell site that you would mount on a pole or up on a rooftop. It would be a standalone site. Softbank is tossing around the idea, which they have done in Japan, to have Sprint do it here in the USA. Why? Because it’s cheaper than a full-blown cell site and it helps you concentrate your signal in a specific area.

So in this mini macro you would have everything you would at a cell site or a small cell site. You would have backhaul, a router, BBU, RRH, antenna, hybriflex and RF cables. The difference would be that you would just have one BBU and RRH and the backhaul could be anything to tie the eNodeB into a core. It would look like a single sector cell site. with an OMNI on top.

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So let me break it down, on a small pole, monopole, utility pole, or on a rooftop you would have a very small BTS with the router and battery all-inclusive. The backhaul could be anything, copper, fiber, or wireless. All in a small form factor. Well, that sounds like a small cell, doesn’t it? Well, it is but the power will be well above 5 watts, probably around 20 watts. It would be just one sector, possibly one antenna. In the case of TDD it would just be one antenna whereas with FDD you would need to have 2 antennas or maybe a combiner and filter.

So imagine if you will, it will be a small cabinet, with or without batteries. It will cover more than a small cell. So you will want to have a little more height to get the biggest bang for your buck. The key is to maximize signal for the least amount of money possible. So think back to the days of paging when you put the site in where you needed it the most, this is very similar. You want to cover an area. I would say that a Macro site would cover about 35 Kilometers, (about 21.5 miles), and an outdoor small cell would cover about 2 kilometers, (about 1.25 miles). I would think that a mini macro would cover somewhere in between, about 12 kilometer, (about 7.5 miles).

If the deployment is managed right, I would think the mini macro would be put together as a unit and then deployed as a kit so it should be very close to plug and play. The power would need to be connected, the antenna would need to be connected, then all you need is backhaul, let’s say wireless so it has to be connected and aligned.

In my world the station would power up, the backhaul would be connected, and then the station would come up and be integrated. The commissioning should be just like a small cell so it should be ready for plug and play, again, in my eyes. Integration would be done remotely while the installers are still on site. Then the installers could test the commissioning and verify the unit is working by testing it with a Smartphone device, just like they do for small cells now.

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OK, I know this was a high level explanation but I think you get the picture, right? What I didn’t tell you is that this is the Sprint plan for densification, just like what Softbank did over in Japan. They had great success over there in getting these deployed and covering a densely populated region. This is probably the plan over here now that Softbank is taking over Sprint. I just hope they remember KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid! I think that looking at the Network Vision deployment you realize how complicated it became. If the mini-macro can be simple to install and simple to turn up and simple to test, you have a winning combination. Network Vision was anything but simple for most of the deployment teams that I talked too. It was a huge learning curve for many of them. When going to the lowest bidder it’s hard to get experienced crews repeatedly that can handle something like that.

So there you have it, some way to explain something new in the USA. I hope it helps. What do you think?

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DAS + Small Cells = HetNet Love

October 2, 2014 Wade Leave a comment

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OK, not the best title but HetNet systems will love DAS with small cells for a few reasons. I have seen many types of DAS systems out there. Some of them are just passive using the outside signal to work inside while others have a full-blown eNodeB set up to feed the DAS in a building. That is for iDAS, oDAS could be something setup to feed a street or an arena or it could be a mixture of the two. These systems can be complicated.

Just to let you know I got my new microphone and now the podcast sounds 1000% better. I no longer sound like I am in a shelter at a tower site with all the fans running. It is much cleaner. Thank you for putting up with that until now.Just listen!

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By the way, the next time you see a DAS RF engineer, thank him and say he’s a good man. The good DAS engineers are truly artists, only using RF to back up their artistic ability to get the system to work with minimal self and cross interference. Not an easy task.

So why would the DAS love a small cell? Well for one thing you can feed a DAS system with lower power, thereby eliminating all the attenuators that a full-blown eNodeB would need. Why do they need attenuators? Because most DAS engineers learned that some eNodeB will reset and come back at full power blowing the DAS system up, causing a huge expense in parts and labor. So, set it at full power and attenuate it down. If you worked with these systems then you can feel the heat, and you hope the cooling system does not fail! So the Small Cells will help eliminate that problem. Lower power, fewer attenuators mean lower costs and lower cooling costs. One more thing, fans fail often and need to be cared for or replaced regularly. Removing the fans removes a point of failure.

So the HetNet love will happen between the small cell and the DAS system because with the growth of LTE and heavy data system we can start to see system improvements and cost reductions. LTE is changing everything because smart phones have increased our data dependency to a point where we are all addicted. Don’t feel bad because with machine to machine (M2M) communications even machines are data dependent. By the way, they are also including this in the Internet of Things (IoT) so when you read about that just think of terminator and how the machines could all talk to each other without human intervention. I know, not the same thing, or is it?

To be clear, DAS is more than one frequency normally, they could include the several carriers and Wi-Fi. A Small Cell is usually dedicated to one carrier and may or may not be one frequency, usually it is one band within the carriers arsenal. They have several but they will dedicate the small cell to that one technology, normally. Each small cell is dedicated to that specific technology. Meaning LTE, 3G, TDD, or FDD. Remember that the small cell is usually a very small cell site so it has limitations. Whereas DAS will have flexibility for the customer to use any cell phone and get Wi-Fi access all at the same time. Small Cells probably will have Wi-Fi co-located in them or near them, but really, let’s take a small cell for what it is, a small cell site and Wi-Fi for what it is, a hot spot. I was reading Martha DeGrasse’s RCR article about HetNet and DAS, found here, and it reminded me how much work they have for big venues, like the Super Bowl. You can see the last Super Bowl results in Fierce Wireless here. Fierce Wireless wrote about the deployment issues here if you want to see the limitations out there. While Joe Madden does a comparison, I see more of a marriage between them. It just makes more sense to me.

Again, next time you talk to a DAS deployment team, shake their hand and say “Good job!” so they know they are appreciated. It is no easy task to plan and deploy and test. Upgrading is even more of an issue!

Superbowl results from last year is here.

I have more small cell posts HERE and HERE and HERE.

I need DAS and small cell pictures, I can’t share most of what I have. So if you have some I can post, send them my way or put them on Facebook, Wade4Wireless, wade4wireless@gmail.com!

http://www.ospmag.com/issue/article/DAS-The-Ultimate-Small-Cell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_antenna_system

http://www.crowncastle.com/das/

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=23351

http://www.rcrwireless.com/20140929/hetnet-news/hetnet-news-lte-drives-das-upgrades-tag4

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/madden-das-or-small-cells-case-study/2014-04-28

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_cell

http://www.dascongress.com/

http://www.aflglobal.com/Solutions/DAS-Small-Cell-Wi-Fi.aspx

http://www.thinksmallcell.com/Enterprise-Femtocells/comparing-das-and-small-cells-to-meet-high-traffic-situations.html

https://www.bicsi.org/pdf/presentations/fall_13/DAS%20and%20Small%20Cell%20Solutions%20-%20Deployment%20Trends%20That%20Impact%20Your%20Business.pdf

Soon I will release my training for the SOW and more, to build your library of basic knowledge so you can advance in your job and the industry! So feel free to buy one of my books and maybe they will help you learn something that you didn’t know or teach someone who needs to know.

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What is a Mini Macro?

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I am putting a small cell wireless deployment handbook together, it should be out soon. It will be geared towards deployment but a good reference overall. It will have most of what I post but also some extra notes is it. If your interested, feel free to sign up for my newsletter below.

DAS + Small Cells = HetNet Love

I need DAS and small cell pictures, I can’t share most of what I have. So if you have some I can post, send them my way or put them on Facebook, Wade4Wireless, wade4wireless@gmail.com!

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I am putting a small cell handbook together, it should be out soon. It will be geared towards deployment but a good reference overall. It will have most of what I post but also some extra notes is it. If your interested, feel free to sign up for my newsletter below.

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I am putting a small cell wireless deployment handbook together, it should be out soon. It will be geared towards deployment but a good reference overall. It will have most of what I post but also some extra notes is it. If your interested, feel free to sign up for my newsletter below.

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I need DAS and small cell pictures, I can’t share most of what I have. So if you have some I can post, send them my way or put them on Facebook, Wade4Wireless, wade4wireless@gmail.com!

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