Many operators are deploying LTE in low frequency bands (700 and 800MHz) to improve coverage in rural and in-building penetrations. Others are looking at LTE relays as an alternative approach. We examine the differences between a repeater, a relay and an LTE small cell and look at two specific operator use cases.
Hat’s off to Fierce Wireless and Allnet Insights for an extensive graphically rich report on the current spectrum holdings by each of the main US cellular operators. This highlights the clear contrast between high and low spectrum of each of the key players and how that affects their network strategy.
Sometimes headline figures can be misleading. With both cellular and Wi-Fi claiming to have broken the Gigabit barrier, you might be surprised to learn that wired Gigabit Ethernet can still outperform. We clarify the terminology to ensure you are making a fair comparison. This is important when dimensioning Ethernet backhaul for Wi-Fi and small cells.
Three countries worldwide are pioneering public safety solutions using LTE, all for quite different reasons and using different approaches. Other countries are looking and learning, waiting to determine their own strategy. It seems likely that in the long term, LTE will win out, but there are a few issues to be resolved.
CBRS is a US scheme that dynamically allocates 3.5GHz spectrum on demand to anyone, such as a building owner, for their exclusive use. A similar scheme is being developed by ETSI for use in Europe in the 2.3 and 2.4GHz band. Both have huge potential for standalone or neutral host small cell networks, and incorporate strategies to avoid incumbent users being disadvantaged.
A significant number of users continue to report poor mobile coverage in their homes. There will always be areas which are uneconomic for mobile operator to reach. They range from rural areas
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The term Enterprise addresses any non-residential in-building including hotels, convention centres, transport hubs, offices, hospitals and retail outlets. It's not just intended for businesses to
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Urban small cells (sometimes also named metrocells) are compact and discrete mobile phone basestations, unobstrusively located in urban areas. They can be mounted on lampposts, positioned on the
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A rural small cell is a low power mobile phone base station designed to bring mobile phone service to small pockets of population in remote rural areas. These could be hamlets, small villages or
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