When the mobile signal inside a large West London car dealership is non-existent, we know how to fix it!
When Mercedes-Benz revamped their old site at Brentford they vastly increased the size of their building, essentially knocking down the old structure and putting up a whole new one.
The Problem…
Modern construction, including the use of heat reflective glass, reinforced concrete, metal cladding and vast amounts of insulation meant that the mobile signal was blocked from entering the building.
Outside the premises users on all networks could receive five bars of 4G and 5G. This part of London, with it’s high population density and the proximity of the M4 motorway into London, benefits from a lot of service provider masts.
Inside was a different story. As soon as you walked through the doors the signal dropped to nothing.
With staff complaining that their corporate mobiles couldn’t make or receive calls, essential in this modern age of mobile communications, they needed to find a solution.
An approach was made to the network operator, and a solution was offered. Unfortunately the costs were astronomical, somewhere upwards of £60k, and it would have meant they were forever tied to that service provider. That’s where we came in….
The Litenet Solution…
We already had extensive knowledge of this site, having carried out all of the data cabling (fibre and copper), installed comms racks and deployed their WiFi network during the build, as well as assisting with IT support during the go-live phase.
We were able to offer a signal boosting solution that would take the mobile signal from outside of the building and redistribute it INSIDE the building, in exactly the areas where they needed it the most.
The Quatra 1000, from Cel-Fi, was ideal for this. It’s service provider independent, which means that although they chose to only boost the network used by their corporate mobiles (in this case O2), they have the ability to change that if they ever move networks in the future.
The Quatra equipment is perfect for this environment. A single external antenna pointed towards the nearest mast is cabled down to the Quatra Network Unit (NU), installed in the main server room. This brings the signal inside where the NU can then distribute the signal, amplified, over existing CAT 6 structured cabling to the Coverage Units (CUs) deployed around the site.
The Network Unit is cloud managed and only requires an internet connection to establish contact with the Cel-Fi portal. This allows us to remotely monitor the health of the devices and change some settings.
The Network Unit is no larger that an average WiFi access point and can easily be mounted on a wall or in a comms rack, and only requires a standard UK 3-pin mains power.
The CUs are powerful. Just three of them were needed to provide seamless coverage around the site. And while we’re talking about seamless connectivity, because the Quatra is simply rebroadcasting the signal received from the network, it means you can enter or leave the premises without a drop in connection.
All this, fully installed, for less than £10k. A significant saving while retaining the freedom to change provider in the future.
The Coverage Units are powered over the wire from the Network Unit, which also helps with deployment, and will work over Cat5e (or above) network cabling to a distance of 100 metres.
The Results…
An immediate increase in signal.
The very next morning our site contact was able to maintain a mobile phone call whilst moving around the site, when before he wouldn’t have even been able to make the call in the first place.
Staff on site are now able to make and receive calls from their customers on their corporate mobiles, management teams are now able to communicate effectively with UK HQ. A by-product is that guests and customers on that network are also able to take advantage.
The Potential…
It’s possible that the corporate service provider may change in the future. That’s easily addressed by a few simple software adjustments and some antenna repositioning carried out by a Cel-Fi certified Litenet Engineer.
Additional networks can be added if required, with the installation of multiple antennas and additional network units, and some of the cabling can be shared to keep installation costs down.
Why Litenet?
We have a history of finding innovative solutions to business issues, particularly in communications and data networking.
Our customers trust us to deliver, and we do.
Litenet are a certified installer of Cel-Fi solutions, including the Quatra mentioned in this article and also their range of smaller devices. Each one geared towards solving mobile signal issues for a multitude of environments and deployments.
Cel-Fi solutions can range from as little as £514 and can boost single or multiple networks depending on design and equipment used.
Get in touch with us for a no-obligation discussion about how we can help.
Use the contact form on this website, email info@litenetuk.com or call 01908 794 794.
