Unless you’ve been totally off the grid, or living in a cave, you’ve no doubt heard all about the promises of a 5G wireless world. It’s going to be incredibly fast, more secure, and satisfy our swelling appetite for on-demand 24/7/365 data. Besides making us happier in our personal lives by allowing binge watching of our favorite shows in 4K all day long, 5G is expected to touch every major industry and precipitate major efficiency gains across all commercial sectors. According to the top providers, we’ll be able to enjoy 5G as early as next year. Sound too good to be true? Well, it is and it isn’t.
Here’s the catch: 5G uses a type of signal that’s quite different from 4G and its predecessors. While it allows for increased bandwidth and greater quality of service, its range is considerably limited. 5G signal has trouble reaching high elevations and subterranean locations. Even at ground level, the signal has trouble penetrating building materials and is not able to supply any coverage above antenna height. To compensate for this, national cellular carriers are switching to tightly packed, street level networks primarily focused on network densification. This means that the single cell tower atop a local skyscraper currently supplying your building with service, will be phased out by multiple antennas mounted on lamp-posts and traffic lights.
Eventually, as 5G networks expand, access to reliable coverage inside urban buildings will be almost impossible. To preserve a strong signal and invest in smart building upgrades, owners need a technology that bridges the impending connectivity gap, top to bottom. The only way to save in-building reception is with a distributed antenna system.
DAS establishes a dense network of small-scale antennas inside a building that successfully imports the outside network. These antennas create a micro-network that mimics the function of the macro-network (think cell towers) outdoors and propagates a reliable connection throughout an entire property.
In the commercial real-estate world, reliable connectivity is quickly moving to the top of tenants’ list of requisite amenities. Corporate tenants rely heavily on strong, uninterrupted digital connectivity. Medical facilities require secure, real-time communication to reach healthcare databases. Retailers are leaning on data analysis, smart shelf tech and real-time interactivity with shoppers’ smart phones. Manufacturers are dependent on robotic communication with vast amounts of offsite data. In order to benefit rather than suffer from new 5G networks, property managers and enterprise tech leaders need a solution that proliferates 5G where we spend most of our time—indoors! DAS is fast becoming a necessity for maintaining connectivity and keeping up with a quickly evolving technology.
Intenna Systems has been prepared for the next generation of cellular for decades. With new, digitally based distributed antenna systems, we are now deploying infrastructure that provides the foundation for 5G and private LTE networks in addition to immediately broadcasting state-of-the-art 4G networks.
Read more about the adverse effects of 5G and what to do about it here.
