I have been in the cell phone
service development industry since 1997. Since 2005, I have been a subject
matter expert with respect to real estate industry and service provider interface. I am connecting with more and
more clients who are experiencing less than ideal cell phone service. Concrete and steel construction are
obvious causes; however, it is starting to happen in wood frame structures as well. Green material and technologies
such as low-e glass as well as dense building configurations are having a significant impact on service quality.
Real estate owners and developers
are starting to realize that poor cell phone service can truly impact the value
of their investment by making their project undesirable to prospective residents
who are heavily reliant on their smartphones, most of whom no longer consider
or want land lines. For many years, I have suggested
to service providers and developer clients that providing service to
residential areas is crucial. The carriers as well as real
estate owner developers who can do it successfully will have a significant
competitive advantage. Those who don't
will wonder why their bottom lines are suffering.
While DAS is the most
comprehensive solution, the service provider and vendor coordination details
can be tricky, challenging and time consuming. There has been a lot of buzz
about small cells; however, they have their own challenges such as being
usually being single service provider solutions. In my experience assessing large
multifamily sites, without augmentation, typically at least one-third to two-thirds of the
residents will likely experience weak or spotty service.
In talking with the service
providers, with mature networks like AT&T and Verizon Wireless, they can no
longer improve service by adding new outdoor cell sites. They are now looking to off load
their network through the use of small cell and/or DAS. Recently, a major service
provider in a dense high, profile market has approached me about installing
Distributed Antenna Systems at client projects to help with this offload process. This is interesting, because historically,
they focused on larger venues such as stadium, airports, campus and other high
profile large end user locations. I am hopeful that this will
represent a change in the opportunity set that I will be able to provide to
clients.
