As business and consumer demand for mobile data connectivity continues to grow, venues around the world are working to provide in-building wireless service. In a retail setting, shoppers consider strong cellular connectivity a plus, while it enables shop owners to run a more effective business.
In a setting where users are connected to more than one carrier network, a neutral host distributed antenna system is generally the preferred solution as signal from multiple carriers can be distributed and managed from a centralized infrastructure. To better understand the benefits of DAS in retail, let’s take a look at the South Coast Plaza in Orange County, California. The facility includes more than 250 stores, restaurants and an arts center covering approximately 2.8 million square feet of gross leasable space.
The venue owners engaged RF Connect to design and deploy a neutral host DAS in partnership with vendor Solid Technologies.
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“Consumers and the retail establishments that serve them have an expectation of ubiquitous and uninterrupted connectivity with wireless devices,” said RF Connect President Leonard Kruszewski. “Our solution ensures their expectations will be met today as well as for years to come.”
RF Connect emphasized the future-flexible nature of the DAS deployment, noting “it’s capability to expand and support future demand.”
Solid has been making a major push into what it calls the “middleprise,” referring to midsize enterprise buildings, which the company views as an underserved market worth some $19 billion. Here’s a look at Solid’s deployment at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans.