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Wireless for large area - what solutions?

carl_townshend
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Hi All

Can anyone tell me what solutions are out there for large area wifi coverage, for example we need wireless to be available in a large quarry site, other that sticking access points everywhere which is difficult and costly, are there any other solutions available that can cover a large area for wireless access?

Cheers

Carl

11 Replies 11

Hi @carl_townshend 

 If we are taling about Wi-Fi technology there is no other way. Wi-Fi have pre-defined requirements and limitation like distance, interference and RF spectrum. In order to cover a specific area you must place enough Access Points and then you need to balance the channels in order to minimize interference.

If you are open to other wireless network you can look at indoor 5G. 

@carl_townshend hi, normally in this kind of situations, you need to use directional antennas and cover as required. also use outdoor APs. but you better do proper survey for this with good cisco partner or with direct cisco SE support.

Please rate this and mark as solution/answer, if this resolved your issue
Good luck
KB

Leo Laohoo
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Where WiFi is deemed expensive, another up-and-coming option is to use LTE to provide LAN connectivity.  

Hi, when you say use LTE to provide LAN connectivity, what do you mean, do you mean all devices must have a sim card? and this LAN is just a private LTE cell?

Correct but remember some platform can now support "e-SIM".  

Cost is one big concern about WiFi.  Particularly when one needs a cable plant and a switch.  

Next biggest problem with WiFi?  Everyone's favorite:  Co-Channel Interference. 

Finally, the last biggest problem with WiFi?  Roaming

Let's face it.  802.11 WLAN is a shared spectrum.  Every-man-and-his-proverbial uses these channels and everybody plays by their own rules.  LTE is different.  Mobile phone providers buy the spectrum.  And they do not come cheap either.  The spectrum that each provider bought is theirs.  They can do whatever they want with the frequencies.  They can splice them.  They can dice them.  They can put cherries on top.  They bought the frequencies, they can do whatever they want.  Anyone caught using a provider's frequency without their explicit permission will be in trouble and it will be in the millions of dollars in penalty.  

With LTE, the provider(s) will provide a DAS indoors.  Those DAS use a low-powered amplifier.  Because it is an LTE frequency, it is a guaranteed spectrum.  There is no co-channel interference from anyone device that is broadcasting.  LTE is a guaranteed spectrum.  

End devices in WiFi are responsible for "roaming decisions" and most often these devices do not follow the agreed (roaming) rules.  In LTE, the provider will calibrate the DAS and will make the decision which devices each antenna can allow and which clients to "push" to the next antenna.  The carrier can say to the device, "Hey, you.  Why are you still hanging around this antenna.  Shoo!  Get off this one and go to that one over there!"  

As a bonus feature, there is another thing an LTE network can do that a WiFi cannot do:  COVERAGE.  Walk out of the office with an LTE device and the device will roam outdoors into the open.  Unless someone plants a WiFi AP outdoors, it is not happening in WiFi.  

1.Does Cisco offer this solution? is it the LTE gateways?

2.Do the LTE devices get an IP address the same as on the LAN?

3.Would the Cisco LTE device simply break out onto the LAN and be routed?

4.Is LTE just another layer 2 encap, does the LTE gateway just strip the ethernet and encapsulate with LTE ?

5.How big would the coverage area be with 1 mast, and how would the costs stack up vs wifi?

6.What devices support e-sim?

Cheers


@carl_townshend wrote:
1.Does Cisco offer this solution? is it the LTE gateways?

There are five major RAN manufacturers in the world today:  Cisco, Alcatel/Lucent, Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei/ZTE. 

Cisco is not a cellular/mobile network provider but a supplier of RAN (radio access network) equipment to mobile phone operators worldwide.  

 


@carl_townshend wrote:
2.Do the LTE devices get an IP address the same as on the LAN?

Yes and no.  A device joins an LTE network.  Gets an IP address meant for the provider.  What happens after that will depend entirely between the telco and the subscriber.  A VPN, for instance, can be used to plumb traffic into the corporate network.  

 


@carl_townshend wrote:
3.Would the Cisco LTE device simply break out onto the LAN and be routed?

Depends on what the LTE provider can do and what the subscriber can do.  But this is a possible/potential solution.


@carl_townshend wrote:
How big would the coverage area be with 1 mast

Each LTE mast has a range of about 5 kms. 

 


@carl_townshend wrote:
how would the costs stack up vs wifi?

Remember, we are talking about an indoor DAS for LTE.  All your questions seems to be talking about an outdoor mobile tower.  Two different things.  In Australia, for example, the minimum cost to "invite" any of our telcos into a building is AU$300k.  They will do the work:  Assess where to put the antennas, install the antennas, install the plant (takes about half a rack) and drive a fibre optic link to our premises.  

 


@carl_townshend wrote:
What devices support e-sim?

Easiest question of them all.  Some Android phones and tablets (3 year old and less) and iPhone/iPad (3 year old and less) support e-sim.  

One added benefit of e-SIM:  I can have as many as I want.  My phone, for instance, have a physical SIM and an e-SIM.  So my handset has two phone numbers.  

Do you not stop to wonder why, outside of the mall or sports facility the cellular/mobile coverage is atrocious but the moment you step inside the cellular/mobile coverage is excellent?

The next time you are in a situation like that, look UP.  Chances are, if you can find them, you'll find a DAS.  That's because DAS do not have fancy lights or recognizable logos.  They are mostly unrecognizable and blend into the ceiling.  DAS usually look like THIS.  Still not familiar?  How about THIS?  Looking familiar now?  

Ekahau Site Survey Pro and Hamina Wireless now offer tools to do site survey or AP placement for 4G/5G. 

This alone is a nod that the WiFi technology has reach it's peak and we are about to see a transition from WiFi to LTE LAN.

The "green" building of the future will not have switches.  It will be 5G/6G/xG antennas.  Everyone will have laptops connected to the carrier network indoors and their resources are plumb into the carrier and out to a subscriber's cloud somewhere.  

But what about the people who cannot afford LTE LAN?  Well, like it or not, the cost of 802.11 WiFi (APs, WLC, switches, routers, cabling costs, maintenance) will not be beneficial to the cause.  At the end of the day, LTE LAN will take the business off 802.11 WiFi by a wide margin.  

Sounds good, but I think this is a long way off, wireless infra will never be as reliable as a cabled solution, and also wireless / LTE is still a shared spectrum and not full duplex yet, but it will be good to see this maybe in future.

Cisco are promoting their private 5G solution now:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/private-5g/index.html#~why-choose-cisco-private-5g
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/private-5g/private-5g-service-so.html

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