Microcell vs Cell Tower

Your community, should make the service provider to improve coverage, without blind sectors.

We're talking about the V cell company. They have the Department of Regional Planning eating out of their hands - actually, I take that back. V know that they have the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to fall back on. If they want to install a WTF, the local government can only reject their request if a better alternative is brought to the table.

This is what I'm trying to do; find a better alternative. The definition of better is a solution which will provide more coverage in town and full coverage on the roads leading in. As long as the cost, power usage, aesthetics, reliability, etc are not different (or better), than they must go with the alternative. If not, the local planning department will be forced to accept V's proposal and we will have inferior cell coverage.

Can you post more technical details, on Microcells equipments/system? You have in view, any specific products? Could you direct to a website, manufacturing Microcells equipments/systems? It will help get a clearer picture.

The only system I know of is that Ericsson makes a RBS 3303, which was used in the Right of Way (ROW) microcell system near Decker Canyon Road (Hwy 23). I do not know of any other manufacturer, nor do I know very much about these systems.

I have been tasked by the residents of my community to look into this as we battle the big cell phone company. Any help of advice is appreciated.

You are on the right track. Ericsson have the solution for you. It should workout admirably. Good luck.

I further invite you to peruse this design document given in the link. It is for students to read only. I am unable to copy/download same. You can buy this document though.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/86092005/143/RBS-3303

Get a suitable proposal from your area Ericsson representative. That may help you.

Joshi, this is great! I will see if I can contact a local Ericsson rep. I'm thinking that I may need to find a company that designs the entire system using these Ericsson boxes (or a competitor's).

Either way, you've helped me a lot with this document.

Thank you.

Joshi, Thank you! I'll see if I can contact them. I'd love to have a proposal from them to provide at the Department of Regional Planning hearing!

You should definitely seek out another cell coverage provider for competition. I suspect your bureaucratic requirement for an alternative requires a viable alternative and not the opinions of novices. Maintaining a telecommunications network requires a lot more work than just putting up cell towers.

IMHO There are two scenarios that microcell coverage makes sense; filling in the gaps and temporary high volume conditions. Filling in the gap should be considered obvious perpetual gaps like tunnel and some building communications. Filling in the gap can also be considered when a very localized geography isolates a well traveled or occupied location. The temporary high volume condition will more like a sporting event. The local permanent cell tower that handles the population 99% of the time handles the traffic fine by itself until game day. On game day a collection of microcells are activated around the stadium to handle the increased traffic from the audience.

Redfred, Thank you for the advice. In our case, they are trying to put up a cell tower to fill in the gaps, but the location and geography will not provide full coverage. In our little community, they plan to build a 13 antenna 30,000 watt (ERP) WTF. If it doesn't fill all the gaps, what do they plan to do? Build another tower? Or crank up the power in hopes that it will bounce off the hills?

Years ago, I did some engineering work (I earned my BSEE in 1987) after I finished school. I didn't do any cellular work - too early, but I did do some RF work. I figure the technology is similar, but they should have made huge advances since the early 90's. I'm a bit behind the curve, but I understand the technical aspects, as well as the geographic challenges.

I am of the belief that microcells can be put up along the two roads leading into town and along the main road (the vertical part of the t). I need a microcell systems company to provide me with a proposal, so I can present it as an alternative to the WTF. My hope is that someone will listen and we will have full coverage in our community. It makes no sense to lose coverage as you enter or leave town on our main road (80% of our traffic uses this road).

Thank you again for your recommendation.

Boosting the cell tower transmitter power will not help. This is a duplex or bidirectional communication. The cell phones themselves are transmitters and they have a very limited and regulated maximum EIRP.

You're right, the cell phone has a limitation on how much power it can transmit. So the WTF will never receive the signal, hence it will not increase the power to that user. Got it!

30000W EIRP?!!!!!!. Yeh right!

In cell design the limiting factor is the uplink from the consumers not the power from the cellsite (macro. mini, micro or femto cell)

WTF is an acronym for something else which suits this scenario better. You may be at the mercy of a seasoned professional or a novice engineer who hasn't made any mistakes yet and you are the first. Hope it is the former.

Geography is a challenge to overcome. Not easy or cheap.

All vendors' equipment are much the same. This is an RF planning challenge not a blackbox issue.

Think of your location as a dark place that needs lighting then figure out where you want illumination.

During cell planning there are coverage levels...highway, urban outdoor only, indoor near window, deep indoor and so on.

What has your community been promised or is it entitled to?

Hi Wal,

30,000 W ERP is rounding from 29,594 W ERP. It's in the report they sent to the Dept of Reg Planning.

The cell company has promised to do as thorough as job as they can to bring coverage into our entire community and the two roads leading in. If you look at a Google Map of Val Verde, CA, you'll see that there are hills all around our community and in our community. The two roads leading in are Del Valle and Chiquito Canyon - both have almost no coverage right now. Other parts of the community have sporadic coverage from a tower on the other side of the 5 Freeway.

We live in an aesthetically beautiful community and if they are going to put up at WTF, we want it to provide service as discussed above. If not, then we would like them to find another technology, specifically microcells on telephone poles.

This is where I need help. If someone here knows where I can contact a company who installs microcell systems, I would appreciate to get the name of someone who can give us a proposal. Typically, we need three proposals, however if there are only two vendors, that will suffice.

I don't have a lot of faith in the cell phone company. When they came to our community to present their new WTF, they made some terrible mistakes. From an engineering standpoint, you'll be shocked that they would make this claim. The said that the WTF would provide 911 service to everyone who has a cell phone, regardless of the carrier. When a resident asked how they plan to provide 911 service to GSM phones (since the V company uses CDMA), the cell company rep told them that it doesn't matter for 911, because they use an E911 system. There are numerous other incidents like this, which I believe is terrible for a company as large as they are.

Due to the missing coverage areas, the "hole" in the signal coming in on Del Valle (major road leading in) and brushing aside our requests for alternate technologies, I feel I am forced to take matters into my own hands and find a company who can provide complete coverage via microcells.

If you look at the map of our area, the cell phone company has clearly stated that they are only interested in providing coverage on Del Valle, Chiquito Canyon and the community of Val Verde. They are not concerned about either the 5 or 126 freeway, the surrounding residential communities or the industrial park. Their goal is to first provide service outdoors, then indoors near a window and finally deep indoors (to residents only - there are no large warehouses or office buildings).

Thank you.

I looked at that on Googleearth. I couldn't find any existing celltowers.

The terrain there didn't look too challenging.

Has V set up their COW and conducted drive tests through the anticipated coverage areas with it setup in different locations? You could bung a microcell on a COW too and do the same.

Just needs doing.

I'm a little surprised that you haven't already got decent coverage there. It is 2012 and the US is not a third world country (not yet at least).

How is the coverage on 5 and 126 at present?

Hi Wal,

I have a feeling the COW won't be liked by the residents. I also believe that V wants to build a permanent structure as well.

We have great coverage on the 126 and 5 freeway. There is an antenna on top of a power pole at the corner of the 126 and Chiquito Canyon (actually, there are two of these). There is also a large cell tower on top of the hill on the other side of the 5 freeway. Here is the location: 34 deg 28'32.66"N and 118 deg 36'20.08" W - it sits on the plateau.

Thanks for your help. I haven't read your other comment yet - I'll do so in a few minutes.

I found the answers to some of the questions I asked you here.

What's the problem with the proposed Rainbow Drive location? Looked OK to me.

Then there's this one with all the information. The copy of the flyer urging all residents to attend a meeting to stop V's efforts to actually serve the community was a little alarmist. Is there a coven of Luddites living there?

The property price negative impact analysis was a hoot. If the property prices go up (because you can actually use a mobile phone there) will V get a slice of the real estate action? Probably not.

V's proposal is pretty sound. Both technically and procedurally. Just get on with it and stop worrying about it. There have to be better ways to spend your time, like actually being able to use a mobile phone in your community even if it is just to call for help.

Personally I'd be urging V to go solar on this job. Wonder how you could give a PV panel array rustic characteristics in keeping with the locality's existing improvements? Nothing says rustic quite like the oil pumps, mine tailing ponds and landfill you have there.

If your community is that worried about the cell site's emissions then you should all wear burkas when you are out in the sun and stay away from shopping malls. A bunch of microcells just above your heads probably increases your exposure levels not the opposite.

Embrace the illuminated ether, wallow in its warmth and have a life.

Hi Wal,

Since you looked at the V proposal, what would you recommend to make sure they provide complete coverage in our community as well as the road leading in? Their proposal states that the objective is to provide coverage to the community and the two roads leading in. Chiquito Canyon and the south part of our community is taken care of via the new antennas on the pole at Chiquito and Hwy 126. That leaves San Martinez, the canyons that meet San Martinez, the area to the east and Del Valle. The most important of these is Del Valle, since the majority of traffic is on this road. In June, the cell company stated that there would be a coverage gap on Del Valle and "some" parts of town.

My goal is to make sure we do get as complete coverage as we can. Being a very small community, getting another shot will be very unlikely - we will be left with another incomplete project here. I don't consider this to be too much to ask from the cell company, however they have a signed contract with the land owner and they will move forward with this location, unless I can present another alternative. This is why I came to this site - to get help from someone who is an expert.

If there is anyone out there who works for a company that puts together microcell systems for communities or if you know of someone who does, please let them know that our community is looking for a bid from them.

The cell company who is trying to put up the WTF is the V company. The microcell system will be used in place of the V WTF and must provide better coverage.

Thank you.

Have a look at this, it will arm you with knowledge for your quest

http://telecomfunda.com/forum/showthread.php?27768-NETWORK-AND-RF-PLANNING-TUTORIAL#.UNvV1Kw5Cew

You will have to register (free) and there are loads of resources on all manner of telco related issues to learn more about.

I first found this site via LinkedIn on one of the groups I am a member of. You could even post a query on LinkedIn directed at a specialist (open) group...the folk there are normally helpful, the guy/chick at V that is handling your community's issue will probably read it too. Or not. Vendors also read these so you may even get a proactive response without having to fish for vendors yourself.

Here's another one for you, (no registration required)

Did V disclose the results of their existing coverage drive test to your community? How about the projected coverage post augmentation?

That EIRP figure you quoted (even the unrounded one) still seems a little high. Typical of big TV/radio transmitters and radar facilities not that of cellular radio.

Hi Wal,

In June, 2012, V disclosed the results of the drive test. It showed what we who live here know - the cell signal is very weak and non-existent in many places. After the tower is built, the projected coverage still has holes, particularly on the main road leading in (Del Valle). If we can't get signal coming in and out of town, we'll be stuck with dropped calls. If there wasn't a solution, we'd have to live with it, however my idea about the microcells should alleviate this problem. I think I'm on the right track and I would like some help - preferably from someone who is in this field.

Do you know of anyone who builds/designs microcell systems?

Hi Wal,

One other thing, you mentioned the residents who are completely against a cell tower in town. They feel that 30,000 W ERP is too high and I have a feeling that the cell company made a mistake. I did check their documents and this is the number they presented to the Dept of Reg Planning.

If this is true, do the residents have a valid concern?

When I worked as an engineer, we had a radar antenna at the lab. I don't recall the power output, however I think it was in this range. When we fired her up, we had to make sure that nobody was outside and anywhere near the antenna. I don't know if it was OSHA driven or just a safety precaution (keep from a lawsuit).

Thanks for your help and the research you've done.

To all who have responded, I appreciate your help. The cell phone company has taken the community concerns to heart and they have chosen a new location which fulfills the requests of the community.

I didn't want to bias your opinion, so I kept my official position out of the discussion. You see, I am the President of the VVCA, which is the ruling body of Val Verde. The residents of my community asked me to work with the Department of Regional Planning, the LA County Supervisors and the cell phone company to help make their voices heard. With a lot of hard work and determination, I convinced the cell company to listen to the residents. The residents want the tower away from residences, they want coverage for the entire community and the main road leading in and they want it to be aesthetically pleasing and follow the rural-suburban feel we have and enjoy.

I didn't give up on my fellow Val Verde neighbors. It was recommended that I put my effort to other, more "important" issues. Quite frankly, I wasn't sure of the outcome, but I wasn't going to quit. I think the main message is that even a tiny community can fight big business and big government, so if the cause is worthwhile, don't give up!

Tomorrow evening is our VVCA meeting, where the public is invited to attend. I will be very pleased to be able to announce the wonderful news.