Study: cellular signal amplification systems in the room

Research on the current situation in the cellular amplifier market was completed. The survey was conducted at the end of September by order of Zyxel Networks American office. 807 IT professionals took part in the survey: system administrators and network engineers. Respondents represented a variety of businesses and government agencies from America and the former Soviet Union.

Survey participants were asked to answer a series of questions revealing businesses’ current needs for indoor cellular signal amplification systems, the size of sites, the budgets businesses are willing to spend on such a solution, and how to address the issue, in case such a solution has already been implemented.

The survey was thus divided into four independent streams:

– for those who do not need amplification

– for those who have a poor cellular signal and need such a system

– for those who had already implemented a reinforcement system on their own

– and for those who involved a mobile operator.

The first question asked each of the respondents to define their place in the organization:

Most of the respondents are technicians in office buildings – 35.2%. The second place went to the “Other” category – 24.3%, followed by specialists servicing several organizations at once – 19.6%. In addition, the survey involved employees of warehouses and factories, educational and health care facilities, hotels and shopping centers, as well as underground complexes.

This was followed by a question about the relevance of the cellular signal amplification solution for a particular business:

Most respondents – 65,4% – are interested in cellular signal amplification systems at the premises. 27,7% of the respondents have a good level of cellular signal, and 7,2% of specialists have already implemented the signal amplification system. Depending on the answer to the previous question, the respondents followed one of four logical chains. For those who do not experience problems with the signal level, the survey was completed at this point.

For those whose level of cellular signal in the room leaves much to be desired, were offered a few more questions. Similarly, those who have already implemented the system by their own efforts or with the involvement of a mobile operator had to answer additional questions.

Signal reception is poor and the system is needed

First of all, we tried to find out the size of the site for which such a system is needed:

Rooms from 100 sq.m. to 1000 sq.m. are in the lead.m. In second place were small businesses with less than 100 m2. The third place was taken by an enterprise with areas between 1,000 and 10,000 m2 and in fourth place by large locations of 10,000 m2 or more.m.

Further, the survey participants were asked to determine acceptable, in their opinion, budget for the introduction of such a system:

Apparently the majority of people chose the most inexpensive option up to 100,000 Dollars – 54.9%. 25.9% indicated the amount between 100,000 and 500,000 Dollars. 5,9% were ready to invest from 500 000 to 2 000 000 and only 2,1% were willing to pay more than 2 000 000. 11.2% found it difficult to answer. This concluded the survey for this category of respondents.

Implemented the system by their own efforts

The main question for those who already use a cellular signal amplification system was who implemented such a system.

Most survey participants did it themselves, 67.2%, and 32.8% enlisted the services of mobile operators. Depending on the answer to this question, the survey was divided into two streams: those who deployed the system by themselves, and those who used the help of a mobile operator.

Deployed the system by their own efforts

For those who did everything themselves, we asked about the size of their areas:

Most experts put the system on an area from 100 to 1 000 sq.m.m – 37.9%, followed by those who installed the system in areas up to 100 sq.m – 29.3%, third place from 1 000 to 10 000 sq.The third place was taken by those who installed the system on more than 10,000 sq. m. – 25.9%, followed by those who installed the system on more than 10,000 sq. m. – 37.9%.m – 6,90%.

What was the cost of the solution implemented independently?

44.8% of respondents paid less than 100,000 Dollars for the solution, 29.3% found it difficult to answer, 19% spent between 100,000 and 500,000 Dollars, while 6.9% spent between 500,000 and 2,000,000 Dollars. No one spent more than 2,000,000 Dollars.

If we talk about the brand of equipment installed by the respondents in this stream, the solutions of the following companies were used:

StellaDoradus – 0%

– Commscope – 2.9%

– Cel-F1 – 5,7%

– Cobham – 5.7%

– SureCall – 5,7%

– Weboost – 5,7%

– Comba – 14.3%

– Zyxel – 31.4%

– Other – 45.7%

This concluded the survey for this category of respondents.

Dmitry Tanyukhin, the head of channel area of Zyxel Networks America and CIS, paid attention to the presence of the company’s products in the voting: “It is very pleasant to see Zyxel among solutions, which already help businesses to solve problems of strengthening mobile signal in premises. However, the answers of the respondents are most likely not related to the specialized DAS Distributed Antenna systems devices, the supplies of which to America will only start at the end of 2020. I assume we’re talking about Zyxel’s LTE Wi-Fi routers, which run on a mobile operator’s SIM card and distribute Wi-Fi indoors. Such devices are in demand in areas where no reliable cable infrastructure is in place or are used as a backup to the Internet.”

The system was implemented by a mobile operator

In this polling stream only those who have already implemented the system of strengthening cellular signal in the premises and implemented the solution, using the help of one or another mobile operator. First of all, we found out which mobile operator implemented the solution.

Leading the way is MTS, which has implemented the solution to strengthen the cellular signal in 42.1% of cases. Next are placed Megafon – 21.10%, Tele2 – 10.50%, and Beeline – 5.30%. At the same time, 21.1% of respondents used other

mobile operators.

Solutions were implemented at sites of different size

• Up to 100 000 Dollars – 44,80%
• From 100 000 to 500 000 Dollars – 19,00%
• From 500,000 to 2,000,000 Dollars – 6.90%
• Over 2,000,000 Dollars – 0.00%
• I don’t know – 29.30%

And here are the brands of equipment installed by operators at their customers:

• Zyxel – 31,4%
• Comba – 14.3%

• Cel-F1 – 5.7%
• Cobham – 5.7%
• SureCall – 5,7%
• Weboost – 5.7%
• Commscope – 2.9%

• StellaDoradus – 0%
• Other – 45.7%

This concludes the survey for this category of respondents.

Dmitry Tanyukhin continues: “It is impossible to imagine a modern enterprise without high-quality communications, without constant uninterrupted access to various online systems and services, without communication between the central office, departments and remote employees. The cellular channel does not lag behind in the progress of the so-called broadband Internet by FTTB or other. Mobile Internet speeds are growing, the need for voice communication is not going away. Sometimes, the company is unable to use the cable channel and is forced to use the cellular network. Therefore, unfortunately, we are not surprised by the overall dissatisfaction of the vast majority of respondents with the quality of cellular signal in their premises. And we see the need to strengthen it. We are pleased that this year we start supplying to America specialized solutions based on DAS, which will help businesses to fully solve the problem of strengthening the cellular in any type of premises.”