In-Building Cellular SolutionCEL-FI

Spotty cellular coverage, poor voice quality, dropped calls, and dead zones continue to plague employees, patients, and visitors in hospitals and medical offices (15,000 to 500,000 sq. ft.). In the following case studies, we take a look at how leading integrators are solving these problems with Cel-Fi cellular coverage solutions.

Unlike the signal strength limitation and attenuation of analog passive DAS solutions that have been used for years, Cel-Fi provides an all-digital solution that provides uniform, high-quality cellular signal that is 1000x stronger, throughout your facility. Cel-Fi products can be deployed in venues economically, in much less time compared to a traditional active DAS installation.

Cel-Fi solutions are scalable to fit the size and budget of the full range of venues so organizations in these spaces can now resolve the in-building cellular coverage problems that impact patient experience, employee productivity, and mission critical operations.

Carrier approved and guaranteed network safe, Cel-Fi products feature proprietary, intelligent tools that provide integrators with greater flexibility and ease in optimizing the system design for any unique environment encountered, ensuring the absolute best result for every customer.

Learn how Cel-Fi middleprise solutions, have helped hospitals get the best quality signal inside their facility – despite the building’s cinder block walls and large sub-basement operations.

Moving from hospitals to medical offices, we examine how Cel-Fi plug & play solutions were used to overcome the challenge of employees’ cellular calls dropping in their office park location. In this case, a local installer was able to bring the office up with cellular communication, almost immediately.

Contact us today to learn how Cel-Fi products are helping facilities (in spaces up to 500,000 sq. ft.) get the best quality cellular signal.

Cel-Fi: Addressing Complex In-Building Cellular Coverage Challenges for Medical Facilities

cel-fi.com/quatraIn-building Cellular Coverage

BUSINESS NEEDSince a stand-alone Verizon active distributed antenna system (DAS) was already in place, RCS Wireless Technology — a 65-year-old company that offers two-way radio solutions, paging and video camera systems, mass notification systems, and cell phone signal boosters — was called in to set up a passive DAS specifically for AT&T.

“With no access to the inside of the cath labs, we were limited to placing the antennas in hallways surrounding the perimeter of the cath labs,” explains Steve Klingensmith, Signal Booster Solutions Manager at RCS Wireless Technology. “Due to the limited gain capability of the passive signal boosters, this led to continued poor performance in that area.”

SOLUTIONTo remedy the situation, Klingensmith decided to retrofit the previous installation with the newly released Cel-Fi QUATRA enterprise in-building cellular solution, a scalable active DAS hybrid that combines the best of both active DAS and Cel-Fi technologies.With up to 100dB gain due to its carrier-specific design, Klingensmith augmented the existing solution with Cel-Fi QUATRA, enabling him to meet the hospital’s cellular coverage needs. He showed the IT staff how to monitor the new systems using the Cel-Fi WAVE Portal. They were impressed at the level of detail and transparency Cel-Fi QUATRA provides. “Cel-Fi WAVE will alert us to a problem, and where to go to fix that problem. With passive DAS however, there can be so many different points of failure — splitters, connectors, or cables,” he says. “Fixing one thing doesn’t necessarily solve the real problem.”

In addition to giving hospital IT staff visibility into the solution, the ability to remotely monitor and troubleshoot is also a boon to RCS Wireless Technology’s business. “Before, we would have to send someone to the site to try and diagnose the problem, taking them away from other projects,” says Klingensmith. “Now, we can quickly see if the system is working.If it’s been unplugged, we can see that and simply plug it back in. If it’s working fine, we can move on to determine other possible causes.”

Reducing the number of post-installation site visits means that RCS Wireless Technology can schedule more installations, complete them more efficiently, invoice sooner and move on to the next customer quicker to focus on serving their needs. For end customers like the hospital in Chattanooga, it means that the solution is working as expected. “Cel-Fi QUATRA gives us peace of mind because we know it works, and it works well,” he says. “We can leave our customers’ sites with confidence, because we know we’ve solved their problem. And that is a great feeling to have.”

RCS Wireless Technology• One of the largest two-way radio shops

on the east coast• Founded in 1953 and head-quartered in

Winston-Salem, NC• Portfolio includes a wide array of

communication solutions• Thousandsofsatisfiedcustomers

across the United States

Wireless Technology

A national healthcare provider needed to boost AT&T cellular service inside one of its Chattanooga, Tennessee hospitals—specifically, in the cath lab where patients with cardiac health issues undergo diagnostic testing.

THE CHALLENGES: Healthcare• AT&T service for the cath labs • No access to the inside of the cath labs• Existing passive DASl boosters had

poor performance

Cel-Fi Smart Cellular Coveragecasestudy_cathlabs_quatra_18-0529

QUATRACEL- F I

™• High-quality solution for the middleprise• Supports multi-carrier 3G/4G/LTE voice and data• Carrier-approved and unconditionally network safe• Can be monitored and managed using Cel-Fi WAVE

cel-fi.com/quatra

BEYONDBETTERCOVERAGE

Cel-Fi QUATRA Helps Healthcare Facility Get the Cellular Coverage it Needs in its Cath Labs

BUSINESS NEEDENABLE CELLULAR COVERAGE IN AREAS BEYOND THE BUILDING’S LOBBY

San Ysidro Health Center (SYHC) is a non‑profit provider of health care services to families in the San Diego region. Like many facilities in the vicinity, SYHC clinic is located in a valley, while cellular towers are situated at a higher elevation. Although outdoor cellular reception was relatively good (around 90db), there were indoor coverage challenges to address. “Once you walked past the lobby into certain indoor areas such as the exam rooms, there was virtually no signal,” says Carlos, a wireless communications consultant for service sectors as well as agricultural, industrial, and electrical customers. SYHC needed to resolve the indoor coverage issues at an affordable cost. “Customers don’t want to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a broadband in‑building solution,” Carlos notes. “Repeaters [analog boosters] would have cost up to $15,000 including installation, not to mention the time and effort spent on approvals and resolving latency and interference issues.” Microcells were also not an option because they don’t allow for hand‑offs of calls once you leave a coverage area. “That could lead to dropped calls as people moved throughout the building,” Carlos explains.

SOLUTIONCEL‑FI PRO EXTENDS COVERAGE TO THE ENTIRE FACILITY

Carols admits that when they first walked into the clinic, “We weren’t 100% sure a smart signal booster would work and that we would have to go with a repeater or DAS solution. But the costs and complexity of those options were a big concern for the clinic. They would also have meant running wiring into each floor while making sure cellular signals didn’t interfere with each other.”

Installation of the Cel‑Fi system turned out to be remarkably simple, he adds. The team began by conducting a simple field test to determine where the signals from the surrounding towers were the strongest. A Cel‑Fi PRO system was then installed on each of three floors to boost signals in areas not receiving any coverage.

cel-fi.com

BEYOND BETTER COVERAGE

Carlos, Technical IntegratorHaving worked with Cel‑Fi since 2014, Carols says it has become an important go‑to option for many of its customers struggling with indoor coverage. “The best part is, installation could be done by one person because it didn’t require advanced technical skills. Repeaters require a lot more installation work, while Cel‑Fi PRO on the other hand was much simpler to install and addressed all of SYHC’s indoor coverage challenges.”

Cel-Fi Smart Signal Boostercasestudy_syhc‑pro_18‑0711

PROCEL- F I

™

Indoor Cellular Coveragefor San Ysidro Health Center

• Fast and easy installation• Improved cellular coverage to exam rooms

and other remote areas within the building • Flexible and cost‑effective

VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital (CMH) based in South Hill, Virginia is a community owned hospital servicing the south-central region of Virginia and portions of North Carolina. The hospital distributes 150 cell phones to doctors, staff, and exec-utives to enable critical communications.

CHALLENGE When Eric Williams, Communications Coordinator joined CMH, he dis-covered that there had been consistent complaints about cellular cov-erage gaps in a number of areas within the hospital. “It seems it was an ongoing problem. There’s a lot of concrete and metal and there were a number of construction changes over the years leaving us with a lot of dead spaces.”

An added challenge was that operating rooms and radiation rooms had insulated walls that blocked signals. While the hospital had some femto cells in the building, Williams says they didn’t address the coverage problem. “In addition, each device required registration, but only allowed for 10 phone numbers on each, so some phones would get a signal but others wouldn’t. They also required a wired antenna.”

A bigger problem was locating those units, he adds. “There was no record of where they were installed. Some were in the ceiling, others in closets. It took a lot of time to find them.”

One of Williams’ first jobs was to conduct a walk through of the building with a nurse practitioner to assess the problem. “I was holding my cell phone in front of me and actually seeing where signals weren’t coming through and found the dead areas one by one.”

Dead zones were more than just an inconvenience, he says. “When it comes to patient care, immediate communications are critical. Doctors for example do a lot of dictation and file transfers, as well as conferring with other practitioners on their wireless devices. Those records can’t get lost or dropped. And they certainly don’t have time to walk around to find people or a desk phone.”

Indoor Cellular CoverageHelping the Medical Team at VCU

THE CHALLENGES: Healthcare

VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital (CHM)• South Hill, Virginia• Community owned• 150 doctors, staff, and executives

ChallengeNeeded consistent cellular coverage for staff members throughout areas of an older hospital building.

SolutionCel-Fi eliminated the coverage gaps and enabled uninterrupted communications.

Results• Fast and easy installation • Reliable cellular communications for practi-

tioners and other staff members• Improved staff morale

cel-fi.comCel-Fi Smart Signal Booster

THE SOLUTION In speaking to AT&T, Williams was introduced to Cel-Fi Smart Cellular Coverage solutions. While he was not familiar with the technolo-gy, he was willing to give one a try. “I had one system that we set up in different areas in the building where there were problems to see what the signal looked like. We got a signal in every single one.”

In rolling out the solution, Williams took a staged approach. Each system he acquired was set up and tested in two additional areas before purchasing more. “That’s how we built out the network. Because we are a hospital we are very conscious of budgets so have to explain every expenditure. A step-by-step process made the most sense.”

Once the initial stages were completed, Williams says he was given CFO approval to complete the job. “He didn’t hesitate once he saw the results.”

Installation of the Cel-Fi system was quick. “It took no time at all to do the downloading and linking [of the Cel-Fi WAVE app],” Williams says. “You just go on the website, download the app and they sync up, no problem. I really enjoyed the fact we didn’t have to call tech support for upgrades. I have to say, I like plug-and-play.”

RESULTS Cel-Fi systems were installed in areas ranging from engineering and radiation to emergency and ICU over a span of three months. Now Williams only has to do an occasional trace signal check to ensure they are working as they should.

“We have had no issues since they’ve been installed. And if the provider loses a signal in the area, rebooting takes no time at all.” The Cel-Fi WAVE app also makes it easy for Williams to monitor and manage Cel-Fi systems deployed across the hospital.

Williams adds that he’s especially impressed with Nextivity’s support team for Cel-Fi. “When I talked to the young lady about Cel-Fi, she really knew her job. She told me what it does, what we can do with it, and provided the documentation. It took five minutes for her to explain things and send me what I needed. I could handle the rest from there.”

Most importantly, the staff is happy that he managed to resolve a long-standing coverage problem. “Everyone here is impressed with the results. When you get a good product like Cel-Fi, it’s a wonderful thing.”

cel-fi.comCel-Fi Smart Signal Boostercasestudy_healthcare_18-0711

• Fast and easy installation

• Reliable wireless communications for

practitioners and other staff members

• Improved staff morale

The most advanced technology for improving cellular coverage.

Smart Cellular Coverage, Clearly BetterThe Cel-Fi product line is the best solution available on the market today for addressing the universal challenge of poor cellular coverage in the office, at home, or on the road. Unconditionally network safe. Exceptional coverage footprint. Carrier-approved for 3G/4G/LTE for voice and data. Built for carriers, integrators, and IT professionals.

Cel-Fi QUATRA™ In-building Cellular Solution

Cel-Fi PRO™ & DUO+™

Smart Signal Booster

ENTERPRISE • Scalable Active DAS Hybrid for Middleprise Buildings — perfect for office spaces, warehouses and parking structures

• Up to 100dB max system gain off-air or integrated with small cell

• All digital, RF and Power over Ethernet (PoE) • Single or multi-carrier solutions available

INDUSTRIAL • Coverage up to 15,000 ft2 (1,400 m2)• Up to 100dB max system gain• Perfect for remote and rugged

environments• Indoor/Outdoor NEMA 4 rated• Multiple antenna options available• Multi-carrier support with carrier switching

HOME & SMALL BUSINESS• Coverage up to 15,000 ft2 (1,400 m2)• Up to 100dB max system gain• Perfect for small/home office and

small enterprise• Simple install, no antennas required

• Multi-user for mobile coverage• Up to 70dB max system gain• Perfect for vehicles, trucks, fleets, RV’s

and Marine• Indoor/Outdoor NEMA 4 rated• Multi-carrier support with carrier switching

MOBILE Cel-Fi GO M™ Mobile KitMobile Smart Signal Booster

Cel-Fi GO X™ with AntennasIndoor / Outdoor Smart Signal Booster

cel-fi.comCel-Fi Smart Signal Boosterlinecard_all-products_eng_seg_18-0222