Hi guys,

what is the process of preparing cell sites for 4G?

New equipment - cabinets and antennae?

How long does a site typically take?

On an unrelated question, if a Three site is down will it also affect my mate who is with TMobile (as they site share?)

It's 3.9G not 4G.

And from my understanding it needs antenna upgraded and a few others. Cabinets am not sure. as you can get dual mode ones..

As for outages affecting both T-Mobile and Three, it would depend on the piece of equipment that fails as if I'm not mistaken both networks are meant to have their own separate backhaul(the physical data connection between sites).

The cabinets are separate but connected to the same antennae so some work on the combiners can cause disruption to both networks - though if done optimally should be no more than a few minutes.

The antennae sometimes need upgrading but sometimes don't. Changing antennae on cellsites will cause disruption to both networks.

Same goes for backhaul - sometimes needs upgrading, sometimes don't. However backhaul is separate and can affect both networks but usually won't.

Also the ITU has now accepted LTE as a 4G technology. And EE are in some places deploying LTE-A which has always been "true 4G".

The process can vary from weeks to months...planning permission, civils works, preparing the backhaul etc.

Dependant on the type of site been converted and for what operator it could take several hours, to several days to swap once the passive works are complete.

Examples:

Three are using Samsung for their LTE rollout. They are just adding the samsung kit to the network and leaving the existing (shared) kit for 3g on site. Quite an easy and short process. Im also told that the kit, once switched on is that intelligent, if the transmission is in place and routed correctly can be on air within seven, yes seven minutes.

EE are using Huawei kit for LTE but are also swapping out the legacy 2g network for Huawei at the same time. So these will take a lot more planning, more civils works etc. They do have the advantage though of been able to use the existing antenna as their LTE is at 1800Mhz, same as their 2G.

O2 and Voda are starting to mast share, or SRAN (Single - RAN). Their whole network is been swapped out for either Ericsson, NSN or Huawei kit (area dependant). As LTE is been added at 800Mhz, new antennas are required as well as new feeders. Old cabinets are been removed and often new concrete bases are having to be laid for the new cabinets. In theory, once the site is ready, it can take just a day to rip out the old legacy equipment, install new bases, new cabinets and get the site back on air...generally with the addition of U900 as well as LTE.

And all the above will of course vary depending on whether the existing site is a combination 2G/3G site, and whether it is already a shared site or becoming incorporated in one of the two major shared RANs in the process.

Backhaul is the same, shared at upgraded sites... Sync-E 1Gbps or faster. Expandable

John's summery is the most accurate although Samo kit can be online quickly it rarely is that fast a process, Huwaei kit once installed doesn't take much longer but obviously has to provide a 2G service which slightly complicates issues and antennas are 50/50 wether they are changed..

Totally spot on about differences regarding current site state/tech. Three have the easier job as sites are relatively modern, most have had DC upgrades and many have the new back haul.
Some if EE's sites are a total nightmare, legacy backhaul, obsolete microwave, antennas, planning issues (due to the amount of changes needed and obviously more rural sites. It's a big bag of woe that EE, MBNL & Three all help out to fix.the cities done up until earlier this year were ok.. Now it really starts to get hard, but it will be for O2 & Voda too as they have the same issue which will get just as bad (maybe worse ie more 2G sites) as it moves out if cities. Three (4G) have really benefitted from EE & MBNL prior upgrades.. Which they part funded of course.

Many people have said the Samsung equipment requires new cabinets (which nobody has actually reported seeing) which would mean re-routing the physical backhaul (or splitting/routing it) and also power - whether through a new feed or from the existing/main cabinet.

There's also the fact from an RF point of view you can't just "connect another device" via a passive splitter like you would split a TV aerial. Crossovers, forward/reverse path splitters, etc. etc.

As for the backhaul - is that shared now as well? From what I recall a main point of MBNL was operators managed their own backhaul separately. While I'd imagine shared physical backhaul infrastructure (i.e. physical fibre) I'd expect multiple logical channels on it to segregate each individual operator's traffic at least.

Thats because Samo kit is pretty much only in the 'launch' cities at the moment.. I do know of two sites with them here but you'll have to wait until i get roof access until you get a picture.

Hmm, nice.

One of the things I miss about working at the university - because we had the tallest buildings in the city pretty much every network was desperate to shove every transmitter type they had on our roof. With the exception of O2 who liked putting HF gear halfway down the side of the building, i.e. right outside my office window. Was fun observing all the network work going on and er... "networking" with the techs.