May, 2004
Antenna Systems and Technology
SOHO: The Key to Ubiquitous Wireless Coverage
Paul Simpson, Vice President Business Development, Spotwave Wireless Inc.
Everyday millions of wireless users across the country try to use their cell phone and other wireless devices to no avail. In-building coverage is the problem. Some flail around, tilting their head this way or that usually in a futile effort to get a signal. Most of us can relate to this frustration. However, when it’s a C-level executive hanging onto their screen door trying to get a connection or a successful professional working from a home office, it’s a different kind of problem – for the carrier. These professionals are part of the SOHO and residential market. As we will see, they are highly influential users that are strategically important to the successful rollout of a progressive wireless coverage solution that delivers always on, everywhere connectivity.
We should be careful not to treat SOHO and residential as one homogeneous market – they are distinct and different, with many segments. By definition SOHO includes home offices and small office buildings. The user profile is largely professional. Residential constitutes a household with various users, demographics, and usage rates. Both of these markets include a strategically significant user: professionals and C-level executives that are using their cell phone or other wireless devices for business purposes. Carriers need to pursue these markets in lockstep with in-building wireless solutions for commercial and industrial markets. Why? Executive users influence or make buying decisions for hundreds, even thousands of wireless users in their organization. Executive customers want their cell phones, blackberry and other wireless devices to work wherever they are. Not getting reliable coverage from a home office is frustrating at minimum. But top customers may even move their account if they think another provider can eliminate in-building trouble spots – and assure always on connectivity.
Perhaps more importantly, professionals and executives will be the first users to buy a credible, well packaged in-home or small office wireless solution. As such, they represent the first group of significant adopters outside commercial markets. When you consider there are over 55 million residences in the US, and millions of small office buildings, the SOHO and residential markets are poised to generate billions in new service revenue for wireless providers. All they need is a reliable, ‘shrink wrapped’, and affordable wireless coverage solution.
Right now, the wireless coverage story is a ‘good news - bad news’ one. In some respects, wireless service providers may have been too successful at gaining user acceptance and wide spread adoption of wireless devices, which continue to experience meteoric growth. The only problem: users expect always on, everywhere coverage for their cell phone and wireless devices today – right now. These are impatient, technology smart people with zero tolerance for coverage issues. Unfortunately, access to a wireless network continues to be severely compromised or blocked in many buildings. Homes don’t fair much better. We all know this prevents calls and connectivity, lower throughout of wireless data services, lost revenue, and higher customer frustration. That’s why IDC declared in-building wireless coverage one of the top ten wireless service issues of 2003.
It's an even bigger issue today. Getting continuous high quality signal reception has emerged as the number one issue that drives user satisfaction. Wireless number portability has added a new imperative to the highly competitive wireless service market: users can now own their number. If they think they can better coverage from someone else, there’s little downside to changing service providers. This is a big driver that underscores the importance of urgently solving in-building coverage problems, particularly for high usage and influential users – like SOHO and professionals within the residential market.
Of course, changing carriers won’t help most users get better coverage. The issue is usually about building materials and terrain. Carriers have done a great job at providing high quality macro level networks. The problem is the laws of physics: concrete, stone, steel, terrain and other dense materials absorb or disperse signals. This is further aggravated by the reluctance of subscribers to tolerate towers in their own neighborhood.
The fact that SOHO and residential markets have smart, high usage, influential decision makers is only one reason they are both so important to the wireless coverage story. We must also consider how ‘everywhere, always on’ wireless coverage is likely to be achieved. History tells us the solution will be progressive and occur in stages starting with those markets that need it the most – and can afford it. Every new piece of equipment, or service, that is added to the home has followed this type of adoption pattern – from refrigerators to DSL. As well, the first products and solutions always appear premium priced. Costs fall with rising volume.
The first credible well-packaged, fully supported in-home wireless solution will be no different. Prices will drop only when the solution becomes a commodity through mass appeal and adoption. So, the first users of an in-home or small office wireless solution will likely be executives and professionals simply because they need it the most.
The worst thing that could happen at this crucial stage in the rollout of any wireless coverage solution is that these professionals get ‘burned’ by sub-optimal self-administered wireless coverage products that are unreliable or difficult to install, or worse – adversely affect the carrier’s macro network or other licensed users of the spectrum.
Clearly ubiquitous coverage must be achieved through a carrier approved, carrier provided solution if the integrity of the spectrum is to be protected – and users are to get consistent, reliable, high quality coverage. That means viable solutions for achieving in-home and small office coverage must satisfy a range of exacting criteria. Performance, reliability, and ease of installation are at the top of the requirements list.
These observations have important implications for the total coverage solution that’s required for SOHO and residential markets – and the characteristics of the underpinning technology that will enable a credible mass-market solution. Many carriers are establishing evaluation criteria and using this to assess – and systematically eliminate a plethora of potential in-building wireless coverage products for the SOHO and residential markets. Most of these products have proven to be completely unsatisfactory for small building and in-home applications for a number of reasons. They are unstable or are adversely affected by another carrier’s signals. They require too much time and technical knowledge to install. They require post installation support to address signal problems. They are dependent on other components that must be integrated to provide a complete solution. Or they only offer a partial coverage solution to the home or building – perhaps just to a single room. The list of problems is extensive. For fast paced, impatient, technology smart professional users, they are an unacceptable option. From the carrier’s perspective, many of these products are unstable and cause interference. This defeats the best efforts by all carriers to provide a quality network. Any wide scale deployment must have no impact on the network and each system deployed must be unconditionally stable. The degradation impact on a base station receiver due to elevated noise levels is illustrated in Figure 1.
To capitalize on the SOHO and residential markets we believe a wireless coverage solution must be assigned priorities – it will be difficult to address all of these at once. The highest priority by far is performance. Services and form issues round out the list of considerations for evaluating a successful coverage solution. Performance means an effective home or small-office wireless coverage solution must:
In addition to performance, a wireless coverage solution has to be affordable. This is the demanding criterion that Spotwave has set for its family of SpotCellTM products, which use smart antenna technology and adaptive techniques to deliver reliable, cost effective in-building wireless coverage solutions. They provide a true ‘out-of-the-box’ in-building coverage solution that is ideal for SOHO and residential applications. They are completely adaptive with no user controls, never need maintenance, and your Grandmother can install the equipment.
SpotCells are a new breed of smart solutions that automatically scan across the spectrum looking for both desired and undesired signals and continually optimize for best performance. For example, as new base stations are deployed, the smart antenna can adaptively modify its behavior to deal with the newer, stronger signals. It also automatically reacts to other changes in the network including ongoing network optimization and the introduction of new services such as GPRS and 1xRTT. This adaptive functionality eliminates the need for manual intervention, special knowledge, and post installation support. Clearly smart antenna technology presents the type of intelligent coverage solution that’s required, if not expected by time-pressured professionals working at home and in small buildings.
While performance is key to a successful coverage solution, there’s more. It’s not good enough to simply offer a high performance product. Carriers must offer a completely supported solution. Level of service is also a key requirement for carriers servicing the SOHO and residential markets. The core product must be wrapped in after-market options. This includes 1-800 help to address installation and in-use operational issues plus the option to have a turnkey solution where a certified professional installer sets the equipment up. Users have to be able to pick the level of service and support they want – and know that if there’s a problem, they can get a knowledgeable person on the phone immediately. Spotwave is already working with carriers to provide this level of prerequisite support. All of our products, for example, are shipped with a 1-800 number that guarantees any user direct access to technical help. In some cases, this support can augment what the carrier provides. The bottom line: end users are guaranteed help when they need it.
A final requirement for an effective SOHO and residential wireless solution involves form considerations: how does the physical product actually look? Fortunately many home and small building owners have become use to the idea of seeing, if not installing, add-on equipment if the benefits of doing so are compelling enough. Satellite dishes are an excellent example. This doesn’t mean homeowners will tolerate a clunky, ugly looking product mounted on the side of their 4,000 sq. ft. home. That’s why Spotwave, for example, has invested significantly in an unobtrusive, visually pleasing ergonomic design solution. Our SpotCellTM products are about the size and shape of a large dinner plate. It includes an integrated high-gain directional antenna LNA and PA on a shielded PCB that houses RF electronics. In addition to providing a reliable, maintenance free coverage solution, SpotCellTM products also satisfy highly subjective criteria that will be applied by SOHO and professional users: they won’t look ugly when installed. While this is a lower priority, form is an important consideration for the wireless solution that carriers package for home and small building users.
The SOHO and residential markets are primed and ready for a carrier-supported, reliable, ‘packaged’ wireless coverage solution. Carriers must prepare for explosive demand for wireless services that will come from these users. Solutions must adhere to stringent performance and service criteria to ensure user acceptance and satisfaction. Winning the confidence and support of the SOHO market, and professional users in residential markets, will establish an important foundation for a broad based coverage solution – one that will eventually enable carriers to deliver on the promise of always on everywhere connectivity that is so anticipated and desired by users across North America, and around the world.
A Spotwave Wireless co-founder, Paul Simpson has more than 18 years of experience in product design, sales, marketing and business development in wireless and telecommunications. Paul is actively involved in the development of new business and market strategies for Spotwave.
