Capacity

Wireless networks are like roads and highways: more cars and drivers mean better roads and wider streets are needed to handle the traffic.
Greater demand for mobile means our national network must locate antennas in more places (indoors and outdoors) while making sure there are high-speed connections from these antennas back to the core telecommunications network.

Macro Sites

Traditional macro sites are installed on rooftops, building facades monopoles and other steel structures. These traditional deployments provide coverage over a broad area (up to several miles in some instances) while handling capacity demands from many mobile device users.

Wireless networks depend on radio waves that travel through the air. Topography can get in the way of those radio signals.

Hills, valleys, trees – even the amount of foliage on trees – are some of the naturally occurring obstacles that get in the way of uninterrupted transmission of radio waves.

Just like topography, man-made obstacles can interfere with the transmission of radio waves. This is why signals inside homes and buildings are not as strong as when you are outdoors or traveling in your car.

For wireless calls to maintain connectivity as a customer drives or walks down a street, the signals from one cell site must overlap with the signals of the next cell site.

It’s important to know that the signal overlap must be optimized – too much overlap and there are interference issues; if there is no overlap, a gap in coverage could result in dropped calls.

In addition to all the science that goes into properly locating a cell site, T-Mobile must also find a property owner that is willing to have an antenna facility placed on his/her property.

Public and private landlords are compensated for the lease of space where antenna facilities are located – whether on commercial property, local or regional park land, fire or police stations, church property or on an individual landowner’s personal property.

To maintain its license, T-Mobile must meet strict regulations administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

T-Mobile must also comply with many local, state and federal regulatory requirements – including local zoning ordinances and construction standards – as well as government agencies and laws (e.g. the FAA, National Environmental Protection Act, National Historic Preservation Act, etc.)

When a traditional antenna site’s signal is blocked by obstacles, or when network capacity is challenged by large numbers of users, Small Cell and Distributed Antenna System (DAS) networks can improve coverage, capacity and network speeds.

This also relates to network densification strategies, which position more antennas closer to mobile devices – another technique used by T-Mobile to enhance our national network.