For a while now ads have been thrown at me regarding Baicells products and I have ignored them. A few days ago I saw the promotion for one base station and CPE so I did some research.
Today I find myself extremely intrigued with the idea of moving to a licensed band and the promises that LTE are making. But a few things concern me:
My ISP currently uses MAC authentication with a billing software (VISP.net). Seems Baicells approach changes that. Is all CPE configuration done through an off network public facing web portal? Would this mean that my billing software will be separated and apart from my authentication mechanism?
My network (from PtP to PtMP) is all 5ghz and 100% Mikrotik. Is it safe to say that with a lower frequency at the PtMP level: Any link that I have now functioning at 5ghz will be accessible at 3.5ghz LTE (given that lower frequencies can travel further)? Whats the longest distance you have seen with this technology?
I recently fell in love with the RF Elements symmetrical horn antennas; are there any plans for the same antenna type with this technology? Key features being less of a footprint the tower (much smaller than the traditional sector) and also no collocation issues (I have symmetrical antennas less than 2 feet apart vertically with no issues).
@arcee Welcome to Baicells LTE technology. Having been in the Wisp industry since 1997, I can truly say this technology is simply amazing, especially in Near and Non Line of Sight instances. You now have a tool in which you can reach many of those potential customers, you have previously said “no” too.
Baicells CloudCore has an API, which Visp.Net has already incorporated to manage your LTE customers.
Yes, the lower frequency will penetrate better than 5 GHz, but the real magic is the LTE design compared to WiFi based design. LTE will give you an extra 9 dB of receive sensitivity right off the bat. LTE was designed for outdoor mobile wireless, while WiFi was designed for indoor wireless. Think about it, how many more customers could you serve if you had an extra 9 dB. We tend to recommend links of 10 miles and under. The trend is to put base stations closer to the customer, so they can achieve more bandwidth/connection. Over the coming 3-5 years, you will see eNodeBs covering metropolitan and rural areas with coverage diameters of 2 miles or less. Why? Capacity is King.
We would love to see RF Elements horns in the 3.5 spectrum. We have spoken to Tasos several times and it is on their roadmap.
I think RF Elements would be wise to develop products for Band 42/43/48; as I see it, fixed and private mobile networks will be dominated by LTE in CBRS, and any vendor that jumps on the “bandwagon” now will have a significant advantage over anyone else.
The challenge I see ahead is trying to get the antenna manufacturers to see the light on this. Yes, there are sector panels available from a number of manufacturers today — but a typical 65/90/120 panel is not what we need. While our application is considerably different than what most of the folks that will read this use LTE for today, it has the potential to drive economies of scale in a manner that can benefit everyone.
I would highly suggest that everyone reading this ask RF Elements about when they will be bringing a Band 48 (CBRS) “Carrier” scalar horn to market. The end result will be cleaner spectrum for all in this band. If you can, provide them with an expected quantity of antennas you would purchase over an 18-24 month timeframe as that will help them size the market.