Background
Installed Equipment: 14x StellaOffice 5 band repeaters.
Building type: Multi Storey Hospital
Location: Cavan, Ireland, Semi rural.
Installation Company: SigmaWireless
Cavan Hospital is a 40 year old building covering 30,000m2, with 264 beds. The wards are located over 3 levels, with one level below ground, and it also houses a canteen, a shop and many operating theatres and rehabilitation units.
The challenge
Patients, who spend long days in wards, require phone signal to call loved ones, and good quality data for entertainment and business. The easiest way to provide good quality voice and data in a hospital is to ensure that the mobile operator’s signal is available inside the building.
However, built 40 years ago, the structure of the hospital, with mass concrete walls and double glazed windows, prevented the mobile signal of all operators from entering the building.
As a result, even though the mobile operator’s masts are close to the hospital, on entering the building, no mobile signal was available.
Poor quality voice and data negatively affects the health and well-being of the patients and slows productivity of the staff, who require good mobile signal for GSM machines, eg. VISA pay terminals, to work.
The Management reached out to Topsat, a trusted Stella Doradus installer, who has years of experience in solving mobile signal coverage problems in buildings of all types.
The Solution
The hospital required a large-scale re-vamp to upgrade it to a modern facility, and an important part of this upgrade was to enable high quality voice and fast data signal for all staff and visitors.
The management of the hospital reached out to Sigma Wireless, a company with years of experience in solving cellular signal problems in buildings. Sigma Wireless chose the StellaDoradus Repeater System as the best solution to provide high quality voice and data to all staff, visitors, patients, and machines in the hospital. It was chosen because the system amplifies all operators. Other competitive systems require a separate system for each operator and, as such, was more expensive and was more difficult to install.
The installation required 14 Stella Repeaters and 98 indoor antennas.
The Result
Excellent voice and data coverage
Full 2G, 3G and 4G mobile signal is now available throughout the hospital, ensuring clear quality calls and high speed data for all staff and patients. Patients no longer have to share a television screen for entertainment but can use their own mobile devices as they please.
Low management system.
Users use their phones as normal with their chosen operator.
This means that the hospital does not have to maintain payphones for phone calls, or manage a WiFi system, with the associated upkeep and GDPR issues. All users can simply work off their own data plan as they do in their own homes.
Speedy installation with minimal disturbance.
The installation was done with minimal disturbance to the running of the hospital. Time was saved by using the online Stella Planning Tool, which allowed the installers to plan the position of the cables and antennas in the corridors in advance. The planning tool checks the cable lengths and signal coverage so only the correct amount of material is ordered and this aids the installation to run smoothly.
Future proofed technology.
The chosen Stella Repeater system amplifies five European frequencies, and as 5G is introduced by the operators on these frequencies, 5G will be amplified too. The operators continuously improve their network speeds and by amplifying the operator’s technology, the Stella Repeater system is future proofed.
