Property owners and carriers have long debated who should incur costs to make sure a phone works in all areas of a building – including a basement or parking garage, which are spots that rarely get signals. Jim Young, Co-Founder & CEO, Realcomm, recently shared a story that speaks to this:

“A few years ago, I was in the lobby of a major Dallas developer, and as I tried to use my phone, the receptionist motioned me to a window in the corner of the reception area. There I was, leaning up against the window, struggling with my low coverage and spotty service. When I asked one of their executives about this he said ‘it was not their problem to solve.'”

I recently offered some suggestions on how to avoid connectivity issues in buildings, which included equipping workforces with 4G or higher mobile devices, getting creative with workflow options, and investing in a cellular repeater. But these suggestions place the burden directly on the property owners while the cellular carrier plays no real part.

Enter Ericsson. Last fall the company made news when they launched the Radio Dot System. Young shared that “the radio, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, is designed for quick, easy installation inside buildings and offers a platform that was intended for the robust use of data heavy applications on mobile devices of all kinds.”

An Ericsson press release describes the DOT system:

“Dots are connected and powered via standard Internet LAN cables (Category 5/6/7) to indoor radio units that link to a base station. Radio Dot System leverages the same industry-leading features found in Ericsson’s macro base station. Deployments and upgrades are simple, addressing growing capacity and coverage requirements. Thus the users’ experience is consistent wherever they go and the indoor network evolves in lockstep with the outdoor network. Ericsson Radio Dot System supports integration with Ericsson’s carrier Wi-Fi portfolio, enabling features such as real-time traffic steering to ensure the best user experience across both Wi-Fi and 3GPP networks.” 

This seems very promising for mobile building teams, who depend on an Internet connection to do their jobs effectively. After all, a loss of connectivity will inevitably affect the speedy resolutions to tenant service requests, which could lead to unhappy tenants, and a loss of revenue if they vacate.

Interested in learning more? Realcomm is addressing this issue head-on and Michael Rothey, an executive with Ericsson, will be joining the In-Building wireless discussion at Realcomm 2014 this June 17-19 in Las Vegas.