DAS Solutions For Multifamily Housing
Provide residents and emergency responders with reliable communication at your multifamily property with Cell DAS or ERRCS Solutions from Illuminati Labs.
Reliable cell phone service was ranked the #1 most requested amenity by residents in the NMHC’s annual preference survey and the majority of multifamily buildings fail to provide cellular connectivity for their tenants.
With the fierce competition for renters in today’s market, multifamily management and development teams are focused on delivering technologies to residents that make living and working in the same space easier and more seamless – those technologies all rely on strong cellular signal. Our cellular enhancement systems ensure that apps for smart home controls, package delivery, room reservations, and even pet perks and car charging stations can function at peak performance.
Illuminati Labs’ cell signal solutions have helped scores of multifamily properties across the US achieve complete resident, staff and public safety connectivity throughout hallways and shared spaces, common area and amenity spaces, individual units and even underground garages.
Multifamily buildings that leverage Illuminati Labs’ cellular enhancement solutions attract more residents, retain more leases, and deliver a higher level of safety and security throughout the property by meeting first responder safety requirements.
Because cellular connectivity – for both data and voice – is the new bar for renter attractiveness.
Ironstate’s Urby development is a 70-story multifamily high rise that offers premium views of the water in a hugely popular area. When cell coverage issues were seen throughout the entirety of the building, Ironstate began evaluating options to solve the cell signal problem. Illuminati Labs stood out by offering guaranteed performance at the lowest total cost.
A trial system was originally contracted to evaluate the project, and soon after, Illuminati Labs was asked to deploy a permanent solution for the full building. The solution was featured in The New York Times or project excellence and solution implementation.
Read our field report: Topsy Turvy on Top of the Urby
We’ll discuss your coverage problems/concerns and review your architectural plans to determine whether or not a site survey might be required. If it is, we come to your site and take readings of available signal strength inside and outside the property.
We complete our survey by using a PCTel SeeHawk which is widely recognized as the most accurate and reliable test equipment for RF on the market. This survey will show what carriers and areas the signal is deficient for in the building.
We compile all the information on your site, including your budget, to create a proposed solution that will deliver the most bang for your buck.
Once the proposal is approved and signed, we place your equipment order to begin the installation process.
At proposal signing, we contact your GC and/or ownership to coordinate schedules.
We wire and install your cellular or ERRCS DAS system according to schedule. llluminati Labs strives to make our installations as seamless as possible. With no hyperbole, our teams believe in being the best on-site contractor you have ever worked with. Period.
This is the exciting part where we ensure that the system is working flawlessly.
We create a post-install heat map, similar to our initial survey. This mapping will show us the delta between the initial survey and the survey with a functioning cellular DAS system.
We partner with our clients and developers to help them on any subsequent projects, always working to make our project integration flawless.
We pride ourselves on providing turnkey services: from engineering design and installation to testing and expert consulting, we ensure our clients have a seamless solution, tailored to their unique needs.
Our Engineers will evaluate your building and design you a custom solution to maximize coverage and minimize cost.
Our super-team deploys, commissions, and manages your project start to finish, ensuring an efficient, quality process.
We heat-map the property to determine which areas have deficient signal and then provide you with the results and a path to fix the issues.
Our experts help you determine the solution that’s best for your building, providing both design concepts and budgetary guides.
Several factors influence price, with the square footage of the affected area and the availability of cell signal outside being the primary considerations.
Other influential pieces include things like:
-Whether the ceiling is a hard lid or lift tile ceiling
-The layout of building
-Whether there are cement cores in place between floors
-… and many other issues that we will analyze together with you
The time from consultation to finished installation depends mostly on your property’s construction schedule plus several other factors such as how accessible the site will be and will we be running through conduit. When we give you our proposal, we can give you a fairly accurate estimation of time.
The systems will typically support the full range of mobile device functions.
There are so many variables to understand, it can be overwhelming! Here is a short list of questions to ask your integrator that will help you know whether you’re getting a well-engineered system that is designed for your facility’s specific needs:
What measures are being taken for future proofing? Are the passive components capable of supporting other bands? What is the roadmap for the active equipment?
Is the density of the system consistent and viable? Properly designed systems must hit a critical juncture. They must provide truly 100% comprehensive coverage with enough hardware to cover the building, but properly spaced and engineered so the budgetary costs remain viable.
If a passive system is being recommended- has a full site survey been completed? The integrator must understand the macro environment in addition to the in-building system. They will work in conjunction to ensure the results within the building exceed expectations.
Finally, be sure to check references on jobs similar to yours – same size, same industry. For instance, if you have a hospital, look for a provider who has successfully worked with a hospital specifically. Installing a cellular enhancement system in a 300,000 square foot warehouse is a totally different game than in a 300,000 square foot hospital or hotel or even a co-working office building. Each venue has its own set of extenuating circumstances that must be taken into consideration for the system to function properly.
More and more municipalities are rolling out code for first responder DAS (ERRCS). The code will generally state that in buildings of a certain size, the first responders who would report to that building must be able to operate their two-way handsets (So the building must maintain minimum service levels).
We recommend testing the building during construction to determine if a system will be needed.
Technically, they’re both DAS – Distributed Antenna Systems. They both take signal from an antenna and distribute it throughout a building. The difference is more about the end user of the signal. When people refer to DAS they usually mean life/safety DAS, sometimes called public safety DAS. This is the system that is in place to guarantee first responders a communication network in the event of an emergency. When people refer to cellular enhancement they usually mean the system that is in place to provide cell phone service – voice/data/text – for the people living or working in the building.
These DAS systems are also called:
Cellular repeater systems
Cell phone repeater systems
Cellular enhancement systems OR cellular signal enhancement systems
In-building wireless (refers to either cell or WiFi signal)
Cell phone boosters
