Cel‑Fi PRO Extends Cellular Coverage for San Ysidro Health Center Patients and Staff
San Ysidro Health Center success story
Summary
Challenge
Enable cellular coverage in areas beyond the building’s lobby
Solution
Cel‑Fi PRO Smart Signal Boosters® extends coverage to the entire facility
Results
• Fast and easy installation
• Improved cellular coverage to exam rooms and other remote areas within the building
• A 67% cost savings versus other options
Challenge
San Ysidro Health Center (SYHC) is a non‑profit provider of health care services to families in the San Diego region. Like many facilities in the vicinity, SYHC clinic is located in a valley, while cellular towers are situated at a higher elevation. Although outdoor cellular reception was relatively good (around 90db), there were indoor coverage challenges to address.
“Once you walked past the lobby into certain indoor areas such as the exam rooms, there was virtually no signal,” says Carlos Morales, President of Blu Telecommunications, a wireless communications consultant for service sectors as well as agricultural, industrial, and electrical customers.
SYHC turned to Blu to resolve the indoor coverage issues at an affordable cost. “Customers don’t want to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a broadband in‑building solution,” Morales notes. “Repeaters [analog boosters] would have cost up to $15,000 including installation, not to mention the time and effort spent on approvals and resolving latency and interference issues.”
Microcells were also not an option because they don’t allow for hand‑offs of calls once you leave a coverage area. “That could lead to dropped calls as people moved throughout the building,” Morales explains.
The Solution
Morales admits that when they first walked into the clinic, “We weren’t 100% sure a smart signal booster would work and that we would have to go with a repeater or DAS solution. But the costs and complexity of those options were a big concern for the clinic. They would also have meant running wiring into each floor while making sure cellular signals didn’t interfere with each other.”
Installation of the Cel‑Fi system turned out to be remarkably simple, he adds. The team began by conducting a simple field test to determine where the signals from the surrounding towers were the strongest. A Cel‑Fi PRO system was then installed on each of three floors to boost signals in areas not receiving any coverage.
Results
“We ran another field test and confirmed that with Cel‑Fi, we had covered every spot where we needed a signal,” Morales reports. “The best part is, installation could be done by one person because “it didn’t require advanced technical skills.”
The fact that Cel‑Fi PRO is plug‑and‑play and can be installed in significantly less time and lower cost was an important selling point for the customer. “Because repeaters require a lot more installation work, they would have come in at about 25 cents per sq. ft. Cel‑Fi on the other hand averaged out to 7 cents per sq. ft. and addressed all of SYHC’s indoor coverage challenges.
- Quick and easy installation
- Enhanced operations
- Achieved reliable coverage within budget
Contact us today to help with your Cellular Coverage Problems
This CEL-FI installation was undertaken by our partners, in which CEL-FI has a global footprint in almost 100 countries. For a referral to a local expert in your area, please contact us via phone or email.