Top 10 Facts of Telecommunications Infrastructure
1) When building a new building, locate all of the fiber optic ISP networks nearby and consider putting in two trenches to be able to provision as many ISP networks as possible, after performing a 360 degree network analysis around the property. This enables the provisioning of multi-carrier networks with diverse entrances, which are much higher reliability ISP networks.
2) Telecommunications cabling Infrastructure needs to be a protected fixture within the tenant lease, whether installed by the landlord or tenant. No longer should any tenant be allowed to snip any wires or remove the cabling termination patch panels, or cabling infrastructure for any systems. The new standard should be that all CRE leases are changed and each tenant is made keenly aware and agrees that cabling is a protected fixture and landlord asset. Most all original Cat-3 cabling for last generation systems should be removed for a cleaner look and to make new spaces for next generation equipment. Telecom rooms, in most cases, should be seen as a showcase as much as possible—not seen as a cabling cleanup or installation nightmare scenario. Plug and Play space, as defined by The Blue Store, would enable a client to turn on adequate initial ISP and WiFi and be up and running with virtually all wired and wireless connected devices operating within 2 weeks.
3) Fiber optic networks are not all the same, but fiber optic is the highest reliability transport medium and most desired by new tenants. Fiber networks can be A) active or passive; B) dedicated or shared; C) private data network (not over the Internet) or public (using the internet); D) powered by the carrier or dark fiber powered by customer equipment, or E) managed as-a-service by the provider, or managed by customer IT or its Managed Services provider (MSP). There are at least 24 backbone fiber ISP networks terminating in Las Vegas data centers, with many having miles of fiber throughout Las Vegas.
4) The cost of even simple ISP fiber networks varies greatly from building to building. Not all networks or network types are available to any particular building. Not all carriers offer the same types of networks over fiber. Some carriers use other carrier’s fiber for access to its networks. Some carriers buy and resell other carrier services and bundle a combination of networks together. Coax in Las Vegas can currently reach up to 300mb down and DSL can reach up to 100mb down in some cases. Coax and DSL, if in the building, can be activated quickly, typically 1-2 weeks. Fiber, even if in the building, is typically requires 60 days or more days to activate. T-1s are mostly obsolete. Constructing new facilities to bring in new ISP services; fiber, copper or coax; into a building for the first time typically requires 90-120+ days lead time.
5) IP phone systems have two basic technical and financial models. A) Hosted PBX—a pay per phone per month ongoing network service fee with phone services in the cloud using a public internet or private IP-based voice network access, or B) IP-PBX – a premise based system using private voice trunks (not over the public internet). The total cost of ownership of an IP-PBX is typically much lower than hosted solutions and often provides advanced features most hosted services do not. The typical monthly network service fee for a 20 phone hosted solution is between $500 and $1000 per month. The typical monthly network service fee for a 20 phone IP- PBX with 8 IP phone lines, known as SIP trunks, is about $200 per month. Savings on monthly network service fees pays for the IP-PBX equipment, and then phone bills are much smaller long term.
6) WiFi is a local distribution system for ISP or network access, connected to an ISP or private data network, either by fiber, copper or wireless ISP, using a controller and connected system of WiFi Access Points (APs). A wireless router is a single AP. Larger areas require a network of APs designed to provide coverage in a particular area. Maximum range of an AP is up to about 500-600 feet, but more typically designed for use up to about 200-250 feet.
7) Terrestrial wireless ISPs typically purchase and resell carrier fiber ISP bandwidth over their private point-to-point wireless radio networks. Satellite ISPs bring in their own ISP services from their privately owned satellites. 4-G LTE is cellular ISP. WiFi and cabled networks can be connected to any ISP for Internet or network access. Wireless, whether point to point, 4-G-LTE or Satellite are often excellent back up networks and very often more than sufficient for primary, if other access methods are not available. Newer smart phones can transmit calls over WiFi networks, as well as over cell networks.
8) Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) deliver better cell phone reception and are made up of antennas, amplifiers and special cabling designed to receive/transmit local cell phone signals, amplify them and distribute the cell signals within a building or to an outside area. DAS comes in two basic formats, active with fiber and passive with coax. The costs and technical requirements are dramatically different between active and passive, but the outcome can often be the same in many venues—better cell reception.
9) VoIP Systems come in many different types. VoIP, “Voice over Internet Protocol”—is not necessarily voice over the Internet. Internet Protocol (IP) is a data compression methodology that enables the transfer of much higher data volumes over the previous methodologies, regardless of fiber or copper transport. It is possible to have a state-of-the-art VoIP IP-PBX that runs off traditional copper analog lines; and equally possible to have a traditional analog phone system connected to state-of-the-art VoIP voice trunks converted to analog—and many other combinations as well. Standard VoIP calls that simply mix with public Internet traffic, called Over the Top (OTT) generally have inconsistent call quality, known as lack of Quality of Service (QOS). Enterprise VoIP phone systems typically transmit voice calls over private voice channels separate from public Internet traffic, deploying some form of QOS.
10) Service Agreements with telecom companies often have automatic renewal clauses in them. To preserve your ability to make changes at the end of your term agreement, you should notify the carrier in writing, after signing the service agreement, that you are electing to not auto renew the agreement. This should be acknowledged in writing by the carrier and the communication record preserved.
Key Objectives: Use best practices to design, acquire, provision and integrate all of the various technical systems and infrastructures to provide an efficiently communicating and technically reliable well-functioning enterprise, easy to service when there are issues, scalable and mobile and with proper auto-failover and backup systems in place, at the lowest overall costs.
The goal should be to develop an intelligent design, after obtaining accurate answers from a source of prompt service for it all to work extremely well, fit your buildings, empower your businesses, be the best option for you, your tenants and buyers, be simple to operate and service and as cost efficient as possible.
Danny Bax ● 702-562-0140 ● 1-800-DannyBax ● dannybax@thebluestore.com ● thebluestore.com
Kathy Bax ● 702-845-1765 ● 1-855-WiFi-Park ● kathybax@wifiinthepark.net ● wifiinthepark.net
