Cell reception is no longer considered a luxury. To most cell phone users, it’s a modern-day necessity making it essential to have reliable cell coverage at your place of work.

While provider coverage maps may show strong signals in your area, it does not guarantee great reception in your workplace. Building materials, geographic or structural interference, cell tower location, cell tower user capacity and a variety of other factors can have a negative impact on your cell phone signal.

Spotty service and dropped calls are frustrating, and if employees are using their cell phones to conduct business, problems like these can have a negative impact on communication with your customers, vendors and on your bottom line.

Fortunately, there are ways you can help ensure that the cell signal inside your business facilities is consistent and strong:

Avoid Inhibitors. Open a window, move away from walls and metal surfaces, and move to a higher level.

Charge Your Device. As batteries lose voltage, the amount of power available to communicate with the cellular tower also dwindles.

Close Unused Applications and Pages. Closing apps and pages that are running in the background enables your mobile device to devote all performance to the task at hand.

Enhance Your Cellular Signal. Cell phone signal boosters, also known as cell signal repeaters, are a great solution for most any space that has cell reception outside or nearby the facility. An in-building cell signal repeater such as SureCall’s signal booster, typically supports most cellular providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, in addition to smaller regional carriers if needed.

These devices are usually installed along with what is called a distributed antenna system (DAS). DAS is a telecommunications system that receives the carrier’s signal (a licensed radio frequency) on a base transceiver station or a bi-directional amplifier and then transports it into your building using a cable.

Coverage antennas are placed throughout the building as necessary to provide the best overall service for you and your employees. Cellular signal enhancement solutions come in passive or active options. The best option for you will depend on the size of your facility.

Passive systems

These systems use coaxial cable, a coverage antenna and other components that do not require AC or DC power to function. Passive solutions are more cost effective to install and work best in buildings that are under 100,000 square feet. Passive systems require the radio frequency power to be balanced among multiple coverage antennas so there is a strong and consistent signal throughout the building. The downside to this option is that it is difficult and costly to expand over time, should you want to increase the square footage taken up by your business in the same building.

Active systems

These systems require AC or DC power and consist of changing the radio frequency into other types of signals, such as optical. Then, antenna-like devices are placed throughout the building to receive the signal and change it back into a radio frequency used by cellular phones. Active systems are more costly than passive and are used in very large buildings as well as in campus-like settings of multiple buildings. This option, unlike a passive system, is easy to expand should the need arise.

Chickasaw Telecom can help you assess your needs and find the solution that can best improve the cellular signal in your business.