New Penthouse Ofc /w Sprint, TM and VZW antennas

[3dog]

This is a question about the use of ethernet cabling for brand new offices, on which external directional cell tower antennas are mounted.

A client is planning to move his offices into the penthouse suite of this building, which is currently being rebuilt.  The client is planning to move into the penthouse suite which is the same structure that holds external antennas for Sprint, TM and VZW on at least 3 sides.  Also the equipment rooms housing the gear used by Sprint, TM and VZW are in one area, but within the same structure that the office space is being built from.

Those of you who have worked in close proximity to the back side of cell site antennas that are mounted on buildings, are you aware of interference problems with regular CAT 6 UTP for computers and data?  If not, does it call for STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) or do we need to use Fiber for every drop?

What about using their existing WAP's (wireless access points) for WiFi for the offices.  Will that work, or will it be a signal nightmare?

[lilotimz]

The frequency in use by telecommunications networks, ie 600,700,800,850,1700-2100,1900, 2300, 2500, 3.5 and beyond do not interfere with ethernet cabling or unlicensed 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz. Any 5 GHz unlicensed LTE eNBs will scan for 5 GHz wifi signals and self optimize to not interfere with them. 

Run all those ethernet drops and WAPs to your hearts content as per your rf survey planning. 

[3dog]

15 hours ago, lilotimz said:

The frequency in use by telecommunications networks, ie 600,700,800,850,1700-2100,1900, 2300, 2500, 3.5 and beyond do not interfere with ethernet cabling or unlicensed 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz. Any 5 GHz unlicensed LTE eNBs will scan for 5 GHz wifi signals and self optimize to not interfere with them. 

Run all those ethernet drops and WAPs to your hearts content as per your rf survey planning. 

lilotimz: Thank you for the help!

Just curious.  Is this something you run into from time to time (ethernet networks essentially co-located with Cell Tower equipment)?  Could I run into some issues, or does it just never happen in your experience?  The client will be doing VoIP for telephony, so even marginal dropouts are a potential issue.

Have you ever run STP (shielded twisted pair) to mitigate potential unwanted interference?  Did it work and did it help?

[ingenium]

lilotimz: Thank you for the help!

Just curious.  Is this something you run into from time to time (ethernet networks essentially co-located with Cell Tower equipment)?  Could I run into some issues, or does it just never happen in your experience?  The client will be doing VoIP for telephony, so even marginal dropouts are a potential issue.

Have you ever run STP (shielded twisted pair) to mitigate potential unwanted interference?  Did it work and did it help?

I've never heard of it interfering. Ethernet is pretty resilient, even AC power in my experience hasn't been a problem when I've done runs. As long as the wires aren't parallel and very close together, I would think that you'd be fine. As lilotimz said, the cellular frequencies are way above the frequency of Ethernet. Nothing will be below 600 MHz, with most over 1500 MHz. AC power can cause issues because the frequency overlaps with Ethernet.

 

As a real world example, my college dorm was wired with Ethernet, and Sprint equipment was literally mounted next to my window, on the other side of the wall. The back of the antenna was maybe 5 feet from my computer. No one in my dorm had Ethernet issues.

 

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[tommym65]

Cat-6 cable is thoroughly shielded and is designed to block interference even from 120/240V AC (e.g., fluorescent lighting).

You will have no RF interference problems whatever.

[3dog]

15 hours ago, ingenium said:

As a real world example, my college dorm was wired with Ethernet, and Sprint equipment was literally mounted next to my window, on the other side of the wall. The back of the antenna was maybe 5 feet from my computer. No one in my dorm had Ethernet issues.

 

 

 

Excellent.  That's great info.  Thanks Ingenium.