A note about College Campuses:

The carriers probably feel they’re doing the college a favor by installing it on the campus regardless if it’s a small or macro cell. I will tell you from past experiences that some colleges would try to strong arm the carriers to get on the campus and then pay a lot to be there. I think that hurts many colleges. Then some carriers wanted exclusivity, which also caused issues. The reality is that a college campus is huge and it takes a lot to cover it properly, especially with today’s higher frequency spectrum. Wi-Fi is almost a necessity. 

Wi-Fi is another issue because colleges lock down those networks the best they can. They are so worried about getting hacked. Think about it, you have brilliant kids, some with a lot of spare time, just looking for a way into the network. Security is key, but so is broadband and ease of access.

If the college builds a private network, it will need a trusted partner, either an integrator or Wireless Service Provider (WSP). They will have to sit with them and go over all the pros and cons. I listed several below. Embedded voice is becoming an issue.

Although many of the issues below are around P5G, PLTE will work just as well. Wi-Fi is great for colleges but can’t cover the grounds like LTE/5G spectrum. 

The thing about any Enterprise that wants to build a carrier grade network, there has to be a reason. Mostly financial and tech firms are interested. Sometimes manufacturing and medicine as well. Most of those reasons are around security and coverage. 

They perceive PLE and P5G as being more secure than Wi-Fi. Although, they have Wi-Fi throughout their existing networks. Sometimes they have public and corporate Wi-Fi. They may want to have a secure network for other services, backhaul, or offloading the Wi-Fi. 

Regardless, not many carriers want to add a cell site or small cells inside an Enterprise campus unless they get a long term lease. Carriers also have little to gain unless it’s a large customer. Then they will do it just for the revenue. 

Private networks will be the rage at some point, but it has to make sense. If they just want IoT functions, there are several cost-effective solutions, like (LoRa, NFC, and BLE), that make more sense if security is managed. 

Decide on some key points:

• What is the driver for the network? Data download speeds, security, and e911, device coverage, analytics, or what?
• How will it get paid for going forward? Not just to build, which may be a grant, but the ongoing maintenance and OpEx costs.
• Do they have a trusted partner? Not the team that will build the network or the carrier, but someone independent that has the school’s interests forefront?
• Who do they want to own the network and student data, the school or the carriers?
• What problems are being solved?
• Can you plan for growth and expansion?

Once you have the key indicators mapped out, then you can put together the use cases for the guiding plan you helped lay out.

Campus Ideas

Now start putting together their needs. I am going to give you some ideas below.  However, don’t let this limit you and don’t get pushy with your customer. I think when you look at the way forward, they may need some help putting it together.

Also, remember that they probably love Wi-Fi, so keep it in the plan. In fact, expand beyond PLTE and P5G into LoRa and Wi-Fi as part of the solution. Remember we’re solving problems for the customer, but not limiting them.

I am going to point out some of the solutions we’ve done in the past, real world experience. Then expand into some ideas I have heard tossed around. 

1. Broadband access across the campus. This is the most common use case. Whether they’re employees, students, or visitors, you want to have broadband access across the campus grounds. This has traditionally been done with Wi-Fi, easy but the coverage is very limited. People also perceive it as having security issues. If you go 4G or 5G you can improve the coverage and reduce the radio count. 
2. Cameras are always added for one reason or another. The cameras could be sold alone, like for security. All they want is the video and to record. However, today there is so much done with AI and ML over video. You can track auto and human traffic, identify rodents, track moisture, send alarms when flooding happens, or almost anything you can see. The backend server can be trained using rules to alert you.
3. Call boxes are often placed across the campus for emergency access if it’s large enough. These are often one of the first things added or upgraded.
4. Video Kiosks are another thing that are often laid out to help people look at maps, see specials, or get messages very quickly. If they’re looking for the kiosk to pay for itself, that is a stretch, so it’s there to serve the walking traffic, not make money. It’s a way to serve the people. 
5. Sensors are a key use case, but not always the sensors you think. The obvious is temperature and air quality. Many campus networks think this is a key thing, but in the end, it’s nice to have. However, to read meters is a key and useful use case. Let’s look at a few examples:
   1. Electrical meters
   2. Gas meters
   3. Parking meters
   4. Open parking space sensors
   5. Car counters at venues
   6. Heat sensors
   7. Emergency buttons
   8. Flood and moisture sensors
   9. Break in alarms
   10. Panic buttons
   11. Air quality sensors
6. Point of Sale systems are one thing that is often an afterthought unless it’s a sales venue. Even on college campuses they sell stuff all over the place, and not just on game days. They want to track ticket sales all over the place.  For those of you that don’t know, the Point-of-Sale system is simply a cash register connected to a network, in this case wirelessly, with credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cashless systems, it makes sense today. It could be an actual system or an iPad. 
7. Drones for oversight are more common now than ever. Security uses them all the time and if they could cover the entire campus with one drone, they could do more. It could be to locate something, a person, pet, or device.
8. Emergency communications will be critical when something bad happens, think school shootings or a fire. The availability of spectrum will become key for emergency responders. This is the idea behind FirstNet and it will be a factor in CBRS spectrum on a campus. The access to secure communications could make or break the team as they move across the campus. 

Now, look over these pros and cons of using a private wireless network for an enterprise, college, or any other campus customer. Remember the competition. It might make sense to review the spectrum and technology you can use. While all of these should be in your toolbox, this may help you see the upside and prepare for customer pushback.

Technology	Pro	Con
Private 5G/LTE	Secure, wide area coverage, use case specific.	Expensive to install and maintain.
Wi-Fi	Easy, cheap, everyone can access Wi-Fi, open	Limited coverage, perceived as not secure,
LoRa	IOT Use Case specific, wide area coverage	Not for broadband, limited use case
BLE, NFC, RFID	IOT Use case specific, reliable	Very limited coverage, limited use case

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Update on next book! I am putting together a new book on Private Wireless Networks. Hopefully by the end of January.