Mobile Signal Boosting for Underground Car Parks & Basements
Mobile networks are designed to provide coverage from radio sites outside the building.
Put several metres of reinforced concrete, steel and earth between the phone and that outside network and the result is fairly predictable.
Underground car parks, basements, loading areas and other below-ground spaces can have extremely poor mobile coverage — even when the signal at street level is excellent.
That can affect staff, visitors, contractors and drivers moving through the building, while mobile applications and other cellular-connected devices may also lose connectivity underground.
Litenet surveys, designs and installs commercial mobile coverage systems for underground areas throughout the UK.
Why Mobile Signal Disappears Underground
Mobile radio signals can travel through some building materials, but underground areas present a much greater obstacle.
Reinforced concrete floors and walls, structural steel, earth surrounding the building and the distance from external openings can all significantly reduce the signal reaching the space.
A vehicle entrance or stairwell may allow some outside signal to penetrate.
Move further into the building and it may disappear completely.
This is why coverage can sometimes seem inconsistent:
- good signal at the car park entrance
- weaker coverage one level down
- virtually no usable service deeper inside the structure
A mobile network coverage map cannot show that accurately.
The only reliable way to understand the problem is to measure the actual building.
More Than Somewhere to Park a Car
Underground areas increasingly form part of the working environment of a commercial building.
Drivers may need mobile connectivity for navigation, parking applications, access instructions or communication with colleagues.
Facilities and maintenance teams move through plant rooms, basements and service areas.
Delivery drivers and contractors may depend on their own mobile network because they do not have access to the building's Wi-Fi.
In larger buildings, underground areas can also contain equipment, storage, loading facilities and operational spaces used throughout the working day.
Poor mobile coverage therefore isn't necessarily limited to somebody wanting to make a phone call from their car.
It can affect how people and processes remain connected as they move through the building.
Designed for the Underground Environment
Underground buildings create practical as well as radio challenges.
Coverage may need to extend across several basement levels, around concrete cores and between areas separated by substantial structural walls.
Long cable routes may be required between the donor signal above ground and the areas requiring coverage below it.
Antenna positions also need to take account of vehicle movement, ceiling heights, building services and the practical use of the space.
Some properties may primarily need one mobile network improved.
Others may need broader coverage because employees, visitors, contractors and drivers use different networks.
The design should reflect the actual requirement.
We Survey Above and Below Ground
Designing an underground mobile coverage system starts by understanding what usable signal exists outside the affected area.
A professional mobile signal survey can assess the donor signal available around the building and measure how coverage changes as we move underground.
We can establish which mobile networks and frequencies are available, where service deteriorates and which areas genuinely require coverage.
We also inspect the physical environment.
That can include:
- car park levels
- vehicle entrances and ramps
- basements
- loading bays
- plant areas
- cable routes
- equipment locations
- possible internal antenna positions
- suitable donor antenna locations above ground
From there, the system can be designed around the building rather than simply trying to install the most powerful booster available.
You don't need to know which mobile signal booster you need. That's our job.
Installation, Testing and Validation
Litenet can manage the complete process:
Survey. Design. Installation. Commissioning. Testing. Validation. Support.
Once the system has been commissioned, we can measure coverage throughout the areas it was designed to improve.
This is particularly important underground, where signal conditions can change considerably over relatively short distances.
Testing allows us to compare the finished mobile environment with the conditions recorded before installation rather than relying purely on the number of signal bars displayed by a handset.
Any mobile signal repeater installed should also be appropriate for lawful use in the UK and designed so that it improves the required indoor coverage without causing unwanted interference to the wider mobile network.
The objective is a properly engineered solution for the building — not simply more amplification.