Case Study:

Weber Food Technology: Extending Verizon Small Cell Coverage Across a 14,000 sq ft Office

Waveform Commercial designed and installed a Passive DAS integrated with a Verizon Network Extender to blanket Weber Food Technology's 14,000 sq ft Kansas City office with reliable Verizon coverage.

Building Size

15,000 sq. ft.

System Type

Cellular DAS

Carriers

Verizon

Location

Kansas City, Missouri

Building Type

Corporate, Office

Industry

Manufacturing

DAS Vendor

Cel-Fi

Technology

Small Cell Hybrid DAS

1. The Problem

Despite having a dedicated Verizon Network Extender, Weber Food's 14,000 sq ft Kansas City office suffered from severe coverage gaps caused by dense building materials and poor outdoor signal.

Weber Food Technology, a global leader in automation solutions for the food processing industry, relies on seamless communication to coordinate its operations. However, their 14,000 sq ft corporate office in Kansas City, Missouri, was plagued by a complete lack of usable Verizon cellular coverage indoors. This dead zone severely limited the ability of staff and management to utilize their company-issued mobile devices.

To mitigate the issue, Verizon Wireless had provided the facility with a Verizon Network Extender 3. This enterprise-grade small cell is an excellent tool for generating a high-quality Verizon signal directly from a broadband internet connection. However, its internal antennas are fundamentally limited in their broadcast range. The device simply wasn't capable of pushing the signal through the dense building materials and across the entire 14,000 sq ft floor plan on its own, a problem compounded by the fact that the available outdoor signal was already very poor.

These coverage gaps made doing business way harder than it needed to be. Because employees couldn't just pick up their phones and communicate, simple tasks turned into a daily headache. Staff found themselves tethered to specific spots or forced to step outside just to make a clear phone call. With company-issued Verizon phones essentially rendered useless in key areas of the building, Weber Food needed a way to capture the network extender's signal and effectively route it into every corner of the office.

Our Process

Simple, from start to finish

Initial Budgetary Estimate

< 1 week

Price estimate based on floorplans and building materials
Typically accurate to within 10% of final pricing.

System Design and On-Site Visit

1 to 3 weeks

Full iBwave Design and propagation modeling.
On-Site visit to take signal readings and verify design.
Site visit report.

Final Proposal

1 week

Final iBwave design.
Final proposal utilizing recommended DAS technology.
Statement of work.
Final turnkey pricing.

DAS Deployment

4-12 weeks upon approval

Cabling & RF Engineering teams on-site to install system.
Remote monitoring setup and configuration
System provisioning testing, and closeout

1. Initial Budgetary Estimate

< 1 week

2. Design & On-Site Visit

1 to 3 weeks

3. Final Proposal

1 week

4. DAS Deployment

4-12 weeks upon approval

2. The Solution

Waveform used iBWave design software to plan a custom Passive DAS that hardwires directly to the Verizon Network Extender, actively distributing its signal uniformly via coaxial cables and dome antennas.

After evaluating the building's layout and the existing hardware, the Waveform team determined that a Small Cell Passive Distributed Antenna System (DAS) was the most effective approach. Rather than relying on an off-air donor antenna to pull in the weak outside signal, this design directly tapped into the high-quality signal already being generated on-site by the CASA Systems Network Extender 3.

To ensure the system would perform perfectly, Waveform Commercial designed the localized passive network to stringent performance standards using iBwave, the industry standard in RF system design. The engineering team created a customized floor plan to map out the exact placement of low-loss coaxial cables, splitters, couplers, and indoor omni-directional dome antennas.

By physically connecting the Verizon Network Extender to this passive network, the system bypassed the extender's limited internal broadcast range. The deployment was carefully executed to ensure minimal disruption to Weber Food's daily operations, with all cables run cleanly in risers and above ceiling tiles.

Furthermore, the system was designed with future-proofing in mind. The passive DAS infrastructure is entirely frequency-agnostic and inherently compatible with the latest technologies. This means that when Weber Food decides to upgrade to a Verizon 5G Network Extender down the line, the existing cable and antenna network will seamlessly support the new hardware without requiring a costly redesign.

3. The Results

The newly installed DAS immediately resolved all connectivity issues, meeting strict performance standards and seamlessly supporting up to 64 simultaneous active users on the network.

The impact of the installation was immediate and highly effective. As soon as the Passive DAS was integrated with the VNE and powered on, the 14,000 sq ft office was instantly covered with strong, usable signal. Staff can now rely completely on their company-issued Verizon phones without fear of dropped calls or poor audio quality.

Signal testing confirmed the success of the system. The Waveform system successfully met strict minimum coverage standards, delivering minimum RSRP readings of -90 dBm to -95 dBm across 95% of the total floor area. This uniform coverage has restored mobility to the workforce, and the system effortlessly supports up to 64 simultaneous active users and up to 300 idle users across the facility.

Beyond the immediate operational improvements, Weber Food Technology now possesses a highly durable communications asset backed by Waveform's remote monitoring and maintenance services. Because the passive distribution network is fully compatible with Verizon's evolving 5G small cell hardware, the company's investment is protected. They now have a robust system that solves today's problems while remaining ready to handle the communication standards of tomorrow.

How we're different

A partner you can trust: from quote to close-out

Vendor and Technology Neutral

We believe that no one DAS technology is right for every application. There are no silver bullets.

Instead, we carefully select the right technology for the specific signal conditions and requirements of your building.

A Deep Expertise in DAS Technology

DAS is the only thing we do.

We act as your domain expert and advocates. We help you get your questions answered, and guide you to the best solution for your unique needs.

Careful Planning, Regular Communication

Projects succeed when they’re planned carefully. We take our client’s trust seriously, ensuring that projects are delivered on time and on budget.

At every stage, we’ll keep every stakeholder, including you, in the loop. You’ll never wonder what’s happening next.

Get Started:

Get a fast, no-obligation DAS quote today.

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