From the Port of Oakland to the Mojave solar fields, organizations in California face a common challenge: they need secure, high-capacity wireless that keeps people, assets, and data connected across sprawling indoor and outdoor footprints. A single warehouse in the Central Valley or a coastal research campus in La Jolla can push WiFi far beyond its limits. A good local example is the massive distribution and cold-storage cluster around the I-5 corridor where metal racks, forklifts, and refrigeration units create constant interference and safety concerns.

Why California Facilities Are Turning To Private 5G

California's economy is as diverse as its geography, and nearly every sector benefits from CBRS-based private cellular.

1. Advanced manufacturing in Silicon Valley counts on ultra-low-latency control loops and machine vision.
2. Seaports in Long Beach and Oakland need blanket yard coverage for autonomous cranes and real-time inventory.
3. Vast agricultural sites in the Central Valley require miles-wide connectivity for drones, sensors, and pick-by-voice headsets.
4. Film studios in Los Angeles demand secure production networks that can be set up and torn down in days.
5. Hospitals in Sacramento and community clinics statewide must protect patient data while guaranteeing uptime for bedside devices.

Wildfire smoke, seismic retrofits, and strict Title 24 energy codes add additional complexity. Steel bracing, Low-E glass, and reflective roofing can block or attenuate WiFi. CBRS operates at higher power with better building penetration, making it a natural fit.

Planning projects outside the state's large metro areas? We also maintain individual pages for Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose.

Private 5G Versus Commercial Cellular And WiFi

Commercial 5G from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile delivers impressive speeds but it was never designed for campus-wide enterprise control.

• Public networks charge per SIM, so connecting hundreds of scanners or sensors quickly gets expensive.
• Traffic is routed back to the carrier's core then to the internet then to you, adding latency and exposing data to the public cloud.
• You cannot set your own quality-of-service policies or ensure coverage in steel-clad areas the carriers ignore.

WiFi has the opposite set of problems. Equipment is cheap, yet coverage outdoors or through concrete walls falls apart. With each additional client, contention increases and real throughput drops. WiFi 7 narrows the gap, but it still operates in unlicensed spectrum crowded by every phone, laptop, and smart speaker in range.

Private 5G over CBRS gives you the best of both worlds. You own the spectrum through the FCC's Part 96 shared licensing rules. Radios transmit at far higher power than WiFi, often reaching several acres per radio outdoors. The on-premises mobile core keeps data local and lets you integrate directly with existing VLANs, firewalls, and identity systems. Our Private Networks Guide dives deeper into the technology.

Our End-To-End Deployment Process

1. Rapid Site Snapshot
   Email us a floorplan, KMZ, or parcel map along with device counts. Within a few days you receive a preliminary RF heatmap, spectrum plan, and budgetary range.

2. Detailed Engineering
   If the snapshot looks promising, we move to full propagation modeling and in-person survey. The deliverable is a turnkey proposal including bills of material, fiber or PoE backhaul drawings, installation timeline, and service level terms.

3. Turnkey Build
   Our project managers coordinate civil work, antennas, EPC or 5G core integration, and on-site testing. You receive day-one coverage with zero guesswork.

4. Device Integration
   Because we are vendor neutral, we match scanners, tablets, cameras, or routers from Peplink, Zebra, Digi, Honeywell, and others to your exact workflow. Everything ships pre-provisioned and ready to attach.

5. Ongoing Support
   Remote monitoring, software updates, and optional on-site spares keep your network running for years, not just day one.

Proven Results Close To Home

Waveform's California team recently completed a wireless deployment for 23andMe, the genomics pioneer based in South San Francisco. The biotechnology environment required rock-solid connectivity for lab automation and secure data transfer, challenges similar to what we solve with private cellular. The project demonstrates our ability to navigate stringent validation processes and FDA-aligned quality systems, skills we bring to every private 5G engagement.

Transparent Pricing

For indoor facilities, turnkey private 4G or 5G networks typically run between $1 and $2.50 per square foot including radios, core, installation, and first-year support. Outdoor deployments are where private networks truly excel. In open terrain, a single sector can blanket a 1.5-mile radius. A full outdoor system can often be delivered for around $100,000 depending on topography, fiber availability, and antenna placement options. Because we are vendor agnostic, we tune the design to your coverage requirement, not a quota.

Ready To Connect California?

Waveform is the connectivity integrator that delivers truly turnkey private 5G networks across the Golden State. Call us at (800) 637-4049 or get a custom private 5g design and quote today.