Case Study
First Group Bus Depot
Mobile Connectivity Improvement Project
First Hampshire & Dorset
First Hampshire & Dorset is a bus operator providing services in the counties of Hampshire and Dorset. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. FirstGroup is Britain’s largest bus operator, running more than 20% of all local bus services. A fleet of nearly 9,000 buses carries some 2.9 million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities.
FirstGroup also runs passenger rail services in the UK. Passenger rail franchises consist of Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, South Western Railway and TransPennine Express. It also operates Hull Trains, a non-franchised open access passenger train service. FirstGroup operates tram services on the London Tramlink network carrying approximately 24 million passengers a year on behalf of Transport for London.
Group turnover
£
1
bn
sqaure feet
19000
depot buses
250
The Challenge
For a number of years the Hilsea First Hampshire & Dorset bus depot has suffered from poor mobile phone signal on their corporate network, EE. This is down to a combination of the thick concrete walls at the depot and the relatively weak external EE signal.
This led to a number of operational challenges, including communication with stakeholders, the local authorities and the community. With little to no mobile coverage, health and safety in the depot was also a concern.
First Group required a cost-effective solution which could be deployed quickly. A number of different options had been considered by the onsite team, however due to the size of the floor space and the number of users, our rapid deployed passive DAS was the best option.
‘Early indicators are very positive, the signal has improved greatly. I have to also commend the team on the install, really professional and they observed all of our social distancing measures. Great job.’
Chris Chester, Operations Manager
The Solution
Following a detailed survey and consultation period the Boost Pro technical team designed a solution suitable for the depot. As the office and meeting areas are positioned at either side of the depot, with the main working area in the middle, the best solution for this building was to install two completely separate systems, with two external antennas.
Due to the weak external signal, highly directional antennas were installed in order to maximise the donor signal, with one located externally at either side of the depot.
Six internal dome antennas were strategically installed throughout the depot ensuring all key areas were covered.
This project leverages our licence-excempt Passive DAS Indutrial Signal Booster. This product benefits from:
✓ 3G / 4G / LTE Voice and Data
✓ Multi-Carrier Support with Carrier Switching
✓ Indoor / Outdoor NEMA 4 Rated
✓ Network Safe
The Results
All areas of the depot now receive full EE LTE voice and data coverage
Employees can now easily communicate with all stakeholders, including head office, local authorities, suppliers, partners and customers.
The team now benefits from health and safety, productivity and operational advantages of being able to use mobile devices on the move within the site offices.
Our mobile repeater products are licence-exempt and fully meets the regulatory requirements in the UK (Ofcom SI 2018/399) and Ireland (ComReg S.I.No.283 of 2018)
