OUR APPROACH
Understand the space. Then consider the system.
A practical planning journey for indoor cellular coverage. The scope and responsibilities for any Aurora Netcom engagement need to be agreed before work begins.
Before a conversation: a building checklist
You can prepare a useful brief without choosing hardware or collecting specialist RF measurements. Start with observations the building team already has. “Unknown” is a valid answer; the purpose is to make the next questions clearer, not to turn a first enquiry into a technical survey.
Keep the first description high-level. Do not send confidential floor plans, security layouts, staff details or account credentials. The enquiry form does not accept document uploads. If a later discussion requires sensitive material, agree an appropriate private sharing route first.
- Describe the task: is the problem a mobile voice call, cellular data or something using Wi-Fi? Note the connection involved rather than assuming every connectivity issue has the same cause.
- Mark the places in plain language: for example, interior meeting rooms on the second floor, or the stockroom behind the shop. Separate essential areas from spaces that would be useful to include later.
- Identify affected networks: list the carriers and representative device types you know about. Avoid including phone numbers or identifying individual employees.
- Describe the pattern: does it affect several people, only one room, or certain times? Record whether ordinary use improves outside at an accessible ground-level location; this is context, not a donor-signal survey.
- Summarize the premises: building type, approximate area, floors, city and any planned layout changes. A rough area with units is more useful than an unexplained number.
- Flag access and timing: mention tenant coordination, known restrictions and desired project timing. Do not assume roof access, installation dates or a particular assessment scope are already agreed.
A WORKING DOCUMENT, NOT A PRODUCT LIST
Turn observations into a project brief.
The preparation checklist identifies what to bring. This worksheet gives those observations a repeatable format, so the building team can compare reports without mixing locations, carriers or tasks. It is an offline planning aid, not a service commitment or an enquiry submission.
Download the observation worksheet Plain text · editable offlineNo account, upload or website storage. Save a copy and use a text editor. Keep completed notes within your organization until an appropriate sharing route is agreed.
Write an observation, not a conclusion
- Too broad
- “The building needs a bigger booster.”
- More useful
- “Interior meeting room, weekday afternoon: an ordinary cellular voice call dropped on two devices using the same carrier. Calls worked in the lobby. Other carriers have not been checked.”
Hypothetical example only. It does not establish a cause or predict a result.
Define an acceptance plan before choosing equipment
A proposal-review checklist asks whether success is defined. An acceptance plan records the actual locations, representative uses and responsibilities that the parties would agree to check. Keep missing information visible rather than filling it with assumptions.
- Define the boundary. Name each priority area and carrier separately. Distinguish essential rooms from optional areas and record exclusions. “Whole building” is not a substitute for a shared list.
- Agree the comparison. Decide how baseline and later observations would be made at comparable locations, with representative devices and tasks. Specialist measurements and acceptable results must be agreed for the specific engagement; this worksheet supplies no universal threshold.
- Record unresolved items. Mark inaccessible areas, untested carriers and unanswered permissions as unknown. Decide who would resolve each item and whether it blocks a recommendation or belongs in a later phase.
- Plan the review. Agree who would review results, how exceptions would be recorded and what would happen if a priority area did not meet the agreed criteria. Do not infer remedial work, warranties or ongoing monitoring from a successful demonstration.
Keep a useful record after a building change
A fit-out, new partitions or changed work areas can make old observations hard to compare. Keep a dated note of the change and the locations affected, then describe what users experience now. Preserve the earlier record rather than overwriting it.
For a system already in place, retain any agreed handover documents and identify the responsible contact through your existing arrangement. Do not move antennas, open equipment or change settings as a diagnostic shortcut. Support scope and response times require a separate agreement.
01 / Discovery
Start with the working-day problem: where reception is unreliable, who is affected and what they need to do. Identify the carriers in use and the most important spaces before discussing equipment.
Useful starting information includes building type, city, approximate area, number of floors and desired timeline. Do not send confidential floor plans or personal information about staff.
02 / Assessment considerations
A site assessment can help establish donor-signal conditions, construction constraints and practical antenna and cable locations. It should distinguish weak signal from other causes of poor service, such as network congestion.
The assessment scope, methods, access arrangements, fees and deliverables require agreement. This page does not promise a free assessment or a particular surveying service.
03 / Recommendation
A recommendation should connect the proposed equipment and distribution layout to the building’s needs. It should identify supported bands, priority coverage areas, installation constraints and known limitations.
The approach, exclusions, permissions and price should be clear before a project proceeds. A product’s maximum advertised area is not a site-specific coverage prediction.
04 / Installation planning
Potential work can include antenna mounting, cable routing and equipment placement. Access to roofs, ceiling spaces or tenant areas may require coordination with the property owner and other occupants.
Timing, disruption, responsibility for building work and any required approvals should be agreed in advance. Installation delivery arrangements remain subject to Aurora Netcom’s confirmed scope.
05 / Testing
Post-installation checks can compare the agreed coverage priorities with observed results on supported networks. A useful review considers signal conditions and representative device use, rather than relying on a single phone’s signal bars.
Test methods, acceptance criteria and any report should be defined for the engagement. Coverage results are not a guarantee of future network speed or uninterrupted calls.
06 / Handover and next steps
Discuss what information the building team will need about equipment, access and future changes. A changed layout or carrier network can affect the assumptions behind a system.
Documentation, maintenance, warranties and ongoing support are not included commitments unless explicitly agreed.
Before agreement: make the decision testable
A useful proposal should make it possible to compare the recommendation with the original problem. Ask for the assumptions to be explicit, especially where a carrier, floor or room is outside the proposed scope. These are discussion prompts for a possible engagement, not a list of deliverables Aurora Netcom has committed to provide.
- Scope and exclusions: which areas, carriers and bands are being considered? What remains uncertain until access or measurements are available? Ask how changes to the agreed scope would be handled.
- Responsibilities: who would arrange building permissions, licensed-provider consent, access and any associated building work? Equipment certification and permission to operate are separate questions.
- Acceptance: what locations and representative uses would be checked, and against which agreed criteria? A check at one convenient desk should not stand in for every priority space.
- Commercial terms: distinguish assessment fees, equipment, installation, any building work and optional ongoing services. Confirm ownership, documentation and support responsibilities rather than assuming they are included.
START WITH YOUR BUILDING
Let’s understand
your coverage challenge.
A useful conversation starts with where reception falls short — and who it affects.