Fixed-Mobile Convergence: Dartmouth Beefs Up Cell Coverage, Cuts Costs

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Fixed-Mobile Convergence: Dartmouth Beefs Up Cell Coverage, Cuts Costs

9/4/2008

By Linda L Briggs

Problems with cell phone coverage aren't uncommon on college campuses. There are two main reasons: The beefy structure of historic buildings can block cellular reception within walls, and, on more remote campuses outside cities, signal coverage can be light.

To address that issue on its relatively remote campus near Hanover, NH, Dartmouth College is testing a new convergence solution in its IT group that switches a cell phone from the cellular network to Dartmouth's wireless network, and back again, depending on user location and signal strength.

In the process, Dartmouth's computing services department is saving significant amounts of money by slashing the number of cell phone minutes staff consume, according to Director of Technical Service David Bucciero. He has distributed 21 phones so far, and plans to eventually deploy 100. At that point, Bucciero will decide whether to recommend that Dartmouth deploy the technology across campus. "We have to get through this pilot, up to about a hundred phones, then assess where we are. Then we'll understand better the next steps," he said.

Under the new technology, the move from cell coverage to the wireless network is transparent to the user, who might trigger the switch while entering a building, for example, while on a cell phone call. Software loaded onto the cell phone detects the weakened cell signal and a strong wireless signal, and switches the caller to Dartmouth's wireless network. From there, the call is routed to the college's enterprise voice-over-IP system. The technology is carrier-agnostic--it works regardless of the user's cellular service provider.

Cell phone users who previously had no coverage within certain areas in many of Dartmouth's buildings, now have excellent coverage because they are being switched to the wireless data network. That's a big improvement in coverage on a campus on which, Bucciero estimated, "probably upwards of 40 percent of the campus doesn't have good cell coverage," often because a user is in a basement or another difficult-to-cover building location.

Dartmouth, a higher education leader in wireless networks, has long had an extensive and mature campus-wide network from Aruba Networks consisting of 802.11a, b and g standards. It is also testing the pending 802.11n standard. The college has long been known for leading the way in communications technology: It rolled out a campus-wide wireless network in 2001 and introduced voice over IP in dorms in 2003. Under that system, faculty, staff, and students have the option of downloading software to their computers or using VoIP companion phones to make local or long-distance phone calls over the Internet.