5G and PUD 3

“5G” is a popular buzzword in tech-sector headlines and its potential-impacts in the utility world have left engineering and operations workloads trembling… but what exactly is it?

YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, does an excellent job explaining, demonstrating, and demystifying exactly what 5G is- and what it isn’t (yet).

What has PUD 3 done to prepare for 5G?

While true, county-wide 5G is still many years away, we may begin to see requests for microcell attachments to the tops of our poles in more densely populated areas such as the City of Shelton within the next few years. These may just be 4G-extenders and not true 5G, but the race to claim space on utility poles has begun.

Here are a few things we’ve done to prepare for this new wave of wireless technology:

  • We created pole attachment standards that require wireless equipment be installed at least 9’ above high voltage primary or 5’ above other electrical equipment on non-primary poles. You can read more details about the Pole Top Wireless standards in Section 16 of the Joint Use Rules and Regulations.

  • We confirmed (through our new Pole Attachment License Agreement) that wireless devices attached to PUD 3 poles are not considered regular cable/wire-style attachments and will be governed under a separate Master License Agreement.

  • The FCC has been working on establishing a price cap that utilities can charge wireless companies to lease space for their antennas on PUD poles. The wireless company will need to pay 100% of Make-Ready costs to reconfigure or replace the pole to accommodate their new equipment.

  • PUD 3’s fiber network is well positioned to allow for this new technology to benefit the citizens of Mason County. There will probably be a need to bring additional capacity to each microcell, but this will be evaluated by request.

We’ve also been following along with trends in the marketplace. One of the interesting requests we’ve seen is that each sector antenna and wireless node (most poles will have three) will require two dark fiber custom circuits back to the main cell site in the area. Each large cell site may have 30-50 microcell sites associated with it. Each wireless carrier (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular, etc.) will have their own microcell network. This is a massive amount of new fiber that will need to be hung and new poles that will need to be placed! The wireless companies are requiring dark fiber so that they can reserve the pathway and just upgrade their electronics as capacity needs grow, which is a really smart strategy for them.

A couple of drawbacks mentioned in the video above that can greatly impact 5G deployment in Western Washington and Mason County specifically are as follows:

  • The millimeter wave radio signals have a very short range, meaning line of site is crucial. How do you solve that problem?
    💰MORE ANTENNAS💰… I guess? 🤷‍♂️

  • Buildings and trees greatly impact performance. Did you want to use your device inside your home? Good thing we don’t have any trees around here… 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

  • High frequency radio waves are also susceptible to degraded performance in humidity and rain.
    🌧️🌧️Rain. 🌧️🌧️ Yeah, we should be ok. 💦

If you have questions about 5G technology, feel free to ask any one of Justin, Ben, Joel Moore, Chad, Tim, or Dale.

This is a microcell attached to the top of an Avista pole in Spokane. Brian Schneidmiller has standards drawings of what this equipment might look like on a PUD 3 pole, if you’re interested.

This is a microcell attached to the top of an Avista pole in Spokane. Brian Schneidmiller has standards drawings of what this equipment might look like on a PUD 3 pole, if you’re interested.

AnnouncementsJustin Holzgrove