4G is to become an important tool on the modern construction site, says the head of construction IT at Kier.
Peter Banner says that communications are an essential tool on construction sites. With plans changing all the time, having data access insures that the developers are working to the latest drawings.
Traditionally, Banner said that the organisation would order in a fixed line and use an ad-hoc 3G system in the interim period. However, he said that the 3G network was simply not robust enough to handle the construction giant’s demands.
“[3G units] were quite limited in the amount of data we could transfer and the service we could provide over it,” Banner told telegraph.co.uk.
Now the company has moved over to 4G and Banner says that the difference is incredible.
A single 4G unit is enough for 35 people to connect their laptops and VoIP phones. The amount of bandwidth available on 4G is so great, that the company says that it could add CCTV and video conferencing capabilities as well.
Banner boasts that the units are built into flight cases containing the 4G router, switches and ‘network optimisation technology’. If there is no power available, the units can simply be plugged into a generator.
In related news, theregister.co.uk has reported that 28,000 Londoners will 40 days to fit their free filters before the city is flooded with 4G signals to test the effect on the Freeview television spectrum.