For years, Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) have been the standard for improving cellular coverage inside commercial offices, residential buildings, and retail centers. But as digital demands accelerate and smart building applications take center stage, DAS — whether passive or active — is showing its limitations.
Today, forward-thinking property owners are beginning to explore a new connectivity stack: small cell neutral host networks, private 5G, and converged in-building network solutions. Building on its work delivering converged in-building infrastructure and extending digital capabilities across portfolios, Andorix is helping property owners meet growing connectivity demands with more flexible, scalable, and future-ready alternatives to traditional DAS.
DAS Comes with Heavy Infrastructure Baggage
Passive DAS relies on extensive coaxial cabling, distributed antennas, and complex integrations to boost mobile signals indoors. Active DAS systems, designed to handle modern 4G signals, add racks of equipment to convert analog to digital, along with increased power and cooling demands.
For commercial towers, multi-unit residences, and large retail environments, this setup leads to high capital costs, significant space consumption, and higher energy use. As building owners look for ways to reduce operational expenses and improve sustainability, DAS’s legacy footprint is increasingly misaligned with modern needs.
Limited Scalability for Future Demands
While DAS offers neutral host capabilities — meaning it can support multiple mobile carriers — it struggles with flexibility. Scaling DAS across large or multi-tenant properties often means adding more hardware, more physical space, and more maintenance, which quickly drives up time and costs.
Perhaps more critically, DAS was not designed for today’s smart building requirements. As owners introduce IoT-based energy management, tenant experience apps, environmental sensors, and security platforms, DAS typically cannot deliver the bandwidth, low latency, or device density these applications require. For owners of commercial, residential, or mixed-use buildings, this creates a clear need for more adaptable solutions.
Small Cell Neutral Host + Private 5G: A Smarter Alternative
Small cell neutral host networks have emerged as a modern, carrier-agnostic alternative. These systems use the same advanced cellular technologies operators deploy outdoors but are optimized for in-building use, providing excellent mobile performance with far less hardware, cabling, and power than DAS.
When paired with private 5G, building owners gain the ability to manage their own network configurations, set security protocols, and prioritize critical applications — from automation systems and access controls to advanced tenant services and AR/VR tools. This combination offers lower operational costs, simpler management, and faster deployment compared to legacy DAS setups.
A Path Toward Smarter, More Connected Buildings
DAS has played an important role over the past decade, but its limitations are becoming clear. Andorix offers high-speed, fiber-based performance with reduced cabling, energy use, and equipment footprint, providing the digital backbone needed to support everything from smart building systems and tenant Wi-Fi to public mobile coverage. By combining small cell neutral host networks, private 5G, and a 5G-ready base building network foundation, property owners can move beyond patchwork connectivity and build unified, efficient, and future-proofed digital infrastructure.
For property owners, the shift away from DAS isn’t just a technical upgrade; it’s a strategic step toward improving operations, enhancing tenant experiences, and unlocking the full potential of next-generation digital services.
Contact Us for the New Era in In-Building Connectivity
Want to explore how our converged in-building PON-based fiber and private 5G solutions can transform your property? Let’s discuss how to make your building ready for what’s next.
