News

Small Cell Brings Speed to Users

Electric Conduit Construction (ECC) was selected to assist a major carrier in improving cellular phone service in the City of Chicago and in various parts of the Chicago Suburbs. While ECC works in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kentucky and Misssouri, this particular Illinois job required both aerial and underground expertise. 

Some of our crews  used horizontal directional drills to place conduit for fiber while other crews strung the messenger wire and then pulled and overlashed the fiber optic cable into place. Very little existing wire was used but where possible the new fiber was overlashed to the existing messenger wires. This project was mostly new aerial fiber build that will be used to carry data to and from cell phones. Over 7 miles of fiber will be placed and this is only the beginning. 

Fiber optic cable has the great advantage of speed and capacity. Erecting a macro tower in the city is next to impossible, but placing unobtrusive small cell radio and antenna packages is a fairly straightforward project. The great advantage to cell phone users is the speed and reduced latency. This is very important for music and video requests. 

Safety is of prime importance for our crews. On utility poles, just above the telecommunications space is the power space. Our crews are highly trained and every precaution is taken to insure that their safety comes first. Pedestrian and automobile traffic is also a consideration and barriers and cones are used to control both, and keep someone from wandering into an area where hardhats are required. 

ECC has the ability, and regularly, writes the permit applications for this type of work. We respect the municipalities that we work in and want to do a good job for all stakeholders. ECC is proud to be part of building the telecommunications infrastructure and delivering reliable cell service to users.