Indoor Neutral-Host Networks Over Shared Spectrum and Shared Infrastructure: A Comparison Study of Real-World Deployments

TL;DR

This study compares indoor neutral-host networks with traditional MNO deployments, showing that NH networks significantly improve indoor coverage, uplink performance, and spectrum efficiency through shared infrastructure and spectrum sharing.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive real-world measurement comparison of CBRS-enabled neutral-host networks against MNO macro and Wi-Fi deployments.

Findings

NH networks offer 30 dB higher indoor RSRP than MNOs.

Uplink performance in NH exceeds MNO levels and uses higher-order modulation.

NH outperforms MNOs in end-to-end throughput but is slightly behind Wi-Fi in uplink throughput and latency.

Abstract

Indoor high-capacity connectivity is frequently constrained by significant building penetration loss and the inherent uplink power limitations of a typical outdoor macro-cell deployment. While Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) must optimize spectrum across low-band (<1 GHz) and mid-band (1-7 GHz) frequencies, uplink performance remains disproportionately degraded due to link budget asymmetry. Neutral-host (NH) networking provides a scalable alternative by transparently offloading MNO subscribers via spectrum sharing and shared infrastructure. We present a multi-site measurement study comparing Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-enabled NH networks against public MNO 4G/5G macro deployments and Wi-Fi. Our results show: (i) significant building penetration loss with up to 15.5 dB in low-bands and 17.9 dB in mid-bands, resulting in a ~10 dB RSRP deficit for MNO mid-bands compared to low-bands; (ii) NH networks provide a 30 dB higher median indoor RSRP with indoor NH normalized downlink throughput matches MNO outdoor performance, while its uplink performance exceeds MNO levels in both indoor and outdoor settings; (iii) NH proximity enables superior uplink efficiency, utilizing 64-QAM for 56% of transmissions (versus <6% for MNOs) and reducing median UE transmit power by 5 dB; (iv) MNOs rely on low-band spectrum for indoor uplink transmissions, while the NH deployment maintains high-performance mid-band connectivity; and (v) NH outperforms MNOs in end-to-end throughput but trails Wi-Fi in uplink throughput and latency due to packet routing overhead to the MNO core.