CBRS Service Activation & Onboarding Webinar

Looking for best practices to deploy CBRS? Attend our free Webinar:

Thursday 19 March, 8:30-9:30 AM US Central Time

Registration link https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/593193525789213197

Post any questions that you have to this thread, and we will be sure to answer them in the webinar or online.

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Once again, a well-attended and great webinar! Thanks to everyone that attended. For those that weren't able to make it, the recording is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbZAM1nYU4w

I will be posting the Q&A section below in a bit.

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Here are the Q&A from the live session. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to post below.

Category Question Asked Answer Given
Cambium CBRS Documentation Is there a guide available that walks a provider through the steps of migrating existing AP(s) and SM(s) to CBRS with minimal interruption of service? Yes, there is. There is a "CBRS Standalone Guide" available in the download section under both R16.2 (450 section), and cnMaestro (2.3.2). LINK HERE
Getting Started with CBRS Do we need to contact Google or Federated and sign a contract with them or will that be handled thru you and we just choose one. One of the great aspects of this solution is that you do NOT need to establish a direct relationship with anyone but Cambium Networks. You will gain access to the SAS portal, depending on who you choose, but you may never even need to access this portal. You can work directly through Cambium, and don't need to contact or sign a contract with the SAS vendors directly.
Getting Started with CBRS May we use other equipment besides Cambium?  example would be Baicells As explained. Our solution only works with Cambium equipment. If you have other vendor equipment, there is likely another solution in place. It may mean using a separate domain proxy, separate account, or separate relationship directly with a SAS Adminstrator. Keep in mind, you can use whichever SAS you'd like (between Google and Federated Wireless at this point), to hopefully minimize the variation in your network.
Getting Started with CBRS When will CBRS be available to current cnMaestro with out having to have two differnt variations one most have used forever and a second beta version that will be used for CBRS? The Beta program is now ended, and the official versions of both cloud and On-Premises cnMaestro have been released. You only need one instance to manage ALL of your devices, including CBRS.
Getting Started with CBRS Our 3GHz manamgement network does not access the Internet which is one reason we recently installed an on premise cnmaestro.  We also understood that the onpremise was required for CBRS.  It sounds like we need to keep our cloud account.  my question is do we have to get our 3GHz into the Cloud cnmaestro?   Dave is explaining this linkage now. A Cloud account is required because the CBRS token and Domain Proxy exists in the cloud. You can use either On-Premises or in the cloud for device management.
Software Versions How will we change from clout version 2.3.0 to 2.3.2 for existing accounts? Cloud updates automatically, no action needed from your side. Also, for cloud version it's 2.4.0 (currently, 2.3.2 is only for the On-Premises version).
Software Versions So i can upgrade from 16.0.1.1 or 16.1.1 straight to 16.2 right? Yes, no issues there... however, if you were using 16.2 BETA 3, you'll need to step to 16.2 BETA 5 before going to 16.2 Official. Alternatively, you can upgrade the SMs first.  If you weren't participating in the Beta program, then ignore everything I just said.
CBRS Rules How accurate do GPS coordinates need to be?  Do we need to have an installer grab GPS off a device or is geocoding the address sufficient?  Sometimes geocoding is way off.  This seems especially true in rural areas. Per the WinnForum rules (on which Part 96 is based), the SM accuracy must be +-50m in the lat/long and +-3m in height. The more accurate you can be, the better though, as the SAS will assume "worst case" interference levels, etc. based on the data that is sent to it. BEST PRACTICE - Record ALL precise lat/long and height values on every install going forward!
CBRS Rules For customers that have obtained a waiver to operate in an exclusion zone area (grandfather VSAT sites):

a. will the SAS offer grants to CBSDs within the exclusion zone?

b. if yes, will the SAS offer/grant frequencies from the portion of the band that is allocated to the grandfathered sites?
These cases need to be discussed with the SAS. We can facilitate those discussions. There are still quite a few unknowns surrounding quiet zones, FSS exclusions, Dynamic Protection Areas (that don't have active ESC networks)... some are very specific to the site.
CBRS Rules Any idea what happens with folks who's NN license that expires after 4-17-2020? It's not entirely clear. Most agree that the license holder can continue to operate under Part 90 until the NN license expires. However, it's my understanding that the GPWZ expires on that date. Therefore, even if the license is valid, there is no protection afforded the user, and Part 90 has a "non-interference" rule, similar to 5 GHz Unlicensed. Further, the SAS does not know about these radios, and will never take them into account when assigning CBRS channelization and power. My advice is to get onto Part 96 as soon as possible (despite the added charges for the operation).
CBRS Rules GAA Channel protection limitation, is that a cnMaestro limitation or a SAS limitation? There is no protection afforded GAA. This a CBRS regulation, not related to Cambium at all.
CBRS Rules Is there a SAS feature function roadmap that you can share? These documents are part of the WinnForum. You need to be a member of WinnForum for access to these. If you are a member of WISPA, you may want to contact Richard Bernhardt, as he chairs a working group within WinnForum, and is WISPA's advisor in this regard.
CBRS Rules Are the Radio links down or up during the registration process? The radio does not start transmitting User data until it has been given a grant from the SAS.
CBRS Rules Is it considered best practice to always request the maximum available EIRP? Is there any situation you might not want to request the max? If you are certain that any potential SMs within a sector will be limited in range (i.e. you're shooting at the side of a mountain, which is 1 mile away), then you can probably request lower power. However, even in a case like that, the terrain may prevent potential interference to other systems, so why not ask for the maximum?
CBRS Rules hpw often does the SAS probe the devices to see if they are operational?  Is this he 72 hours? The heartbeat message must be acknowledged by the devices within 300 seconds. If it fails to do this, the Grant will be suspended, and the radio will stop transmitting. Once the hearbeat messaging is re-established the device will begin transmitting again immediately if this occurs within 7 days. (The grant is not "revoked" or "relinquished" but merely "suspended").
Billing Does that $3 include the SAS or is that additional? This includes SAS (of customer choice). The billing relationship is with Cambium Networks, but we, in turn, pass costs to the SAS... As explained, there is value beyond just the SAS included in that fee.
Billing I see the previous question about probes.  We have subscribers that have our service for vacation homes.  Their SM may be offline for weeks or months at a time.  How is that handled? If you want to avoid paying for SAS service for those months, you should deregister them from the service. Bear in mind that any device that is active for more than 48 hours in a given month, accrues charges for that month. When these subscribers come back online, they will request a new grant.
Billing Will there be an invoice/reciept sent out detailing the monthly charges? Yes, invoices (with detailed charges) will be sent each month, and we will have a discrepancy resolution process in place if there is ever any disagreement. The charges are for the month's usage in arrears.
Billing Is there other billing options  Credit Card and ACH are the allowed methods of bill payment.
Billing Is CC the only way to pay? That doesnt seem to scale well.....\ At this point, we allow Credit Card or ACH (bank account and routing number) for payment.
Billing What if we have other non CBRS in our on premise cnMaestro such as 5 GHz PMP450m? Will there be a charge for those?  cnMaestro will continue to be free for all other devices. Only active CBRS devices are charged for. We will be rolling out cnMaestro Pro this year (likely late Q2), which is a subscription-based service and will have charges... but cnMaestro Essentials will always be free.
Billing will you adjust your pricing as the sas cost goes down? We will continue to evaluate this as we move forward. Thusfar, there has been no pricing changes from our SAS Administrators, but absolutely we will keep evaluating this and hopefully can reduce the cost in the future.
SAS Operation Matt, is Federated Wireless now issuing frequencies from the additional 100MHz of new CBRS spectrum? If not, when?? Yes. (and they have been throughout our Beta period). 
SAS Operation Does Google provide interference resolution form?  So far, only Federated Wireless has provided this tool.
SAS Operation Every time you get to the stuff I want to hear you say its going to take to long to discuss, can we have a webnair CCode Issues and SM Roaming, and Swaping Radios on CBRS. Sorry, but this is a complicated topic when interacting with the SAS. Obviously, this requires more in depth discussion and we can set up another webinar to discuss, as well as additional documentation that will be produced.
SAS Operation If the price is the same for each SAS vendor (when provided through Cambium) what should be influencing our choice of SAS vendor? Some of the SAS vendors will offer services beyond that of simply assigning channels and power. Support and timely resolution of issues is another aspect. Based on our experiences so far, both Federated Wireless and Google are competent partners. If you want a deeper discussion (i.e. are having a tough time deciding), I am happy to discuss with you one on one. (This goes for anyone on here).
Spreadsheet Tool if you add one at a time."add ap or bhm" do you add sm one at a time too? You add the AP, then can input all of the SMs (one per line) into the spreadsheet tool.
Spreadsheet Tool Who seees the Device Name? Is that just internally or does the SAS see it, namely other SAS users? Device Name is only visible to the operator. This is not transmitted to the SAS at all. Dave is discussing some of the other parameters now.
Spreadsheet Tool Spreadsheet is only to get started?  How about adding new SMs as they are installed?  Is that done one at a time or do we update and upload our spreadsheet again? Yes, add lines to the existing spreadsheet and upload again.
Spreadsheet Tool How do we get an updated spreadsheet as new enhancements come available, like auto azimuth? Dave showed the link to download the latest version in the cnMaestro page.
Spreadsheet Tool Is it best practive to keep a spreadsheet per ap or site or just one central one? Yes, the spreadsheet is formatted as one sheet per sector.
Spreadsheet Tool If you add new customers to an active sector can you add to the existing spreadsheet and expect that the tool will be intelligent enough to only add the "new" SM's in that spreadsheet? Yes, this was covered. The spreadsheet knows about existing SMs (provided the cell information did not change of course), and will only attempt to add new lines.
Spreadsheet Tool If a sm is removed from the spreadsheet can the line its on be deleted or do we just leave a blank cells for where it was in? will that cause issues when uploading new sm further down the rd? There are data integrity checks in the spreadsheet... incomplete data will cause issues with importing the spreadsheet. So, please ensure that data is complete and accurate before submitting. A row can be deleted, but don't leave blank rows (we can verify that this is the case and will post the answers on the forum).
Spreadsheet Tool Should the APs and its associated SMs should be entered exactly below each AP in the spread sheet? Yes, the spreadsheet is one sector per sheet, AP on the first line, SMs below that.
Spreadsheet Tool You should display the spreadsheet version umber next to the download so we know when to migrate our data to the new sheet Great suggestion, we'll look into this
Spreadsheet Tool Is it possible to implement an "export to spreadsheet" feature for our CBRS networks, to make it easier to see the information or in-case the old spreadsheet gets lost? Also great suggestion. The idea to be export all the information from the live network back into the spreadsheet... We will investigation this tool improvement.
Spreadsheet Tool what is the maximum bandwidth you can define in the spreadsheet? Up to 40 MHz, as that's the maximum bandwidth that the 450 platform can support.
Spreadsheet Tool I tried an earlier import of a spreadsheet and the tool rejected it FYI Yes, the current version will only accept v13.
Spreadsheet Tool Can the process to add an SM be automated so that an installer in the field can hook up and SM and then get a grant without anyone interacting with CnMaestro? This is something we've already started looking at for future release.
Spreadsheet Tool Will the SM's have to be entered into the spreadsheet / cnmaestro? Yes, this is the easiest way to get SMs onboard. CPI requires all of these parameters in order to request the grant, so this is the easiest method to date.
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