The Good Stuff
Hospital DAS Evaluation Guide: What Healthcare Leaders Should Look for in an Indoor Cellular Coverage Solution
- article
- 10 min read
Reliable cellular coverage is essential in a hospital. Staff use mobile devices to communicate and coordinate care, while patients and visitors expect their phones to work wherever they are in the building. When cellular signals are weak or unavailable, the impact can reach far beyond a dropped call.
For hospitals looking to close those coverage gaps, a hospital Distributed Antenna System (DAS) can bring reliable cellular service into areas where outdoor signals struggle to reach.
Evaluating a hospital DAS starts with understanding where indoor cellular coverage falls short and what the organization needs the network to do.
Healthcare leaders should consider four key questions: Where does coverage fail today and which workflows does it affect? Which carriers need to be supported? Who needs to be involved in the decision? And who will monitor, maintain and coordinate carriers after the network goes live?
This guide walks healthcare leaders through those considerations, from identifying coverage needs and evaluating DAS providers to planning for the support, management and maintenance required for long-term success.
Why hospitals evaluate indoor cellular coverage
Approximately 80% of mobile calls and data sessions occur inside buildings. For healthcare organizations, that reality makes indoor communications infrastructure an increasingly important operational consideration. As facilities modernize, mobile devices and AI become more embedded in clinical workflows, hospitals are evaluating how well their buildings support cellular connectivity for staff, patients and visitors.
DAS performance snapshot
According to Boingo data published in The Essential DAS Guide for Healthcare, hospital DAS deployments have demonstrated:
- Up to 95-98% indoor cellular coverage, compared with 40-60% coverage often experienced in facilities without DAS
- Up to 20x faster data speeds
- Up to 80-90% fewer dropped calls
- Up to 75% lower wireless latency
Results vary by facility, carrier participation, building design, and deployment scope.
Hospitals may begin evaluating DAS during:
- Facility modernization initiatives
- Expansion projects
- New construction planning
- Technology refresh cycles
- Operational improvement programs
- Patient experience initiatives
The discussion is not only about cellular service. It is also about operational ownership, internal workload, provider accountability, and who will support the communications environment over time.
Hospital DAS evaluation at a glance
Before selecting a hospital DAS, healthcare organizations should evaluate where gaps in indoor cellular coverage affect patient experience and operations, which wireless carriers need to be supported, who should be involved in the decision-making process, and who will be responsible for ongoing management and support after deployment.
Indoor cellular coverage impacts patient care, staff communications, device connectivity and day-to-day facility operations. Because of this broad impact, organizations should align on a common set of evaluation criteria before reviewing potential solutions.
What should healthcare leaders evaluate?
- Indoor cellular coverage challenges
- Carrier requirements
- Stakeholder priorities
- Ownership
- Managed services
- Vendor support
Who should evaluate it?
- Executive leadership
- IT
- Facilities
- Engineering
- Clinical leadership
Organizations that begin with their operational and connectivity objectives are better positioned to determine which healthcare DAS approach aligns with their needs.
How are DAS, Wi-Fi, and ERCES different?
Improving connectivity in a hospital often involves multiple technologies. While DAS supports indoor cellular coverage, healthcare leaders should also understand the roles of managed Wi‑Fi and Emergency Responder Communication Enhancement Systems (ERCES) when evaluating communications infrastructure.
Hospital DAS, managed Wi-Fi, and ERCES address different communications requirements.
DAS
DAS distributes cellular service from participating mobile carriers throughout a hospital, helping provide reliable indoor cellular coverage in areas where service may otherwise be weak, inconsistent or unavailable.
It can support cellular communications for:
- Clinicians
- Hospital staff
- Patients
- Visitors
- Medical equipment
For healthcare organizations, the outcome is reliable access to cellular services across patient care areas, administrative spaces and other priority areas of the facility.
Managed Wi-Fi
Managed Wi-Fi provides wireless network connectivity for applications, devices and users.
Depending on the organization’s network environment, Wi-Fi may support:
- Electronic health record access
- Clinical applications
- Workforce mobility
- Authorized devices
- Connected systems
- Patient and guest access
Wi‑Fi and DAS are often evaluated together as part of a broader connectivity strategy, but they serve different purposes. Wi‑Fi provides access to the hospital’s network, while DAS improves indoor cellular coverage from participating wireless carriers.
ERCES
ERCES improve radio coverage inside buildings for firefighters, police officers and other emergency responders. Unlike DAS, which supports commercial cellular service, ERCES is designed to help first responders maintain radio communications during emergencies. In many healthcare facilities, ERCES may be required to meet local building, fire, or public safety code requirements, although specific requirements vary by jurisdiction.
ERCES may support:
- Fire department radio communications
- Law enforcement communications
- Emergency medical services communications
- Incident response coordination
Who should participate in a healthcare DAS decision?
Healthcare infrastructure decisions affect multiple parts of the organization. Bringing key stakeholders together early can help hospitals define shared priorities, align expectations, and establish ownership before evaluating solutions.
While responsibilities vary by organization, hospitals often involve executive leadership, IT, facilities, engineering, and clinical stakeholders throughout the evaluation process. Each group provides a different perspective on operational requirements, user needs, long-term management, and success criteria.
Why are there different evaluation processes?
No two healthcare organizations are alike.
Facility layouts, care environments, operational priorities, stakeholder requirements, and long-term plans all vary. A regional hospital, a large medical center, and a multi-building health system may have very different communications needs.
That is why healthcare organizations typically begin with an assessment rather than assuming the same approach will work in every facility.
A successful evaluation focuses on the organization’s priorities, users, operating model, and areas of concern. It should not begin with a one-size-fits-all infrastructure proposal.
Key questions to ask during a hospital DAS evaluation
The strongest evaluations begin with operational priorities rather than equipment specifications.
Healthcare leaders should consider the following questions.
Where do communication challenges affect staff today?
Identify the locations where communications challenges create the most operational friction.
Typical areas include:
- Patient floors
- Emergency departments
- Imaging environments
- Clinical workspaces
- Interior public areas
- Stairwells
- Parking structures
The focus should be on how communications challenges affect workflows, coordination, and the experience of people using the facility.
How will success be defined?
Common objectives may include:
- Reducing known communications challenges
- Supporting mobile staff across priority areas
- Creating a more consistent patient and visitor experience
- Reducing the infrastructure burden placed on internal teams
- Establishing clear operational accountability
Defining the intended outcome helps stakeholders evaluate providers using consistent criteria.
What should hospitals look for in a DAS provider?
Healthcare organizations should evaluate providers based on healthcare experience, accountability, participating carrier support, and long-term management.
Healthcare experience
The provider should understand the operating realities of healthcare environments and the need to coordinate with multiple hospital stakeholders. Healthcare organizations should look for partners that understand clinical mobility, stakeholder complexity, specialized care environments, and long-term operational requirements.
Carrier support
The DAS provider should clearly explain:
- Which carriers are expected to participate
- Who coordinates the carrier relationships
- What responsibilities remain with the hospital
- How carrier-related questions will be managed
Facility-specific planning and deployment
The proposed DAS approach should reflect the organization’s facilities, priority environments, operational needs, and long-term plans.
Who owns the network after deployment?
Healthcare organizations evaluating a hospital DAS should look beyond the technology itself and understand who will be responsible for the network over the long term.
Many hospital IT, facilities, and clinical engineering teams are already managing complex operational priorities. As a result, organizations often consider whether a managed-services approach can reduce the internal burden associated with operating indoor cellular infrastructure.
A strong DAS partner should clearly define accountability across the entire lifecycle of the network, including:
- Assessment and planning
- System design and engineering
- Implementation and deployment
- Participating carrier coordination
- Ongoing monitoring and support
- Performance optimization
- Long-term operational management
Many healthcare organizations choose a Network as a Service (NaaS) model, where the provider designs, deploys, manages, and supports the indoor cellular environment under a managed operating framework.
This approach can help simplify network complexity while providing ongoing support, carrier coordination, and predictable operational ownership.
When evaluating providers, healthcare leaders should ask:
- Who is accountable for network performance after deployment?
- Who coordinates participating carrier relationships?
- What operational responsibilities remain with the hospital?
- How are monitoring, maintenance, and future upgrades handled?
- How does the provider support changing facility requirements over time?
The goal is establishing a communications strategy with clear ownership, defined responsibilities, and long-term accountability.
Why do healthcare organizations consider managed DAS?
Healthcare teams already support a wide range of clinical systems, facility operations, security priorities, and technology programs.
A Network as a Service (NaaS) model can help simplify network complexity by combining system design, deployment, carrier coordination, ongoing maintenance, operational support, and long-term management under a single operating framework. The model is designed to reduce complexity while providing scalable infrastructure and ongoing operational support.
NaaS advantages include:
- One accountable provider
- Reduced burden on internal teams
- Managed operations
- Carrier coordination
- Ongoing support
- Clearly defined responsibilities
The value of a managed approach is in creating accountability for the connectivity outcome while allowing hospital teams to stay focused on their core responsibilities.
Why healthcare organizations choose Boingo
Healthcare organizations need more than a DAS provider. They need a wireless partner that can design, deploy and manage connectivity across complex healthcare environments.
Boingo provides hospital DAS, managed Wi-Fi and ERCES solutions, giving healthcare organizations one experienced partner for their broader connectivity needs. From initial network design and carrier coordination through deployment, monitoring and ongoing management, Boingo supports wireless infrastructure throughout its lifecycle.
Healthcare organizations choose Boingo for:
- Healthcare connectivity expertise: Experience designing and managing wireless networks for complex healthcare environments.
- Multi-carrier DAS: Neutral-host DAS solutions designed to support AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile and deliver reliable indoor cellular coverage.
- End-to-end network management: Support spanning design, deployment, carrier coordination, monitoring, maintenance and ongoing optimization.
- DAS, Wi-Fi and ERCES expertise: One partner that can support multiple components of a hospital’s wireless and communications infrastructure.
- Reduced burden on hospital teams: Managed services that give IT, facilities and engineering teams clear accountability without requiring them to manage every aspect of the network.
- Infrastructure built for what comes next: Wireless networks designed to support changing technology, carrier requirements and connectivity demands over time.
The result is reliable connectivity backed by an experienced partner with clear responsibility for keeping the network performing.
Frequently asked questions
What is a hospital DAS?
A hospital DAS distributes cellular service from participating mobile carriers throughout the areas of a healthcare facility served by the system.
Does hospital DAS replace Wi-Fi?
No. DAS supports cellular service from participating carriers. Wi-Fi supports hospital-operated wireless networks. Each serves a different purpose.
Can hospital DAS support multiple carriers?
Yes. A neutral-host DAS can support multiple participating carriers through shared indoor infrastructure.
Who manages a healthcare DAS?
That depends on the selected operating model. With Boingo’s managed approach, responsibilities for network management, monitoring, support, and carrier coordination are defined as part of the indoor cellular solution.
Ready to evaluate your hospital DAS strategy?
Hospital DAS decisions affect communications workflows, patient and visitor experience, operational efficiency, and long-term ownership responsibilities.
Healthcare organizations that begin with clearly defined priorities, stakeholder needs, participating carrier requirements, and management responsibilities are better positioned to select the right long-term approach.
