Ericsson has announced indoor 5G antennas, for both mmWave and mid-band 5G.

As carriers roll out 5G service, indoor reception continues to be an issue, especially for the high-band mmWave variety. mmWave is the fastest flavor of 5G, but it suffers from extremely limited range and poor building penetration. As a result, base stations and antennas must be used to ensure good indoor coverage.

In contrast, mid-band spectrum is considered the sweet spot for 5G. While not as fast as mmWave, it still offers speeds in excess of 1 Gbps. Similarly, while the range and coverage is not as good as low-band 5G, it’s still a significant improvement over mmWave. Even so, mid-band can still benefit from indoor antennas for maximum performance.

Ericsson has announced two antennas, both aimed at the US market: the Ericsson Indoor AIR 1279 and Ericsson Radio Dot 4459 small-cell radio.

The Indoor AIR 1279 is “the world’s first indoor 800MHz Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR).” It offers double the performance of existing solutions, making it an ideal option for bringing mmWave 5G to the full range of indoor venues.

In contrast, the Ericsson Radio Dot 4459 supports mid-band 5G, and builds on the success the company has had with its Radio Dot line of indoor antennas.

“The quality of 5G service indoors is equally important to Ericsson as the user experience outdoors,” said Jessey Huang, Head of Ericsson’s Indoor Product Line. “We know what a differentiator great indoor 5G experiences are to subscribers, enterprise and industry. Therefore, we want our customers to be able to deliver that – in the best way possible. Ericsson is fortifying our 5G indoor portfolio, making it the simplest and most flexible product range on the market. We deliver a high-performing and dependable solution that is cost efficient and easy to deploy.”