In order to deal with the isolated spots that have poor network coverage inside a large building, a network of small antennas are usually installed in the building to serve as repeaters. This is known as the distributed antenna system (cellular DAS). The technology is very important in the areas that have a weak coverage or no coverage, such as the underground transportation system, and college campuses. It also offers a suitable solution in places with large gathering where the existing network coverage is overwhelmed by the demand such as in the sport gatherings, airports, and hospitals among others that are common in the Raleigh city.

In order to increase the signal reliability while reducing the total power required doing so, the DAS installation is made of a network consisting of several antenna nodes that are separately installed. The nodes are then connected to a single common source using fiber or a coaxial cable. This means that power is transmitted among several antenna elements which in turn reduces the power consumption and increases the network signal reliability.

The system works by simply relying on the presses of additional antennas which in turn increases the chance of a good line-of-sight channel. Since the provision of cellular signals is a very power demanding process due to the problems penetration and shadowing that leads to signal losses, the DAS relies on the active repeater amplifiers or passive splitters and feeder configurations. The two configurations increases efficiency and thus reduce the power consumption.

In this way, the network is distributed through signal leakage. Since the transmitted power is split among a number of antenna elements that covers the same area as a single antenna, the total power required is highly reduced.

Since the installation is quite expensive, the industry is an option for the long contract terms. The most common of these is the ten year contract that is quickly becoming the industry standard.

The installation purpose, the industry players usually prefer long contracts as direct installation is quite expensive. The ten year contract, for instance, has become the industry norm.

However, in the case of a carrier-owned DAS, the wireless service provider is the one to pay for the cost of equipment, the equipment installation cost, and the maintenance and upgrade of the same. The installer, in this case, has the exclusive rights on the system. As such, the competitors have to pay the installer to use it. In some cases, the installation is done by a third party entity that bears all the costs and recoups the cost by charging the service providers in order to get the system access.

The technology comes with the main advantage of less power consumption in network boosting. It is also associated with ease of zoning and antenna placement, reduced site development planning, and reduced number of the BTS (Simulcast reduces Backhaul needs).