Wireless service providers employ access points (also known in the art as “base stations”) to provide wireless service to wireless subscriber devices (such as cell phones, wireless PDAs, wireless tablet computers, wireless modems, and the like). The location of such access points is often constrained by geographic features, local regulation, and/or cost. To address some of these issues, multiple wireless service providers will often collocate base stations, resulting in a single location (such as a tower, building spire, etc.) having multiple antennas, radios, and other base station hardware.
This solution is inefficient because it results in a large degree of hardware redundancy, but it is often unavoidable, for several reasons. For instance, most wireless providers are allocated a discrete frequency band for their exclusive use, and a given wireless provider will employ base station hardware tuned specifically for that provider's allocated spectrum. Additionally, each provider's base station maintains exclusive connectivity with that provider's network. Thus, while the concept of a “shared” access point that can serve multiple wireless providers could provide enhanced efficiencies, both in terms of cost and utilization of limited space in prime locations, the realization of that concept is constrained by significant technical hurdles.
One such hurdle is the disparities in radio frequency (“RF”) communications employed by different wireless providers to provide communication between the access point and the subscribers' wireless devices. These disparities include different transmission frequency bands, different modulation schemes, and the like. Another hurdle is the distribution of traffic between a shared access point and the networks of different wireless providers. Using conventional techniques, there is no way to distinguish the traffic of one wireless provider from another. These issues, and others, stand in the way of effective implementation of shared wireless access points.
Hence, there is a need for solutions that can overcome technical hurdles to allow the provision of shared wireless access points.