DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS OVER GENERAL USE NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURES

Distributed antenna systems over general use network infrastructures are provided. In one embodiment, a distributed antenna system comprises: a central area node (CAN) coupled to a backbone network, wherein the CAN is configured to communicatively couple to at least one base station via the network, and to communicatively couple to at least one wireless access point via the network. The distributed antenna system is configured to use virtual cables implemented using the network, each of the virtual cables defined by a respective dedicated data channel on the network. The CAN is coupled to the base station and wireless access point using at least some of the virtual cables. Downlink and uplink transport signals are transported between the CAN and the wireless access point through said virtual cables. The downlink transport signals are generated from base station downlink signals and base station uplink signals are generated from the uplink transport signals.