Each external device 110A is configured to communicate signals transported through the DAS 102A with the at least one upstream component 112A. In the forward path, the at least one upstream component 112A is configured to receive signals from at least one external device 110A. In exemplary embodiments, the upstream component 112A is also communicatively coupled to the optional distributed switching network 114 across at least one media 116. As described in more detail below, the upstream component 112A is configured to convert first downlink signals from the external device 110A to which it is communicatively coupled into second downlink signals. In exemplary embodiments, the upstream component 112A is configured to communicate the second downlink signals to at least one remote unit 104 either directly or through optional distributed switching network 114 or other components of the DAS 102A across a respective medium 116.

Similarly in the reverse path, in exemplary embodiments the upstream component 112A is configured to receive an uplink signal across a respective medium 116 from a remote unit 104, either directly or through optional distributed switching network 114. In exemplary embodiments, the uplink signal is a distributed antenna system uplink signal having a transport format used by a distributed antenna system, such as a digital distributed antenna system transport format or a full band (at radio frequency or intermediate frequency) analog distributed antenna system transport format. In exemplary embodiments, the uplink signal includes one or more channels from at least one remote unit 104.