It sounds like an oxymoron, right? Things that are wireless are usually wireless so that they don't have to be fixed in place. But what about fixed wireless internet?
Fixed wireless broadband is the latest trend in cost-effectively connecting people with the internet. Here are four things about this high-speed internet service that you might now know.
1. It's in the air.
That's right; fixed wireless broadband doesn't use cables or fibers to transmit signals. Instead, it uses antennae to send microwave signals from one area to the next.
This is handy, because it means that new infrastructure doesn't have to be built before people can get internet in areas where there was previously no internet coverage, especially rural areas or areas that are far away from an internet provider.
All a fixed wireless broadband user would need to do to start receiving the internet would be to install a transceiver on his or her building. Transceivers are usually rectangular or round in shape and have radio transmitters attached to them.
The radio transmitters connect to transmission towers similar to how your smart phone connects to a cell phone tower. The transmission towers are always on the ground (rather than in space or under the ground) and need to have line-of-sight links all the way to the transceiver.
2. It's actually safer.
While shooting signals from one antenna to the next may sound like it opens up your data to weather interference or eavesdropping by internet evildoers, the beams used to send fixed wireless broadband to its destination are actually so narrow that these scenarios become less likely than even in traditional cable channels.
3. It's faster.
Fixed wireless uses Microwave technology, that is dedicated, so depending on the speed you select, it’s actually faster than your smartphone and it definitely won’t have the latency that your smart phone exhibits. Narrow beams are linked from point to point, ensuring that the system uses the least possible amount of energy to send data directly to where it needs to go. This translates into a faster broadband signal and faster high-speed access.
4. It's more reliable.
While fixed wireless does require that its antenna links are within sight of one another (without hills, trees, or other obstructions in the way), it doesn't have the same problems as the other kind of fixed internet connection, satellite.
Satellite internet has high network latency, which means the amount of data that can be transmitted right now depends on how much other data is being transmitted on the same path at the same time. That means that if a lot of people are using the same signal at the same time (say, all watching Netflix at 8:00 p.m. on a Thursday evening), that the signal will be slow and patchy.
This isn't a problem for fixed wireless, as countless gamers, Voice over Internet Protocol-users, and businesses that already use fixed wireless broadband can testify.
Intrigued? Give us a call to learn more about the possibilities for fixed wireless broadband in your home or business.