Posted By Dan Baldwin
Editor, 951-251-5155 email
Mobile phones give all of us a sense of security. I check to make sure my cell phone is charged and in my pocket before going anywhere in my car. In my home and office my cell phone sits right next to my office phone. Why? I can count on it to work if there's a problem with my landline.
The way wireless technology backs up our personal communications is also available to backup our voice and data network communications. How will your multiple offices stay connected if your primary broadband Internet connection experiences a service interruption - for minutes or days? What "bad things" will happen to your business during that outage?
If you're using a fixed wireless connection as your primary or backup data connection for your business
What's "fixed wireless"?
Fixed wireless is a broadband Internet connection that uses a completely redundant and survivable "second path" to connect your business to the outside world.
It connects via a direct "line of sight" microwave path from a dish on the top of your building, through the air to another dish several miles away that connects you to a really big Ethernet Internet pipe. When the landline that enters your building through the basement is interrupted for any reason you always have the second "fixed wireless" connection to use that goes through the air.
Is Fixed Wireless Expensive?
In most cases, bit for bit, fixed wireless connectivity is cheaper than a similar landline connection. In addition to being cheaper the connection is generally more reliable because it doesn't go through the local phone company's "local loop". As well, fixed wireless can be installed in just a couple days and the bandwidth can be "dialed up and down" with a phone call.
If you do business in any metro area and you need to be connected all the time over a broadband Internet connection to "be in business" then you HAVE TO consider a fixed wireless connection as a complement your landline connection. ALWAYS get a fixed wireless quote when getting a landline quote.
Isn't A Seperate Landline Connection "Redundant"
Many ask, "Isn't a cable broadband Internet connection" the right backup for my phone company connection? Not really since both connections are coming to you through the same building connection in the basement. Any event that interrupts one will likely interrupt the other.
Which Fixed Wireless Vendors to Use?
In the greater Los Angeles area there are two vendors that I use, Covad Wireless now owned by TelePacific and ColorBroadband. We've had success using both vendors. As fixed wireless infrastructure is fairly expensive to install, you'll generally find that providers don't overlap each other's area all that much. If you can get a quote from each that works out well but usually you'll find that one has a clear shot to the location and the other not so much. Pricing and terms are fairly similar between vendors as their cost structures are similar.
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ATEL Communications
Posted by: Andrew Cohen | 04/08/2011 at 02:43 PM