Don’t let these common misconceptions regarding fixed wireless internet keep you from a reliable connectivity solution, learn the facts behind each common myth and how they truly work.

What is Fixed Wireless?

Fixed wireless leverages “over-the-air”, microwave radio links to provide building to building, or tower to building network connections. Don’t let these common misconceptions of fixed wireless internet keep you from a reliable connectivity solution:

1. Fixed wireless only works for rural areas

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless works well in both urban and rural environments.
    • In underserved rural areas, fixed wireless offers business high-speed, carrier-grade connectivity.
    • In built-up areas, fixed wireless offers flexible, easy to install connections without the need for costly, time-consuming street level construction.

2. Fixed wireless is the same as LTE

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless is more reliable than LTE.
    • LTE provides best-effort shared connectivity for mobile devices.
    • Fixed wireless provides guaranteed dedicated, late-mile connections for business customer sites with availability, latency, and packet loss service level agreements (SLAs)

3. Fixed wireless is less reliable than other connectivity methods

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless is on par with fibre access.
    • Fixed wireless provides a carrier-grade service and offers the same network availability (99.9%) and Mean Time To Repair (4-hr MTTR) as fibre.
    • Because it is delivered from the rooftop, fixed wireless access offers a truly diverse access into the building and is frequently combined with fibre access to create high availability connectivity solutions.

4. Fixed wireless is like broadband/best effort/no SLA

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless is superior to broadband cable and DSL.
    • Fixed wireless is a reliable business-grade connectivity service for mission-critical applications, supported by business grade SLAs.
    • Broadband cable and DSL provide best effort connectivity, and generally has no associated SLAs

5. Fixed wireless is impeded by weather

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless is engineered to deliver carrier-grade service through the worst expected weather with 99.9% uptime, similar to fibre.
    • Fixed wireless providers thoroughly evaluate your area before starting the installation and analyze the overall terrain and historical weather patterns.

6. Fixed wireless is not secure

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless is highly secure.
    • Radios transmit signals into the “air,” the perception can be that anyone could receive and possibly “steal” or “listen to” someone’s data. Fixed wireless radios offer a very robust framework featuring a variety of security related countermeasures:
    • The transmission system of the radio units is proprietary, and thus inherently more secure than the commonly used open standards radio equipment.
    • The data traffic destined to the Subscriber radio unit is assembled in proprietary framing structures, encrypted and sent to the receiving radio according to a proprietary radio exchange mechanism. The data remains encoded until it is received and disassembled by the recipient radio at the customer’s end.

7. Fixed wireless is the same as satellite

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless is less expensive and provides better latency than satellite connectivity.
    • Fixed wireless access provides unlimited data throughput – there are no overage or usage charges.
    • Unlike satellite connections that can add 1-2 seconds of latency to a connection, fixed wireless access will have a latency similar to a fibre connection (e.g., less than 10ms).

8. Fixed wireless is slow

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless can achieve dedicated and symmetrical gigabit connection speeds
    • Customers are routinely surprised to see fixed wireless achieve speeds far greater than cable and DSL, especially regarding upload speeds.

9. Fixed wireless is complex to install

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless access offers fast and flexible deployments
    • Fixed wireless is faster to deploy than fibre as it does not require trenching and construction.
    • Can be easily deployed into underserviced or new areas (e.g., construction sites).
    • Typical installation timelines range from 21 to 45 business days.

10. Fixed wireless is based on usage

• • The Reality: Fixed wireless provides unlimited data throughput for a fixed monthly charge

To learn more about fixed wireless, visit https://terago.ca/contact/