Wireless internet service provider Redzone Wireless says it achieved peak end user data rates of 800 Mbps in a two-month fixed wireless pilot project in Rockland, ME. The results have led the company to look at broader deployments of the wireless technology.
The field trial, done in partnership with Tarana Wireless, achieved the 800 Mbps data rate across the community from one tower, in both line-of-sight (LOS) and “harsh” non-LOS conditions. The test also achieved symmetrical speeds.
A press release says that the pilot, which used Tarana’s G1 platform, can support 1000 simultaneous users with 10 Gigabits of capacity per site. The G1 uses new approaches to beam-forming, null-forming and interference cancellation.
The trial measured received power, path loss, modulation rates and data throughput during a 60-day period from more than 50 end user locations across a 25 square mile area. Aaron Tibbets, Redzone’s Director of Network Engineering, said the equipment was reliable and there was “virtually zero degradation from RF interference.”
Redzone says that FTTH costs more, takes longer to deploy and is more vulnerable to labor scarcity. The Redzone/Tarana platform, it says, can deliver “fiber performance” at 80% lower cost in 20% of the time. The platform has been “introduced” to other communities, who have reacted positively, said Redzone CEO Jim McKenna in a press release.
“After confirming results from the pilot, we were compelled to focus our full attention on planning new network deployments with underserved community partners,” McKenna said in the press release. “We have active projects in late-stage development that will benefit dozens of communities which we will announce formally in the coming weeks.”
Last year, Redzone announced that it had activated 28 fixed wireless broadband service sites in Maine in 2019. The activations brought 25 Mbps access to 55,000 households and 8,000 unserved locations in the state.
