A new model for offering fixed wireless service is coming from SKYBOXE, manufacturer of fixed wireless customer premises equipment (CPE). The company has reached a deal to use its CPE in combination with UScellular’s network to offer a monthly fixed wireless service.
The SKYBOXE CPE provides gateway and Wi-Fi 6 routing functionality in a single unit, said SKYBOXE Vice President of Marketing William Smith in an email to Telecompetitor, responding to our questions.
“We can bring our services into markets where traditional wired networks fail to reach,” said Smith.
The offering will support speeds up to 900 Mbps using 5G or up to 200 Mbps using LTE, Smith said. The SKYBOXE offering will include up to 800 gigabytes of data per month.
SKYBOXE will be a wholesale customer of UScellular.
Asked how close customers must be to a cell tower to use the service, Smith said every use case is different, depending on factors such as transmission power of the tower, tower height, local terrain, foliage, other structures, placement of the device at the customer location, adjacent frequency usage, and interference.
He noted, though, that he consistently gets 100 Mbps via an AT&T 5G tower located about four-tenths of a mile away. That speed, he said, “is more than sufficient for streaming 1080p video without buffering.” (Smith explained that he uses UScellular’s SIM card in roaming mode.)
It’s worth noting that the UScellular infrastructure — which SKYBOXE will be using — carries UScellular mobile traffic and may also carry traffic from UScellular’s own fixed wireless customers.
Asked how UScellular will make sure there is enough capacity per tower to support everything, a UScellular spokesperson said the company uses sophisticated traffic monitoring systems and predictive algorithms to ensure capacity.
The SKYBOXE CPE works in a wide range of frequency bands and can also work on AT&T’s or T-Mobile’s network. According to a press release, however, the UScellular deal is the first deal that SKYBOXE has reached with a wireless carrier.
The SKYBOXE CPE also is well suited for use by MVNOs to enhance their service set and extend their reach, Smith said.
