Fixed Wireless

Fixed wireless broadband is a method of delivering high speed data utilizing a microwave (wireless) connection between two fixed points.

What you need to know.

Fixed wireless broadband utilizes transmission towers (sometimes called ground stations) that communicate with each other and with the subscriber's location (sometimes called customer premises). These ground stations are maintained by Internet providers, similar to cell phone towers.

Subscribers install transceiver equipment on their building to communicate with the fixed wireless ground stations. Transceivers consist of a small dish- or rectangular-shaped antenna and attached radio transmitters.

The service often requires line of sight access between the subscriber and a ground station. Obstructions from hills or trees prohibit it being installed in some locations. Rain or fog can sometimes adversely affect the quality of the service.

The cost per Mbps of bandwidth for subscribers tends to be relatively higher than other forms of broadband.

Unlike mobile Internet services such as cellular, fixed wireless service is tied to one physical access point per subscriber and does not support roaming.

Many people mistakenly believe fixed wireless connections always suffer from network latency problems causing poor performance. While high latency is an issue for satellite Internet, fixed wireless systems do not have this limitation. Customers routinely use fixed wireless for online gaming, VoIP, and other applications that require low network latencies.