In an industry overflowing with acronyms, there’s one that deserves special attention. We’re referring, of course, to WISP (wireless internet service provider).
Query the Google machine and you’ll learn that a WISP is a provider of wireless broadband internet access to homes and businesses in areas that are not traditionally served by wired internet providers like cable or DSL. Instead, WISPs rely on technologies such as Wi-Fi, fixed wireless, and cellular to deliver internet access.
While that makes perfect sense, it doesn’t do justice to the impact that WISPs have on those ~60 million Americans, who live in the 97% of the country’s land area that is, in fact, rural!
Consider those living in Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, which boast the country’s largest rural populations. Not to be outdone, Vermont stakes claim as the most rural state with 65% of its population living in rural areas.
Access to the internet for this part of the United States isn’t only a matter of convenience–it can mean access to life-saving resources:
- Rural residents are generally older than urban residents.
- Rural residents may have worse health conditions than urban residents.
- Rural residents may have limited access to healthcare.
WISPs – Package Delivery By Another Name
Rather than delivering a wireless signal, think of a WISP as an Amazon delivery…
The WISP’s network of towers and its base stations can be likened to a series of warehouses strategically located throughout a region. Instead of packages, these warehouses store the internet data that the WISP’s customers need.
In this scenario, the WISP’s customers are like the recipients of the packages. In this case, customers are located in remote areas that aren’t served by traditional wired internet providers.
Rather than delivery vehicles, the WISP’s delivery vehicles are instead wireless signals that carry that internet data from those warehouses to customer homes and businesses.
When a customer requests a web connection, the WISP sends a delivery vehicle (in this example, a wireless signal) to the customer. The delivery vehicle then picks up the internet data from the nearest warehouse and delivers it to the customer’s home or business.
In Practical Terms…
A Wireless Internet Service Provider uses a network of towers or base stations to broadcast an internet signal over a wide area. Customers connect to this signal using a wireless receiver, such as a Wi-Fi adapter or a cellular modem. Once connected, customers can access the internet just like they would with a traditional wired connection.
If you live or work in an area that’s not served by traditional wired providers, or want a faster, more reliable, or more affordable internet connection, then a WISP may be a good option for you.
Benefits of using a Wireless Internet Service Provider include:
- Availability: WISPs can provide internet access to areas that are not served by traditional wired providers.
- Speed: WISPs can offer speeds that are comparable to or even faster than traditional wired connections.
- Reliability: WISPs are typically very reliable, as they are not subject to the same outages that can affect wired connections.
- Affordability: WISPs are often more affordable than traditional wired providers.
As an infrastructure provider, FiberLight works with WISPs by offering its private Ethernet connectivity back to data centers or by deploying its dedicated internet access directly to towers, which extends WISP services to rural communities.
Learn more about how FiberLight enables WISPs here: http://mg1f.517b2b.com/blog/wisps-the-real-heroes-bridging-the-digital-divide/.