Fibre Vs Fixed Wireless Vs Satellite -The plain English explanation of what’s right for you!

Australia is a massive country. In fact, comparatively its land mass is about the same size as the USA, with its population equating to around 7% to that of the United States.  Around 80% of Australia’s population lives on the east coast, which for the most part, has access to a reasonably good communications infrastructure.

However, the downside is that once you’re an hour inland from the coastal shores access to quality telecommunications becomes harder and harder, due to the antiquated cabled infrastructure, which in parts is extremely sparse. The reason for this fragmented network is due primarily to the expense involved in laying new Fibre optic cable.  Additionally, as the result of the low population density the business case doesn’t stack up for companies to invest in the market even though there is a clear demand and need for services.

The usual go-to solution is satellite connectivity, which can be installed quickly and easily.  The satellite dish is usually bolted to the roof and requires no cables to access the internet.  Unfortunately, they are incredibly slow, and with the average satellite being over 35,000kms out in space, it’s not hard to understand why.  Satellites are also very susceptible to cloud cover and poor weather blocking or slowing down the connection, and worst of all, they are over-sold. It’s like sharing one tea bag between 2,000 people. The best people will get is hot water! This means at peak times they often grind to a halt.  No thanks.

What’s the answer?

Microwave. No, not the box in the kitchen you use to heat up last night’s leftovers. Fixed Wireless Microwave Radio technology.  Fixed Wireless can be deployed in short lead times and is often faster than Fibre optic.  With fixed wireless technology, coverage can extend to distances of up to 250km per link. Not only that, with the right skills, and know-how, connecting up people and places is not only relatively easy but can be obtained for a fraction of the cost of laying cable. The speeds available over Fixed Wireless are comparable to anything you can get in the middle of a CBD and in the digital age, rural users should not be disadvantaged by location.

Fixed Wireless works by transmitting a signal from one device to its twin at another location. It is relatively inexpensive to install and, even better, can be deployed in days or weeks rather than months or years.  The only drawback users should be aware of is that Fixed Wireless can be susceptible to minor degradation in heavy rainfall, however, it automatically recovers when the rain eases.  Although this technology has long been used for telecommunications carrier transport networks, historically it has been out of reach of small business due to the high cost.  Now however, due to falling prices, use of this technology is easily within the grasp of smaller businesses simply because it is now much more affordable.

If you are in a city location and able to access existing Fibre services, then this is ideal. If, however, you’re a little further out, with no existing cabled services, or only the old copper network, then fixed wireless is probably for you.

If you would like to see if your site can be connected with high quality, high speed internet and improved phone services, head to the March IT website to see more.  Getting you reliably connected to a great quality service is what we do.

An annual review in 2018 and 2019 provides an update on tracking the changes with each of these technologies.