The 2020 CBRS auction opened the door for smaller internet providers to add licensed spectrum to their offerings. Join Etheric CEO Alexander Hagen and the Broadband Bunch team for a deep dive into this new marketplace and what it means for WISPs in particular.
Etheric Networks CEO, Alexander Hagen was interviewed recently by Fierce Wireless’ editor-in-chief, Linda Hardesty about CBRS spectrum aquisitions. Etheric Networks secured 21 spectrum licenses to build out new high-speed fixed wireless network infrastructure across seven Bay Area counties.
Expanded service in California will serve rural and underserved communities in eleven counties, including Monterey, San Benito and the north-eastern Sierras
SAN MATEO, CA, UNITED STATES, October 29, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — Etheric Networks, the leading provider of wireless internet service in the Bay Area, today announced it has secured spectrum through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction for licenses in the shared Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band. These licenses are in the counties of Alpine, Colusa, Inyo, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Plumas, San Benito, Siskiyou & Trinity.
Alexander Hagen, CEO, Etheric Networks, said: “The significance of the 2020 CBRS auction cannot be understated. It is one of the first spectrum auctions to allow bids at a county level, instead of an entire metropolitan area. This change opens the door for smaller operators to add licensed spectrum that is tailored to their coverage areas.”
The CBRS spectrum is used in fixed wireless applications. Fixed wireless delivers high-speed, reliable and secure broadband with speeds up to 250 Mbps. Initiatives that will roll out from Etheric’s successful bids include:
– Expanding Etheric’s southern network border along its existing dark fiber backbone.
This will allow Etheric to provide San Benito and Monterey counties with 9/11- grade voice service over high-speed fixed wireless. The company expects to see several hundred megabits capacity per user, with a download and upload goal of 100 megabits.
– Partnering with local ISPs in remote mountainous rural regions.
Etheric has also obtained spectrum licenses in the remote counties of Alpine, Inyo, Mono, Plumas, Lassen, Modoc, Siskiyou, Trinity, and Colusa. It would like to partner with existing or help establish new local ISPs in those regions, with the goal of keeping at least 80% of the income in the community.
– More efficient use of network bandwidth.
Networks built on unlicensed spectrum must diligently coordinate and manage frequencies in order to insulate customers from varying spectrum quality. This often means budgeting extra bandwidth to maintain guaranteed service levels. With CBRS licensed spectrum all devices are registered and calibrated so they don’t interfere with each other.
Access to the CBRS band will change the fixed wireless industry in several ways. Small internet service providers can now offer roaming services to cellular operators, and potentially trade permissions for priority license use with each other. It’s also likely that co-ops will form amongst CBRS license holders to address the back end for cellular roaming data.
Additional benefits of using CBRS spectrum:
– The 3.5 GHz band will be open to anyone
The FCC will make CBRS commercially available to pretty much everyone, not just large mobile operators. This means non-traditional mobile operators will likely bring new products to market for home and business broadband.
– Better indoor and outdoor cellular signal
A private LTE network on the CBRS band could effectively be used in place of or in conjunction with Wi-Fi. It can also address existing cellular coverage gaps in large or spread out facilities such as commercial office parks, skyscrapers, manufacturing plants, hotels and hospitals.
– Greater network security
Wi-Fi is widely considered a non-secure, or easily hackable, platform. CBRS systems will have restricted access based on SIM cards and have configurable network topologies, so IT can use best practices in cybersecurity design.
Etheric Networks Announces New High Speed Wireless Internet Base Station in Hollister
Expanded service in San Benito County addresses the rising demand for reliable home connections and dedicated community networks
SAN MATEO, Calif. – August 20, 2020 – Etheric Networks, the leading provider of wireless internet service in the Bay Area, today announced that its newest tower is now servicing the city of Hollister as well as much of San Benito County. This expansion brings significant new internet options to thousands more businesses and residences and strengthens Etheric’s ability to support robust private community networks.
The Covid 19 pandemic has forced businesses, schools and social groups to work, learn and build community online. Many of these changes could be permanent, making access to reliable internet an even more critical part of our infrastructure. Today’s news furthers Etheric’s goal of reaching 90 percent of Bay Area households and businesses with 99.999% reliability to meet this need.
Bryan Swanson, Director, City of Hollister Development Services, said: “COVID 19 has heightened the need for reliable internet access to serve San Benito County residents and businesses. Fixed wireless from Etheric Networks is a welcome solution that will not only serve the existing community, but also attract more opportunities to our region.”
Alexander Hagen, CEO, Etheric Networks, said: “These are extraordinary times, as households and organizations struggle to obtain reliable broadband access for working and learning from home. We are seeing an incredible demand, and our investment in new infrastructure could not have come at a better time. Etheric was founded to bring customers together, and we are dedicated to continuing this legacy as we explore new ways to provide powerful services to our community while touching the land lightly.”
Etheric Networks supports early wildfire detection efforts through the installation of cameras on its new tower in San Ramon
Etheric Networks, the leading provider of wireless internet service in the Bay Area, today announced it has partnered with ALERTWildfire to provide free access to its newest tower in San Ramon. Live images are available to emergency dispatchers and to the public at alertwildfire.org.
Etheric’s San Ramon tower with Alert Wildfire Camera installed.
Ahead of the looming fire season, Etheric Networks, realizes the importance of helping local and bi-state efforts to detect wildfires soon after they start. As of January 2020, ALERTWildfire has installed 13 state-of-the-art Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras in the North Bay, with a goal of installing 200 new cameras statewide in 2020.
• University consortium taps state and local businesses – A consortium of universities, including the University of Nevada, Reno, University of California, San Diego and University of Oregon are working together through ALERTWildfire to install fire cameras and provide associated tools to help firefighters and first responders.
• Using technology to detecting a wildfire before it spreads – The cameras are able to detect wildfires soon after they start and when installed in a location with a 360° view, the near-infrared sensors can spot the signature of heat on up to 5,000 square miles, and up to 20,000 square miles at night. A supercomputer attached to the network of cameras models the fire’s spread in 30 seconds, predicting where it will burn over the next several hours.
• Taking advantage of existing infrastructure – One of two newest additions to its growing network, Etheric’s tower in San Ramon will be part of the initiative to install dozens of fire cameras around the state. Etheric’s 30+ towers provide wireless internet to the Bay Area and are working with emergency teams to identify additional locations for these “digital forest rangers.”
John Cornell, Emergency Preparedness Director, City of Lafayette Police Department, said: “The damage that fire can do and the speed it can spread make early detection efforts critical. Our goal is to build partnerships that will support first responders and alert neighborhoods. Sponsorships and partners that provide camera locations, like Etheric Networks, help our grant money go so much further, and we are grateful for their assistance.”
Alexander Hagen, CEO, Etheric Networks, said: “We are proud to be able to help this consortium with its efforts to ensure that wildfires are quickly and efficiently identified, mitigated and tracked. As we move into fire season, it is more important than ever that those of us that have the infrastructure to support such an effort do so, without cost and through concerted collaboration. We are thrilled to be able to help this effort today and, in the future, and encourage other tower owners in the Bay Area to join us.”
The ALERTWildfire team can assist in building fire camera infrastructure from the ground up, and/or use existing infrastructure to rapidly deploy a system in just a few months. For more information, please contact John Cornell at jcornell@ci.lafayette.ca.us.