Hometown Internet is a locally owned business that provides Internet access to residents and businesses in Chisago County in Minnesota. Although considered part of the Minneapolis Metropolitan area, these counties have suffered from a lack of high-speed, affordable Internet service. That is how Hometown came into existence. Like many Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), Hometown was created by local tech-savvy residents that were frustrated with paying high fees for poor performing Internet services
“With the help of Ceragon, we have been able to expand our service into new, underserved areas. We have been able to grow quickly, offering high-speed service that exceeds the needs of our local business and residential subscribers. And we operate with confidence, knowing that our network is in good hands, with Ceragon experts managing our network performance, allowing us to focus on our business growth.” - Sam Ashkar, General Manager, Hometown Internet
Challenges
Expand service into remote underserved areas | Deploy integrated technology at optimized cost | Manage and optimize Network Performance | Reliable high-capacity network | Future-proof & maximize investment
Hometown came to Ceragon with complex needs:
- Consult and design a network that would allow the company to expand their services into additional remote and rural areas
- Provide a gigabit solution that could reliably serve residents, but also local business that require much higher speeds and a guaranteed performance
- Comprehensive support and network management
- Expertise with applying for IIJA government grant funding
The Solution
County-wide service | Multi-Technology, Gigabit Speeds| Professional Service for Effective Network | High Reliability
Ceragon was able to leverage decades of wireless expertise to develop a robust integrated network plan that incorporated several technologies, frequency bands, existing and new tower locations, and multiple sectors. The new network utilizes CBRS, Terragraph, E-Band, licensed, unlicensed, and high-gain CPEs, all managed with advanced network monitoring, analytics, and optimization tools. The bottom line is that this was a very customized solution that best meets Hometown’s goals – time, budget, reliability, customer acquisition.
The Ceragon team utilized the latest generation of radio frequency planning tools to evaluate various technology scenarios and test the coverage and propagation models with each solution. As a result, the final network design employs the most efficient hybrid solution. High performance radio equipment was selected for areas needing wide coverage, while other radio equipment was selected to serve more specifically targeted remote areas.
The Results
Hometown is now able to offer high-speed connectivity to residents throughout Chisago County, and enterprise-class connectivity with reliability, speed, and low-latency, to the local businesses.
Hometown has hired the Ceragon Professional Services team to handle all aspects of their network, including Network Design, Network Rollout, and Remote Monitoring and Network Management to optimize functionality. Ceragon has taken full responsibility for the reliability and ongoing operations of the network. This allows Hometown to gain peace-of-mind knowing that the technological health of the network is being cared for by experts, while they can maximize their resources and focus on their day-to-day business challenges and customer acquisition.
Hometown is in the ideal position to enjoy increased coverage, quick growth, and added revenues, not to mention delivering never-before-seen Internet access speeds to their neighbors and community.
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