A wireless Internet service provider (WISP) is an

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

with a network based on

wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks, and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables int ...

ing. Technology may include commonplace

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

wireless mesh networking, or proprietary equipment designed to operate over open 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 4.9, 5, 24, and 60 GHz bands or licensed frequencies in the

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

band (including the

MMDS Multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS), formerly known as broadband radio service (BRS) and also known as wireless cable, is a wireless telecommunications technology, used for general-purpose broadband networking or, more commonly ...

frequency band), LMDS, and other bands from 6 GHz to 80 GHz. In the US, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) released a Report and Order, FCC 05-56 in 2005 that revised the FCC’s rules to open the 3650 MHz band for terrestrial wireless broadband operations. On November 14, 2007 the Commission released a Public Notice (DA 07-4605) in which the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announced the start date for the licensing and registration process for the 3650-3700 MHz band. As of July 2015, over 2,000 fixed wireless broadband providers operate in the US, servicing nearly 4 million customers.

History

Initially, WISPs were only found in

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

areas not covered by

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

. There were 879

based WISPs in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

as of May 2008, making it the country with most

access points in the whole EU.; which was a consequence of the then de facto monopoly of the former telecom operator on fixed data networks. The providing of wireless Internet has a big potential of lower the " digital gap" or "Internet gap" in the developing countries. Geekcorps actively help in Africa with among others wireless network building. An example of a typical WISP system is such as the one deployed by Gaiacom Wireless Networks which is based on Wi-Fi standards. The One Laptop per Child project strongly relies on good Internet connectivity, which can most likely be provided in rural areas only with satellite or wireless network Internet access. In high internet cost countries such as South Africa, prices have been drastically reduced by the government allocating spectrum to smaller WISPs, who are able to deliver high speed broadband at a much lower cost. Some WISP networks have been started in rural parts of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, to address issues with poor broadband

service (bandwidth) in rural areas ("notspots"), including slow rollout of fibre based services which could improve service (usually Fibre to the cabinet to groups of rural buildings, potentially Fibre to the premises for isolated buildings). A number of these WISPs have been set up via the Community Broadband Network, using funds from the

European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds which was set up for the financing of Rural Development Programme (RDP) actions by European Union Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2 ...

Overview

WISPs often offer additional services like location-based content,

Virtual Private Network Virtual private network (VPN) is a network architecture for virtually extending a private network (i.e. any computer network which is not the public Internet) across one or multiple other networks which are either untrusted (as they are not con ...

ing (VPN) and

Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

. Isolated municipal ISPs and larger statewide initiatives alike are tightly focused on wireless networking. WISPs have a large market share in rural environments where

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

and

digital subscriber line Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...

s are not available; further, with technology available, they can meet or beat speeds of legacy cable and telephone systems. In urban environments,

gigabit wireless Gigabit wireless is the name given to wireless communication systems whose Bit rate, data transfer speeds reach or exceed one gigabit (one billion bits) per second. Such speeds are achieved with complex modulations of the signal, such as quadratur ...

links are common and provide levels of bandwidth previously only available through expensive

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

connections. Typically, the way that a WISP operates is to order a fiber circuit to the center of the area they wish to serve. From there, the WISP builds backhauls (gigabit wireless or fiber) to elevated points in the region, such as radio towers, tall buildings, grain silos, or water towers. Those locations have access points to provide service to individual customers, or backhauls to other towers where they have more equipment. The WISP may also use gigabit wireless links to connect a PoP (

Point of Presence A point of presence (PoP) is an artificial demarcation point or network interface point between communicating entities. A common example is an ISP point of presence, the local access point that allows users to connect to the Internet with their ...

) to several towers, reducing the need to pay for fiber circuits to the tower. For fixed wireless connections, a small dish or other antenna is mounted to the roof of the customer's building and aligned to the WISP's nearest antenna site. Where a WISP operates over the tightly limited range of the heavily populated 2.4 GHz band, as nearly all 802.11-based Wi‑Fi providers do, it is not uncommon to also see access points mounted on light posts and customer buildings.

Roaming Roaming is a wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or oth ...

between service providers is possible with the draft protocol WISPr, a set of recommendations which facilitate inter-network and inter-operator roaming of Wi-Fi users.

Technology problems

* Line-of-sight and

non-line-of-sight propagation Non-line-of-sight (NLOS) radio propagation occurs outside of the typical line-of-sight (LOS) between the transmitter and receiver, such as in ground reflections. Near-line-of-sight (also NLOS) conditions refer to partial obstruction by a physi ...

References

{{reflist

External links

WISPA
- a trade association for WISP owner/operators * Wireless networking

History

Overview

Technology problems

See also

Specific entities

References

External links