The rural lifestyle appeals to many families and business owners alike. It’s all about fresh air and peace and quiet. But if your work is internet-dependent, you may find that you often feel more frustrated than calm. After all, Americans spend an average of six hours and 21 minutes online each day. Companies that rely on the internet to complete their daily operations may spend upwards of eight or nine hours a day online.
If you depend on viable internet solutions to do your job, you can’t afford to compromise on connectivity.
Those who live in rural areas may think that satellite internet is their only option, but you actually have additional internet solutions at your disposal. A fixed wireless network could be a better choice for many folks. Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of fixed wireless internet versus satellite internet in rural regions.
Satellite Internet
For many people in rural areas, satellite is often the go-to for service. In fact, it was essentially designed for those who had no other options for internet access. Satellite internet works by sending and receiving signals to and from geostationary satellite dishes in space. It’s a multistep process involving signals being sent to your own satellite dish, then to the geostationary satellite, then back to your computer’s modem. Although the signals are being transferred over great distances, it takes only seconds to translate into action — most of the time.
While it’s certainly faster than dial-up, there is much greater latency (or lag time) between when you send a signal and when you receive one. Whether you’re having a video conference with a client or need to provide web-based assistance to customers, that can have a big effect on how well you can conduct business. In addition, satellite signals are often impacted by weather conditions. That means that if there’s a bad storm (or even cloudy skies) in your area, you may not have guaranteed internet service. Some families may be content with that, but that won’t sit well with most businesses. When you need to be online for your bottom line, you need internet solutions that can accommodate that.
Fixed Wireless Internet
Fixed wireless involves installing a small satellite dish too, but signals are transferred differently than they are with satellite internet. Instead of transferring the signal up into space, fixed wireless uses radio waves for a land-based connection. And because the signal has to go only to the nearest tower (typically located within 10 miles or so) rather than all the way into outer space and back, your internet speed will usually be much faster than with satellite.
Another important feature of fixed wireless is that it’s not affected by weather at all. Rain or shine, you have the same high-quality internet service. Most companies have neither the time nor the patience to deal with spotty connections, so fixed wireless will likely save you a big headache. And in many cases, fixed wireless is more affordable than satellite. That translates to direct savings for your business.
Satellite may be more well-known when it comes to rural internet connectivity, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best choice for your organization. Now that you have all of the information in front of you, you’re in a better position to choose which internet solutions will work best for your rural business.
To find out more about switching to a fixed wireless network, contact Geolinks, a premier fixed wireless internet service provider based in California.
