Dillon Beach Internet Lights Up California Beach Town with Mimosa

A long-time resident of Marin County, CA, Brandt Kuykendall founded Dillon Beach Internet (DBIS) to fill a connectivity gap for residents and businesses in the area. With most residents struggling with intermittent, low-speed internet, or quite often, no internet at all, Kuykendall envisioned bringing fiber-fast speeds to the idyllic beach community.

After extensive evaluation, Kuykendall decided to deploy Mimosa Fixed wireless solutions for DBIS’ new 5G Fixed Wireless service. Kuykendall designed MicroPoP architectures, deploying Mimosa B5 backhaul radios, Mimosa A5 access points, Mimosa C5 client devices and Mimosa G2 gateways. According to Kuykendall, “The MicroPoP architectures are very scalable and a good fit for a community like Dillon Beach - some residents act as hub homes with an A5 access point on their roof, allowing nearby neighbors to connect to the high-speed broadband via a C5 client device.”

Kuykendall spent a lot of time working on the details of his business plan, speaking to other wireless internet service providers (WISPs) and potential customers to determine the best service offering to address the market. The return on investment was key to pricing decisions – the service needed to pay for itself as he scaled and installed more customers. Ultimately, the DBIS service launched for a flat rate of US$50 per month for unlimited data, free installation and free equipment rental. Feedback from customers continues to be overwhelmingly positive, with many customers seeing download speeds of 250 Mbps and upload speeds of 150 Mbps.

After examining the alternatives, Kuykendall opted to deploy a pure-play Mimosa network. “I chose Mimosa for the compact size and performance of the A5 access point, the throughput and speed of the B5 backhaul radio and the compact design of the C5 client device.” Given DBIS’ location on the edge of the Pacific coast, Kuykendall felt comfortable that the rugged design of the Mimosa solutions would hold up to the harsh coastal environment.

The first phase of the high-speed rollout piloted twenty-five customers for six months before offering the service to the rest of the community. During this time, Kuykendall closely monitored quality of service, maintenance requirements, installation efficiency and most importantly customer feedback. By the end of the second six-month trial period, Kuykendall had increased the number of installations to 100 homes. “It’s been an incredible ride,” said Kuykendall. “Within six months, Mimosa solutions enabled me, someone untrained in the field, to single-handedly build out the infrastructure to reach 95% of the homes in our 400 home community and perform an additional 75 installations.”

“It’s been an incredible ride.”

“The demand for better broadband experiences are at an all-time high and the end users will continue to look for alternate service providers to meet their needs including, the availability of service, higher speeds, better quality of service and responsive customer support. We are excited to team with a smart entrepreneur like Brandt, helping him accomplish the goal of bringing fiber fast internet to his community,” said John Colvin, SVP of Global Field Operations, Mimosa. “The Dillon Beach case may be small in the grand scheme of things but it shows that Fixed wireless is a cost-affordable, faster time-to-market and scalable solution for delivering the ultimate broadband experience for underserved communities and users. From the ease of use of our solutions to our great support team, Mimosa helped make Brandt’s vision a reality.”

Kuykendall has built on his recent success with Mimosa by expanding services to the popular neighboring fishing and boating resort, Lawson’s Landing. “We are excited to provide fiber-fast internet services that connect campers with the rest of world.”

“We are excited to team with an entrepreneur like Brandt, helping him bring fiber fast internet to his community,” said John Colvin, SVP of Global Field Operations, Mimosa. “From the ease of use of our solutions to our great support team, Mimosa helped make Brandt’s vision a reality.”

Kuykendall has built on his recent success with Mimosa by expanding services to the popular neighboring fishing and boating resort, Lawson’s Landing. “We are excited to provide fiber-fast internet services that connect campers with the rest of world.”

Want to learn more? View the video below or read the full San Francisco Chronicle article here.