Kansas Broadband Internet Closes Digital Divide in Rural Kansas

Kansas Broadband Internet is singularly focused on bringing high-speed broadband internet to under-connected areas of rural Kansas. For years the wireless internet service provider (WISP) has championed closing the digital divide and has focused its energy on deploying the latest technology to deliver higher internet speeds at a lower cost.

Providing services to approximately 3,000 residential and business subscribers in Topeka, Salina, Manhattan, Lawrence, and Junction City, the WISP supports applications ranging from residential internet access and high-speed gaming packages to business internet for any size business.

New Antennas Mitigate Noise
To manage increased traffic, the WISP recently migrated part of its network from WiMAX to higher-speed LTE. Scott Miller, CTO of Kansas Broadband Internet, quickly realized he could get even more capacity out of the network by deploying Mimosa A5c access points with N5-360 antennas to offload line-of-sight traffic from the new LTE towers, leaving the LTE equipment to handle the non-line-of-sight traffic. Running the networks in parallel helped the WISP increase speeds and achieve better retention. “The results following the introduction have been amazing, and we will continue to deploy even more Mimosa equipment over the next few months. We are now pushing 25 Mbps plans and working to offer up to 100 Mbps plans!”

Miller was also anxious to deploy the Mimosa N5-45 antennas in a different part of his network where noise is a big issue. “We tested the Mimosa N5-45x2 by switching out the previous antennas and leaving the radio settings unchanged. We were amazed by the before-and-after noise comparison in the Mimosa Spectrum Analyzer – the noise reduction with Mimosa N5-45x2 was far superior to the previous antennas we used.” Miller continued, “I am excited to deploy these antennas widely throughout my network. The outstanding noise suppression on the N5-45s will allow us to increase the client count meaning that each tower deployment can now get us to a compelling ROI even more quickly.”

Complete Network Visibility

Miller also credits Mimosa’s Spectrum Analyzer for giving him complete visibility into his network. “For years I was unable to determine the exact cause of certain interference, and now, thanks to the Spectrum Analyzer, I can quickly pinpoint any problems. We’ve been able to reconfigure our inefficient backhaul links and swap out some underperforming devices for the Mimosa B5c point-to-point radio. Our speeds increased from 80 Mbps to anywhere between 400 Mbps and 800 Mbps. Having learned the hard way, visibility is now a must-have for every deployment!” Miller runs 2x channels on the same radio (for example 2 x 40 Hz) which has been great for link stability. Kansas Broadband now has over 60 point-to-point (PTP) backhaul radios in service and continues to add more each month.

In addition to the N5-45 and N5-360 antennas, and the A5c and B5c devices, Kansas Broadband has deployed B5 PTP backhaul radios, C5/C5c client devices and G2 gateway devices throughout its network. “Mimosa has a great price and great performance which is why we now build all sites with it in one form or another,’ explained Miller. “Mimosa is helping us change the game of wireless internet in rural Kansas.”

“Mimosa is helping us change the game of wireless internet in rural Kansas”