The New Vendor Games: How Mimosa Fared at Siouxland Wireless

Introduction

Siouxland Wireless was established in 2005 and began as a web hosting, software development and technology services company. A new Siouxland Wireless was created in 2013 with Lew Weinberg as President, Mark Lehr as General Manager and Tristan Irwin as the IT Engineer forming a partnership. Over the years, Siouxland has deployed many different types of wireless gear including equipment from Redline, Alvarion, Purewave, Motorola, SAF and Cambium.

“When I saw the Mimosa gear and read all the specifications, I could not wait to test out the gear. We made our first purchase of 10 B5 links and installed them right after the first of the year in 2015. All have performed flawlessly.”

With a history of new vendor exploration, Siouxland is always on the look-out for new and disruptive wireless technology. Along the way, they came across Mimosa. Says Siouxland Wireless CEO, Mark Lehr,

“When I saw the Mimosa gear and read all the specifications, I could not wait to test out the gear. We made our first purchase of 10 B5 links and installed them right after the first of the year in 2015. All have performed flawlessly. “

Mark continues, “We like the clean look, size and weight of the B5. It’s easy to tote up on towers or rooftops and combined with the low cost and full feature firmware this would be enough to switch most every backhaul user. But, combine this with the Mimosa cloud planning, design and managing platform, WOW. This puts Mimosa at the top of the list among all Backhaul Equipment.”

Taking the Collocation Challenge

With initial testing looking good, Siouxland decided to push Mimosa’s collocation claims to their limit and see how the radios fared.

They began by placing 2 B5s on a single tower. Thrilled with the results of the initial test, they decided to place 4 Mimosa B5s on another nearby tower. The radios passed the test with flying colors.

“Bottom line, Mimosa is winning us over.”

From Tristan Irwin, lead Network/Engineering Partner “One of the best things we like on the Mimosa B5 is the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi interface to help with aiming. We also like the auto config for easy setup as well as the wide range of bandwidth options without any hassle with license upgrades. Bottom line, Mimosa is winning us over.”

The Big Question: Receiving Support from a New Vendor

The first days with a new vendor can be rocky. Will their support suffice? Or will they be unavailable when most needed? Siouxland discusses their experience with Mimosa support.

“We also would like to put in another plug for Mimosa. They have made themselves available to us via email and their support department has assisted us with maximizing the performance of the equipment we have installed utilizing the great mapping software made available online.”

Conclusion

“We are eagerly awaiting the subscriber customer premises equipment and devices’ to aggressively light up some homes directly off fiber to the neighborhood in rural areas. Hats off to you Mimosa,” says Lehr.

Siouxland explained that their plan is to use Mimosa Backhauls to offer redundant backup direct to the fiber in their downtown Sioux City with building-to-building links. They are also using Mimosa backhauls to expand into our more rural areas much faster than anticipated due to quality of link and cost. When the PtMP line rolls out, their goal is to feed neighborhoods directly off their fiber to the customer premise.

Additionally, they have purchased a couple of the B5cs and 10 B5-Lite links and are awaiting their arrival to install and test. Mark states, “Our expectation is they will perform as well as the first group of B5’s did.”

Get Mimosa

Siouxland Wireless is taking its network to the next level. Let Mimosa do the same for your company. The next generation of broadband is here. Contact us for the latest and availability in Mimosa products.