NASHVILLE, TN — August 8th, 2018 — You know the feeling when you find yourself in a remote area of the country and the internet access is…umm… ”slow”, is the nice word. You can access your email and perhaps see what is going on in the world of social media but, streaming a video, having a video conference or downloading large files is not going to reliably happen. Well, if this problem can be solved at a remote mining camp deep in the Alaska interior, it can be solved anywhere.
It came to my attention that a local WISP had their own telco tower in Delta Junction, with a direct fiber connection to two ISPs, explains Spooner. This was a breakthrough. After a substantial amount of research, we figured out we could install a 11ghz link from Delta Junction to 40Mi [mountaintop], and a 5.8ghz link from 40mi [mountaintop] back to the mine for less than one month’s cost of our current internet bill.
Spooner continues, As the design came together, we realized that the 11ghz microwave had to be on one side of the mountain and the 5.8ghz had to be on the other side, about 100ft apart. Since it is the highest mountaintop around and trying to achieve ‘ground’ on solid rock is very problematic, we decided that eliminating the electrical route between the two systems was the best way to go. Perle had already proven themselves to me as being able to handle our rough environment, so they were the first place I looked when I needed Fiber to Ethernet.
Spooner concludes, Everything seems to be working just grand, even during all the torture mother-nature throws at us. The Perle Media Converters haven’t dropped a single frame or packet since they were turned on, even in -20°F temperatures and over 12 inches of radial ice!