RCRWireless

Alaska Communications says that after a successful pilot of fiber-to-the-home service in 2022, it plans to extend its fiber network to another 14,000 homes over the course of 2023. Alaska Communications’ fiber network already serves some neighborhoods in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Soldotna. The fiber service offers three pricing tiers of symmetrical speeds up to 2.5 Gbps.

[Commentary] It is important that we engage policymakers at the state and national level to force them to make better policy decisions. There is no reason for these legislative battles we’re seeing in Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and elsewhere other than to heed the call of incumbents’ lobbyists out to stifle competition. States have to follow the lead of Georgia, where their state legislators declared all options – including municipal networks – viable in an “all hands on deck” approach to broadband deployments.

Policymakers must have broadband funding and grant programs that follow suite. Wireless providers must have seats at that table. For many years, wireless internet service providers have enabled communities that otherwise would never see the broadband light of day except for their efforts. They repeatedly have proven their ability to do great things with little money. Now is the time to capitalize on that experience.

[Craig Settles assists communities develop broadband business and marketing plans, and help them raise money for broadband projects.]

Based on the IEEE 802.11ac standard, the key feature of Wave 2 Wi-Fi, which recently gained Wi-Fi Alliance certification, is MU-MIMO. As consumers simultaneously adopt smart home solutions coupled with gigabit-speed home Internet, devices featuring Wave 2 Wi-Fi technologies are purpose-built to simultaneously support multiple connected users. And with Wave 2 Wi-Fi recently gaining certification from the industrywide Wi-Fi Alliance, supporting products are well-positioned to see increased uptake by conservative enterprise IT customers. Although Wave 2 products have been available for more than a year, the certification is a mark of interoperability that’s important for business buyers.