Wireless Broadband for Business

“Wireless Broadband” is a high-speed Internet service that provides network access to customers without the use of standard cabling over the “last-mile” (e.g. telephone, coax, and fiber). In addition to being many times faster than Dial-up, Wireless Broadband does not require a coax or telephone line. This can make it an affordable option when more standard connection types are not available.

Wireless Broadband does require a radio receiver or Subscriber Module (SM), which mounts on the client’s home or business. This SM connects to an Access Point (AP) using microwaves or radio signals at distances of up to 10 miles or more. The AP acts like a switch sending requests and responses between each SM and the provider.

Your distance to the nearest Access Point will determine in large part the actual speeds you achieve. The closer to the Access Point the better, as signal degrades with distance causing packet loss and latency issues. If you are at the outskirts of the service area or can’t achieve a good Line-of-Site (LOS), you might not see the full speed of your subscribed plan.

That having been said, the performance of Wireless Broadband is typically comparable to other forms of internet connectivity. 

A typical installation takes about 2 hours in which a small dish will need to be mounted on top of your home. We use a variety of different mounts to achieve this. Roofs with clay tiles are much trickier to mount to than flat, or shingled roof material, so don’t be alarmed if you see our guys moving some of these tiles during an installation. It is perfectly normal and they will return them to their previous location once they’re done.

Our installations are clean and professional, both inside and out. We will make every attempt to mount our equipment in the most aesthetically pleasing location as possible, however, sometimes it is not possible due to line of sight (LOS) or in order to achieve maximum signal strength required for the plan you requested. We will notify you of the location prior to mounting any equipment to your home or business. HOA’s cannot tell you that you may not have the equipment on your roof, nor can they say if it can go in the front of your home. Please refer them to the FCC’s Over the Air Reception Device (OTARD) rule of 1996.

We will also need to run a Cat5e cable into your home, typically through one of the external walls of the home. This means we will need to drill a hole through the wall. 

*Note* There are other options (below) that describe the other types of installs we provide. We will use a cable bushing and caulk to seal the hole, so you do not have to worry about water or insects getting inside your home as a result.

• Standard Install I ($85.00): Less than 150ft Cat5e cable through lower level external wall, No Dish, or Small Dish Required, J-Pipe Mount or equivalent.
• Non-Standard Install II ($150.00): Less than 150ft Cat5e cable through upper level external wall, attic, structured panel, Dish Required, J-Pipe Mount or equivalent.
• Non-Standard Install III ($250.00): Over 150ft Cat5e cable, Interior Wall through attic or structured panel. Customized Mount, or 2+ man team required for installation.

Our equipment needs power. We provide as part of the installation a DC power injector. This needs to be plugged into a 120v AC outlet at all times, preferably you have all of your electronic equipment plugged into a UPS or battery backup ($80-$100). If the power injector is rendered inoperable due to a failure of some type, you can simply bring it into our office, we will provide you one at no cost to you. If the power supply is damaged due to negligence (chewed, or accidentally cut), there will be a $15.00 fee for replacing the POE injector.

Trimming trees, and maintaining the structural soundness of the mounting surface is your responsibility, not ours. We also can’t install our services into apartment complexes without prior written consent from the owner of the property or property management group.

The answer depends on how you plan on connecting to our Internet service. Unlike cable and DSL, if you have a single computer with an Ethernet port, then “no you will not need any additional equipment to connect to our Internet service”. If you have more than one device, or wish to use wireless to connect to the Internet, then “yes, you will need a wireless router” (we recommend getting one anyways).

Depending on the size of your home, the router may or may not be able to provide wireless coverage to all areas you wish to use Internet, so you might need something else called a wireless repeater, or access-point to boost the signal in dead spots. Inquire with our Sales Team for more information about these devices and how they might pertain to you.

CGI-Communication offers multiple types of SOHO and Meshed Wireless Routers available for lease or purchase.

CGI-Communication also offers multiple types of Business-Class Firewalls, Routers, and WIFI solutions as well!

Should you purchase, or lease? That is ultimately your decision, but leasing has one benefit purchasing does not. If you are leasing the router and it breaks (it happens), we replace the device at no cost to you. If you purchase the device, replacing it would be your responsibility or the manufacturers. CGI directly guarantees the device for 14 days after installation. After that, most manufacturers warranty the device for the first year after purchase. See the product and warranty information contained in the box for details.

If you opt to purchase your own router. CGI recommends Asus, TP-Link, Netgear, and Cisco Routers. Do not purchase DLink Belkin routers, or other “cheap” devices. It has been our experience that they are not worth the heartache you will experience in using them.

If you are not able to figure out how to program your router, CGI will program this for you at the time of Installation for $10.00. That includes setting up the WAN/LAN, Wireless SSID & Password. If you require any port forwarding, DMZ setup, or bridged PPPoE setup, then our setup price is $42.50.

*Note* NEVER PUSH THE RESET BUTTON ON THE ROUTER. It will reset the device back to factory defaults and you may not be able to connect to the Internet afterward. Instead verify your cables are plugged in properly, and power cycle (turn off/on) the device to see if that resolves your issue.

Yes, we offer up to a /28 of routable addresses and private VLAN’s as well. 

The short answer is they’re not – they’re actually about the same price, maybe even a bit cheaper by value.

The long answer is specific to the service level agreement (SLA), as its quite different. A lot different in fact. For starters, businesses are not imposed a monthly transfer limit (data cap). We also respond faster in the event of a service affecting issue, in most cases the same day, but always within 24 hours.

We also make things available to businesses that we do not to residential customers, like statically assigned IP addresses, Priority Access, Detailed Usage Graphs, and Quality of Service for Voice over IP calls.

Plus, we like to take care of our local businesses! After all, they’re the life blood of the community. They also tend to have less payment issues, and use less bandwidth than residential accounts (historically, this wasn’t the case – but how times have changed!)