Reviews
Part of Fixed wireless: questions about the unit, path and hub
Comparing the main routes for fixed wireless on where they genuinely differ
Fixed wireless routes compared by band, sharing and path: point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, unlicensed 60 GHz and 5 GHz, and licensed links.
Fixed wireless replaces the last stretch of cable with a radio link between your building and a point the provider controls. No trench and no wayleave across somebody else's land. Service often starts in days rather than the months a physical build takes.
The routes below are the ones you will actually be quoted. They differ on band, on whether the capacity behind the far end is shared, and on what breaks them.
What to take away
- Licensed point-to-point is the only route where the quoted speed is close to a floor, because the spectrum is exclusive to you.
- Unlicensed 60 GHz is fast and cheap but rain and even foliage cut it hard; it suits short hops with a spare path behind it.
- Point-to-multipoint shares capacity at the tower, so the quoted number is a ceiling that drops at your busiest hour.
- CBRS and other licensed shared access sits between the two, with priority tiers set by the FCC's Spectrum Access System.
- Ask for the fade margin in dB, the band, and whether delay and packet loss are committed in the agreement.
Licensed point-to-point on 11 GHz and 18 GHz
Two dishes, one aimed at the other, spectrum licensed to your provider in your area. Nobody else transmits on it.
That exclusivity is the whole product. The quoted speed holds up at 6pm because you are not sharing the channel with a business park. It is the route to pick when the link is your primary circuit and the site has real line of sight.
The trade is cost and lead time. Licensing takes weeks, the hardware is not cheap, and the path has to be clear enough for a narrow beam. Rain fade at 18 GHz is real but predictable, and the provider can size the dish for it.
Unlicensed 60 GHz, the short-hop route
V-band gear is inexpensive, quick to install and carries multi-gigabit rates over short distances. It is the route most urban providers quote first.
Oxygen absorbs 60 GHz, which is why the band is unlicensed and why range is measured in hundreds of metres, not kilometres. Heavy rain cuts the link further. A survey in dry weather tells you very little about February.
Use it for a roof-to-roof hop across a street or between two buildings you control. Do not use it as the only path into a site that cannot tolerate a wet afternoon.
Point-to-multipoint: the shared tower
One access point on a mast serves many customers, each with a small antenna. This is the cheapest route and the one most often sold as "fibre-like".
The capacity behind the access point is shared. The quoted speed is a ceiling, not a floor, and it falls when your neighbours are busy. That is not a fault; it is the design.
Ask how many subscribers sit on the sector and what the provider commits to at peak. If the answer is a speed only, you have no commitment on delay or packet loss, and voice over the link will show it.
CBRS and licensed shared access
CBRS in the 3.5 GHz band sits between the two models. Access is coordinated by an FCC-approved Spectrum Access System, with priority tiers: incumbent, priority access, then general authorised access.
A provider holding a Priority Access License gets protection from general-access users. A provider on general access does not, and can be moved off channels when a priority user needs them.
Ask which tier your service sits on. It changes what happens to your link when the band gets busy.
5 GHz and sub-6 unlicensed
The workhorse for lower speeds and longer reach. Cheap radios, no licence, good penetration through foliage compared with 60 GHz.
The band is crowded. Interference from other operators and from your own Wi-Fi is normal, and throughput varies through the day. Fine for a backup path or a low-demand site. Poor as the only circuit into an office running voice.
Where the routes genuinely differ
Spectrum
- Licensed point-to-point
- Exclusive, 11/18 GHz
- Unlicensed 60 GHz
- Shared, V-band
- Point-to-multipoint
- Shared at the tower
- CBRS priority access
- Coordinated, protected
- CBRS general access
- Coordinated, unprotected
- 5 GHz unlicensed
- Shared, crowded
Capacity behind it
- Licensed point-to-point
- Yours
- Unlicensed 60 GHz
- Yours over the hop
- Point-to-multipoint
- Shared with the sector
- CBRS priority access
- Yours
- CBRS general access
- Shared
- 5 GHz unlicensed
- Shared
Main failure mode
- Licensed point-to-point
- Rain fade, path obstruction
- Unlicensed 60 GHz
- Rain, foliage, short range
- Point-to-multipoint
- Peak-hour contention
- CBRS priority access
- Path obstruction
- CBRS general access
- Channel reassignment
- 5 GHz unlicensed
- Interference
Two routes on the same mast are not two paths. If both share the tower, the backhaul and the power, one fault takes both.
Diversity is the reason to buy it
A radio path shares almost nothing with a buried cable. A digger does not touch it. That is the argument for fixed wireless as a second circuit, and it is a good one.
It only holds if the two services do not share physical infrastructure. Different suppliers frequently resell the same underlying network, so confirm in writing that the routes are separate.
Then test the switchover. Ask whether the change is automatic, how long it takes, and what breaks during it. Calls in progress usually do not survive a failover even when data sessions do. Trigger it on a quiet afternoon before you rely on it.
What the survey settles, and what it does not
A survey settles that a link works on the day somebody stood on your roof. It does not settle the tree in full leaf, the crane that goes up next door, or the building with planning permission.
Ask for the fade margin in dB. A link installed with headroom degrades gracefully. One installed at the edge works in the demonstration and drops in the first serious downpour.
Ask which band, and how sensitive it is to rain. Ask who re-aims the antenna if the path degrades, and whether that visit is inside the contract. Fixed wireless setup covers that work step by step.
Practical questions the quote will not answer
- Who mounts the antenna, and does the mount need the landlord's consent?
- Is roof access available, and is working-at-height included?
- Where does the cable enter, and who makes good afterwards?
- Who owns the equipment at the end of the term?
- Is the radio powered from your supply, and what happens in a power cut? Federal guidance on power outages is a plain checklist of what stops, and a network closet is no different.
- What is the lead time, and what could extend it? Access permissions are the usual culprit.
- What is the term, what happens automatically at the end, and what does early termination cost?
Where each route lands
Licensed point-to-point is the answer when the link is primary and the sight line is real. Unlicensed 60 GHz is the answer for a short hop with a wired path behind it. Point-to-multipoint is the answer when the budget is tight and peak-hour contention is tolerable.
CBRS priority access suits a site that needs protection without a full licence. General access and 5 GHz suit backup duty.
Whichever you pick, measure rather than argue. The regulator's Measuring Broadband America program is a fair model for the method: one device, one place, repeatedly, over time. Business internet comparison sets out how the wired routes stack up against these. The alternative that needs no roof work at all is 5G business internet.
Common questions
Is a survey enough to trust the link?
It settles today's path. It says nothing about the tree in leaf, the scaffolding, or the building that has planning permission. Ask what happens when the path degrades, and who pays.
Which route should be primary and which a backup?
Licensed point-to-point is the strongest primary. Unlicensed 60 GHz and 5 GHz work as backups, provided they do not share a mast, backhaul or power feed with the primary.
Who is responsible for re-aiming the antenna later?
Establish that in the contract. It is a recurring cost and it is rarely in the quote. Ask whether the visit is chargeable and what the response time is.
Can we compare a fixed wireless quote with a wired one?
Only by failure mode. They are different products, and the comparison collapses if you line them up on capacity alone.
