How Fast-Air Internet Works

/ April 17, 2018

Welcome to the Fast-Air Internet Tech Talk newsletter. The Tech Talk newsletter is a free service for all Fast-Air Internet customers.

About Fast-Air Internet

Have you ever wondered how you connect to the Internet through Fast-Air Internet?

Fast-Air Internet is an Internet Service Provider (ISP). An ISP is a person or group of people who provide technology services allowing people to connect to the Internet. Fast-Air Internet is a Wireless ISP (WISP). To be specific, fixed wireless.

Computer Networks

The Internet is a term used to describe the way many computer networks around the planet are connected to one another.

A computer network is a collection of individual computers connected to one another that allows people using those computers to share information and data stored on the devices.

A network not connected to the Internet is called a private network. Many people have computer networks in their homes and businesses.

Routers direct or route computer connections to the correct computers. Routers connect two or more computer networks. There are millions, perhaps billions of routers involved in keeping all of the computer networks around the world connected.

Computer devices cannot join a computer network unless equipped with a Network Interface Card (NIC), also called a Network Interface Controller.

Through the NIC, every computer in a computer network is assigned an individual address, much like a street address. This computer address is called an IP address, where IP is an acronym for Internet Protocol. This IP address is used to ensure computers sending and receiving data to one another get connected to the correct computer.

In computer technology, a protocol is simply a set of rules that define how data is sent and received between computers.

Some method is needed to ensure all computers on a network have unique individual IP addresses. This is done through another protocol called Dynamic Host Protocol Configuration (DHCP). Usually a router in the network will be configured with a DHCP server that keeps track of the computers and assigns the IP addresses.

For most people, memorizing hundreds of IP addresses is daunting, if not impossible. As the Internet grew, a different method evolved to help people indirectly memorize IP addresses. This system is called the Domain Name System (DNS). DNS servers keep track of human readable names that correspond to the actual public IP addresses. People then memorize these domain names rather than a bunch of numbers.

Fixed Wireless Technology

Fixed wireless is a term describing wireless network technology where the end points are stationary or fixed. Directional antennas, radios, and routers are used at these fixed location to connect computer devices.

Backbone

The technology used at Fast-Air Internet starts with the Internet backbone. In a very loose sense, think of the backbone as one really, really, really long cable. Every Fast-Air Internet customer connection with the Internet goes through this Internet backbone.

These days most of the Internet backbone is connected around the globe through fiber optic cables and planetary satellites. The backbone is huge and diverse in that the failure of a single component cannot stop the backbone from functioning.

Headend

Where the Fast-Air Internet technology connects to the backbone is called the “head end” or commonly, headend. Complex computer hardware called core routers are used to route customer connections to and from the Internet. These routers are complex, fast, and physically larg to accommodate thousands of concurrent connections.

Access Points

On the other side of the headend equipment are towers. These towers are erected at high elevation points around the entire service area. The high elevations are important to avoid interference with the radio signals.

On the Fast-Air Internet towers are computer equipment that use radios to send and receive computer signals to customers. There are many towers in the Fast-Air Internet infrastructure. These individual towers contain computer devices that are small-scale routers and called Access Points (APs).

Backhauls

The AP towers have radio antennas. One antenna is pointed back to the Fast-Air Internet headend. This antenna is called a backhaul antenna. Another antenna on the AP tower is for customer connections. Both types of antennas connect to one another through the AP router.

Customer Premises Equipment (CPEs)

At home or business, Fast-Air Internet customers connect to these AP tower antennas through devices commonly called Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). The CPE contains a radio that sends and receives signals.

The CPE is configured to provide an IP address to the connected computer or router in the home or business. This is done through DHCP. If the CPE is connected to a router in the home or business, likely this router uses DHCP to provide IP addresses to all the connected computers in the home or business.

Site Checks

When a person wants to subscribe to the Fast-Air Internet service, technicians first perform a site check. A site check ensures the customer is located near an AP and that a CPE will be able to connect to an AP. Some customers do not have an unobstructed line-of-sight connection between their home and an AP tower. To help with that the CPE is mounted at a higher point on the customer’s house to avoid or reduce interference. Some customers have to erect towers of some sort in order to obtain a sufficient elevation. Some customers use trees as a tower substitute.

Conclusion

Rather amazing is that all of this incredibly sophisticated technology works so well. Fast-Air Internet customers check email or connect to a web page on the other side of the planet and see the results in milliseconds. Pretty cool, huh? You betcha der heh!

Family time: What are the only two days of the year when there are no American professional sports games scheduled? Think you know? Search the web.

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