Fixed Wireless Equipment

The Network of Wisper Wireless

Able to afford more than the average WISP, this wireless provider is already delivering the traffic of the future, such as video and VoIP.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [September 8, 2008]

Wisper Wireless is not the average WISP. Usually, wireless ISPs are founded by individuals who see an opportunity in the ILECs' failure to deliver broadband to their community. They are often funded by friends and family and provide a vital service to an area that would otherwise be left out of the twenty-first century.

Sauk Centre, Minn.-based Wisper Wireless was started by the Melrose Telephone Company (now known as diversiCOM Melrose Telephone Company).

The company started offering dialup in 1994, and recently added VoIP and digital TV. The Todd County Telecommunications Report [.pdf] of October 26, 2007, says that a year ago, diversiCOM had managed to offer DSL to 90 percent of homes in its ILEC footprint.

But there were still gaps. Hence Wisper Wireless.

A strong network
Wisper's network is more expensive than the average, and therefore likely more stable. "The bulk of our network is [Motorola] Canopy," says Ben Wiechman, Network Architect at Wisper Wireless.

For high end business customers, he adds, the company deloys Alvarion's VL solution.

"This Spring," he says, "we deployed the first WiMAX base station in the state of Minnesota."

In the richest area, of course? No, he says. It was deployed in a poor area, to customers the company knows, as a test bed. The company had some 2.5 GHz licenses and wanted to test the solution. It was dealing with interference on the Canopy network, most likely caused by cordless phones and baby monitors and similar devices using unlicensed spectrum.

A tower was available, and the company purchased it to set up the test bed. Tests are ongoing at this time.

Value-added services
diversiCOM and Wisper don't just deliver the data. There are services, too. diversiCOM adds value by delivering voice and video. In fact, a PR person at Allot put us in touch with this company because Wisper Wireless is using DPI to manage its VoIP over Wireless offering. Wisper has an Allot NetEnforcer 802 and also uses Allot's NetXplorer software, ever since Allot delivered a Linux version.

"We're big fans of the open source operating system around here," says Wiechman.

Wisper uses Allot to prioritize traffic by type. VoIP calls—both diversiCOM's service and anyone else's—get the top priority, along with streaming content, from VPNs to gaming. Web traffic gets normal priority, and mail a lower priority. The lowest priority is reserved for P2P.

Surely business users are active during the day and residential users at night? That's not so, says Wiechman. Many businesses now run backups at night, and some turn on security cameras. "After hours demands may be higher than browsing and e-mail during the day," he says.

Another common issue: as home offices increase, the company is seeing people working from home without tech support. Wiechman says that such users are more likely to blame their service provider than to call the office if there's a problem with the VPN.

Is peering an issue? "We've seen issues in the past, but in the long run, the plan is to pick up redundant bandwidth and bypass any peering issues that way."

So the business is up and running fine. Wisper has had to prove to its diversiCOM colleagues that it's working with them, not against them, but that's been achieved. Together, diversiCOM and its Wisper subsidiary should be able to deliver broadband to 100 percent of the homes in its ILEC footprint.

Once again, a small company delivers to its community in a way that no major ILEC ever will.

—End