What is Wireless Broadband?

Wireless Broadband is a fairly new technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet and data network access over a wide area. Big River Broadband is utilizing 4G LTE (Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution) Technology. It allows us to offer Cellular and Land Line Telephone along with Broadband, and Mobile Data Service at speeds higher than ever experienced in the area.

What is 4G LTE?

In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards that are deployed by most wireless carriers today. This latest set of standards, called Long Term Evolution - LTE, was defined in 2008 by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) as a global standard focused on higher mobile data rates and lower latency. The expected 4G requirements have changed many times over the years, however these are examples of objectives for the technology:

• Data Rate: Peak data rates of 25 Mbps (downlink) and 8 Mbps (uplink) based on Big River's 5 MHz of spectrum allocation

• Spectrum Efficiency: 3-4x downlink improvement and 2-3x uplink improvement vs 3G technologies

• Latency: round trip communication time between device and the network of 10ms (vs 50-75 ms in 3G)

• Interworking: support for seamless handoff between 4G and 2G/3G technologies (300ms for voice, 500ms for data)

• Mobility: support for fixed devices, low speed (0-10mph) and high speed (50-100 mph)

• Quality of Service: ability to prioritize traffic over the air interface, backhaul network and core infrastructure to support real time applications such as Voice over IP

Big River is deploying a state of the art LTE network, and we will be one of the first in the nation to have such a network! Our solution is based on the latest 4G technologies such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) over the air technology, 2x2 Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna technology, and all Internet Protocol (IP) radio and core infrastructure. All of this together, enables much higher data rates over the air than 2G or 3G technologies!

For Big River's customers, the actual downlink and uplink speeds will vary based on distance from the cell tower, based on the number of users that are simultaneously active, and based on the terrain surrounding the customer. Based on studies, our subscribers will average 1-6 Mbps downlink and 0.5-2 Mbps uplink, with peak rates being much higher (as indicated above).

What is Broadband?

The definition of broadband, or high-speed Internet access, is constantly changing and being challenged. The term is typically used to describe Internet service that is faster than traditional dial-up Internet access. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration currently defines "broadband" as speeds that move data at a rate of 768 Kbps (Kilobits per second) downstream and 200 Kbps upstream.

How is Broadband different from Dial-Up service?

• Provides higher-speed of data transmission – more content can fit in the “pipeline”.

• Provides access to the highest quality Internet services – video, streaming media, VoIP (Internet Phone), online business applications and interactive services.

• Broadband is always on – does not block phone lines, no need to reconnect to the network.

• Less delay when downloading or sending files.