Fixed wireless is internet access delivered by radio from a provider’s tower or rooftop to an antenna mounted at your building. Unlike mobile service, both ends stay put, so the link can be aimed, engineered and covered by service terms much like a wired circuit. Businesses use it where fiber is unavailable, slow to install or too expensive to build, and as a second connection whose last mile does not share a cable path with the first.
At a glance
- A radio link replaces the last-mile cable between the provider’s network and your building.
- It can often be installed in days or weeks instead of the months a fiber build can take.
- Options range from licensed point-to-point microwave sold with an SLA to cellular 4G/5G fixed wireless access sold more like broadband.
- Line of sight, distance, weather and interference all affect performance, so a site survey matters.
- It gives last-mile diversity from wired service, but end-to-end diversity (tower backhaul, provider network, building power and cabling) has to be verified.
What problem it solves
Getting fiber into a building can require permits, trenching, building access agreements and long construction lead times, and in some locations the cost is hard to justify. A business opening a new office, a construction site, a warehouse on the edge of town or a temporary location may not be able to wait.
Fixed wireless gets the site online by radio instead. It also solves a resilience problem: most wired connections to a building share the same street conduit and building entry, so one backhoe can cut them all. A wireless last mile fails for different reasons, which is what makes it valuable as a second connection. Only the radio segment is different, though: the tower’s backhaul, the provider’s aggregation and upstream facilities, and your building’s power and inside cabling may still overlap with the wired service, so end-to-end diversity has to be checked, not assumed.
How it works
Point-to-point links. Two antennas aimed at each other carry a dedicated link, typically over licensed microwave or millimeter-wave spectrum. Licensed spectrum is registered with the regulator for that path, which protects it from interference. These links are often sold as dedicated internet access with symmetrical bandwidth and an SLA.
Point-to-multipoint service. One base station on a tower or rooftop serves many customer antennas in its area, often over unlicensed or lightly licensed spectrum. Capacity is shared among the customers on that base station, so it behaves more like broadband, though providers vary in how much they oversubscribe.
Cellular fixed wireless access. Mobile network operators sell 4G LTE and 5G service to fixed locations using an indoor or outdoor receiver. It needs no line of sight in most cases and installs quickly, but it shares capacity with the operator’s other users in that cell, and performance depends on signal at your address. In consumer and small business marketing, “FWA” often refers to this type specifically.
Engineering factors. Link distance, frequency, antenna height, obstructions, and local rainfall decide what a link can sustain. Higher frequencies carry more capacity over shorter distances and are more affected by rain. Installing equipment on a roof usually needs landlord approval, power and a cable path into the telecom room.
For more on deployment patterns and pairing fixed wireless with wired service, see our Fixed Wireless solution page.
When it matters for buyers
- A fiber install is delaying a move-in. Fixed wireless can bridge the gap, sometimes as a short-term contract until fiber arrives.
- A site has a single wired connection. A wireless last mile removes the shared-conduit risk at the building; confirm the backhaul and upstream network are separate too.
- Sites are remote, rural or temporary. Construction sites, event venues and seasonal locations often have no practical wired option.
- Bandwidth needs grow faster than wired upgrades. Licensed microwave can often be upgraded by changing radios rather than rebuilding the path.
- You are comparing quotes. A licensed point-to-point link and a cellular fixed wireless plan are very different services, even if both are called fixed wireless.
Questions to ask vendors
- Is the service point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, or cellular, and is the spectrum licensed?
- Is bandwidth dedicated to us or shared, and is it symmetrical?
- Has a site survey confirmed line of sight and signal, and what happens if a future building blocks the path?
- What availability is the link designed for, accounting for local weather?
- What SLA covers availability and repair time, and how quickly can you replace failed equipment on site?
- Who arranges roof rights, mounting, power and cabling into the building?
- Where does the provider’s tower connect back to its network, and does that path share any route with our wired service?
How it differs from cellular failover
Cellular failover is a backup feature: a router switches traffic to a mobile data connection when the primary link fails, and the cellular service is otherwise idle. Fixed wireless is a provisioned access service with its own antenna, bandwidth and service terms, and it can carry traffic full time as the primary link or as an active second path under SD-WAN. Cellular fixed wireless access sits between the two, using the mobile network but sold and installed as a fixed connection.
Problems this helps with
- Fiber to our building will take months or costs too much to build
- A single cable cut takes the whole site offline
- Need internet at a temporary or remote site quickly
