Reliable, high-speed broadband is a necessity in today’s world. The digital divide is real and especially apparent in less populated, rural areas. While state governing boards slowly divvy out funds, many rural citizens are left to languish in digital deserts.
This was the case for The Coves community in Union Hall, Virginia. Franklin County had few broadband providers, and progress was slow in getting broadband to all parts of the county. The Coves sought an immediate and long-term solution.
Prospective homeowners moving from urban looking for places to retire and purchase or build homes expect consistent, reliable broadband and view it as a vital utility necessary for daily living.
Damien Gunnell of SWAT Wireless was instrumental in connecting the community’s entire 90 acres with Shentel’s broadband internet signal located at the entrance of the property. Given the community’s hilly terrain, this task was a challenge.
Initially, a 4-foot pole with a transmitter was constructed on top of the community’s pavilion, which is located at the highest point on the property. This allowed the transmitter to connect to the outside source of broadband and propagate it 120 degrees to homesites and solar arrays throughout the community.
As it turns out, this was only a temporary solution. To broadcast a signal to the greater swath of the property, a 34-foot tower was built with transmitters installed. The mission was to connect with a Shentel router to achieve greater broadband connectivity to multiple areas within the community.
To achieve broadband connectivity, the following equipment was installed on the tower to various router locations throughout The Coves property.
- Rocket Prism 5G-90
- LiteAP-120-5G
- GigaBEAM LR-60GHz
- NanoBeam 2 AC 2.4GHz
- GigaBEAM(60GHz)
- UAP-AC-M Pro
New additions to the Coves connectivity infrastructure is a new (Dream Machine Pro) router with 2 wireless bridges that provide the incoming internet to the development. This allows the Dream Machine Pro to detect when the Shentel service goes offline to automatically switch to our secondary service Starlink to minimize any downtimes of service to The Coves.
As well there is now 1Gig(1000 Mbps) internet speed to critical locations in the community. This has been successfully accomplished by using 60ghz radios. A byproduct of the increase in speed is the upgrade from ethernet to the radios, resulting in improved Cat6 shielded cable.
Having reliable broadband connectivity not only allows homeowners to have strong broadband for communication, working and entertainment, but it also enables homes to be transformed into smart homes.
Through WSIP and Wi-Fi, technology homes may be monitored and controlled through smart devices.
- Digital entry and monitoring for doors
- Energy-efficient observing of thermostats and humidity controls
- Remotely control plugs and switches
- Check your kilowatt-hours
- Shut off your water heater in case of emergency
- 24/7 security cameras protection
Supporting the bond between people and their natural surroundings, as well as connecting people to state-of-the-art technology, is not seen as mutually exclusive at The Coves. This has always been one of the central propositions of the community. For more information about The Coves and how you might someday call it home, visit www.covesatsml.com/