Upon visiting Spike Technologies, we were convinced that Spike's approach was the best suited to our data communications needs, because its patented antenna solved the interference problems, or its IP switching-based scheme allowed for easy integration into our data network and the low latency was well suited to streaming video and IP telephony services. The performance of the system impressed the governor of the state of Merida, who gave funds for a full-blown system with 400 remote units that would be deployed across the state to provide Internet access for schools, health care facilities, libraries, nongovernmental organizations, and government agencies. The subscribers enjoy LAN speeds with a geographic coverage of hundreds of kilometers. Several concurrent video streams are supported for applications like telemedicine, distance learning, and remote surveillance. The base station has 11 sectors, each with a 15-degree beamwidth.
Adjacent sectors have different frequencies, but the frequency is reused in the farther-away sector.
Each sector is an independent LAN, interconnected by a high-speed switch. This network received the SuperQwest Award at SuperComm'98 as the best in the Remote Access Category. So now people like me who have been waiting 20 years for a telephone line without getting it, can nevertheless access a high-speed data network and communicate with the world. This article is scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of ConnectWorld.