A 4G LTE tower operated by Great North Woods Wireless. Photo: GNWW
Sprint customers in Coos County now have access to 4G LTE data roaming service through architecture offered by ExteNet Systems on the new 4G LTE network built and operated by Great North Woods Wireless, headquartered in Portsmouth with offices in Concord and Groveton. Additionally, Coos County residents and businesses will have the ability to access fixed wireless service on the same network through TCC Networks.
“Our successful buildout of a 4G LTE network in Coos County continues with the launch of data roaming services and the availability of fixed wireless,” says Bob Parsloe, president and CEO of Great North Woods Wireless and its sister company Wireless Partners, headquartered in Maine. “Access to wireless technology is required for commerce, necessary for modern modes of communication, and indispensable to public safety in the 21st Century. Coos County now has that access on our network.”
Since Wireless Partners launched the Coos County 4G LTE network as a Verizon Wireless LRA network partner in December 2016, the company has activated an additional tower in N. Stratford, increasing the network’s coverage and service. Ultimately, the network will have 16+ towers providing 4G LTE cellular service.
The network’s roaming component was made possible through the installation of ExteNet Systems’ LTE architecture–a flexible and scalable Evolved Packet Core (EPC) solution that can be centralized, distributed and/or virtualized to meet the 4G LTE deployment needs of any wireless service provider (WSP), communications service provider (CSP), internet service provider (ISP) or large enterprise.
"The mNET LTE solution architecture is mutually beneficial to the consumer and the network operator,” says Jason Osborne, VP of business development at ExteNet. “It not only makes both data and voice roaming possible for the consumer, but provides operational flexibility to the network operator.”
Meanwhile, TCC Networks in Massachusetts will market fixed wireless Skywire LTE service to the area via the same network. The cost to install the extensive infrastructure required to bring high-speed internet access to underserved, sparsely populated areas has been a prohibiting factor, but fixed wireless has emerged as the elusive solution to that challenge. TCC Networks’ fixed wireless Skywire LTE service will leverage extra band class 4 capacity on the Coos County network to make high-speed internet a reality for even more residents and businesses.
“The addition of Skywire LTE fixed wireless to our current TCC Skywire wireless broadband services significantly increases our coverage area in greater Coos County,” says Donald Dawson, president of TCC Networks. “With Skywire LTE we are able to deliver cost-effective, high-speed internet access to much more of the community, along with LTE redundancy and mobility solutions not yet seen in this area."
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