Redzone Completes Breakthrough Wireless Broadband Pilot in Midcoast Maine

ROCKLAND, Maine & MILPITAS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Redzone Wireless, LLC, Maine’s leading provider of wireless broadband services announced today that it recently completed a two-month pilot project in Rockland, Maine to field-test an innovative new broadband wireless technology developed by partner Tarana Wireless, Inc. The test results confirmed peak end-user data rates of 800 Mbps and the capability for symmetric download and upload speeds. These results were observed in both line-of-sight and harsh non-line-of-sight conditions across the community from a single tower location in Rockland, Maine.

This project demonstrated dramatically increased capacity vs. previous generations of wireless broadband technology. The Tarana platform efficiently distributes 10 Gigabits of total capacity per site — enabling up to 1,000 simultaneous connections from a single tower.

The massive performance and capacity improvements measured in Redzone’s pilot project across a 25 square-mile area completely challenge previous conventional thinking about the role broadband wireless can and should play in addressing the digital divide in America.

Commenting on the pilot project results and implications for Maine, Redzone CEO Jim McKenna said, “We began testing Tarana’s G1 platform with conservative expectations based on our years of experience deploying and operating fixed wireless networks. Our goal was to push the limits of the platform’s coverage and capacity to address the broadband needs of an entire community. When we saw results from our G1 test locations under diverse conditions, we were astounded by the performance. We realized immediately that this technology was a broadband game-changer for Maine and Redzone.”

Fixed Wireless, Finally Fixed

The Tarana G1 platform introduces a range of advanced beam- and null-forming technologies, along with industry firsts in interference cancellation, to deliver fiber-class speeds and performance in challenging non-line-of-sight conditions, even in unlicensed spectrum. G1’s multi-gigabit capacity and nearly 1 Gbps peak user data rates represent 15 to 20x improvements over competing technologies, and truly unrivaled network economics at a massive scale.

Basil Alwan, Tarana’s CEO, said, “The Redzone team has decades of deep experience with broadband and wireless. Their strong validation underscores that our own decade of fundamental research and development into a new reality for Internet service providers and consumers has hit the mark. We’re excited to see G1 helping communities in Maine achieve real broadband speeds sooner than anyone expected.”

Redzone network engineers and technicians conducted the broadband pilot from towers located in Rockland, Maine. Various performance metrics including received power, path loss, modulation rates, and data throughput were measured over a 60-day period from more than 50 individual end-user locations spread across an area of 25 square miles.

“In addition to the high data rates measured consistently across the test area, our network team also noted rock-solid reliability of the tested equipment, and virtually zero degradation from RF interference,” said Aaron Tibbets, Redzone Director of Network Engineering

Commercial Network Deployment

Following the successful completion of the pilot, Redzone has shifted quickly into commercial network deployment. “After confirming results from the pilot, we were compelled to focus our full attention on planning new network deployments with underserved community partners,” said Redzone’s Jim McKenna. “We have active projects in late-stage development that will benefit dozens of communities which we will announce formally in the coming weeks. These communities recognize that this solution offers real future-proof broadband — meaning a broadband network that does not require additional capital investment every time new homes or businesses are constructed within the geographic service area.”

While it’s been known fiber-to-the-home projects have been generally 5x the cost and have required 5x the time to complete versus a comparable broadband wireless solution, current global fiber-optic line supply constraints, combined with construction labor scarcity and rising inflation, are adding time, cost and uncertainty to community fiber projects — creating even more urgent demand for affordable and time-efficient alternative solutions. The Redzone/Tarana collaboration delivers fiber performance at 80% lower cost in only 20% of the time, without the escalating uncertainties of today’s fiber-to-the-home builds. “Redzone has introduced this new broadband technology to a limited number of communities during the pilot period, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive,” McKenna said. “It’s clear that these communities have waited long enough. They are wowed by the technology, and we are confident that our solution will exceed their expectations.”

“Every municipal leader that is looking to improve speeds, lower costs, and eliminate broadband coverage gaps in their community needs to take a look at the Redzone + Tarana solution,” said Brian Lippold, CEO of Broadband/Telecom Consulting Firm Casco Bay Advisors. “It’s affordable, it can be deployed quickly, and, because it’s wireless (as opposed to wired), a one-time infrastructure investment has the potential to connect every present and every future home and business in the region with minimal marginal cost. It’s also more resilient and environmentally hardened than utility-line-powered solutions, and it can reach both on-grid and off-grid locations. It checks a lot of boxes.”

For Maine Communities interested in exploring Tarana broadband wireless solution partnership opportunities with Redzone, please visit www.redzonewireless.com/communitypartner

About Redzone Wireless, LLC

Redzone Wireless, LLC is a Maine-owned and operated company with more than 14 years of experience building and operating broadband networks. The company’s fixed wireless technology provides a rapidly deployable, economically viable, and sustainable premium broadband Internet service for homes and businesses. Redzone currently operates in all 16 Maine counties and plans to expand regionally in 2022.

About Tarana Wireless

Tarana Wireless, Inc. is the performance leader in broadband wireless access network solutions, powered by a number of industry-first and well-proven breakthroughs in perfect, multidimensional optimization of radio signals. Its Gigabit 1 fixed access system overcomes previously insurmountable network economics challenges for service providers in both mainstream broadband and underserved markets, using free unlicensed spectrum. The company is headquartered in Milpitas, California.