unWired Broadband, Largest ngFWA Operator in CA, Expands Tarana-Powered Network

FRESNO, Calif. & MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--unWired Broadband and Tarana today announced their plans to expand affordable, high-speed internet service throughout Central and Northern California with G1 — Tarana’s next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) broadband platform. unWired will pass tens of thousands of underserved locations in both licensed and unlicensed spectrum over the next 12 months with ngFWA.

The G1 platform launched commercially in late 2021. Like many telecom industry veterans at the time, the unWired team was skeptical about Tarana’s claims of unprecedented interference cancellation and operation in long-range and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions. However, after thorough field testing delivered hundreds of Mbps in even the most challenging radio environments, unWired concluded that Tarana G1 was the “first wireless broadband product to live up to its marketing” (as noted by Troy Klinger, Director of Network Operations) and became an early adopter of ngFWA.

Fast forwarding two years to today — more than 200 operators have embraced Tarana’s technology globally, and unWired is the largest ngFWA service provider in the state of California. Already serving nearly 30,000 customers, they have added hundreds of long-distance and NLoS subscribers that were previously unreachable with legacy wireless technology, and are upgrading many rural subscribers (who had been limited to just 5 Mbps service) to a minimum of 100 Mbps. With Tarana’s recently-released “x2” software upgrade, unWired is also delivering gigabit speeds in the new unlicensed 6 GHz spectrum.

In addition to far better internet speeds with ngFWA, unWired is offering their customers lower prices, resulting in reduced churn and excellent word of mouth that has grown their business. John Weigand, the CCO of unWired, said that delivering hundreds of Mbps at reduced pricing was “completely unthinkable pre-Tarana.”

unWired also reports significantly improved spectral efficiency with G1, sharing that they can connect 10x the number of subscribers per tower without performance degradation. Legacy technology required dozens of access points per tower and narrow-beam horn antennas — devices used for quieting noisy radio environments — yet unWired still often struggled with crowded spectrum. G1’s unprecedented interference cancellation allows them to fully optimize both licensed and unlicensed bands to serve more subscribers more reliably.

Klinger shared, “Tarana created the first platform where we don’t have to be concerned about delivering the bandwidth we promised our customers. With legacy FWA gear we often found ourselves apologizing, telling them ‘This is the best we can do’, and now we’re proud of the service we can offer them. That feels good. Tarana is really changing the way people view fixed wireless.”

Basil Alwan, Tarana’s CEO, added, “unWired’s dedication to their customers is exactly what we look for in our service provider partners. They are steadfast in their mission to deliver the best possible service, which — in challenging areas where fiber deployment is impractical — is ngFWA-powered internet. We share their mission and look forward to continuing progress on the digital divide in California with unWired."

To inquire about unWired Broadband service in your area, visit https://www.getunwired.com/contact.

About Unwired Broadband

unWired Broadband was founded in 2003 with a single tower site near Clovis, California to meet the need for fast, reliable Internet in rural and underserved areas. Since our inception, we have experienced exponential growth and expanded our connectivity offerings to include redundancy solutions and a data center. Regarded as a trusted technology partner to businesses and homes across Central and Northern California, we currently cover 19,000 square miles with 200 towers…and growing!

About Tarana

Tarana’s mission is to accelerate the deployment of fast, affordable internet access around the world. Through a decade of R&D and over $400M of investment, the Tarana team has created a unique next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) technology instantiated in its first commercial platform, Gigabit 1 (G1). It delivers a game-changing advance in broadband economics in both mainstream and underserved markets, using either licensed or unlicensed spectrum. G1 started production in mid-2021 and has since been embraced by more than 200 service providers in 21 countries. Tarana is headquartered in Milpitas, California, with additional research and development in Pune, India. Learn more at www.taranawireless.com.