Representative Client sites
RSAccess has targeted certain niche and underserved markets. RSAccess has deployed wireless service to public safety training facilities and educational institutions, creating new opportunities for these entities to live-stream training classes and exercises. RSAccess also has deployed wireless service at tower site locations, which will provide tower climbers with mission-critical Internet access when tower radios are either disabled for safety or out of commission and in need of repair, and at electronic billboards, which can use MVDDS’ one-way wireless signal to safely change advertisements without requiring climbers, paper, and glue. For veterans service and support organizations, RSAccess has deployed wireless service at horse stables that offer veterans therapeutic riding lessons and Veterans of Foreign Wars (“VFW”) halls so that these organizations can enhance programs for veterans’ physical and mental health care and career development. In rural areas, RSAccess has deployed Internet connectivity services to a variety of small businesses, including True Value hardware stores, Food City supermarkets, and KOA campgrounds, which will allow these businesses to operate more efficiently and to better serve their customers.
Public Safety and Educational Institutions
Wireless Internet connectivity can improve operations by enabling real-time video streaming and other services for remote instruction. Recognizing this opportunity, RSAccess has sought out public safety organizations training first responders and community anchor institutions that provide educational and economic opportunities for residents, including at Texas A&M University’s Engineering Extension Service (“TEEX”) (see here). RSAccess has also partnered with educational institutions, such as St. Mary-of-the-Woods, a Catholic liberal arts college in Terre Haute, Indiana, to deploy and operate a wireless system that allows the school to live-stream online video and monitor its property at multiple vantage points where wires may be impractical or difficult to install.
TEEX
Main Street Salem, WV
MunicipalOrganizations
City of Salem, West Virginia. A town of roughly 1,500 people, Salem is nestled in the heart of Appalachia. For the city of Salem, RSAccess has installed four separate point-to- multipoint systems:
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One system has commenced service by connecting the fire station and library;
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A second system has begun service by connecting a municipal building to a pavilion on the North Bend Rail-Trail, a 72-mile pathway used for biking, hiking, and horseback riding that is part of the 5,500 mile American Discovery Trail;
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A third system has established service by connecting a municipal building to a church and nearby tennis courts used by Salem College’s tennis team; and
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A fourth system has begun point-to-multipoint service by connecting a municipal building to the baseball fields.
As a small town located in the mountains, Salem lacks robust wireline facilities to deliver residents and businesses high speeds that more urban residents take for granted.
Other backbone point-to-multipoint deployments that RSA/MDS has installed in Salem promises to strengthen community involvement. For example, the service connecting a municipal building to points on the North Bend Rail-Trail will serve multiple purposes.
There is a pavilion on the North Bend Rail-Trail that hosts concerts and events that attract anywhere from 1,800 to 2,200 people. Where cellular connections may be spotty, RSAccess’ service helps concertgoers check email, send text messages, and post photos or videos of the event on social media. Cyclists, hikers, and horseback riders frequently travel along the Rail-Trail. More than 72 miles long, the Rail-Trail offers numerous opportunities for travelers to stop, take a break, hop online, and grab something to eat or drink. By expanding Internet connectivity from Town Hall to the pavilion, which sits by the Rail-Trail,
Salem hopes to be known as an “Internet hub ”where travelers stop for a break."
North Bend Rail-Trail
Veterans Support and Service Organizations
Veterans support and service organizations often have additional facilities, such as disconnected secondary buildings, recreational grounds, pavilions, fields, and parking lots that are used for training or other purposes but are not connected to the Internet. The lack of connectivity limits these organizations’ opportunities to attract and retain new members. With access to better-connected facilities, members can benefit from workforce training and are more likely to participate in other forms of post-service support, such as community barbeques, flea markets, and community gatherings. RSA/MDS has constructed more than 100 of these connections at veterans service organizations, most of which involve establishing broadband connections between primary buildings and disconnected secondary facilities.
Our Veterans
Towers and Wireless Infrastructure. As part of its continuing effort to maximize the opportunities within MVDDS, RSAccess investigated other short-hop, point-to-multipoint opportunities in need of connectivity. The area in the immediate vicinity of towers and related wireless infrastructure proved to be an important market segment in need of additional connectivity.
RSAccess partnered with:
(1) InSite Wireless Group, one of the largest privately owned tower and wireless infrastructure companies in the United States; and
(2) Diamond Communications, which (in addition to managing the wireless equipment deployments for OUTFRONT Media’s billboards) has more than 200,000 wireless infrastructure sites under management across the United States, with well over 1,000 tenanted sites.54 Both companies have hundreds of towers located in RSAccess' leased license areas, often in rural or remote areas where wireline connections are economically infeasible or otherwise lacking.
In RSAccess' discussions with InSite about potential partnership opportunities, RSAccess learned that while these businesses provide infrastructure for wireless service providers, the tower locations themselves sometimes lack critical wireless Internet connectivity. When tower climbers come to install collocations or replace faulty equipment, they often find themselves unable to connect to the Internet. The lack of connectivity can occur because the workers are at the site to restore wireless connections or because antennas placed on the tower are disabled to mitigate RF hazards to tower climbers working on the tower. Additionally, some radio and television broadcast towers and other infrastructure do not host wireless broadband antennas and may lack sufficient coverage to provide coverage for tower climbers to communicate in emergencies or process paperwork while on-site.
To promote connectivity and facilitate compliance with worker-safety rules requiring the termination of radio-frequency transmission units at tower locations, RSAccess installed MVDDS solutions at 58 InSite and two Diamond Communications towers. The installation extends wireless connectivity to areas underneath the tower and nearby areas, which provides tower climbers and other personnel with the necessary connectivity to work on location. Without wasting time searching for signals, climbers can work more efficiently and, by extension, visit more locations in a given time period.
RSAccess also installed wireless video security solutions at numerous InSite tower locations. Trespassers often enter these locations to climb the tower or vandalize tower company or carrier property. By installing video security at these locations, RSAccess can eliminate potential blind spots for infrastructure owners and their employees. Increased surveillance not only protects existing infrastructure and tenants’ property, but also enhances public safety by deterring intruders and preventing injuries and deaths from potentially hazardous site conditions.
