VTX1 Internet and Tarana announced the deployment of a next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) network that is making affordable, high-speed broadband service available to more than 2 million homes and businesses across 40,000 square miles of southern Texas.
Mark Castillo, Director of Network Operations at VTX1, was the first on his team to hear about Gigabit 1 (G1) — Tarana’s unique ngFWA broadband platform — when it launched commercially in October of 2021. With astonishing claims about reliable performance in heavily-used unlicensed radio spectrum and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) connections, Castillo was immediately intrigued and began further research. He knew that convincing VTX1 CTO Sebastian Ivanisky (who he called “the biggest skeptic in our company”) to try a new product would be challenging.
Ivanisky attended Tarana’s first Seeing is Believing demo event in Mascoutah, Illinois, just two months after the launch of G1. That evening Castillo texted him,
Since the event, the VTX1 team has become one of Tarana’s biggest supporters. They were among the first few internet service providers (ISPs) to adopt G1, a solution now embraced by more than 200 ISPs in 21 countries. Through a combination of new market expansion and swapping their legacy fixed wireless equipment for ngFWA, the company has already added thousands of subscribers and is still actively rolling out their new G1 network. Tarana upgrades are enabling them to successfully compete with Spectrum, an incumbent cable provider, in many parts of their coverage area.
that they were just another vendor claiming what they do without showing me how they do it, or proving sustainable, repeatable performance. But this is not another fly-by-night product. We’ve never been able to offer 400 Mbps over wireless — and now we’re delivering that regularly.”
Castillo is also one of the many happy customers on their Tarana-backed service. Residing in a rural area 4 miles outside of town, he’s had fixed wireless broadband for the last 13 years, but it wasn’t until he had a 5 GHz G1 radio on his home that he truly experienced high-speed internet. Now he consistently sees 500+ Mbps when checking on his service. He shared,
Tarana CEO, Basil Alwan,
The journey to turn the VTX1 team into believers has been rewarding. They were one of the first ISPs to build with us, and it’s been great to see it pay off for them. We are very proud to support their growing ngFWA network as they accelerate their business and deliver fast, reliable broadband to their customers.
