RADWIN, Rapier Systems Accelerate Internet Speeds for Rural Community in Scotland

RADWIN, the global wireless broadband provider, has announced that the Drimnin community in Scotland deployed its Beamforming JET PRO 750Mbps base station and AIR subscriber units.

JET wireless broadband Point-to-Multipoint solutions deliver high-speed broadband to residents in the remote rural community in Scotland, which lies beyond the reach of a fiber infrastructure. System Integrator Rapier Systems was in charge of project planning and deployment and will be providing the ongoing support of the network on behalf of the community.

Richard Watson, MD, Rapier Systems said: “Before they decided to go the wireless route, the Drimnin community had a satellite connection but speeds were often less than 2 Mbps. Satellite service was so poor and unstable, no one could use online banking or run streaming services such as Netflix or iPlayer, and the large satellite dishes marred the beautiful landscape. This prompted villagers to form the Drimnin Community Broadband CIC to try and find a solution. At the same time, leading salmon farmer Scottish Sea Farms was seeking to introduce broadband to its farms in the surrounding area to enable remote feeding. The two teamed up and, after assessing several wireless manufacturers, RADWIN’s Point-to-Multipoint solutions were selected.”

Concluded Watson: “RADWIN was a clear winner with their high capacity JET base stations delivering 750Mbps throughput and their small form factor, unobtrusive subscriber units. JET overcomes the challenges of the local geography, and operates in non-line-of-sight conditions and over-water. With JET, the Drimnin community enjoys much faster speeds of up to 50 Mbps. Villagers can now do online banking, video conferencing, credit card payments. These advances are improving the daily lives of residents and make running businesses much easier, offering real economic benefit to the Drimnin community.”

Rhonda Newsham, Drimnin Community Broadband Director: “We want our community to thrive but this was becoming increasingly difficult because of poor internet connectivity. Thanks to RADWIN’s JET solutions and system integrator Rapier Systems, residents and businesses in the community can finally enjoy a reliable, high-speed broadband connection to the digital world.”

Forbes Baylis, Project Leader for Scottish Sea Farms: “Ensuring that the remote communities in which we live and work benefit from us being there is hugely important to Scottish Sea Farms, so to see Drimnin’s residents and businesses enjoy faster, more reliable broadband every bit as much as we are is truly rewarding and reinforces just how much can be achieved by community spirit.”

Zeev Farkash, VP Global Sales, RADWIN: “Broadband is critical to the success of communities. Fast, reliable broadband helps spur new job opportunities that lie outside the reach of the local economic base and also offers the possibility to connect citizens to the town itself and enhance town services by enabling network infrastructure to do more. We are proud to partner with Rapier Systems to help push real broadband with carrier-class quality into previously overlooked areas in Scotland.”