Flanger – Best Bang for the Buck
August 2008
Louisiana PCS Operator finds “Best Bang for the Buck” Backhaul Solution
Johnathon Hebert, Network Engineer for Pace Cellular in Kaplan, Louisiana knows all about the challenges of delivering cost-effective, reliable PCS service in remote areas. “Some of the areas we cover in rural Louisiana have very little in the way of traditional infrastructure in terms of leased circuits available”, and he adds “for us it’s vitally important that we be able to deliver service at the least cost possible, but still maintain our high standard of reliability. In some of these areas our customers are increasingly using their pcs phone as their only phone, and we need to make sure they’ve got service when they need it.”
So, with leased T1’s either prohibitively expensive or unavailable altogether, Kaplan’s best options in many cases are wireless. In the past that’s meant licensed microwave radios, which usually cost tens of thousands of dollars. But several years ago, Johnathan discovered another option that represents the best combination of reliability, cost, and ease-of-use and installation of anything out there.
“I met a few guys from Motorola at a trade show and they suggested I take a look at their inexpensive license-free radios and a mux they were just introducing to deliver T1’s over the link. Well my first experience wasn’t entirely positive, as the initial mux product didn’t quite deliver as promised. To their credit, several months into it, Motorola suggested an alternative – the Memorylink Flanger product, which was being deployed in numerous GSM networks with great success.” And to Johnathan’s delight, the product worked flawlessly from day one. He has since added numerous additional links, including some that carry multiple T1s as well as data traffic using the Flanger’s LAN port.
“In my opinion, this combination of Canopy (Motorola) backhaul radios and the Memorylink Flanger product offers the best bang for your buck. I’m a big believer.”
According to Steve Erickson, Memorylink’s VP of Sales and Marketing, “as margins are shrinking, carriers are under increasing pressure to find an economical alternative for delivering backhaul links. The savings goes straight to the bottom line. Flanger, in concert with Ethernet radios, makes perfect sense. It’s a proven technology with installations across all major platforms, including GSM and CDMA, and we’ve successfully installed with most major BTS vendor’s equipment”. He adds “We don’t pretend it’s the ONLY solution for backhaul, but it’s certainly a tool that carriers ought to have in their bag to help deliver service and meet financial results.”
As for Johnathan Hebert, the technology’s an important part of their buildout plans this coming year. As the new sites are increasingly penetrating more rural areas with lower population density, he’s glad to have found this remarkable combination of reliability, cost, and ease-of-use.
Flanger is a registered trademark of Memorylink. To learn more about the product and the company’s suite of innovative broadband solutions visit www.memorylink.com. Or call their offices at 866-398-4336.