Overview

 

The Problem

1995- National Telecommunications and Information Administration first articulated the problem that came to be known as the “digital divide” in their report “FALLING THROUGH THE NET: A Survey of the "Have Nots" in Rural and Urban America”.  Here it was recognized that US citizens are required to have access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), be competent in their use, and be able to benefit from it.  These gaps in availability, access and adoption still loom today.

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The Solution

The What: Community‐owned‐and‐operated fiber infrastructure ….

5ST has devised a wireless mesh network based on technology used by the

US Government and its armed forces. It provides rural, austere areas with accessible, reliable internet connectivity.

Working in concert with our partners 5ST is able to deliver to all remote and disadvantaged communities the much-needed broadband services wirelessly (WiFi) with a fiber backbone.

• Upon assessment of a community’s needs, the wireless services leads the way in building a community owned and operated Fiber Infrastructure

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Scalability and Product Compatibility Risks

Utilizing single-source vendor technology in the short-term:

• Typically, WiFi networking products from a single vendor work together more efficiently, have better shared coverage and are much easier to manage

 

However, the disadvantages of single-source vendor appear over the long-haul:

• Being locked in to a single vendor hinders the ability to scale the network in a cost-effective way and manage the system over time;

• Scaling and centrally managing network infrastructure with multi-vendor hardware is nearly impossible because of incompatibility between devices from different vendors

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5ST’s Technology Answers the Risk

5ST technology is an integrated, all-in-one access controller that:

• Takes care of all core network elements and sub-services required for monitoring, maintaining and managing a WiFi hotspot network;

• Sits between the Internet source and the internal network;

• Functions as an access gateway and authentication system central to the management of the entire network and all of its users

• Is vendor-agnostic, which means that it can be integrated within any vendor access points and provide complete hotspot and network management functions

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How We Make it Happen!

The first step in 5ST aiding clients to bring to fruition Broadband access to their populace is identifying and securing a funding source that supports the clients need.  Once this is achieved 5ST take up the mantle...

 

• Phase-1 Wireless Meshnet Implementation

  • Highly recommended as it this will provide immediate access, whereas fiber to the premise (FTTP) takes a great deal of time to orchestrate​

• Phase-2 Provide Fiber-To-The-Premise (FTTP)

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Rural communities have been overlooked and excluded from the Gig-Economy. This has created a pain point for the average consumer. Internet Service providers have avoided upgrading technology in these areas. The risk versus reward was too high to offer quality services. Many families can’t afford these constant rising prices.

 

 

As discovered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on education, health/medical, shopping, socializing, and work, dependable communication and internet is a necessity. 

 

 

Without improvements to internet and wireless services, American children will persist to fall behind the rest of the world due to substandard education resulting from poor telecommunication connectivity.