Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) offer some of the most stable and efficient internet connectivity services available today. Yet in South Africa, these providers find themselves struggling to compete against fibre and cellular internet services, often perceived as superior despite their limitations.

This struggle highlights a crucial gap in marketing and consumer perception – a gap that leaves many blind to the true strengths of fixed wireless internet.

The perception problem

Consumers often remain unaware of the real source of their connectivity issues. When troubleshooting and complaining about internet problems, they typically blame ‘the WiFi’. That’s because they think of their service as ‘just WiFi’, when it’s actually the fibre or cellular link to their homes, also known as the ‘last mile', the true critical link of the ‘last nine yards’.

Sadly, for many South African consumers, the last mile is where the internet goes to die. The WiFi within their homes that connects their devices to the internet is robust and rarely fails.

This misconception is a significant hurdle for WISPs, whose services excel precisely in this last segment of connectivity.

In South Africa, the majority of internet connectivity comes from fibre, mobile LTE, and 5G. Fibre was marketed as the ultimate solution for high-speed internet, but in reality, similar speeds can now be achieved over wireless networks.

The haphazard rollout of fibre infrastructure has also led to frequent breaks and unreliable service, particularly in areas where providers are digging on top of each other and major excavations are taking place to repair failing water and electrical infrastructure.

Cellular providers, too, face significant challenges. Load shedding often disables transmission towers, making it impossible to guarantee consistent service. Although we are seeing some relief from loadshedding, the decaying transmission infrastructure is causing similar outages, only now it’s called “load limiting”. The unpredictable traffic on shared towers between fixed and mobile users further complicates the reliability of LTE and 5G connections.

The hidden strengths of WISPs

WISPs offer a compelling alternative to fibre and cellular providers. By leveraging unlicensed 5.8GHz spectrum and hopefully 6GHz in the future following the global trend, they have effectively transformed the “last nine yards WiFi ” into a robust “last mile.” Their fixed radio devices ensure stable connections from their towers to users' devices, bypassing many of the issues that plague fibre and cellular networks.

WISPs operate on low-powered equipment, allowing them to use batteries and solar power instead of relying on Eskom’s unstable electricity supply. This independence from the national grid makes WISPs a more resilient choice, especially in the face of ongoing load shedding and transmission infrastructure challenges.

Additionally, WISPs have established multiple routes within their middle networks, connecting seamlessly to core networks and undersea cables. This redundancy ensures a remarkable average uptime of 99.99%, a reliability unmatched by other providers.

Not only do WISPs provide reliable service, but they also can do so at a lower cost. Their operating model is more affordable requiring less infrastructure investment than that of fibre or cellular providers, enabling them to offer competitive pricing in fixed wireless.

For instance, WISPs can provide uncapped public internet hotspot access for as little as R5 a day – significantly more data than what cellular providers offer for R5.50 prepaid per day which translates into 35MB of data .

The weakest link

Despite their advantages, WISPs remain one of South Africa’s best-kept secrets. To overcome this, they must shift their marketing strategies to highlight the strengths of their fixed wireless services.

Avoiding terms like “air fibre” that imply the superiority of fibre is crucial. Instead, they should emphasise their wireless, robust last mile, affordability, and resilience. Wisps also tend to operate locally in communities where they have feet on the ground, so their support levels and end user experiences are extremely high, as opposed to the large national players who rely on their call centres with no ‘on the ground ‘ tech support.

As the saying goes, “There are none so blind who cannot see.” The reality is clear: WISPs provide superior internet services, whereas fibre and cellular providers are sometimes the weakest links in the last mile segment of the connectivity chain.