How fixed wireless access internet can improve services for military families and visitors

Military families face frequent challenges, whether they are moving from base to base or trying to stay in touch with loved ones who are away for training or on a deployment. Network connectivity can help improve crucial services for families living on bases, making it easier for them to navigate these difficulties. Learn more what FWA internet is, how it works and how it can benefit the families and visitors on military bases.

What is fixed wireless access (FWA)?

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is a type of 5G or 4G LTE wireless technology that enables fixed broadband access using radio frequencies instead of cables.

"We often think of wireless in a mobility context," said LonGene Leonard, Enterprise Solution Architect at Verizon. "With fixed wireless access, we're allowing access to our cellular network via a fixed router. This opens up some good options for resilient communications. Rather than being tied to a fiber network or a cable network, we're achieving internet access through another modality: via the cellular network."

This approach allows a military base unique flexibility to ensure backup connectivity—if, for example, a fiber connection running to a base were unexpectedly cut. In the case of buildings or locations that don't have fiber or cable infrastructure, it can be advantageous to quickly and cost-effectively deploy a router that accesses the cellular network and delivers the necessary data connectivity.

In addition to these core benefits, FWA internet can help support military families living on bases as well as visitors who come on base for a variety of purposes.

Military families on base require reliable network connectivity

At first glance, life on base might look like life anywhere else in the country.

"A base is basically a small city," Leonard explained. "The average day in the life of a military family may not be too different from what a non-military family might encounter." The exception, of course, is that a service member might be away for training or deployed somewhere overseas, meaning a spouse is managing the lion's share of family activities in their absence. That person might be assuming these responsibilities while working remotely from the family's home on base or within the surrounding community. Wherever they are, they need reliable network connectivity to be productive.

When a service member is on base, their family may want to maximize the amount of time they can spend together.

"That's why the military has done a lot to provide child development centers or daycares, as they call them," Leonard said. Bases also offer commissaries, restaurants and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) facilities. MWRs feature budget-friendly recreational activities like bowling in addition to special events like fun runs, family fun days and carnivals.

"These amenities are intended to maximize that time for the service member and the family to be together, so they're not spending all their free time transiting the locations," Leonard added. "Everything is there on the base, and it's a self-contained ecosystem." These facilities and services are important components of everyday life on base, and they all rely on dependable network connectivity.

FWA can improve services for military families

FWA internet can support military families on base in numerous ways. Military families can use it to quickly set up home internet—a crucial capability given how often they must move from location to location. Setting up the internet from scratch at each new base can be a hassle, but it's much easier in a scenario where wireless access is already abundant and available, ready to use upon arrival.

For military spouses who work remotely, this connectivity can be key, ensuring they are able to perform their jobs and support the household. Reliable network connectivity can also support children who are living on base. For example, the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DoDEA, provides a portion of the schools on military bases, primarily in the eastern and southeastern regions of the country. FWA internet can be beneficial here, allowing students to keep up with their coursework at school and at home. FWA could also support school buses running on a military base, allowing kids and their families to stay connected throughout the day.

FWA can power the connectivity required for commissaries and exchanges, such as point of sale systems and digital signage, so military families can enjoy the same modern conveniences on base they might be used to in civilian spaces. Bases can also use FWA to provide data connectivity for special MWR events, ensuring they can take place without incident. "That way, you can have internet capability for the staff as well as the patrons of the event," Leonard said.

FWA improves the experience for military base visitors

Visitors who spend time on base will also need reliable network connectivity.

"A lot of visitors are extended family of military service members or military retirees that are coming back to the base to use some of the MWR facilities," Leonard said. Like military families, they may rely on network connectivity to use some of the facilities on base.

Bases could use FWA internet to provide network connectivity at RV park facilities, beaches or even marinas where service members, families and visitors enjoy downtime together. "Those places probably don't have big trenches for fiber or many other connectivity options," Leonard noted, indicating that these locations can be hard to service with traditional network cabling infrastructure.

Contractors working on base could also benefit from this type of connectivity. "Contractors could need access to the internet while working on base. Fixed wireless access to our commercial network is a great way to provide that connectivity for those contractors," he said. This can be arranged without broadcasting the presence of a Wi-Fi network, which can support better security. Read more about modern networks for the military.

FWA can strengthen base operations and security

FWA internet can provide crucial backup connectivity for military bases, making them more resilient and secure.

This kind of continuity can also help military bases adhere to the Department of Defense Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency (PACE) communications plan, which requires multiple means of communications to be ready and available for a planned event, exercise or emergency management situation. "Integrating cellular into that PACE plan is a great way to ensure that you've got redundancy in your communications. If your Primary, Alternate, Contingency or Emergency path goes down, cellular connectivity is a great means of ensuring communication," he added.

FWA internet could also serve as a potential solution in areas of poor connectivity. As more cellular towers come online near military bases, it will be even easier to augment existing forms of connectivity.

FWA internet can support the needs of military families living on base

FWA internet can help improve services on base for families, whether simply providing them with reliable home internet, supporting a spouse's remote work, enabling DoDEA learning activities for military children or delivering network connectivity for special events at MWR facilities. With reliable access to FWA internet, military families enjoy a better quality of life on base and more easily navigate the challenges they experience.

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The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.