Fixed wireless broadband, explained and troubleshot

How a fixed wireless connection works

Fixed wireless delivers your internet over a radio link rather than a cable. A small directional antenna on your roof points at one of our tower sites, and the two exchange data over a licensed or lightly-licensed radio band. It reaches places fibre hasn’t yet and installs in hours rather than days.

The installation has four parts, and knowing which is which makes troubleshooting far quicker:

• The outdoor unit (the radio). A small panel or dish mounted high on your roof or a mast, aimed precisely at our tower. Once aligned, it must not be moved — a few degrees off is enough to halve your throughput.
• The Ethernet cable. A single outdoor-rated cable runs from the radio into the building. It carries both data and power.
• The PoE injector. A small power supply indoors that feeds electricity up the cable to the radio. It has two ports, usually labelled POE or LAN OUT (to the roof) and LAN (to your router). Swapping these is the single most common self-inflicted fault.
• Your router. Connected to the injector’s LAN port. It creates your Wi-Fi and shares the connection.

Line of sight is everything

A fixed wireless link needs a clear, uninterrupted view between your antenna and our tower. That path was surveyed and confirmed on installation day — but the world changes around it.

The most common cause of a fixed wireless connection degrading months after a perfect installation is something new in the path:

• Tree growth. By far the most frequent culprit. A sapling that was well below the path two summers ago is now in it. Leaves are particularly absorbent when wet.
• New construction. A neighbour’s extension, a new wall, a water tank on a stand or a new building between you and the tower.
• The antenna itself moving. High wind, a fallen branch, a loose bracket, or someone leaning a ladder against the mast.
• Something placed nearby. A satellite dish, solar panel or shade net installed close to the antenna can block or reflect the signal.

If your connection has gradually worsened over months rather than failing suddenly, look up at the antenna and follow its line with your eye. If something is now in the way, tell us — that observation saves us a diagnostic visit.

Does weather affect it?

Less than people expect, but not nothing. A healthy, properly aligned link with good signal margin rides out ordinary Eswatini weather without a flicker.

• Heavy rain can reduce throughput briefly on longer links. A well-installed link keeps working; you may notice slightly lower speeds during a downpour.
• Wind doesn’t affect the radio signal, but sustained high wind can shift a mount over time. If speeds drop permanently after a storm, alignment is the first thing we check.
• Lightning is the real risk. Our installations are earthed and surge-protected, but a nearby strike can still damage equipment. If your connection died during a thunderstorm and nothing has come back, report it — don’t keep power-cycling.
• Heat and mist have essentially no effect on a correctly engineered link.

Checks you can safely do yourself

1. Check our status page first. If your area appears on network status, we already know and are working on it.
2. Look at the PoE injector. It should have a power light on. No light means no power reaching the roof, and the radio is dead. Try a different wall socket before assuming the worst.
3. Confirm the cables are in the right ports. The cable going outside belongs in POE or LAN OUT; the cable to your router belongs in LAN. Reversed, nothing works and the injector may be damaged. If you’ve just moved things around, this is almost certainly it.
4. Restart in the right order. Unplug both the injector and the router. Wait 30 seconds. Power the injector first and wait two full minutes for the radio to boot and re-associate with the tower. Only then power the router.
5. Test with a cable. Plug a laptop straight into the router with Ethernet. If that works but Wi-Fi doesn’t, the fault is in your wireless setup, not the broadband link.
6. Look at the antenna from the ground. Is it still pointing the way it always did? Is anything new in its path? Take a photo — it’s the single most useful thing you can attach to a fault report.

What never to do

• Never re-aim the antenna yourself. It was aligned with instruments to within a fraction of a degree. Nudging it by hand will make things worse, and re-alignment is a chargeable visit.
• Never climb to it. Roof and mast work is genuinely dangerous and it’s our job, not yours.
• Never swap the PoE injector for a generic one. Voltages differ between radio models and the wrong injector will destroy the radio.
• Never cut, extend or re-terminate the outdoor cable. It’s outdoor-rated and weather-sealed for a reason.
• Never remove the earthing. It is what stands between a nearby lightning strike and your equipment.

Broadband connected but slow

If the link is up and you’re online but speeds disappoint, work through these in order:

1. Test on a cable, not Wi-Fi. This resolves the majority of speed complaints on its own. Run a test with a laptop plugged into the router.
2. Check what else is running. A console update or cloud backup will consume the whole link.
3. Note the time of day. If speeds are fine at midday and poor at 20:00, that’s a peak-hour pattern worth reporting with timestamps.
4. Look for new obstructions. Gradual decline over months usually means something has grown or been built into the path.
5. Consider the package. If your household has grown since installation, the link may be doing exactly what it should — there simply isn’t enough of it. Ask us about upgrading.

Could you move to fibre?

Our fibre footprint expands every quarter, and addresses that were wireless-only two years ago are now within reach of a fibre route. If you’d prefer the higher and more consistent speeds fibre delivers, it costs nothing to ask.

Check coverage at your address — if fibre has reached you, we’ll quote for the changeover and tell you honestly whether it’s worth doing in your case.