How Line of Sight Works

Line of Sight is important when it comes to providing customers with quality, high-speed internet connection. Customers in a good Line of Sight area can expect quicker installation, high reliability, low latency, and potentially lower cost rates.

Though Micrologic offers its customers 3WLogic Highspeed Internet, an ultra-reliable network that provides a speedy connection, service does depend on the area’s line of sight. With that said, Micrologic has been serving residential and commercial customers from West Virginia and surrounding states with top-notch solutions and services for years.

On this segment of Tech Talk, we spoke with the professionals at Micrologic to learn more about Line of Sight.

How does Micrologic Internet Work?

– All of our internet is currently done via microwave so not too much different than satellite tv. We currently have about 80 different transmitter sites in all West Virginia counties and we broadcast from where customers have a receiver that gets mounted on their house, on a pole, in the yard, or on a barn. The receiver picks up that signal and brings it in on a wire, so that it looks just like any other internet provider, except it is to your house via microwave link.

What is Line of Sight?
– Line of Sight means that your receiver or unit mounted wherever it is located is physically visible. Oftentimes, you can be a long way away, several miles in fact, and might not be able to physically see it with the naked eye; however, if you have a telescope or can see that far, you could actually see the transmitter that is putting out your internet connection.

What are some obstructions that block Line of Sight?
– We actually have two different types of transmitters. One is truly a Line of Sight; in other words, you would actually put a string between you and that and it would be contiguous. That does not happen always, as you know we have a few hills and trees. So, we have what is called a Near Line Sight transmitter, which means you can have some obstructions. Some woods and trees, it just can’t be dirt. So, if it was dirt in the way on a hillside that would truly be a Non-line of Sight. We are going to be having some of that in the future. Generally, that does not work as well as a Line of Sight customer. We desire for all of our customers to be in Line of Sight if possible.

How far can service reach?
– We have Line of Sight customers that are nine to ten miles away and that is not uncommon. Near Line of Sight customers can be several miles as well, typically less depending on how much obstruction there is between you and the transmitter site you would have to be closer. A close customer would say a moderate number of trees might work okay, but as you get further away the number of obstructions that you can have become less because the signal is basically like a light, the further you get from it the dimmer it gets; our signal is very much like that.

Micrologic representatives work tirelessly to offer customers quality internet, phone, and security features along with excellent customer service. For more information on Line of Sight or any of Micrologic’s services, please contact us.