CBRS Alliance: Its Journey to the OnGo Alliance and How it Affects CBRS

The CBRS Alliance was a fantastic conglomerate of companies within the United States that wished to ensure that the CBRS spectrum was used to its fullest potential. As they realized that their goals were applicable all throughout the world — the Ongo Alliance was born. This alliance wishes that the idea of shared 4G and 5G networks should be celebrated and built into technological solutions that allow them to be used to their fullest potential. This article will examine the CBRS Alliance and its transition to the Ongo Alliance, as well as how that has affected its growth and development. 

From CBRS to OnGo — A Global Perspective

The Citizens Broadband Radio Service is the name of this frequency band in the United States, but different countries perform their communication on different frequency bands. The specific band is a bit of an arbitrary distinction because while the frequency of the band is important, the reduction of interference is much more important than the specific frequency. There are a lot of people keeping watch on the data traffic throughout the world in order to ensure its speed and security.

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The CBRS Alliance decided to rebrand to the OnGo Alliance because CBRS was limited to the United States and they wanted to become an international company. Their technology solutions are usable anywhere, and there has been a push toward the globalization of this new technology. 

CBRS Alliance in the United States

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The CBRS Alliance in the United States has created a variety of positive effects throughout the country in the short time that it’s been in action. The traffic of data is of tremendous importance, and technological breakthroughs that allow data to travel faster from its origin and end points open the doors for an entirely new set of things to be possible. The speed at which data can move is a huge limiting factor in the upper limit of what we can do on our networks, and already the CBRS Alliance has affected change in some of the biggest networks in the US.

There are a variety of ways data is moved from one location to the next. This subsection will touch on three major ways in which this happens and why the CBRS Alliance has proved a force for good in each one of them. 

Mobile Broadband

Mobile broadband is the term for providing broadband internet to devices through a connection to a mobile network. Phone hotspots are a common use of mobile broadband technology. While many use their phones as mobile hotspots in order to utilize the internet, there are a lot of devices that function specifically as a hotspot for a mobile broadband connection. For people who are frequently on the move, using a device that is specifically a broadband connection allows for a faster internet connection as well as the ability to connect more devices to the internet. 

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CBRS hotspots are able to provide the best mobile broadband connection to date. They remain in the early stages of development but show the potential to become a much more common device. 

Fixed Wireless Access

Fixed wireless access is a very common way to receive an internet connection. Wi-Fi routers use fixed wireless access to create their field of the internet because they, in essence, create a radio frequency connection between the router in the home and a big tower nearby. That connection allows for data to transfer anywhere in the world, but the further it travels, the higher latency there is in the connection. 

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For instance, online video games have servers all around the world. In the United States, there may be an east, central, and west server. Everyone playing the game sends their data to that server, and the server sends back the game information as it continues. Someone in New York playing on the east server may have 20 ms of latency, but if they tried to play on the west server it would be way higher because the data has to travel that much greater of a distance. 

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With CBRS, the data will be able to travel faster and more cost-effectively. This creates the opportunity for companies to build more substantial infrastructure in order to increase internet speed all over the United States. This increase in speed is not tied to download or upload speed, but rather to reducing the latency of the internet sending and receiving data. 

Enterprise Private Networks

Enterprise private networks are a prime example of the CBRS Alliance at work. They are private networks that many companies have deployed in order to communicate reliably and securely within their organization. Hospitals are a good example of this type of network, where the staff will communicate on a specific and secure network. On another note, companies can create networks in low-connection areas to accomplish the same thing. If, say, a warehouse was built in the middle of nowhere, the company could create a net of connection that encompassed the whole structure, allowing the employees and the systems there to communicate effectively and continue the production and distribution of their product. 

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With CBRS, these companies will be able to deploy networks quickly, cost-effectively, and efficiently. The increased speed of communication is a tremendous boon when it comes to machine-to-machine communication. 

OnGo Alliance in the World

While the CBRS Alliance started in the United States, their goal, which is to provide uncompromised wireless coverage, quickly outgrew their home country. Since CBRS is a US-specific thing, they rebranded to the OnGo Alliance. In the early days after its creation, OnGo spent a lot of time figuring out how to bring its technology solutions to market. During that research, they’ve become experts in how to build a wireless network, how to identify and resolve both policy and technical issues, and how to create a successful wireless market. 

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Their efforts have worked twofold as they grew into the company they are today. Countries around the world have very different ways in which they use their wireless networks, so OnGo, as they have become more and more attuned to the finer points of wireless communication, are able to fine-tune their solutions and advice to the specific operation in which it would be deployed. 

What is the OnGo Alliance? 

The OnGo Alliance is a group of corporations that believe that both 4G and 5G networks on a shared spectrum can result in a huge increase in indoor and outdoor coverage and expansion. It wants to drive a robust wireless marketplace where OnGo solutions are readily available for businesses that want to create their own wireless network without the cost and time that it has required in the past. Their technology is in its beginning stages, but they are spearheading the push toward the next generation of wireless communication. 

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OnGo’s Technology

OnGo’s technology is an innovative approach to give large businesses the opportunity to create their own mobile broadband wireless networks that are affordable and lightning fast. They currently have 14 solutions. 

• Military
• Education
• Healthcare
• Hospitality
• Office Space
• Multi-Family Residential
• Power and Utilities
• Oil and Gas
• Mining
• Transportation
• Manufacturing
• Outdoor Entertainment
• Government
• Retail

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These are all pretty big-picture solutions. The OnGo Alliance is not for the everyday family to revolutionize their wireless, rather they are leveraging their solutions to drive technological breakthroughs in large businesses. Their solutions have a lot of customizability and factors that allow businesses to get the perfect technology for their needs. Speed, capacity, and internet usage have an interesting connection when it comes to the development of technology. 

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Right now, there are not a lot of systems and areas where the speed and capacity of these solutions are necessary. That’s because they would not be able to function on our current technology. Why create a manufacturing process that would not work? Now, with that infrastructure on its way, research and development teams can work with higher limits on their processes, driving immense technological growth. 

Utilizing OnGo in Practical Worldwide Applications

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OnGo’s 14 solutions allow them to leverage an increased presence all over the world. The technology relies on the data that is transferred from unit to unit, and, as of now, there are more devices that can connect to the internet than there are people in the world. Another unfortunate effect of this is that the data we transfer needs to be secure. With so many access points, those with ill intent can leverage them to inflict serious damage on any scale. Thus, one of OnGo’s main tenants is security. A private wireless network functions very differently from one that, for instance, spans the continental United States. 

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For the OnGo Alliance to be interested in something as intense as the military and the government proves without a shadow of a doubt that their solutions are driven to provide a safe and secure connection to everyone who uses them. With the increased threat of cyberattacks, the high-powered security driven by the OnGo Alliance is critical to the continued safety of important data banks all over the world. 

OnGo Alliance in Action

In the United States, the OnGo Alliance contributes to a variety of companies, specifically, the use of CBRS. They started as the CBRS Alliance because, in the states, the CBRS mid-band frequency spectrum is the place where all of these companies are able to use this new frequency band to conduct their operations. 

Decentralized Wireless Networks

Decentralized wireless networks are those that put their hotspots in the hands of their consumers to build their network, rather than creating it all themselves. This allows them to provide serious coverage in all of the areas where their customers have bought their hotspots. Consider their hotspots as miniature cell towers. They don’t have the reach or height advantage of, say, a Verizon cell tower, but they are much, much cheaper to manufacture. 

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Companies that are creating decentralized wireless networks are interested in selling their hotspots to their consumers. That is all well and good, but they need to incentivize their consumers to purchase their hotspots or the network will never get off the ground. Since their hotspots are (generally) small and easy-to-install units, they need a whole lot of them to create anything approaching a network with significant coverage in their area. There are currently networks that use crypto to give incentives to their consumers, but that is certainly not the only way to create a decentralized network. These function at much smaller scales when companies are using them to, for instance, power their operations. 

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The OnGo alliance is all about creating decentralized networks using their technological solutions in the sense that they are incentivizing the creation of many small networks that are used to create connections between small sectors. Individual businesses and buildings are creating networks of communication using this technology, allowing for different solutions to be found than we had access to in years prior. 

Verizon and Other Major Networks

Verizon has secured its spot in the CBRS network. They are using it to bolster their own networks on both 4G LTE and 5G speeds. CBRS is proving helpful on their 4G LTE network, but the network was not designed for that frequency band and it is not able to take full advantage of the technology. Verizon’s 5G network, on the other hand, thrives using CBRS technology and is able to create immense webs of connectivity using solutions like the ones provided by the OnGo alliance.

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The number of connected devices today is absolutely astonishing, and it creates a strong demand for data at all times of the day. Users all around the country are stressing Verizon’s network, and they turned to the OnGo Alliance for assistance. Verizon is a member company of the OnGo Alliance, and they are very interested in seeing it grow and thrive to be able to provide the best technological solutions to companies within the states and all over the world. Verizon uses OnGo to deploy high-capacity solutions in their highest-traffic areas in the United States in order to ensure that they are receiving high-speed data no matter how high the consumption. 

Helium and Crypto-Backed Networks

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Companies like Helium are using CBRS services within the United States to fuel their growth, but they are not all a part of the OnGo alliance. Helium, specifically, is not. Helium uses CBRS to transmit its data on its burgeoning 5G network, and it is using hotspots all over the country to transmit that data. They solved the customer incentivization hurdle by using crypto to pay their customers. They have a cryptocurrency (HNT) that they reward to everyone who has a hotspot up and running. This reward increases based on the amount of work their hotspot does. In simple terms, they reward it for continuing to be active on the network and based on the data it moves. 

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Anyone can buy and set up a Helium miner, and they are working to ensure that people are always interested in purchasing and setting up Helium miners. Helium miners, fortunately, do not use much power. They are a set-it-and-forget-it technology for better and for worse.

• For better — once you set up your Helium miner, you can sit back and relax while you watch your rewards flow in
• For worse — if your Helium miner is not performing well, there is nothing you can do about it. 

Helium is providing a practical outlet to use the CBRS network in a way that everyone can use. The cost to enter is a little high, but it is a lay-person project where anyone can join. Up to this point, Helium’s incentives are more than enough to bring curious people into their project. It is a project, in truth. They are trying to create a successful business to transfer data on the internet of things as well as a 5G network and create a network that is strong enough and covers enough to be a real choice for a wireless network. Helium is much more than another crypto company. Users mining on their network are mining with a purpose — the continued success of Helium’s network and a stake in a larger and more successful company. 

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Key Takeaways

We hope that this article has answered all of your questions about the CBRS Alliance! Before you go, here are some of the most important points: 

• The CBRS Alliance grew in the United States until it could no longer be contained and it became the OnGo Alliance
• The OnGo Alliance provides technology solutions around the globe for companies and corporations looking to create their own networks

The OnGo Alliance has taken on and completed many projects using shared wireless networks, and they are just getting started!