Freedom Wireless Broadband, LLC (FWB) is a Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) providing high-speed Internet Access services to small and medium sized businesses, local and county government agencies and residential subscribers in the communities throughout Carroll County, Maryland since 2005. Two of the FWB founders, live in Carroll County, which gives them personal knowledge of the community and an acute awareness of the lack of broadband availability and its negative impact on their community. Many of Carroll County’s residents and businesses are without affordable and reliable high-speed access, their only options being dial-up or satellite.

The FWB executive team brings over 100 years of business experience in the telecommunications industry to the challenge of providing broadband access to Carroll County. The technical management team has 70 years of telecommunications engineering and operations experience of wireless and fiber optic networks. FWB has nurtured relationships with church groups, county and town government agencies, the residential community and business organizations. We market our services through these relationships, which reduces subscriber acquisition costs and stands as evidence of our reputation and recognition within the community. Working through such relationships enables us to identify the critical mass of interested subscribers in “under-served” communities, strategically constructing our network to best meet local needs. We have learned that community relationships driving market strategic investment in network deployment is the key to a successful WISP business.

FWB has constructed a wireless broadband network covering 200+ square miles of the Carroll, Howard, Frederick and Baltimore counties serving the following communities: Finksburg, Eldersburg, Hampstead, Upperco, Manchester, Mount Airy, Taylorsville, Berrett, Winfield and Woodbine. We are always seeking opportunities for network expansion with future plans to add service in: Lineboro, Greenmount, Sykesville and Westminster.

The FWB network is an IP-based wireless mesh network interconnected via a fiber optic circuit (backbone) located in Eldersburg. The fiber backbone provides a 100 Mbps “pipe” to (currently) 34 wireless access nodes. The access nodes form a mesh topology that provides route redundancy for enhanced system reliability and service availability. The 5.8 GHz unlicensed band mesh is standards based, incorporating 802.3 wired Ethernet interfaces; 802.11a, b, g, & n air interfaces, and AES encryption for access authentication and authorization security. We use a combination of 5.8 GHz and 2.4 GHz wireless subscriber units to connect customer to the network.

FWB’s network management and operations policies are fully compliant with the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement, known generically as Net Neutrality. We encourage, preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet. The FWB network connects to the public Internet indirectly via commercial interconnect providers, is not an entirely private closed network; and we offer interconnection at reasonable rates and terms negotiated with requesting parties. We fully support network openness through the policy that business and residential users are entitled to: