Internet-connected devices – from dog collars and fitness trackers to lighting systems —  took center stage at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The demand for faster and greater Internet connection service is slated to grow monumentally.

“Orbit Broadband is the only ISP (Internet service provider) in the U.S. with 5G service for such a large geographical area that’s not a single city,” said Richard Galvan in Mercedes.  He is the operating director of Orbit Broadband, which provides upload speeds that are as fast as its download speeds, noting that Orbit’s upload speed is the fastest in the Valley. Galvan explained that when your screen freezes while streaming a video, YouTube or Skyping, it’s usually because your ISP upload didn’t upload (go retrieve) the next data package fast enough, and the transmission was throttled.

Galvan and his wife Sonia purchased the assets of Orbit Broadband in 2008 and the next year began providing Internet service.   Backed by more than 20 years of IT and computer consulting experience, including 10 years at Dell, Galvan was looking for a way to attract a bigger segment of end users.  “No one out there was offering a combination of IT and ISP,” he said. So Orbit became a fixed WISP (wireless Internet service provider) that also provides commercial networking, domain hosting, computer setups and related services.

Orbit’s backbone, located on 28 towers spread across the Valley’s four counties, runs on five gigahertz.  The high speed broadband is delivered over a 5G frequency on point-to-multipoint technology.    Anyone living within 10 miles of a tower can receive broadband service, Galvan said. “For people outside urban concentrations, broadband previously was problematic. Traditional providers cover the first mile to middle miles.  We get a lot of business in the middle miles and last miles because traditional providers don’t go out so far.”  Even in town, in the first mile, Orbit offers a valuable option with competitive pricing and bandwidth values.

“If you are using 2 meg today, next year, you are going to be using 2.5.  Everyone in the office and at home wants to do many things at once. The software is out there. It is vital for commercial operations. The more data enriched you are, the more folks use it,” Galvan said. WISP is essential for commercial customers expanding into areas beyond reach of cable or fiber networks.

For more on this story by Eileen Mattei, visit the “Current & Past Issues” or pick up a February 2014 copy of Valley Business Report.