Skywire: High-Speed Business Fiber & Microwave Internet Solutions

Welcome to the Enterprise Buying Guide for Skywire Networks. In the competitive New York City commercial real estate market, reliable and fast connectivity is a utility as critical as electricity. Skywire Networks has positioned itself as one of the most significant 'Alt-Net' providers in the NYC metro area, specializing in high-capacity fixed wireless and fiber-optic broadband.

This guide is designed for IT Directors, CTOs, and Facilities Managers who are evaluating Skywire for primary internet access or as a strategic redundancy partner. You will learn about their unique 'over-the-air' fiber-equivalent technology, their rapid deployment capabilities in Manhattan and the outer boroughs, and how their infrastructure provides a physically diverse alternative to the 'Big Telco' monopolies. By the end of this guide, you will understand if Skywire’s NYC-centric footprint and specialized delivery model align with your organization’s connectivity and uptime requirements.

Skywire’s value proposition is built on high-performance localized infrastructure:

• Hybrid Fiber-Wireless Network: Uses a "web" of rooftop microwave hubs connected to a private fiber backbone, ensuring high speeds (up to 10Gbps) without the need for street trenching.
• Symmetric Bandwidth: Unlike cable internet, Skywire provides equal upload and download speeds, which is essential for cloud backups, video conferencing, and hosting services.
• True Path Diversity: Because the signal is delivered via the roof, it is immune to street-level outages caused by water main breaks, manhole fires, or construction accidents that sever underground fiber.
• Low Latency Performance: Optimized for the NYC market, providing sub-10ms latency to major local data centers and peering points (like 111 8th Ave and 60 Hudson).
• Carrier-Grade SLAs: Guaranteed uptime (typically 99.99%) with aggressive Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) metrics backed by local NYC-based field technicians.
• Scalability: Bandwidth can often be upgraded via a simple software configuration change without needing a truck roll.

• The 'Day 1' Office Move: A high-growth tech startup moves into a SoHo loft. The incumbent carrier quotes 4 months for fiber. Skywire installs a 500Mbps symmetric link in 14 days, allowing the company to open on schedule.
• The Resilient Law Firm: A Midtown law firm requires 100% uptime for trial discovery. They use Verizon FIOS as their primary link and Skywire Fixed Wireless as their secondary. When a street construction crew cuts the fiber optic line in the vault, the firm stays online via the rooftop Skywire link.
• Media & Production: A production house in Long Island City needs to upload 4K video files to the cloud. They switch from a cable provider (with 35Mbps upload) to Skywire's 1Gbps symmetric service, reducing upload times from hours to minutes.
• Hospitality/Events: A pop-up event space in Brooklyn needs high-density Wi-Fi for 500 attendees. Skywire provides a temporary high-capacity microwave link for the duration of the event.

Skywire typically utilizes a contract-based monthly recurring charge (MRC) model:

• Tiered Bandwidth Pricing: Costs are primarily driven by the committed information rate (CIR), ranging from 100Mbps to 10Gbps.
• Installation Fees (NRC): A one-time setup fee is common, which covers the cost of rooftop equipment and internal cabling. This may be waived for longer-term (36+ month) contracts.
• Service Level Tiers: Different pricing for 'Best Effort' vs. 'Dedicated' internet access (DIA). Most enterprise clients should opt for DIA.
• Contract Lengths: Standard terms are 12, 24, or 36 months. Longer terms significantly reduce the MRC.
• Building Status: If a building is already "Skywire On-Net," pricing is significantly lower than "Near-Net" buildings requiring new equipment.

To support Skywire's handoff, your facility must meet these specs:

• Rooftop Access: Clear Line-of-Sight to one of Skywire’s hub sites (Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens/Jersey City).
• Cabling (Riser): Availability of CAT6 or Fiber (SMF/MMF) from the roof to your server room.
• Rack Space: 1U to 2U of space for the Skywire indoor unit (IDU) or managed router.
• Environment: Climate-controlled space for indoor equipment with standard 110V power.
• Hardware: A firewall or router capable of handling the contracted throughput (e.g., don't order 1Gbps if your firewall only supports 500Mbps UTM).

To successfully implement Skywire services, organizations should prepare the following:

• Building Management Liaison: Since Skywire often utilizes Fixed Wireless (microwave) technology, you will need a point of contact with building management to secure roof rights and riser access.
• IT Infrastructure Readiness: Your internal network team must be ready to hand off to a standard Ethernet interface (RJ45 or SFP).
• Power Requirements: Standard AC power must be available at the demarcation point and potentially near the rooftop equipment.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Facilities and IT must collaborate on the physical path of the cabling from the roof to the server room.
• Contractual Authority: Ensure the person signing has the authority to grant Skywire permission to install equipment on the building's exterior if the building is not already 'Skywire Lit.'

Skywire is known for significantly faster deployment than traditional telcos:

• Phase 1: Site Survey (Days 1-3): Technicians visit the site to verify Line-of-Sight (LoS) for wireless or check existing fiber entry points.
• Phase 2: Engineering & Permitting (Days 4-10): Finalizing the design and securing necessary "Right of Entry" (ROE) from the landlord.
• Phase 3: Installation (Days 11-20): Physical installation of the microwave dish or fiber termination, cabling to the suite, and hardware mounting.
• Phase 4: Testing & Handover (Days 21-25): Throughput testing, latency verification, and handoff of IP assignments to the client.
• Go-Live: Typically within 30 days, compared to the 90+ days often required for sub-surface fiber construction.

Skywire prides itself on being a "local" provider with high-touch support:

• NYC-Based NOC: Support calls are handled by technicians who understand the NYC geography and building landscape.
• Field Services: Rapid-response teams located within the five boroughs for physical hardware issues.
• Account Management: Dedicated account managers for enterprise-level clients to handle upgrades and billing.
• Proactive Monitoring: The NOC often identifies and begins remediating signal issues before the client notices a drop in service.
• Customer Portal: Access to real-time bandwidth utilization stats and ticket tracking.

Skywire provides a standard Layer 2 or Layer 3 handoff, making it highly compatible with existing stacks:

• Physical Interface: Standard Ethernet (1Gbps or 10Gbps copper/fiber).
• Protocol Support: Full support for BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) for enterprise customers managing their own IP space and multi-homed networks.
• IP Addressing: Options for static IPv4 and IPv6 blocks.
• SD-WAN Compatibility: Seamlessly integrates as a primary or secondary transport for SD-WAN appliances from vendors like Cisco Meraki, Fortinet, or Velocloud.
• VLAN Tagging: Support for 802.1Q tagging for multi-tenant or multi-departmental segmentation.

Skywire operates a private, secure network layer:

• Physical Security: Equipment located in secure, monitored data centers and on restricted-access rooftops.
• Encryption-Ready: While Skywire provides the transport layer, the network is transparent to end-to-end AES encryption and VPN tunnels.
• Compliance Support: Their infrastructure supports the transport requirements for SOC2, HIPAA, and PCI-compliant organizations.
• DDoS Mitigation: Available upstream filtering to protect against volumetric attacks.
• Monitoring: 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC) based locally, monitoring for signal degradation or hardware failures.