How To Design a Future-Proof Network for Your Tribal Community

Designing the right network starts with clarity on what you want to deliver to your community over the long term. What does your tribe need today, and in the future? What kinds of services do you want to provide schools, health services, homes, small businesses, and tribal government programs? Define your community’s needs and consider how these might evolve—then work backward to build what supports your vision.
 

Whichever avenue you pursue first—residential, commercial, or community-wide—your network requires a strong foundation. Make sure it’s easy to deploy, simple to operate, and resilient enough to handle network updates. Being able to manage your network and services centrally is also helpful. By leveraging cloud-based software, you’ll be able to set automated alerts for network outages, schedule your FCC performance testing, and proactively identify and resolve subscriber issues. This will help ensure your network runs smoothly and efficiently.
 

When defining who your subscribers are in your community, there are typically three different groups:

1. Residential. In-home internet coverage is essential to help your community thrive. With high-speed connections and additional services, you can help protect families and homes, support careers, and bring exciting entertainment. Just as families grow, so will their bandwidth requirements—make sure you can accommodate this growth. Consider varying household needs—parents want online monitoring to protect their children, whereas gamers demand a jitter-free connection. Ensuring subscribers can manage their connected home experience via a self-service app helps reduce customer support costs.
   
   
2. Commercial. High-speed connectivity and value-added services help boost local economic growth. Small businesses and anchor institutions like libraries and youth/senior centers are the backbone of your community but often lack dedicated IT support. Many business owners want to offer secure, separate Wi-Fi connections for staff and customers, attracting visitors who stay for longer. Productivity solutions help streamline operations and connected point-of-sale systems grow revenue.  
   
   
3. Community-wide. Wi-Fi that stretches across your entire footprint and extends the same secure, managed home experience wherever subscribers may go is transformative for many living in rural communities. Community Wi-Fi includes the latest network security and content filtering to ensure a private, secure, and safe experience while roaming. Connectivity at big events draws more visitors and vendors to your community, increasing commercial opportunities. Crucially, a separate, private Wi-Fi network for first responders in isolated locations can make the difference between life and death.

As an example, in late 2022, Siyeh Communications received a $33 million grant award from NTIA’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. The funding will be used to upgrade their infrastructure to a fiber-to-the-home network to directly connect 4,500~ homes. This funding will help over the next five years to execute Siyeh Communication’s vision of building a future-proof network for the community—with 10-Gigabit capacity that runs to the home. This investment is part of the future-minded approach that they’re taking, looking ahead to how broadband can continue to provide benefits long into the future and for the coming generations.
 

By harnessing the power of broadband technology with a scalable network design, tribes can ensure they have a network that will last for future generations. 
 

Let Calix guide you through the best approach for your tribal broadband deployment—download our eBook “The Broadband Success Playbook for Tribes.”