Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council Office and IT Manager Kylie Wyatt said the implementation of AirBridges into council systems has considerably improved the councils network services.

"It's early stages but at this point in time they seem to be working quite well," she said.

Mrs Wyatt was pleased with the strong speed of AirBridge's links, saying she and other council employees were experiencing a significant improvement on the old ADSL systems.

She also affirmed AirBridge's growing reputation for consistent service delivery, saying council's only issues with the service to date have been caused by Telstra backhaul connectivity.

"AirBridge has certainly made the computers and printers work much more efficiently – and in more places than before” she said.

Cost was a significant consideration for council, and Mrs Wyatt said the alternative method of running fibre through the ground would have been much more expensive and work-intensive.

”Long term, I believe the cost benefits will be there," she said. "I believe this is more of a way for the future than other methods.”

Beyond the pricing and product quality, Mrs Wyatt was most impressed by the "top notch" service she received from representative Doug Stephens prior to, during, and after the AirBridge installations.

"There were competitors who offered similar services, [and] I believe the price structures were quite similar," Ms Wyatt said.

"What took us over the line with AirBridge Networks was the quality of work, exploration and time that Doug Stephens put into it that [enabled us] to get it off the ground."

“I would have no reservations recommending AirBridge Networks. The team are fantastic and the product was even better than expected”

Doug at Air Bridge Networks has been an outstanding partner to Aurukun Shire Councils IT Department for the last 4 years. They has consistently provided IT Solutions, Services and Products on time and within budget. They have a wide range of business experience and technical expertise, which has allowed me to focus on core business for the council. As we are a remote location, Air Bridge Networks has enabled us to make the best of the limited resources available. Empowering our staff and community members to experience IT to a similar level of that in the cities. I would highly recommend Doug and Air Bridge Networks as a partnership for any business.
 
How has the introduction of AirBridges into Council affected the community, constituents and employees?
 
It’s been able to create a unified council, previous we were operating 12 separate sites.  The sharing of information is critical to councils business.
 
How did you find the attitude and professionalism of the staff you engaged with? 
 
Very professional and accessible at all times if there are any questions relating to the air bridge networks they will always have the right answer.
 
Has the AirBridge solution increased productivity in the workplace? 
 
Yes – The Air Bridge Solution has increased the  productivity and collaboration, it’s enabled end users a seamless digital council workspace across all council sites.  Distance and remoteness is no longer an issue.
 
Was there a cost benefit to the AirBridge solution when compared to having ISP(internet service provider)/IPWAN( IP Wide Area Network) connections into each location?
 
The Air Bridge Solution provided has allowed the council to seize new business opportunities and reduce operational costs.  We have been able to expand the Wuungkam Lodge and bring the services in line with technology at hotels in Cairns.  This has led to higher occupancies, quicker turn around and higher revenue.
 
From a performance perspective; how is the speed of the links?How did the AirBridge solution compare with running fibre instead? Is the solution reliable and how if any, have outages been handled?
 
The Air Bridge Solution has empower IT with a future-proof  platform that provides flexibility to manage multiple sites and allows seamless distribution of councils IT enterprise systems to these sites.  Office 365, VOIP, Video Conferencing, Streaming of CCTV Systems.
 
How in your own words would you surmise you AirBridge experience?
 
The Air Bridge Network are used to create the solutions that make networks possible by providing easy access to council information anywhere, at any time.

1.How did you hear of the AirBridge Solution?
I knew about Ubiquiti (the supplier of the products) prior to hearing about AirBridge as I was already looking for a solution. It was then that I was gladly introduced to the AirBridge solution through fellow team members, who knew Doug when he was at Telstra, and I was excited to hear more. As Doug is well respected and liked in our workplace from previous experiences with him I was only to happy to work with him again and put into place what AirBridge Networks had to offer.

2. How did the AirBridge solution compare with running fibre or copper instead?
The AirBridge Solution provided us with a much more physically robust solution, when compared to running a conduit that would be subject to vandalism and damage. Price wise it was very competitive as well.  

3.Was there a cost benefit to the AirBridge solution when compared to having ISP (internet service provider)/IPWAN( IP Wide Area Network) connections into each location?
In our case we were going to run a cable, so it was almost an equivalent cost, surprisingly slightly cheaper with AirBridge. It is a solution that we can potentially move location with if we need to and was much cheaper than ISP and IPWAN. Apart from the antennas there is nothing that can be vandalised which is significant for us and a cost benefit moving forward.

4.Is the solution reliable and how if any have outages been handled?
Over the month since it has been installed it has been very reliable. We are currently only on small usage at this stage, however in a months time, when our usage peaks, we can really put it to the test. However in short, no issues at all to speak of.  

5.From a performance perspective, how is the speed of the links?
Again only small usage at this stage, however from the tests and the simple evaluation we have done, it is equivalent to having a fibre link so we are very very pleased with the performance.

6.Given your remote location, were there other vendors that could provide a similar service and if so were they competitive in pricing?
Competition here would have been for us to purchase and install the products ourselves, which would have cost us a lot more, taking into consideration the small amount of time it took AirBridge to get the job done. It mean’t I didn’t have to pay my team to go up to the cape to install, and lose them from operations here, this was a credible win for us. We wouldn’t have done it as well as the AirBridge team either, so I was exceptionally pleased with the easy outcome.

7.How in your own words would you surmise you AirBridge experience?
The work that has been done for us has been done with a level of service and professionalism, fast and in every way I am totally satisfied. Doug handled the initial communication very well and the onsite technicians went over and above the way of duty. Everything was done with professionalism, integrity, cost efficiency and it was overall a winning experience.

8.Anything else you would like to add?
It’s great to support people who do a great job – it’s no difficulty at all to put my name to this testimonial and recommend the team at AirBridge.