Connectivity
Ethernet and microwave
Fast, dedicated ethernet circuits between your sites or to the internet, and point-to-point microwave links from our own network for buildings where laying cable is impractical or too slow.
Who it is for
Businesses in Teesside and the North East with a site that cable cannot reach or cannot reach in time: a quarry, a yard, a warehouse on the edge of an estate, a second building across the road, or a new site with a move-in date the carriers will not meet. Also multi-site businesses that want dedicated links between buildings rather than traffic across the public internet.
What you get
A dedicated link chosen to suit the site: an ethernet circuit from a carrier where the fibre is there, or a point-to-point microwave link from our own network, surveyed for line of sight, installed by our engineers and live in days rather than months. Either way it is carried over a core network Odyssey owns and runs, monitored from Stockton-on-Tees, and sized so capacity can be added later without starting again.
The problem
Some sites cannot wait months for a cable to be laid, or sit where digging is impractical. Others need a fast dedicated link between two buildings you already own.
The carriers' map has gaps, and a business cannot choose where its yard, quarry or cold store is. Country Valley Foods consolidated onto one Billingham site where the local infrastructure could not support broadband; we delivered its internet over a long-distance microwave link. Thomas Armstrong needed every site on a dedicated connection joined into one private network; ethernet circuits at each site did that.
Ethernet is the dedicated, symmetric circuit that connects a site to the internet or to your other sites over fibre, with bandwidth you choose and a contracted fix time. Where the fibre is not there, or the excess construction charge to bring it is unreasonable, or the lead time is longer than the business can wait, a point-to-point microwave link does the same job through the air: a dish at each end, a clear line of sight between them, and a dedicated link that we own end to end.
Our microwave network is run from our Preston Farm offices in Stockton-on-Tees by the engineers who run the rest of the network. When a link is the only way a site gets online, the people who installed it are the people who answer within three rings when you call about it.
To see what your connection gives you now, run the speed test: download, upload, latency and jitter in under a minute, with no name or email needed.
What Odyssey provides
- Ethernet circuits for dedicated, symmetric connectivity to the internet or between your sites
- Point-to-point microwave links from our own network, for sites cable cannot reach or cannot reach in time
- A line-of-sight or route survey before anything is quoted, so you know it will work before you commit
- Installation, configuration and end-to-end testing by Odyssey engineers, with a managed router at each end
- Monitoring and fault handling from Stockton-on-Tees, over a core network we own and run
- A design that can add capacity as the business grows, without replacing the link
What is included
| Included | Detail |
|---|---|
| Survey | A route and availability check for ethernet, or a line-of-sight survey for microwave, at each site |
| Design | The bandwidth and the equipment at each end sized for what the site does today and what it will add |
| Installation | The microwave dishes and radios, or the ethernet termination and router, installed and configured by our own engineers |
| Testing | The link tested end to end and brought onto our core network before handover |
| Monitoring and faults | The link watched by the engineers who run the network, with faults on an ethernet circuit raised with the carrier and managed to repair |
| Capacity changes | Bandwidth increased on the same link as your needs grow |
Not included, or sold separately
- Civil works and masts
- Where a dish needs a mast, a mounting structure or planning consent, or an ethernet route needs new ducting, the work is quoted separately after the survey
- Cabling and Wi-Fi inside the building
- From the router onwards is networking and cabling, installed by the same engineers
- Joining sites privately
- A link carries the traffic; keeping it off the public internet with priority for calls is an MPLS private WAN or SD-WAN, a separate service
- A firewall
- Threat detection and content filtering at the network edge is a hosted firewall, a separate service
- Backup
- A 4G or 5G backup for a site that cannot be offline is a separate service, and we recommend one where a single link is the only way online
How it is delivered
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Survey the sites
For ethernet, what the carriers can deliver to the address and at what lead time and charge. For microwave, a line-of-sight survey between the two points, including where the dishes would sit and what could obstruct them.
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Choose the right link
Ethernet where the fibre is there at a sensible cost and lead time; microwave where it is not, or where the date cannot wait. We tell you which, with the bandwidth and the charge, before anything is ordered.
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Install
Our engineers fit the dishes and radios, or terminate the circuit and fit the router, and configure the link. Any existing connection stays up until the new one is proven. A microwave link is usually live one to two weeks after the survey confirms line of sight.
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Test and hand over
The link tested end to end, brought onto our core network and monitored, with the documentation handed to you.
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Monitor and support
Report a fault and a person answers within three rings; the engineers who run the network investigate it. Capacity is added on the same link as you grow.
Why trust Odyssey with this
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In-house
All work completed by Odyssey employees, never subcontracted
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3
Calls answered within three rings, and a director is always reachable
- Delivered over our own business-only core network
- Our point-to-point microwave network is run from our Preston Farm offices in Stockton-on-Tees
Client story
Thomas Armstrong
An enquiry about hosted telecoms became a full rebuild of IT, network and telephony across every site by December 2024.
Read the story
Questions people ask
When is microwave better than a cable?
When a site is remote, when the ground makes digging impractical or expensive, or when you need a link between two buildings quickly. Microwave needs a clear line of sight between the two points, which the survey confirms before we quote.
Is a microwave link reliable?
Yes, when it is surveyed and installed properly. Country Valley Foods has run its internet over a long-distance microwave link from us since 2017 because local infrastructure could not support broadband. Heavy weather can affect a link at the margins of its design, which is why we size and site each one with headroom.
What is an ethernet circuit?
A dedicated, symmetric connection over fibre from a carrier, with the bandwidth you choose and a contracted fix time, used to connect a site to the internet or to join your sites together. It is the product behind a leased line and a private WAN.
Can a microwave link connect two of our own buildings?
Yes. A point-to-point microwave link joins two buildings without laying cable, as long as there is a clear line of sight between them, and the link is yours alone.
Who installs and runs the link?
Odyssey's own engineers, never subcontractors. Our microwave network is run from our Preston Farm offices in Stockton-on-Tees, and both ethernet and microwave links are carried over our own business-only core network.
How fast can a link be?
Ethernet circuits are available from tens of megabits up to 10 Gbps. Microwave bandwidth depends on the distance and the equipment; the survey tells you what the path can carry and we design it with room to add capacity later.
Can we add capacity to the link later?
Yes. We design each connection so that capacity can be added as your business grows, on the same link, without starting again.
Do we need a backup?
If the link is the only way a site gets online and the site cannot work without it, yes. A 4G or 5G backup that takes over automatically covers a fault on either kind of link, and we will recommend one where it is warranted.
Challenges this helps with
Related services
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