We brought together leading voices in the wireless industry for our panel, “Why 60 GHz? The Role of Terragraph in Today’s Industry.” Together, they unpacked how 60 GHz technology is unlocking gigabit-speed connectivity and redefining what’s possible for next-generation broadband networks.

Watch the full panel discussion on demand to hear directly from the experts and discover how 60 GHz technology is being put to work in real-world wireless deployments.

Throughout the discussion, a range of insightful technical questions were raised – covering topics from network synchronisation and interference management to VLAN support and powering options. Below, our experts provide detailed answers to each of these questions.

Q: How much specialist skill or training do our field engineers actually need to get 60 GHz up and running?
A: Getting 60 GHz networks up and running does take solid telecom and RF knowledge, along with some practical experience in areas like antenna alignment, link planning, and troubleshooting. While experienced engineers can adapt, successful rollouts do depend on precise setup and configuration – and if your team are only practiced in fibre deployments to-date then there would be some upskilling required.

That’s where Westbase.io can help though with our partner services. If you want to implement wireless into your network, but don’t want to upskill your team, we can support you end-to-end or just with certain aspects, taking care of pre-configuration, providing technical guidance, supporting installations on-site, and helping with network monitoring and maintenance.

– John Tarlton, Westbase.io

Q: How are cnWave 60 GHz networks synchronised to reduce interference, and what about separate networks?
A: cnWave 60 GHz networks use 1 PPS pulses for synchronisation, with radios such as the V5000, V3000, and V2000 featuring built-in GPS. Even radios without GPS synchronise over the air to a high level of accuracy, preventing interference.

Directional beamforming from the radio tiles also minimises unwanted signals by placing nulls elsewhere, while 802.11ay Golay codes further enhance channel separation. Terragraph’s “play-nice” spectrum-sharing approach uses Transmit Power Control to maintain optimal MCS levels – dynamically adjusting power and modulation to sustain performance and minimise interference, even across separate cnWave networks.

– Antony Holmes, Cambium Networks

Q: Are ISPs such as Voneus accessing BDUK gigabit vouchers or using 60 GHz deployments?
A: Many ISPs are leveraging cnWave 60 GHz to connect BDUK-supported sites and deliver true gigabit services. For example, one deployment extended 1.8 km across open ground to deliver connectivity to six homes. There are now hundreds of sites benefiting from this technology.

– Antony Holmes, Cambium Networks

Q: Are different manufacturers’ Terragraph products interoperable?
A: Terragraph certification has three levels: Sector, Network, and Management. While some manufacturers meet only the Sector level (chipset support), Cambium’s cnWave 60 GHz platform achieves all three. This enables advanced functionality such as Open/R, MultiPoP, Zero-Touch Configuration, TopoScan, and Interference Scanning. Cambium has refined these capabilities over six years to ensure resilience, redundancy, and ease of use.

– Antony Holmes, Cambium Networks

Q: What CPPP are you seeing on FWA builds, and what are the customer connection costs?
A: Typical CPPP values range from £300–£350 for cost-efficient builds. Smaller rural deployments can be slightly higher, particularly where customer density is lower.

– Hal Ponton, Voneus

Q: Does the solution support 802.1ad (Q-in-Q) for transport and native VLAN handling on the access side?
A: Yes – cnWave 60 GHz supports Layer-2 bridging across the mesh, enabling customer VLANs to pass transparently over L2 tunnels. It also includes:

• Port VLAN Modes: Transparent, 802.1Q, and Q-in-Q options

• Native VLAN / priority fields and VLAN allow-lists

• Configurable Q-in-Q EtherType (e.g. 0x88A8 or 0x8100)

• 802.1p rewrite capabilities

• Tagging for management traffic (untagged, single- or double-tagged)

• DHCP Option 82 insertion for subscriber management

• Out-of-band management for physical separation when required

– Antony Holmes, Cambium Networks

Q: Does the equipment support –48 V DC telco-grade powering as well as standard PoE?
A: Yes – the V5000, V3000, and V2000 all support –48 V DC powering. Using the C000000L184A mini adaptor plug, installers can connect 14–16 AWG cables through the sealing gland and RJ45 connector, leaving another port free for data transmission.

– Antony Holmes, Cambium Networks.

Q: What is the maximum supported MTU, and can the radios handle jumbo frames (9 000 bytes +)?
A: The current maximum MTU for cnWave 60 GHz is 2000 bytes, so jumbo frames above that size are not supported without fragmentation.

– Antony Holmes, Cambium Networks