Challenges & Solutions:

There is always a path.

Challenge: The esthetics of an historic site near the Oregon Coast were compromised by the presence of a monopole tower owned by a cell provider and a public safety radio tower owned by a city. The towers needed to be moved but the cell provider said that the existing site was its only option and the city didn’t have the funds to move their tower.

Solution:  Determined a technical solution (including propagation studies) for the cell provider that involved multiple sites to attain the required coverage and asked the city to streamline the approval process for the new sites. 
One of those locations included a remote site in this rural city where the cell provider ultimately constructed a large lattice tower for use by both the city’s public safety radio system and the cell provider’s radios.  The cell provider covered the cost of the tower.

We are a partner, not just a vendor.

Challenge: A Tribal Nation suffered from poor telephone and broadband service provided by the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC). Expensive line extension charges made phone service impractical for tribal members and there was limited DSL availability.

Solution:  Encouraged the Tribe to create its own tribal communications company; secured $5.4 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to build out the new company, provided technical and managerial services for the successful launch of the Tribal Telecom.  The company continues to this day, a tribally owned enterprise with tribal staff serving tribal members, tribal government and tribal enterprises.

Using grant funding wisely.

Challenge: A 1,000 square mile Native Nation was served with a single radio tower and an end-of-life two-way radio system.  This made the job of first-responders much more difficult, sometimes compromising their own safety as well as the safety of tribal members, particularly tribal elders.

Solution:  Secured a total of 11 state and federal grants to undertake a multiyear phased project.  Through this funding, the client built-out additional towers; purchased new radio repeaters, new portable and mobile radios; installed new dispatch consoles and eventually launched a fully operational simulcast system.  Rabbit provided assistance at every step of the process.

Rural should be modern too.

Challenge: A small rural city had a local fiber optic network, but no cost-effective means to reach the outside world.  They had become a broadband island.  They were challenged with finding a cost-effective middle-mile connection.

Solution:  Helped the city collaborate with their county to fund a 40 mile fiber connection. Developed the Request for Proposals (RFP) to find a contractor; managed the procurement process and oversaw project construction on behalf of the city and county. The new middle-mile fiber connection enabled lower wholesale broadband costs, encouraged competition and provided self-sufficiency for the city and county.

Enhancing the customer experience

Challenge: A new broadband provider needed a back-office system to handle a large range of functions including 911; billing and collections; home address database; pricing and packaging of products; service activation and disconnection; financial reporting; service orders & trouble tickets.

Solution:  Evaluated the range of Business Support Systems (BSS), Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems available on the market and recommended the best overall system for the client based on client needs, size of customer base, scalability, cost-effectiveness and ease-of-use.