Case Study: Hiawatha Broadband Communications achieves faster installs, fewer failed truck rolls and expanded coverage with Cambium Networks' cnHeat

Hiawatha Broadband Communications Discovers New Connections With cnHeat

Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC), a wireless and fiber broadband provider serving southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, faced a costly and time-consuming process to verify whether potential customers could be served—engineers had to visit sites and nearly 50% of installations failed. During the COVID-19 surge in demand, HBC needed a faster, more reliable way to qualify prospects, so they adopted Cambium Networks’ cnHeat to assess coverage remotely.

Cambium Networks’ cnHeat, an RF planning service that produces one‑meter‑resolution GIS heatmaps, let HBC pre‑identify optimal installation locations and rule out impossible installs before dispatching crews. Using cnHeat on 96 sites, HBC cut failed truck rolls, reduced time and cost per successful install, kept pace with tripled demand, and discovered a path to serve Dodge, Wisconsin—adding 100 new customers—demonstrating measurable operational and customer‑growth impact.

Hiawatha Broadband Communications

Joseph Glende

Wireless Network Engineer,