When Radio Networks Run Out of Room: An INS Customer’s Path to LTE

There's no such thing as “good enough” infrastructure when your network keeps the lights on for a whole region. That was the challenge one of our customers faced — an organization delivering electric and gas service to industrial, commercial, and residential customers — when their legacy wireless radio network started falling behind operational demands.

As Territory Account Manager for INS’s Central U.S. region, I’ve spent 14 years helping industrial customers modernize their networks. This project is one of the clearest examples I’ve seen of what a well-planned LTE migration can do for critical infrastructure under pressure to modernize.

The Problem: A Radio Network That Couldn’t Keep Up

Our customer historically relied on a wireless radio system for remote connectivity and data collection. It worked, but it didn’t scale well due to the familiar set of limitations radio networks come with: 

• High maintenance costs as hardware ages
• Limited data bandwidth, which caps what you can actually do with the data you collect
• Little room for expansion as network demands continue to grow

They managed thousands of remote endpoints across a wide geographic footprint — meaning those limitations quickly became a ceiling on operational visibility and growth.

The Approach: A Migration Plan Built for Utility-Scale Operations

Beyond needing new hardware, this customer needed a partner who could build a migration plan from legacy radio to modern LTE architecture. That’s where INS and Semtech came in. 

Semtech has spent over three decades building industrialized hardware engineered for extended temperature ranges and harsh field conditions. That track record has made them a trusted hardware provider for first responders, government agencies, oil and gas operators, and utilities alike. 

Two factors mattered most to this customer as we designed the solution: 

1. Low Power Consumption
Many of their sites run on solar power or have tightly budgeted power availability for communications equipment. Semtech’s hardware draws around one watt at full utilization, which is critical for remote, power-constrained sites.

2. Security and Device Management at Scale
With plans to manage devices and firmware across 2,000+ endpoints spread over a wide geographic area, the customer needed confidence in how those devices would be secured and maintained. Semtech’s on-premise management platform let the customer host device management behind their own firewall, on their own server — keeping control in-house rather than relying on a third-party cloud environment. 

The Solution: Semtech RV55

After the network design process, the customer selected the Semtech RV55 as the hardware platform for the migration. From there, INS and Semtech built:

• A standardized hardware configuration template
• A device registration workflow designed so devices arrived ready to deploy, minimizing costly downtime 
• Ongoing, hands-on support throughout deployment to resolve technical issues quickly as they came up

Beyond the hardware itself, INS provided a fully-kitted solution — antennas, cables, lightning arrestors — built to keep the network resilient and minimize downtime long after initial deployment.

The Result: Room to Grow, Power to Spare

Our relationship with this customer didn’t end at deployment. As their network grows, they continue to rely on INS and Semtech for training and ongoing education in emerging technology — including Semtech’s newer 5G RedCap solution. RedCap gives them a path to 5G spectrum while maintaining the same low power consumption they've come to depend on, without the added cost of power infrastructure upgrades.

If your organization is still leaning on an aging radio network, the constraints in this case study probably sound familiar: rising maintenance costs, bandwidth ceilings, and a network that can't grow with you. An LTE migration doesn't have to mean starting from scratch or taking on unmanageable risk. Start by talking to a team that’s done this at scale, with hardware built for the environment you operate in. 

Contact an INS network specialist

FAQs

Why did this customer move from radio to LTE?

Their legacy radio network was costly to maintain, limited in bandwidth, and difficult to expand as their operational needs grew. LTE offered faster speeds, more bandwidth, and a clearer path to scale.

What hardware was used for the migration?

The customer selected the Semtech RV55, chosen for its low power consumption and support for secure, on-premise device management.

How does low-power hardware matter for deployments?

Many remote sites run on solar power or have limited power budgets for communications equipment. Semtech's RV55 draws roughly one watt at full utilization, making it viable for power-constrained environments.

How did the customer manage security across thousands of devices?

Semtech's on-premise management platform allowed the customer to host device and firmware management on their own server, behind their own firewall — rather than relying on a third-party-hosted cloud platform.

What's next for this customer's network?

They're currently evaluating Semtech's 5G RedCap solution, which offers access to 5G spectrum while maintaining the same low power profile as their current LTE deployment.

About the Author Mark Allen, Territory Account Manager Mark Allen is a Territory Account Manager at INS, covering North Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. In his 14+ years with INS, he's worked across every stage of the sales organization before taking on his current Central U.S. territory in 2022. That path has given him firsthand experience with the full range of connectivity challenges facing utility, oil and gas, and industrial customers, from initial network design through large-scale field deployment. Mark holds a B.B.A. in Business Administration from Texas Tech University.