--- title: WISP: What a Wireless ISP Is and Does | High Desert Internet url: https://hdiss.net/glossary/wisp/ business: High Desert Internet Services (HDISS) phone: 775-575-9593, 775-391-5660 email: info@hdiss.net mailing_address: Home base: 200 S Virginia St, Suite 760, Reno NV 89501 (dispatch office, not a walk-in store). Mail: Billing Dept., PO Box 11353, Reno NV 89510 hours: Office open 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, seven days a week. Network watched around the clock. type: Fixed wireless internet service provider (homes and small businesses), web hosting, customer email, domain registration service_area: Northern Nevada - Washoe, Lyon, Storey, Churchill and Douglas counties and Carson City; availability is checked address by address (line of sight to a tower) plans: Bronze $50/mo up to 500 Mbps down, up to 200 Mbps up; Silver $75/mo up to 800 down, up to 200 up; Gold $99/mo up to 1 Gig down, up to 200 up; ask about the up to 1 Gig / 1 Gig ultra-low-latency service no_online_purchase: true (check your address or call; existing customers pay at https://www2.fernley.net/hdiss/onlinepay/paymentform.cfm) since: 2002 --- - [Home](https://hdiss.net/) - [Glossary](https://hdiss.net/glossary/) - WISP # WISP (wireless internet service provider) WISP stands for wireless internet service provider. It is a company that builds towers, links them to the wider internet, and sends service to homes by radio. A radio tower at sunset. Stock photo: Adobe Stock. [Photo credits](https://hdiss.net/photo-credits/) ## What is a WISP? A WISP owns or leases tower sites and radio equipment. Each tower connects back to a larger network by a [backhaul](https://hdiss.net/glossary/backhaul/) link, then out to the internet. Customers get an antenna on the building and a power supply indoors. The FCC does not treat a WISP as a separate class of company in its reports. A WISP shows up inside the "fixed wireless" category, next to the home internet that phone carriers sell over cellular networks. Most WISPs are small and regional. In Northern Nevada the ones with plans on their own sites include High Desert Internet, Rango, Net NV, Sky Fiber and Avant Wireless, each described on our [compare pages](https://hdiss.net/compare/) with the date read. ## Is High Desert Internet a WISP? Yes. High Desert Internet Services calls itself a locally owned fixed wireless provider, and its Google listing gives an opening date of August 2002. It sends service from towers by microwave radio, runs its own customer email and webmail, and offers web hosting and domain registration beside the internet plans. The practical effect of being a local WISP is that the people who plan the path to your roof are the same people who answer the phone. Customers say so in their Google reviews. Its office phone line is staffed 9 to 5 every day, and its network is watched around the clock, with storm crews dispatched like a utility's. ## What should I ask any WISP? Ask whether the company has surveyed the path from a tower to your roof, who owns the antenna, whether a data transfer limit applies, and what happens when you cancel. For High Desert the answers sit in its service agreement, which is on our [service agreement](https://hdiss.net/service-agreement/) page: the antenna, radio, power supply and injector stay the company's property, and cancelling takes two weeks notice and the equipment back. No WISP can honestly say it reaches a whole town. A tower reaches only the buildings it can see. [Check your address](https://hdiss.net/check-availability/) and a person will look at your path and call you back. ### Sources - [hdiss.net/](https://hdiss.net/) (company description, read 10/15/26) - [docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-26-55A1.pdf](https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-26-55A1.pdf) (FCC 2026 Section 706 Report, fixed wireless category, read 10/15/26) - [hdiss.net/terms-of-use/](https://hdiss.net/service-agreement/) (HDISS Service Agreement V 1.12, read 10/1/26, read 2026-10-15) ### Talk to a person - Call [775-575-9593](tel:7755759593) [775-391-5660](tel:7753915660) Open 9-5 every day - Email [info@hdiss.net](mailto:info@hdiss.net) [Check my address](https://hdiss.net/check-availability/#check) ### Related terms - [Fixed wireless](https://hdiss.net/glossary/fixed-wireless/) - [Tower access point](https://hdiss.net/glossary/access-point/) - [Backhaul](https://hdiss.net/glossary/backhaul/) - [About High Desert Internet](https://hdiss.net/about/) - [Comparisons](https://hdiss.net/compare/) Local since 2002 Fixed wireless from towers in Northern Nevada. Three plans, no contracts, local support, 4.8 on Google from 36 reviews. [About High Desert](https://hdiss.net/about/)