Fatbeam

Fatbeam operates in 8 western states: Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming — with particular focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets (smaller cities and rural communities) that national fiber carriers underserve. Fatbeam network originated largely from E-Rate proposals and has deep presence in rural communities, including areas with only a handful of schools. Their high-strand-count backbone cables are designed with conduit capacity to double capacity with minimal lead times as markets grow.

E-Rate is the FCC Universal Service Fund program that subsidizes internet connectivity for K-12 schools and libraries. Fatbeam built much of their western US fiber network through successful E-Rate proposals, meaning they have deep experience navigating E-Rate requirements, compliance, and documentation. For school districts and libraries in their western US footprint, Fatbeam is a proven E-Rate provider with an established track record.

CloudBeam is Fatbeam private cloud connectivity service that provides secure, direct fiber connections to 100+ cloud and application service providers — eliminating the performance overhead of VPN tunnels over the public internet. Rather than routing cloud traffic through the internet, CloudBeam creates private fiber paths directly to CSP networks. For businesses running heavy AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or Salesforce workloads, CloudBeam provides lower latency and more predictable performance than internet-based cloud access.

Fatbeam Safeguard is their cloud-deployed managed firewall service — a software-based stateful inspection firewall with site-to-site and remote access VPN. It carries a 99.999% uptime SLA, fixed monthly cost (no hardware, software, or licensing costs), automatic updates, and includes Cisco Umbrella (anti-phishing and anti-malware) at no extra cost. For businesses that need managed perimeter security without capital investment in hardware, Safeguard provides enterprise-grade protection at a predictable operating expense.

Yes. Fatbeam Open Access Network connects to major data centers, points of presence, and cell towers across the western US. Their fiber provides wireless backhaul for cellular operators — a primary use case in their rural market focus. For wireless operators, utilities, and other carriers needing fiber backhaul in western US rural markets, Fatbeam is frequently the only or primary fiber option available.

As a smaller regional provider, Fatbeam emphasizes direct access to executives and transparent communication during fiber construction — a differentiated customer experience compared to national carriers. They handle all aspects of fiber deployment including permitting, network engineering, local compliance, fiber splicing, and ongoing maintenance. For organizations building net-new fiber connections, this full-service project management is included rather than outsourced.

No. Your contract is directly with Fatbeam. Fibi is compensated by a commission from Fatbeam from their existing sales budget. Our advisory helps businesses in the western US evaluate Fatbeam alongside other regional and national fiber providers for their specific locations and bandwidth requirements.