From Remote to Reliable | Foxen Vineyard & Winery

While Santa Barbara’s Foxen Canyon area is known for its natural beauty, reliable cell service is not one of its amenities.

Like many agricultural operations, Foxen Vineyard and Winery has Wi-Fi in its main building. Their vineyard crew, however, often works out of range.

This posed a big safety risk. Without Wi-Fi or cell service, their crew couldn’t use their phones for emergencies, and their families had no way to reach them in urgent situations.

Riley Wathen Slack, Vice President of Operations and Finance, found a solution through a personal connection. Her husband, a network engineer, saw their setup and knew he could improve their coverage.

They raised a telescoping pole in the vineyard to hold a solar-powered Wi-Fi access point.

The device picks up the signal from the tasting room’s roof and broadcasts it across the vineyard.

Now, Wi-Fi reaches a large portion of their vineyard and their crew can be reached via Wi-Fi calling. They even marked vineyard posts to show the coverage range so their crew knows where to go when they need to make a call.