Full Wi-Fi coverage across all 7 buildings and outdoor areas, on a 50-acre rural property with no prior broadband infrastructure
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How NodalWire brought enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, VoIP, IPTV, and cellular backup to Hummingbird Hollow, a historic wedding and events estate in Palestine, TX, with no existing broadband and a mandate to preserve the beauty of every building.
Hummingbird Hollow spans 50 acres of restored historic buildings and open grounds. A hub at the Main Office feeds six point-to-point microwave links out to every building, with the Marriage Hall and Guesthouse 1 acting as relays for the harder-to-reach corners of the estate. Starlink is the primary internet source, with an LTE failover path designed in from day one.
Buildings connected across the property
Point-to-point microwave backhaul links
Wireless access points installed
Mbps Starlink download speed achieved
Ground trenches dug anywhere on site
Hummingbird Hollow site conditions
The Challenge
Hummingbird Hollow is a premier wedding and events estate in rural East Texas, a 50-acre property of restored historic cottages, a grand marriage hall, an open-air theater, and lush gardens. Couples and their guests travel from across the country to celebrate here.
Beneath the charm lay a serious operational problem. The property had no reliable high-speed internet, virtually no mobile signal anywhere on site, and its 7 buildings were spread across open grounds with no structured network at all. The owner was managing a growing hospitality business, bookings, IPTV, VoIP phones, security cameras, outdoor projectors, all without the infrastructure to support it.
One more constraint made this harder than a typical install. The buildings are historic and architecturally precious. Any installation had to be invisible: no cable trays on decorative woodwork, no unsightly hardware breaking the character of century-old interiors.
See the property behind this project.
Site discovery and network planning
The Discovery
NodalWire began with a full site survey: a building-by-building walkthrough, line-of-sight analysis from aerial imagery, speed tests, obstruction mapping, and a review of existing phone and electrical infrastructure.
The Main Office had an existing broadband connection measuring 24 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, barely adequate for a single room. The Marriage Hall, at 20 feet the tallest structure on the property, had clear line of sight to every other building. That made it the natural distribution hub. Starlink was selected as the primary internet source: a sky-view analysis confirmed unobstructed satellite access, and an on-site speed test returned 64 Mbps down, 26 Mbps up, and 24 ms latency. For backup, a site walk identified a specific outdoor point with usable LTE signal, and a Cradlepoint failover path was designed in from day one.
The completed solution across the property
The Solution
Starlink was installed at the Main Office rooftop with cabling routed over the terrace and stapled flush to wood trim. A Grandstream 16-port PoE switch formed the distribution core. Six TP-Link point-to-point microwave links then carried connectivity from the Main Office to every building across the property, the Marriage Hall, all three guesthouses, the warehouse, and the open-air theater, without laying a single ground trench.
At each building, a Grandstream access point was installed at ceiling height, on covered porches, or inside existing millwork cabinets. The open-air theater received a dedicated pole-mounted installation: a point-to-point radio and outdoor-rated access point, all cabling weather-sealed, with the projector connected and live-stream tested on site. VoIP handsets were provisioned at every building. Smart TVs in all guesthouses were connected to the network, replacing individual cable subscriptions. Security cameras were brought online for remote monitoring across the entire estate.
Technology Deployed
Internet, primary
Starlink satellite, 64/26 Mbps, rooftop mounted at the Main Office
Internet, backup
Cradlepoint LTE failover, antenna at the strongest signal location on the property
Backhaul links
6 TP-Link point-to-point 3.2 GHz microwave links connecting every building
Distribution
Grandstream 16-port PoE switches at the Main Office, Marriage Hall, and all guesthouses
Wireless access
8 Grandstream access points, indoor ceiling, covered porch, and outdoor pole configurations
Voice (VoIP)
VoIP service provisioned across all buildings; cordless handsets usable anywhere on the estate
IPTV
Smart TVs in all guesthouses connected to the network, replacing individual cable subscriptions
Security
Existing cameras migrated to the network for centralized remote monitoring estate-wide
The Results
Full Wi-Fi coverage across all 7 buildings and outdoor areas, on a 50-acre rural property with no prior broadband infrastructure
Internet speed increased from 24 Mbps to 64 Mbps, with a resilient LTE backup path designed in for weather and demand
Owner and staff can make and receive VoIP calls from anywhere on the estate using cordless handsets, including the open-air theater and gardens
IPTV connected to every guesthouse TV, eliminating multiple individual cable subscriptions across all accommodations
Open-air theater fully operational with live streaming, projector connected, positioned, and tested on site
Security cameras brought online for centralized remote monitoring across the entire 50-acre property
Zero aesthetic impact on any historic building, all cabling concealed, all hardware flush-mounted or cabinet-housed
Client issued a formal recommendation letter confirming complete satisfaction with the deployment
8 outcomes · drag, swipe, or use the arrows
“The owner can now walk anywhere on his 50-acre estate, the gardens, the open theater, the guesthouses, and make a call, stream a film, or check his security cameras. That is what good network design looks like: infrastructure that works invisibly, so the experience stays beautiful.”
Let's Think Together First
NodalWire designs and deploys end-to-end network solutions for multi-building venues, rural resorts, hospitality properties, and event spaces across Texas and beyond.