Lightwave LINK — Rural Community Mobile App

The Problem

Alabama Lightwave delivers broadband to homes and businesses across Bibb, Chilton, and Choctaw Counties in Alabama. As a locally owned ISP, the goal was never just connectivity. It was building infrastructure with real local impact. That meant finding ways to deepen the relationship between the network and the communities it serves.

Speed is a commodity. A mobile app that gives subscribers something genuinely useful and locally relevant is not.

What We Built

Lightwave LINK is a mobile app that gives Alabama Lightwave subscribers live 1080p weather camera feeds from tower sites across the coverage area. At launch, cameras were live and streaming from Centreville, Jemison, and Woodstock, with rapid expansion underway. The goal is 200 camera locations across Alabama over two years.

The app is free for all Alabama Lightwave customers. It’s also available at no cost to active duty military personnel and first responders in the service area — police officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, EMA personnel, and peace officers at local correctional facilities — regardless of their internet provider.

TV Station Partnership

We partnered with WBRC FOX6 News in Birmingham and Chief Meteorologist Wes Wyatt to extend the reach of the camera network to the general public. WBRC’s app includes updated thumbnail images from the Lightwave LINK network, and their meteorologists have full 1080p live access for use in broadcasts and severe weather coverage. During tornado outbreaks and major weather events, the camera network gives forecasters and viewers on-the-ground visual information that no other local provider can offer.

Historical Archive

The camera network also maintains a historical archive of still images — a visual record of local skylines, storms, and seasonal change over time.

How It’s Built

The Lightwave LINK architecture has four components working together: the iOS and Android mobile app, a camera FFmpeg proxy server, a Link Admin Panel, and a Link Station Panel for TV partners.

The mobile application was built with Titanium SDK, targeting both iOS and Android from a single JavaScript codebase. Titanium is maintained by the TiDev Foundation, a nonprofit based in Alabama where Josh Lambert serves as chairman.

The camera streams run on FFmpeg. A dedicated server connects to each camera’s RTSP feed and remuxes the video into HLS format, enabling smooth in-app playback without special plugins or downloads.

We built a custom admin panel for Alabama Lightwave support staff to manage users, onboard TV station partners, upload overlay graphics, and monitor platform usage. We also built a separate station panel specifically for TV partners, with a grid view and interactive 3D map so meteorologists can immediately identify and pull up the most relevant camera during fast-moving weather events.

The web components were built in PHP and JavaScript with MariaDB as the backend database. Hosting runs on Akamai, leveraging the low-latency connection between the Alabama Lightwave network core in Montgomery and Akamai’s Atlanta data center.

Available for License

Lightwave LINK is available for license to other ISPs with full customization. The platform’s live weather camera network — powered by your own tower infrastructure — gives wireless ISPs something fiber-only competitors can’t easily replicate. Combined with in-app support tools and local engagement features, it creates a customer experience that drives loyalty and word-of-mouth.

Get in touch to discuss licensing or a custom build for your network.

The Outcome

Lightwave LINK launched on iOS and Android with live camera feeds streaming from tower sites across central Alabama. WBRC FOX6 and Chief Meteorologist Wes Wyatt gained full 1080p access for live broadcasts and severe weather coverage. The app is free for all Alabama Lightwave subscribers, active duty military, and first responders. The platform is available for license to other ISPs with custom modifications.

Technologies Used