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Gilbert wireless Internet service is on the air
March 20, 2006
Ed Taylor, Tribune
Most businesses need broadband Internet service to function efficiently these days. But not all can get it easily or cheaply.
Some parts of the urban area that were zoned for industrial uses were never wired with cable. Or they are not served by digital subscriber lines. Or T1 lines are too expensive.
For some businesses, wireless broadband is the best option, and that has powered development of companies offering high-speed Internet access via radio waves.
In the East Valley, the latest to enter the wireless fray is Last Mile Communications, a Gilbert-based company started by Patrick Millette, a management consultant who previously worked in the telephone industry, and Jeff Balda, a stock portfolio manager with experience in satellite communications.
With the help of "angel" investors and using their own money, they set up the company after concluding that wireless technology for data, video and voice communication has a bright future.
"As a business consultant . . . I became familiar with it and saw a lot of opportunities," Millette said. "This really is the future."
After just two months of operation the firm has lined up 26 customers, won $80,000 in contracts and is planning further expansion.
Balda and Millette rent space on a Gilbert communications tower operated by American Tower Corp. and use Motorola-supplied technology to provide high speed Internet access under the Wydebeam Broadband brand name. They primarily serve an area stretching from Arizona Avenue to Gilbert Road between Guadalupe and Elliot roads. It’s a district with a lot of newly developing industrial space without a lot of highspeed Internet options, Millette said.
Also the company is serving residential customers in areas that were never wired for cable TV service, he said.
"Our basic business philosophy is to help people get high speed in areas where their main service options are dial-up from Qwest or satellite, whi ch is very slow," Millette said.
Beginning today, Last Mile will turn on a second transmitter atop a 195- foot tower at Greenfield and Germann roads. Together, the two antennas will cover about 100 square miles in the East Valley.
Balda and Millette hope to capitalize on a technology that many think will enjoy explosive growth. For example, the magazine Business 2.0 rates wireless broadband one of the 10 most important technologies to watch in 2004.
The company offers residential packages starting at $49.99 a month and business packages starting at $89.99. Installation costs range from $250 to $550, depending on the length of service agreement.
Download and upload speeds range from 256 kilobits per second to two or more megabits, with higher speeds carrying a higher monthly cost.
In comparison, a T1 line has a download speed of about 1.5 megabits per second, Millette said.
Wireless has the advantage of delivering speed and capacity without ripping up streets to lay underground wire, Balda said. Also the Motorola-built wireless platform can be enhanced with softwa re upgrades, which means new features can be added without new equipment, Millette said. And signals are encrypted to provide security.
To establish the Net link, Last Mile installs a Motorola Canopy 5.7 wireless access module on the customer’s roof, connecting it by Ethernet wire to computers inside the premises.
The rooftop unit transmits and receives data through the air to and from the tower antenna, which in turn is linked through the air to the central station of Last Mile’s Internet service provider, Interwrx.com, in downtown Mesa. There, Last Mile’s router and server are connected to the wired Internet.
Initially the company is providing just data communications, but Last Mile plans to offer voice-over-the-Internet telephone service, another upand-coming technology, in the first quarter of next year.
Victor Valliere, vice president of operations at Technology Providers, a Chandlerbased company that custom-builds audio-visual systems, said his company decided to try the service because Last Mile set aside dedicated bandwidth for them. Thus the speed of the service isn’t reduced by heavy traffic on the network, he said.
"This makes us look very professional," he said.
Roderick Kelly, a spokesman for Motorola Canopy Solutions, said the wireless broadband business has been able to expand in the United States with the opening of radio spectrum by the government.
As the price has declined, the technology has become even more competitive, even in urban areas with cable and DSL, he said.
"A few years ago, cities were vying to be the most wired," he said. "Now they’re vying to be the most unwired."
More information on Last Mile is available at www.wydebeam.com or (480) 226-9336. More information on Motorola’s Canopy technology is available at motorola.canopy wireless.com.
"Our basic business philosophy is to help people get high speed in areas where their main service options are dial-up from Qwest or satellite, which is very slow."
Last Mile Communications
Headquarters: Gilbert
Business: Start-up company offering wireless high-speed Internet access to business and residential customers in areas not served by wired Internet technologies.
Quote: "This really is the future." — Pat Millette, co-founder, Last Mile Communications
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