Here is the first news release for 2001:
Fast Internet service for rural areas is planned
Other stories appearing in today's online edition:
PAXTON – Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative plans to start offering a wireless fast Internet service to many of its customers in rural Champaign, Vermilion, Ford, Douglas and Iroquois counties this year.
The service, which connects customers to the Internet via a radio signal, should be available in the first quarter of 2001, said Kevin Osterbur, general manager for IlliCom Telecommunications, the electric cooperative's Internet service provider subsidiary.
Osterbur said the cooperative wasn't yet ready to discuss pricing. But he said the signal can be tailored to give customers various levels of speed on a sliding price scale.
"I think we can be very competitive with dial-up (Internet connections over a phone line) on the low end," he said.
At the high end, the service can be as fast or faster than the fast Internet services offered in urban areas, including Champaign-Urbana, by cable TV and phone companies over TV cables and souped-up phone lines.
Eastern Illini is aiming to serve rural areas and small- to medium-sized rural communities, bringing them fast Internet service in the same way electric cooperatives first brought electricity to rural areas.
That's something commercial cable TV and phone companies are unlikely to do given the cost of stringing wires over long distances and to a limited number of customers.
The wireless equipment lets Eastern Illini avoid that cost. Essentially, it works like a cellular phone system with nodes spread throughout the coverage area – mounted, for example, on grain elevators or other high points – allowing customers within range to connect to the system wirelessly.
Inside one to three miles, Osterbur said, the system should be non-line of sight, meaning a user doesn't have to worry about the signal being blocked by trees or other obstacles, one disadvantage of other wireless systems.
To connect, customers receive a modem that plugs into a standard USB port on their computer and an antenna that attaches to the modem, said Charles Brown, vice president of sales and marketing for WaveRider Communications, the company providing Eastern Illini with the system.
"You don't actually have to open up your computer," Brown said.
IlliCom already has installed a faster, more expensive, business-oriented version of the WaveRider system, which requires a line-of-sight connection, in the Paxton area. It's serving about 15, mostly commercial, customers so far.
The company has equipment in place to serve businesses near Urbana as well, but has yet to hook up anyone.
"We haven't really marketed too hard down in that area," Osterbur said.
He said IlliCom doesn't plan to offer its residential service in larger communities like Champaign-Urbana and Danville, but could if there's demand.
Another company, Prairie iNet, already is offering wireless fast Internet service, also by radio signal, to many rural communities in Champaign County and in some other East Central Illinois counties, which could give some residents a choice of services.
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