Wireless on Beaver Island

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debrob2
Posts: 316
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:25 pm

Wireless on Beaver Island

Post by debrob2 »

There is a new company attempting to provide wireless Internet access to the residents of Beaver Island. The person heading up this operation is Brian Tort (brother of Theresa McDonough). Here is a link to his company's website. I will post more information as I get it.

Here is the link to his company's website.

http://www.ngwirelessinc.com
Marie LaFreniere
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 1:15 pm
Location: Beaver Island

Post by Marie LaFreniere »

Just a reminder.....

Representatives from NG Wireless will be here tomorrow (1/17) for a meeting at Peaine Township Hall @ 7:00 p.m.
Jeff
Posts: 1827
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2002 9:31 pm
Location: Beaver Island
Contact:

Post by Jeff »

I think the meeting with NGWireless went extremely well. The meeting was led by Brian Tort of NG Wireless with a representative from both Quality Independent Communications (QUIC), the contractor, and from Proxim Wireless, the equipment vendor, outlining the plan-to-date and their desire for this to be a strongly community-based project in order to get economic tower and radio placements and approvals to make it all happen. Brian explained that instead of going under the name NGWireless, he will now be operating the project under his 2-year old company Central Solutions, Inc. At this point they are looking to secure tower locations, community support, and funding and seek a 60% take rate to achieve an 18-month return on investment. Visitors to the island and seasonal residents will also play a key role since unlike satellite, these plans can be paid for the times the customer wants to use them. Brian stressed that theirs will be a telco-grade network that "will work just as you expect your telephone to have a dialtone every time you pick it up." The early promise of availability by April of 2007 has been pushed back to "before the snow falls this winter of 2007" for whole-Island coverage, but the project will start in phases to give them the flexibility to incrementally choose the best equipment and strategy for covering each area, provisionally starting again with town this winter/spring and then working around the Island down to the west side and around. An earlier report that NGWireless was looking at all line-of-sight was said to be incorrect: their equipment will be "near line of sight" (the current test signal from the Eager Beaver is reaching the 25 mph sign on the highway and almost to the golf course on the east side) and will also use a range of frequencies including 2.4 Ghz and 900 Mhz as needed.

Provisional plans include:

Residential:
320/320 Kbps: $38.95 per month or $28.95/month with a 12-month contract.
512/512 Kbps: $48.95 per month or $38.95/month with a 12-month contract.
768/768 Kbps: $58.95 per month or $48.95/month with a 12-month contract.
1Mbps/1 Mbps: $88.95 per month or $78.95/month with a 12-month contract.
+ $180 or $15/month for 12 months for installation

Small / Home Office (4 IP devices or less):
512/512 Kbps: $69.95 per month or $63.60/month with a 12-month contract.
768/768 Kbps: $82.45 per month or $74.95/month with a 12-month contract.
1Mbps/1 Mbps: $104.95 per month or $95.40/month with a 12-month contract.
+ $210 or $17.50/month for 12 months for installation

Business (5 IP devices or more):
512/512 Kbps: $115.95 per month or $100.80/month with a 12-month contract.
768/768 Kbps: $140.95 per month or $122.60/month with a 12-month contract.
1Mbps/1 Mbps: $174.95 per month or $152.10/month with a 12-month contract.
+ $264 or $22/month for 12 months for installation

Plans also include roaming-only access for hot spots (e.g. the harbor -- the plans above also include a free roaming account for hotspot access points), pay as you go service for rental cottages, hotel guests, or boaters in the harbor, and dedicated Internet access at $400/month for a 768/768 Kbps dedicated plan or $800/month for a 1.5 / 1.5 Mbps plan (equivalent to a T1 and contracted bandwidth guaranteed to always be available, unlike shared plans where bandwidth may be somewhat less than advertised during peak usage times.)

A survey was distributed to gauge interest in this plan and for use funding it - please be sure to complete the survey or contact Brian Tort at 517.676.4787 if you did not get one to fill out.
jflanagan
Posts: 266
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 1:54 am
Location: Chicago/BI

Post by jflanagan »

Could a questionnaire be provided on-line?

BTW. looks like a great plan. Thanks to everyone involved!
:lol:
tomrock
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 10:33 am
Location: Beaver Island & Indianapolis
Contact:

Post by tomrock »

Thanks for the update Jeff. I hope this works out, slow internet access is a major pain for Vicky and I when we come to the island.
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