TDS to Launch DSL In 2008

[CMIX]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2007


For more information contact:
Cindy Tomlinson
Associate Manager-Public Relations
cindy.tomlinson@tdstelecom.com
608-664-4471



DSL Coming Soon to Beaver Island
High-speed Internet service will soon be available to Beaver Island residents, according to TDS Telecom. DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines), which is high-speed Internet, allows you to be on the phone and the net at the same time.
â??Weâ??re excited at the prospect of offering DSL in the very near future here on Beaver Island,â?￾ says Chad Mix, market manager for TDS Telecom. â?￾We know customers have been waiting for DSL and we are happy to finally be able to get it to them. At TDS we take pride in delighting our customers. With what weâ??ve heard from customers, offering DSL will certainly be a delight.â?￾
According to Mix, TDS is currently in the engineering phase. He says that if everything goes according to plan, TDS hopes to begin offering it to residents and businesses during the first part of 2008.
DSL is a distance-sensitive technology, Mix cautions. Therefore, it may not be available to all TDS Telecom customers initially.
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TDS Telecom, a growing national company headquartered in Madison, Wis., brings high-quality, locally based telecommunications services to hundreds of rural and suburban communities across the United States. The company, along with its subsidiary TDS Metrocom, provides service for more than 1.2 million access line equivalents. Visit www.tdstelecom.com for more information.

TDS Telecom is part of the Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (AMEX: TDS) family of companies. TDS is a diversified telecommunications corporation founded in 1969. Through its strategic business units, U.S. Cellular (AMEX: USM) and TDS Telecom, TDS operates primarily by providing wireless and local telecommunications service. The company currently employs approximately 11,600 people and serves approximately 6.4 million customers in 36 states.

[Jeff]

This is very exciting news, if it will truly come this time and if it will truly reach some distance from the CO. (I really am excited to hear this news, so please forgive my cautious optimism)

DSL is a distance-sensitive technology, Mix cautions. Therefore, it may not be available to all TDS Telecom customers initially.

Any early projections on what range might be covered in the year 2008?

This could be a very good year for Beaver Island technology with the Central Solutions wireless project getting off the ground (literally) any month now and now this news of TDS looking at DSL again, possibly the best since the BIIP project hooked us up with the current 1990's analog technolgy in the late 90's.

[jflanagan]

Exciting indeed. Specially in light of new developments in DSL which promise sppeds of 250 Mbs.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/30/auss ... o-250mbps/

Jim

[Gillespie]

The barge came in last night with 3-180' towers on semi trailers which supposedly are going to be set in the coming weeks, obviously weather will play a factor.................

[TjD]

This is great news! DSL and new towers. The local consumers will benefit greatly from competition in the internet market. TDS's website list starter DSL service for $19.95 per month with 3.0/4.0Mb & 1.5Mb/768Kb speeds. Since the announcement came in the form of a press release instead via the rumor mill I'm a believer. As for the rumor mill, I hear the East Side will be one of the first areas to get DSL. Internet competition should help keep monthly fee's down, keep installation cost minimal,and keep service providers from over suscribing their bandwidth. Maybe our local wireless provider and their supporters will quit worrying about competition from the district library now and focus on competing with TDS.

The new towers should really help improve cellular service around the island. If we can get EVDO internet service on these towers the local digerati will have hit the trifecta.

[Dan Wardlow]

DSL works well when you're within 4-5 miles of the central switch point, which for us, is in town. Once you get beyond that distance (and it's the wire distance, NOT the road distance), you're out of luck. Also, I haven't heard anything about CellularOne putting antennas on the 3 new towers. Is that something confirmed?

[TjD]

I believe they have equipment now that fits in pops (point of presence) which are the green boxes you see along the road. There's one for instance on East Side Dr at McCauley's Road. Of course there will have to be a set number of customer per pop to make it profitable. If you're with in five miles of a pop in a more populated area you should eventually be able to get DSL. Phone companies typically wait until there is a serious threat from wireless before they put DSl in rural areas. I'm sure the wireless guys have enough experience to have anticipated this. As far as cost per customer goes wireless beats DSL hands down. So the wireless guys should be able to lower there prices and compete.

As far as cellular carriers are concerned I think its like the Field of Dreams, build it and they will come.

[Jeff]

The barge came in last night with 3-180' towers on semi trailers which supposedly are going to be set in the coming weeks, obviously weather will play a factor.................

Despite the longer and harsher winter this year, I see there is a large crane truck, smaller crane truck, and telco-style equipment buildings on the dock right now so I presume we may have lift-off very soon for the towers