Press
contact:
Kathy
Kirkland
Open
Door Communications
(920)
854-6174
kathy@opendoorcomms.com
Fish Creek, WI – April 27, 2004— “Your speed will be 3 megabits per second,”
explains network administrator Nate Bell. If you can’t find a megabits
speedometer on your car’s dashboard, look for it on your computer monitor
instead. Door County Computer has just flipped the switch on its NEWWIS system
(North East Wisconsin Wireless Internet Services), making high-speed fixed
wireless Internet available for the first time in Northern Door. “We’ve been
servicing the Sturgeon Bay area for a year,” explains Bell, “but we just turned
on our tower in Ellison Bay last week.” The next switches to be flipped will be
Egg Harbor and Washington Island, with both towers ready for Internet service
by July 1. Additional towers will soon follow.
NEWWIS has many advantages over computer modem, cable modem or satellite
broadband and only one limitation: In
order to receive a strong signal, you need to be in sight of the tower and
within a 12-mile radius. As more towers are erected, this limitation will
disappear and service will become county-wide, making it the only high-speed
option in much of Door County, since cable or satellite Internet isn’t
widespread, and with those companies having no immediate plans for expansion.
The main advantage of NEWWIS is speed: You can surf the Internet 50
times faster than with a 56K computer modem. You can also upload faster than
with cable or satellite, which have speeds of only 128K uploading, even though
they can download at 384K. With NEWWIS, your speed will be 384K in both
directions. Another advantage is weather-related. “Satellites are easily
affected by weather because their wavelengths are only the size of raindrops,
and their signal comes from 24,000 miles away. Our signal is from 12 miles away,” Bell explains. NEWWIS
comes with three e-mail addresses, as well as virus filtering and an e-mail
SPAM eliminator.
Ease of installation is another NEWWIS advantage. A technician from Door
County Computer places an antenna or reflector dish on your roof (the device
actually used depends on your distance from the tower), installs an Ethernet
card in your computer and connects the line. In less than an hour, you’re
speeding! The cost for equipment and installation is equivalent to other
high-speed systems. Monthly charges are also comparable, with residential rates
around $55 and business rates around $69. To celebrate this expanded high-speed
service, Door County Computer is running specials for new customers, ranging
from free service months to reduced equipment costs.
If you’d like to speed in Door County—without having to deal with Mark
Merrill or Cary Jeanquart—call Door County Computer in Egg Harbor at
920/868-9100.