How West Central Net Provides High Speed Internet to Del Rio and Eagle Pass

May 12, 2008
By Joe Hyde
Publisher

Big Telecom and cable companies like AT&T and Time Warner cable have competition for high speed Internet in Del Rio and Eagle Pass. West Central Net, a company operated by the Central Texas Telephone Cooperative in Goldthwaite, Texas, and operators of cellular and Internet access in smaller communities across central West Texas, purchased the Del Rio and Eagle Pass operations of Western Communications (WCS) businesses late last year. Since the purchase, they have upgraded the older networks to bring faster Internet speeds and better reliability to their customers.

Bill Woods, director for Internet access at WCN, is bullish about wireless Internet. The technology has improved considerably since its inception in the late 1990s, and provides his company a means to compete with Big Telecom. At WCN, their technology partner is Motorola, who manufactures the Canopy line of access points and subscriber units.

Small ISPs who had fostered in the Internet era providing in-person, customized customer service, and helped grow the number of Internet users faster than in any other country in the 1990s, died slow and painful deaths over the past decade. Big Telecom and cable now dominate, and with the larger corporations taking the lead, the personalized attention to customers is missing.

Woods says his company isn’t big enough to ignore individual customers. In fact, their customer service operation is in itself another profit center. “Our techs provide tech support for other [independent] ISPs throughout the country,” Woods says. The technical support representatives are more knowledgeable than the run-of-the-mill call center. All reps have advanced knowledge of networking and the sometimes-challenging Microsoft Windows operating system. They know the Apples, too.

When You Don’t Control the Wires, Go Wireless

Wireless Internet communications have matured over the last three years. A consortium of technology companies banded together to attempt to create the “WIMAX” standard for outdoor wireless Internet transmission. WCN’s technology partner, Motorola, is firmly on board.

The technology can be broadcasted over a wide range of radio frequencies. For now, WCN is using the free spectrum at 2.4 MHz. But the Canopy line can be made to be compatible in the lower 900 MHz free spectrum too, and that gives them the ability to burn through trees and obstructions. Woods says his company holds that option should tower space become available in the more wooded areas of Del Rio and Eagle Pass.

WCN’s customers are provided with a small outdoor “subscriber unit” that is pointed back to one of several WCN towers. The towers are connected to the main hub where the edge of the network is. The subscriber units are owned by WCN and rented to the customer. There is no equipment to purchase, according to Woods. At the network’s edge, T-1 lines provide high speed Internet access to the world. There are separate network centers in Del Rio and Eagle Pass. Because WCN is a part of a telephone co-op, they are able to procure bandwidth from large carriers at more affordable rates that a non-co-op company.

More Than Just Customer Service

 Woods says his company’s niche is people who may not be able to afford cable or DSL Internet. “They may not want to pay the high price, either,” Woods says. For example, an occasional home user may not want to pay the $50 or more per month to the cable company when they are only home a few days per week. Wireless Internet is much more affordable, Woods says. Woods says small businesses are also likely customers. “Maybe the company doesn’t have the credit rating yet to get cable or DSL. That’s where we can help,” he says.

WCN’s wireless can also go places cable or DSL can’t. In Del Rio, parts of the industrial park have trouble with cable. In Eagle Pass, WCN is looking at providing access down the Indio highway where cable and DSL aren’t offered. The very nature of the wireless technology makes it easier to deploy in far-flung areas because expensive cabling isn’t required.

WCN provides Internet access in many rural communities in West Texas. Branded “Net Jet,” WCN’s wireless is the only access to the Internet available for many of these small towns. They’ve been in the wireless Internet business since the beginning of the industry earlier this decade. The company is also a major provider of cell phone service in West Texas, and the company’s experience in wireless communications extends well beyond Internet access.

Woods is proud of the network upgrades conducted in Eagle Pass and Del Rio to the Motorola system. The newer technology brings more reliability and stability that hasn’t been seen in those areas before.

WCN has an office in Del Rio at 1800 Veterans Blvd. Ste D, phone number (830) 774-7277. The Eagle Pass office is at 1939 N. Veterans Blvd. Ste A, (830) 757-4200. Online, you can visit www.wcc.net.