Rural Iowans and High-Speed Internet

ISPs expand to include
rural areas in Iowa

February 23, 2004

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Rural Iowa residents have a better shot at getting dependable high-speed Internet access than residents living in some large central cities, such as Chicago or Denver, said Prairie iNet CEO Neil Mulholland. Prairie iNet, a West Des Moines-based company, began offering Internet service four years ago and has since become one of the nation's most recognized providers to small communities and rural areas.

Prairie iNet uses wireless technology to provide broadband solutions for homes and businesses as well as educational and government entities in 120 rural communities in Iowa and Illinois, according to the Federal Communication Commission.

"We've built a new state-of-the-art wireless telecommunication infrastructure that gives rural America the ability to have high-speed access," Mulholland said.

During the FCC's 2003 Rural Iowa ISP Showcase and Conference held in November, Mulholland was invited to talk about the implementation process of a wireless ISP because of the success the company has had.

Wireless ISPs have stretched rapidly across rural communities because networks use grain silos, water towers and pumping stations as antenna sites, allowing rural areas the ability to tap into the resource. Mulholland said they have 4,000 customers, a fraction of what their network is able to hold. The FCC said that since the company began in April 2000, they have used its private equity capital to build a network capable of serving 40,000 rural customers.

The Prairie iNet infrastructure, which was one of the first to target rural Iowa, is solely a high-speed access provider, not providing the slower-speed dial-up access to customers.

"We look at dial-up service as being a dinosaur," Mulholland said. "So, we built our owned fixed-wireless company and we have our own network."

Having their own network is an advantage, he said. Not only does the company have the ability to maintain and upgrade the services they provide more easily, but they can also control the quality of service they provide.

"Bottom line, our service has high uptime and we run on the same level of a T-1 carrier," he said. "Having a network that we own and operate that's dedicated to broadband service allows us to control our customers' overall experience.

"There's nothing wrong with dial-up access, it's just a slower version of what we offer. What we're doing is for those people who are having the need for greater bandwidth and faster feeds."

Prairie iNet offers several service packages, from 512 Kbps to 3 Mbps, with monthly service starting at $49.95.

MediaCom, the nation's 8th largest cable television company, allows any customers who have access to their video services, to have access to their high-speed Internet network, including Polk County rural communities, such as Altoona, Mitchellville, Runnells, Pleasant Hill and Bondurant.

Todd Behrens, public relations officer for the company, said that since MediaCom came into Iowa in July 2001, more rural communities in Central Iowa have gained access to high-speed Internet networks than ever before. In early January, MediaCom announced that it doubled the maximum speed of its network. On Feb. 1, customers saw an increase in their upload and download speeds to 3Mbps and 256Kbps, up from 1.5Mbps and 128Kbps, respectively.

Behrens said MediaCom also provides free Internet connections to schools and public libraries in the communities they serve.

"In terms of what that dollar figure represents, it's a lot," he said.

For free video and Internet service, the company donates about $547,000 in Iowa, providing approximately 900 schools service. Of those 900 schools, 86 of them receive high-speed Internet access, costing the company $82,600 of the donated money.

On the Web:

For more information about these companies, check out these Web sites.

Prairie iNet www.prairieinet.net

Mediacom http://www.mediacomcc.com/index.html

FCC's Wireless ISP Showcase and Conference http://www.fcc.gov/osp/rural-wisp/rural-wisp-orgs.htm