SPEEDNET
 Homespun Company on the Cutting Edge of Wireless Internet Technology

 

By Robert E. Martin

     When John Ogren decided to leave his many years in cable television and join forces with Michigan broadcasting pioneer Robert Liggett to build the company now known as Speednet two-and-a-half years ago, little did he know that his homespun venture would carve a significant niche' on the cutting edge of Internet technology in the mid-Michigan area.
  

But on the eve of introducing an all new 'Mobile High Speed Wireless Broadband technology to the tri-city market, it is obvious that Ogren is excited about being able to offer fast and affordable internet connection capabilities to consumers eager to hook-up without the need of cable TV or a phone line, simply by plugging a new portable modem directly into their laptop.
   

With offices based out of Alpena and Saginaw, Speednet now employs about a dozen people and currently has 1,900 subscribers in the Saginaw area and 400 in the Alpena market. 
"We're definitely a small, homespun company that because of that fact prides itself on personalized service, but on the other hand we are fortunate to be forging a cutting edge in terms of new technology that we introduce into each of our markets," explains Ogren.
 

"When Bob and I got together and decided to offer a nice wireless Internet product into the market place, we decided to use an FCC banded spectrum, which makes us different from other wireless companies insofar as we are licensed. The first license we received was in the Alpena area and introduced it early in the Spring of 2002.  Since then we've put various 'repeaters' up in Midland, Clio, Vassar, and our latest one in the Mt. Pleasant area. In terms of speed, we are lined up with Cable & DSL and other high-speed providers."
    

According to the Yahoo business pages, one of every six high speed connections to the Internet are now wireless, and according to Ogren, the origins of this technology date back to IFM (Industrial scientific bands) that the FCC made available on the broadcast spectrum in order to create an opportunity for innovation in technology.

       

"Garage door openers and cordless phones started that way," smiles Ogren, "and a lot of new innovations came out of this bandwidth being made available."

       

"There are companies that can theoretically start out of a basement with a T1 line," adds Speednet's Commercial Sales Manager, Dennis Beson. "But the problem is that it's subject to public use, so someone else can jump in on the same channel."
 

"Our idea was based upon the question, 'What if we had a license to use exclusive bandwidth space instead of public space?', continues Ogren. "And our company was built around that notion. The power levels we can use are higher and it's a more secure service because there is no competition with other companies for public space."
     

"From there we applied a geographic plan to our development," he continues. "Rather than provide little pockets of service, our vision was to develop large markets with license technology. That marks a crucial difference between Speednet and other wireless providers."
   

"All that said, it doesn't mean a lot to the customer. It comes down to service, reliability, affordability, and new product, which is why we're so excited about the small 'mobile' technology we are introducing."

Part 2 * Going Mobile

       In the cellular world, handheld technology has been around for a while with cellular phone companies like Nextel and Verizon developing their own communication products in the area. 

However, Speednet is the only company that at the end of May will start to offer handheld Internet connectivity into the market.
       

"The way it works is with a point-to-point system," explains Beson. "We'll be starting in Saginaw and Saginaw Township and then offering it in Bay City, as we work out antennae arrangements with various towers."
    

"Basically, it works similar to a cell phone. You place the modem on your desk, plug it into your computer, and voila, you have instant Internet access.  The unit doesn't need to be mounted and is truly wireless, which is a revolutionary thought in a mobile world."
      

"If you're in sales or a student going to college, you can go into any bookstore or restaurant and take this unit with you and go online. It's a very exciting prospect - offering a truly wireless world."
    

One tower will be placed in Thomas Township on the water tower, another in Indiantown, and Speednet is finalizing deals in Bay City and then Midland.  Because they use directional antennas, a signal is sent out and the company has been beta testing the technology in Mt. Pleasant for the past three months.
     

"The mobile units work best within a three to five mile range from the tower. You simply pull it out of the box and go to town, but there is that distance limitation.  With the external units that we offer, you can simply mount it on the side of the house and there are no distance issues. This doesn't mean the mobile units won't work six or seven miles away from the tower, but the further out you travel the less strong the signal. Again, what we intend to do is start with the geographic units and then fill in the holes.  Our ultimate plan is to be in all the tri-cities with this new product within the next four to five months."
    

In terms of pricing, the new mobile units fall into the same affordable line as the current price range for Speednet's external mounting units.
 

"Our service runs $32.95 per month and for the mobile units we are offering a $20.00 introductory offer," explains Beson. "For the traditional external terminal the customer can either buy it on time over a two year or three year period. We offer up to 2 megabytes of download and 356 upload speed, which is quite a bit faster than what the competition offers for that price range."
 

"For the new mobile modems the cost is $200 for the equipment, which we offer on a similar lease option. With this product we have a $7.00 modem fee, as it is harder to retrieve being completely wireless."
  

In terms of service problems, Dennis notes that overall wireless technology is more reliable than cable & DSL service.
"Reliability is the theme of our company. Because we are a smaller company we're better able to identify and fix problems. We have a call center for service reps and offer a 24/7 response time. If somebody phones with a problem we can have any issue resolved within seven days."
   

"In terms of modems, our platform is similar to DSL or cable, only on average there is a higher speed capability with us," he continues. "We can adjust speeds quite a bit, depending upon the company, and cater to our customer better because all we offer is Internet services."
   

"Our slowest speed is a 2 megabyte service at 256K level, and we go all the way up to fractional T1's and even sell wired T1's, so we can offer everything from the bottom to the top."
 

Currently Speednet is offering 200 mobile units to customers at the moment to kick-off their new technology, but will have a steady flow of up to 900 units available by the time all the areas in the tri-cities get going.
   

"I think our hopes are that this is such a revolutionary way of bringing the Internet to people that they won't be able to resist," concludes Dennis.  "Just think - a student can place it in his backpack, so to SVSU, go from the library to the cafeteria, haul out the modem, and never have to rely on college internet provider service. It really makes things easy."

Part 3 * Into the Future
  
With all the talk of declining job and technology bases in so called 'rustbelt' states, Speednet is a definite boon not only to the tri-city economy, but more important to the businesses, students, and customers that depend upon carving their own unique niche into that future.

 

When asked about the most difficult and challenging thing in starting up his company, John Ogren is both optimistic and thankful.
"A lot of things are challenging, but I think finding good people is the most challenging," he reflects.
 

"When you work for a large organization with heritage and culture, you take for granted all the people that seem to do things automatically."
 

"Being a small company, I don't have that luxury and am thankful every day for the people that make this business happen.  It's kind of exciting. I just came back from my first vacation in three years and it was wonderful to have staff here to the run the place and not worry about it!"
 

"There's a lot of things you can do quickly or throw money at, but finding good people you can depend upon is not one of them."
 

"The whole idea behind this business was to offer a 'licensed' wireless product, and it all started there.  You have all these licenses owned by different people and its like 'sell me a piece of the farmŠjust 40 acres."
 

"We literally got our first foothold in the dirt in Alpena and are trying to spring some licenses around West Branch. Hopefully we'll have Lansing and all of Michigan serviced before long."
 

"But the nice thing about starting in Alpena is that its rural, so as you look at our company, I get warm & fuzzy feeling about taking high speed internet to rural places where its generally not available.  Obviously, our competition in the cities is intense."
 

"What we discovered is that enough people were unsatisfied with their current providers - whether it's a corporate monster that keeps raising rates, or smaller people that have service problems - and that offered us the opportunity to step into the market with wireless technology."
 

"We're bringing something very cutting edge and new into play, yet are still a somewhat 'folksy' company. A woman even phoned from Alpena while I was on vacation and told me about her power outage, so we got right on the case."
 

"Mainly I think this new mobile technology will create a new age buzz with younger people. The moment we have fewer customers, I'll know we have a problem.  But right now our motto is 'go faster and save cash'.
 

"It's very gratifying to know that we can offer such amazing technology to people and save them money in the process."