Today, TDS turns on the WiMAX signal in Madison, Wis. TDS is the first communications provider in Wisconsin to offer true WiMAX — a revolutionary, wireless high-speed Internet and phone service. The new WiMAX technology will provide digital phone and broadband service to nearly 65,000 customers in the Madison area during the first stages of the product rollout.
“For small business entrepreneurs, telecommuters, gamers, individuals and families salivating for speed, this will be their preferred communications solution,” trumpets Dave Wittwer, president and CEO of TDS Telecommunications Corp. ”Offering a high-speed Internet product that is easy to use and install, as well as having incredibly fast upload speeds will be a welcome change for business and residential consumers.”
TDS has invested millions of dollars constructing the WiMAX service by strategically placing network transmission equipment on six towers on the east and west sides of Madison. TDS employees, along with strategic equipment vendors have completed years of research and engineering to create the new wireless Internet service. In fact, for the past 10 months, TDS employees in Madison have been privately testing the service in their homes. More than 40 employees are currently up and running on the new WiMAX network.
“We chose to trial WiMAX with our employees because we wanted them to be intimately involved and familiar with the product. Employees have provided candid feedback related to the installation and service provisioning during early deployments,” states Lisa Cvengros, executive vice president and chief technology officer at TDS Telecommunications Corp. “This project has been a team effort from the very beginning and the results and feedback are certainly promising and exciting for our company.”
The new wireless product delivers both digital voice and high-speed Internet service over one connection in a customers home or business. TDS selected Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR), the world’s leading provider of WiMAX™ and wireless broadband solutions to launch its advanced primary voice and broadband services using its IEEE 802.16e 4Motion™ solution at the 2.5 GHz frequency band. Previous market tests in the Fox Valley used pre-WiMAX technology from Alvarion helping to build TDS’ confidence in the new WiMAX technologies now available.
Installation requires a scheduled visit by a specially trained TDS technician who is skilled in both the technology of WiMAX, as well as the wireless signal identification. The strongest tower signal is then utilized for the transmission of both Internet and phone services.
The product will be marketed as Wireless High-Speed Internet and will first be offered to customers in areas where signal strength is greatest (see “Who can get WiMAX” coverage map online at www.media.tdstelecom.com).
Cvengros emphasized the wireless Internet and digital phone service is based on a fixed wireless platform and should not be confused with wireless open signals (i.e., Wi-Fi). “The wireless signal for our WiMAX product is sent from one of six towers located around Madison. The customer receives the signal from either an indoor window unit antenna, which is about the size of a small book, or an outside roof-top antenna about the size of a large dinner plate. The signal is dedicated to the end-user and cannot be shared by other users in the way people receive Wi-Fi while sitting at the local coffee shop.”
How do WiMAX and Wi-Fi differ?