Wind Wireless launches broad Wi-Fi service covering 220 square miles in Spokane

Company claims wireless Internet access covers 220 square miles in county

By Addy Hatch Spokane Journal of Business

Wind Wireless Inc., of Spokane, recently introduced a high-speed, wireless Internet service that the company says covers 220 square miles of the Spokane metropolitan area.

Wind Wireless, which is located at 715 E. Sprague, says its wireless-fidelity, or Wi-Fi, service is available from Harvard Road, near Liberty Lake, to about the Sunset Hill, and from the hospitals at the base of the South Hill to as far north as Chattaroy. At 220 square miles, Wind Wireless¹ Wi-Fi network is one of the largest in the region, although there are a number of other Wi-Fi networks here, some of which offer free service.

Wi-Fi uses an unlicensed radio spectrum‹the same one employed by cordless telephones and other unwired devices‹to create a high-frequency wireless local network. Wind Wireless has installed seven long-range antennas that provide service for its subscribers here, says Bob Kirkpatrick, Wind Wireless¹ chief of technology.

³We tried to put most of our coverage where people don¹t have alternatives² for high-speed Internet access, he says. ³We really didn¹t focus on the city (core).² Wind Wireless also didn¹t include most of the South Hill in its network because of the availability of other services there and because the area¹s treed, rolling topography could make it difficult to assure good service using Wi-Fi technology, which requires line of sight to an antenna, he says.

Chuck Myers, president of Wind Wireless, says the company spent about eight months and roughly $175,000 installing the antennas and other equipment necessary to provide the wireless service.

Using a computer outfitted with any WiFi-compatible radio equipment, a subscriber can access the Internet within the company¹s service area at speeds that can reach ³well over a megabit in download as well as upload,² Myers says. Subscriptions to the service cost about $40 a month, although customers also can purchase service in increments of time, such as $10 a day or $20 a week. Currently, the wireless service has about 60 customers.

Wind Wireless has been in business here since 1991, although it originally was called Dogear Wireless. The company changed its name in September 2001 after merging with other Internet service providers (ISPs), Myers says. Until recently, Wind Wireless provided wireless Internet service here through a proprietary system that required users to buy special equipment to access the service.

Wind Wireless also works for other ISPs throughout the country, providing equipment and services to establish wireless ISPs, or adding wireless service to an existing ISP, Kirkpatrick says.

The company employs five, including Myers and Kirkpatrick.

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