Aumsville and all of the sites connecting through Aumsville will see greatly increased performance in the coming weeks. As part of our 2009 service upgrades, we have decided to not only upgrade the link, but to upgrade with FCC licensed links. Most smaller companies and start-up companies use unlicensed links because it is cheaper and does not require the engineering to get working. They also cannot afford the more expensive licensed equipment. The problem is that unlicensed links and equipment can experience interference, often from unknown sources. Some companies have even had to deploy 802.11 wi-fi equipment as their high speed Internet platform. As stated by Intel, "wi-fi is for indoor use, Wimax is for outdoor use." These companies are taking cheap indoor equipment and piecing it together to trying to deliver Internet service. You, the customer, suffers for their choice in both links and equipment. In our opinion, unless it's just a Hotspot, it shouldn't be deployed with 802.11 wi-fi equipment. Having outgrown our existing network, Meritel decided to upgrade to licensed links in order to better handle advanced data services like video and voice.

 We are waiting on our FCC approval (one of the reasons smaller companies don't buy licensed equipment), which we should have by the end of the month. Meritel received its first round of Wimax licensing earlier this year. As such, we do not expect any complications. Once we receive the notice to deploy, we will turn up the new eqiupment. Stay tuned.

Licensed links and Wimax service, just two more examples of how Meritel is leading broadband deployment in the great Salem area.