TMCnet News
Siren Telephone [Rural Telecommunications](Rural Telecommunications Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Siren, LUis. Service Territory We cover 88 square miles with one exchange. At our peak, we had 2,950 access lines. Now that number is 2,300. We are 85 miles from the MinneapolisSt. Paul metropolitan area, and we have many commuters and SO/HO (small officehome office) customers working from their nomes. The incumbent local exchange carrier territory includes the main Tribal Center of the St. Croix band of Ojibwa. We are also famous for our hundreds of miles of groomed snowmobile trails and cross-country ski trails that help get us through the long, snowy winters. Technology We knew that twisted pancopper was excellent in a narrowband voice network design, and that design had served our purposes for 40 years. We began to offer DSL, but the physics of resistance and loss would always be a limit to higher speeds. We saw fiber as the obvious, long-range choice in building out an all H? ultra high-speed broadband data network. In 2007, we built a fiber to the premise system using active fiber (a single, dedicated strand to each premise). We now offer Internet speed options, IPTV with HD and DVRs, and many VoIP products. Cuebomen Profile We have 38 lakes in our ILEC exchange and over 275 lakes in our county. That means many of our customers are lake home owners from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Our customer base has increased with our offering of fixed wireless WiMax . outside the exchange. Most of these customers are surprised to have faster speeds offered at their lake homes than they can get at their metro homes. Hiebory Our company celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. We have always been privately held. Workforce We have nine full-time employees, and we hire two extra students during the summer season. Our employees are extremely loyal. One has been here 44 years, another 31 years and another 30 years. Two workers have spent 24 years with the company, and another has been here 22 years. We are 85 miles from a major metropolitan area (Minneapolis), in a county (Burnett, Wis.) that has over 275 lakes. The glaciers really did a job in this area. NTCD Member Since 1982 General Manager: Sid (c) 2014 National Telephone Cooperative |