When asked why it filed its recent petition with the FCC, Wilson Greenlight staff responded that it was in part to participate in a larger national discussion on the critical role fiber infrastructure plays in our country’s ability to compete. In this global knowledge economy, to be competitive means inventing, innovating, in other words, becoming information producers, not just information receivers. And the key to that is upload capacity.
UNC-TV recently reported how Wilson is in the middle of that upload and innovation experience, and how its world class upload capabilities have stimulated small business development in the community, even in ways they never anticipated.
Uploading is the central focus for Wilson small businessman, Brad Kalinoski, whose special film effects company, ExodusFX, is known for its scenes in Black Swan and Lost: The Final Season. Originally locating his company in West Virginia, Kalinoski quickly learned that getting access to a fiber and simply 25 Mbps symmetrical speeds meant paying installation charges of between $5,000 to $15,000, and monthly service fees of between $500 to $1,500. Kalinoski’s massive data files of dense film effects must be sent to New York and Los Angeles. In reaction, he looked around the world for a better deal, and found Wilson. The comparison? 25-30 frames a second on a 3Mbps upload channel can take easily an hour to transmit; on Wilson’s gigabit symmetrical connection, Kalinoski says it takes 3 seconds. “What they offer is unbelievable,” noted Kalinoski to UNC-TV. “A gigabit for $99/month…is just impressive.”
But not everyone was happy when Greenlight decided to build this next generation infrastructure for its community. Tina Mooring, Business Manager of Computer Central, a Wilson internet service reseller, described how her company was “frightened” and “scared” because it looked like “the city government” was “ coming in and taking our business” away. Mooring was reselling DSL services offered by the other incumbent providers. Now Tina is one of Greenlight’s biggest advocates. As demand by local businesses for internet service skyrocketed, Mooring’s clients started asking her for cloud, data hosting and disaster recovery services. She quickly discovered the offerings of the local incumbents did not come close to Greenlight’s Gigabit upload capabilities. Mooring reports that her revenues are significantly greater from these edge services thanks to Greenlight’s upload capacity, more than anything she earned reselling internet. Mooring wants Greenlight to expand as fast as possible into neighboring counties where her clients in those communities are begging her for the same advanced features.
Our petition is in part about our community sharing our knowledge and infrastructure with those who are interested in receiving it,” notes Greenlight’s Will Aycock.
