Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Mom-and-pop Internet service expanding rapidly
WILSON TOWNSHIP, Minn. — Despite the distractions of a rapidly growing technology business, Derek and Marsha Breiland haven't forgotten why they started it a
little more than a year ago.
"We are trying to get it to people who have no other options," Derek Breiland said of his high-speed wireless Internet access business begun with a 160-foot tower in his Wilson Township yard.
The couple wanted their children to have fast access to school assignments and for doing homework like their classmates living in the city. They also wanted small, rural-based businesses to be able to enhance their ventures with fast Internet connections.
At first it was for neighbors, but once the word got out, people began calling and begging them to expand their service area.
In the past year, their business, Ridge Runner Internet Services Inc., built 12 repeater "towers" mounting them on existing towers, barns and silos to save money. Locations include Fremont, Witoka, the Altura water tower, Utica, a Lewiston grain elevator, Garvin Heights, Homer Ridge and Chicken Valley Ridge across the river from Winona.
The coverage area for their $29.95-per-month service can be seen at www.ridge-runner.
com. Ridge Runner is approaching 200 customers and is adding a second T-1 line for future growth.
"There's such a demand that we're getting calls from Caledonia and Preston saying ‘please come,'" said Marsha Breiland.
Those two cities are on the expansion list, as is Alma, Wis., thanks to a man with seven farms who offered any of his buildings for a repeater tower.
They are not advertising because they can only hook up about one new customer per day, but Ridge Runner access is available to people in Winona, Centerville, Trempealeau and the U.S. Highway 61 corridor as long as there is direct line of sight to a repeater tower within 15 miles.
It remains a mom-and-pop business with no employees, but unlike a year ago, Derek Breiland is working at it full-time now. His wife handles the marketing and bookkeeping, but she hasn't quit her day job as a nurse.
Dan Nelson, who lives four miles south of Utica, hooked up two weeks ago. As a home-based mechanical designer, he needs high-speed access to send "sizeable drawings" to clients in Rochester and Albert Lea.
A customer since April, rural Winonan Jean Huebner uses the Internet to help home school her children, research a book project and advocate issues with the state government.
"There's a significant difference from the dial-up we used before. The children use it for research and various projects and can connect with activities at other schools around the country," Huebner said.
"We feel the Breilands are marvelous people. They're there for people. We, in the country, were pretty much forgotten," she said.
Derek Breiland hopes to keep expanding the business until it covers an area 100 miles by 100 miles in three to five years, he said.
Contact reporter David Krotz at dkrotz@winonadailynews.com or call (507) 453-3524.
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