In the rural area of Strasburg nearly 40 miles east of downtown Denver, Theresa Tuttle just got her first taste of high-speed Internet at home.
“It’s amazing – all the things you can access in a short period of time,” said Tuttle, who until Wednesday had only a dial-up connection.
Tuttle, whose home a few miles outside Strasburg is surrounded by open fields, is the first – and so far only – customer of satellite Internet provider WildBlue Communications of Greenwood Village.
WildBlue’s plan to bring its satellite Internet service to rural areas around the United States without high-speed alternatives has suffered setbacks in recent years, so this week’s nationwide launch comes a few years later than originally planned.
The company was started in 1999 by EchoStar co-founder David Drucker and is backed by John Malone’s Liberty Media.
“It has taken us quite a bit of time to get there,” acknowledged WildBlue chief executive Tom Moore. The venture has cost nearly $500 million, mostly for two satellites. The first was launched last year.
After months of testing, Moore plans to add “tens of thousands” of subscribers over the next year. He hopes eventually to partner with DirecTV or EchoStar for a television offering.
Moore said WildBlue has worked to minimize the quarter-second lag time of satellite Internet service and said it’s comparable to cable modem and digital subscriber line, or DSL.
While Comcast can provide high-speed Internet service to nearly 70 percent of the homes in Strasburg, for example, it can’t hook up Tuttle. DSL isn’t available either.
WildBlue’s highest-priced package can download up to 1.5 megabytes per second. That’s faster than dial-up, which is what matters to Tuttle. But it doesn’t reach the 5 or 6 megabytes per second that cable can.
Tuttle hopes her satellite Internet service setup will help her run her home-based photography business better – and her two teenage boys like to follow motocross racing on the Internet.
Compared with other satellite Internet services already available, Moore said his system is designed for better speed at a lower price. Prices range from $49.95 to $79.95 per month, plus $479 in installation and equipment fees.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
