Great Auk Wireless Offers Free Service/WiFi Access as Remedy to Service Issues in Craftsbury/South West Orleans County

Wireless Update-Oct. 5, 2007
In an effort to remedy ongoing network issues with the recent deployment of its high-speed wireless Internet services, Great Auk Wireless has decided to provide residents of South West Orleans county and in particular, the Town of Craftsbury, with free high-speed Internet access while the company conducts a system wide review an dinfrastructure equipment test with the goal of upgrading its network, system-wide. In addition, the company has established three WiFi hotspots offering residents who have notyet been able to get service with an opportunity to “test drive” the network while providing existing subscribers with an access option should they have difficulty receiving service from their installed location.

According H. Josh Garza, Great Auk Wireless CEO, “We’ve had our issues in the Craftsbury area, which is why we are making the network upgrade and deployment in Craftsbury a company priority while offering existing customers and residents free service during our beta test period. Ultimately, the upgraded network in Craftsbury will become the model by which existing networks are upgraded and future networks are deployed.”

Mr. Garza continues, “The network strategy we used in deploying the SW Orleans County Broadband Network has worked successfully time and time again in delivering services over past few years under the Island Pond Wireless brand. IPW’s pioneering spirit made the impossible possible, with engineering ingenuity that has made many disparate pieces of equipment, the only type available at the time, work together to deliver what has been a state-of-the-art high-speed wireless network serving hundreds of subscribers in the Northeast Kingdom. As demand increased and more back end management became more and more necessary to manage the network, such as bandwidth throttling and subscriber authentication, the variety of disparate add-ons ultimately served to, for lack of a better analogy, choke our network causing the problems we are now experiencing in Craftsbury.As a result, we are testing upgraded infrastructure equipment that has all the capabilities weare seeking for now and for the future, and expect to have it fully deployed by the mid- to end of November, if not sooner, with the goal of creating best-in-class high-speed Internet access regardless of whether it is delivered by wire or wirelessly.”

To help meet the broadband needs of existing subscribers and residents in the area, the company has deployed three hotspots in Craftsbury: the Public Library, the Town Hall and the area on the northern part of the Common, near the Craftsbury Academy. Both the Library and Town Hall have computer workstations that are available for use by residents and the general public during normal hours of operation. At all three locations, the signal can be accessed outside the building, during off hours, using a wireless-enabled laptop computer or handheld device. Residents who have not yet been able to get service are encouraged to stop by anyone of these locations to test-drive the network, free of charge.There is also no charge for using the workstations at the Library or Town Hall.

“ We need to rebuild the confidence in Great Auk Wireless in SW Orleans. We feel that by providing free service and an opportunity to test drive the service until we deploy our upgraded network will go a long way in winning back customer confidence and support,” said Gregg Noble, COO of Great Auk Wireless.

Beginning October 8th, and during the period in which the beta service will be available, the accounts of existing customers will receive service credits for their monthly fees until the network upgrade has been deployed. It is expected that the free beta service will last until mid-November or until the upgraded network is deployed.

About Great Auk Wireless
Great Auk Wireless was formed in 2005 by Josh Garza and partners and shares the same management team as its wholly owned subsidiary, Optima Computers, LLC. Great Auk Wireless (www.gaw.com) currently operates a successful wireless Internet service to nearly 2,000 subscribers in Brattleboro, Vermont; Lake Dunmore, Vermont: the 20-mile radius surrounding Stratton and Equinox Mountains in Vermont; Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, and in the New Hampshire areas surrounding the towns of Roxbury and Colebrook. Great Auk Wireless offers subscribers broadband wireless Internet access on a network that defies rough terrain and topography in areas not currently served by standard cable or telephony-based broadband services or as a lower cost alternative to traditionally wired services. The minimal environmental impact, lower cost and speed of deployment versus cable or DSL make Great Auk Wireless a natural choice for rural communities in desperate need of low-cost, high-quality broadband wireless service that respects our natural environment. With more than $5 million committed in network infrastructure and deployment, Great Auk Wireless is committed to the future of rural high-speed Internet access in areas under served or not served at all by traditional cable or DSL services. For more information about Great Auk Wireless or to find out how to get municipal deployment of the Great Auk Wireless service, visit www.gaw.com, call 1.877.220.2873 or emailinfo@gaw.com.