PETALUMA, CA – May 10, 2018 – Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) today announced Minnesota WiFi, a wireless Internet service provider (WISP) based in southern Minnesota, is leveraging Calix Cloud and Mesh-Enhanced Carrier Class Wi-Fi solutions to bring its managed Wi-Fi service to residential and business subscribers across six counties. Through the superior performance of the Calix GigaCenters, Minnesota WiFi has dramatically improved the broadband speeds and cloud-based services for its subscribers, allowing local businesses to thrive and residents to maintain their rural, teleworking lifestyle. With Calix Cloud in place, Minnesota WiFi has also been able to improve its support for these subscribers as the remote troubleshooting capabilities have resulted in faster call time resolution and fewer costly truck rolls.
“In the 13 communities Minnesota WiFi serves in and around Rochester, our broadband service enables our subscribers to enjoy the comforts of rural living while being able to take advantage of the same level of service they would find in a big city,” said Darin Steffl, owner of Minnesota WiFi. “Many of our subscribers rely on Wi-Fi for high-bandwidth applications like VPN connections to the Mayo Clinic to work remotely or for transferring huge satellite images of farmland for agricultural tile drainage. We found phenomenal performance and coverage from the Calix GigaCenters, especially in the 5Ghz band. The GigaCenters blew away all other dual-band Wi-Fi routers, which helps our business subscribers succeed and supports our residential subscribers who are streaming media and gaming more than ever before. We are thrilled that through our investment of these next generation technologies from Calix we can meet our goals of both enabling our communities to succeed while finding new ways to streamline our operations.”
Spanning a large area in the southeastern part of the state, Minnesota WiFi brings broadband service to many subscribers who live in a rural area with big expanses of terrain. With this large, but low-density service area and a lean support team, Minnesota WiFi is always looking for ways to make strategic technology investments that provide differentiated services to their subscribers while keeping support costs down and maintaining profitability. The Calix Carrier Class Wi-Fi solutions have provided Minnesota WiFi with the reliability and whole-home coverage their subscribers require, while delivering the ability to recognize additional savings. Whether through subscriber self-installations of the 804Mesh units or adding VoIP service through the built-in voice support on the 844E GigaCenters, Minnesota WiFi can reduce its truck rolls and eliminate the need for additional equipment on-site.
“Innovative and progressive WISPs like Minnesota WiFi have a rich history of making investments to bring advanced broadband services to rural communities that have long been underserved,” said Skip Hirvela, Calix vice president of sales. “Now that these critical broadband connections are in place, WISPs must be able to extend that service into the local homes and businesses with cutting-edge Wi-Fi technologies that deliver the ROI required for their future success. With the help of Calix Cloud and Mesh-enhanced Carrier Class Wi-Fi, Minnesota WiFi stands as a shining example of how to run a highly efficient WISP that optimizes profitability while delivering a sensational subscriber experience that allows their community to prosper.”
