Northwest Telephone
· 1960’s:
o 1963: NW formed incorporated member-owned independent telephone company Northwest Tele. Coop. Assn. providing telephone service in Havelock, Plover, Curlew
o 1964: NW installed air core copper and one party service in the three exchanges
· 1970’s:
o 1979: NW Purchased West Bend telephone exchange
· 1980’s:
o 1980’s: NW installed digital switch and all new filled cable facilities with one party service in West Bend.
o 1984: NW installed cable facilities for toll traffic between Havelock, Plover, and Curlew
o 1985: NW installed digital switches in Havelock, Plover, and Curlew
o 1987: NW joined Iowa Network Services (INS) and its intra-LATA and inter-LATA centralized equal access with 305 rural telephone exchanges/128 independent telcos
o 1988: NW joined CommNet Cellular
· 1990’s:
o 1993: NW constructed 50+ miles of fiber optic cable within telephone system. NW purchased a new Mitel switch
o 1994: NW joined other independent telco’s to form Northwest Communications Network (NCN) to build a fiber optic SONET ring between Ayrshire, Graettinger, Ruthven, Terril, Webb-Dickens, Northwest—meeting INS in Spencer
o 1997: NW buried fiber to Palmer Mutual Telco, allowing Palmer to tandem toll traffic off our Plover switch
· 2000’s:
o 2002:
§ NW received $6.2 mil RUS Loan for upgrade in rural West Bend, Havelock, Plover, Curlew telephone plant
§ Midwest Wireless bought out CommNet Cellular. NW and Ayrshire were both shareholders in Midwest Wireless
§ NW joined other independent telco’s to form Skylink, an i wireless reseller
o 2006:
§ NW installed a Tekelec Switch
§ Midwest Wireless was acquired by Alltel Wireless on October 3
o 2007:
§ Lakes Area Wireless (LAW) in process of development
§ Skylink Constructs towers
· 2010’s:
o 2011:
§ APMAX upgrade
§ FCC USF/ICC Reform brings historical changes to the telephone industry
o 2012:
§ Started Construction of fiber to businesses and some residence in West Bend
§ NW FTTH Phase 1 - Begins Fiber to The Home, runs main lines out of office and connects Business District.
o 2013:
§ NW FTTH Phase 2 – Completes from Business district through the southwest corner of town.
§ NW started construction of fiber to business and some residential customers in West Bend.
o 2014:
§ NW FTTH Phase 3 – Connects Clinic, Care Center and runs main line across railroad tracks to north side of town.
§ Finished a portion of fiber to West Bend
o 2015: NW FTTH Phase 4 – Connects northeast corner of town to the Hotel and south to the West Grotto campground.
o 2016: NW FTTH construction in Rodman, Iowa.
Northwest Communications
· 1980’s:
o 1986: NW CATV construction to provide cable TV service in Havelock
o 1989: NW CATV purchased Rolfe’s and Mallard’s cable TV systems
· 1990’s:
o 1990: NW CATV assisted in the constructed of Palmer cable TV system for Palmer
o 1991: NW CATV purchased West Bend cable TV system
o 1994: NW CATV constructed cable TV system in Plover and consolidated Havelock, Mallard, Plover, Rolfe, and West Bend systems over fiber optic facilities to the Plover head end
o 1995: NW Communications first provided internet services using trade name Northwest Internet Services (NIS)
o 1997: NW CATV added Palmer’s system to a consolidation maintenance contract
o 1998: NW Communications Operations & Management Contract with Ayrshire
· 2000’s:
o 2000:
§ NW Communications installed first VOIP system
§ NW Communications installed first wireless Local Area Network (LAN)
o 2001:
§ NW Communications first wireless internet services
§ NW Communications first video conferencing installed
§ NW Communications added Web Design
o 2002:
§ NW Communications installed 900 MHz wireless internet in Rolfe
§ NW Communications joined the newly formed Heartland Technology Group (HTG) Founding members Northwest Communications, Aces, CNS, Heartland Technology Solutions, LLC, and Muscatine Computer Store
o 2003:
§ NW Communications added Computer Networking services
§ NW Communications entered into the Palmer Assistance Contract (Steve Trimble)
o 2004:
§ NW CATV started to purchase signal from Spencer Municipal Utilities
§ NICP installed joint owned switch located in Spencer
o 2007: NW Communications purchased retail store in Algona (formerly Northland computers)
o 2008: NW Communications became Microsoft Partner
o 2009: NW Communications relocated Algona Retail Store to current location
· 2010’s:
o 2010: NW Communications added online backup & Password Genie products
o 2011:
§ NW Communications added 5 GHz Wireless Internet
§ NW Communications completed a major renovation of the Algona Retail Store for more space & offerings
§ NW Communications added a photo kiosk to the Algona Retail Store
§ NW Communications added an iwireless vending machine for 24/7 pay-in-advance plan refills at the Algona Retail Store
§ NW Communications joined the Business Improvement Group (BIG) of Taylor Business Group
o 2013:
§ NW Communications closed the Algona Retail Store
§ NW Communications began offering CLEC to Rolfe and Mallard
§ High Speed Internet is available in Jolley, Iowa
§ NW Communications purchases customers from Winnebago for Wireless Internet
o 2014:
§ NW Communications began to market dynamicTV
§ Surveillance Solutions
§ High Speed Internet is available in Lytton, Iowa
§ High Speed Internet is available in Nemaha, Iowa
o 2015:
§ High Speed Internet is available in Lohrville, Iowa
§ Northwest Communications and Palmer Mutual Telephone Company partner together to bring businesses (and homes in the future) Fiber with Pocahontas Fiber Network
o 2016:
§ Purchased Ayrshire Farmers Mutual Telephone Company (included with that purchase was ATC Cablevision, Gillett Grove and Whittemore)
§ Introduced Tech Home
§ High Speed Internet is available in Early, Iowa
§ Northwest Communications purchases High Speed Internet customers from BissoTech