By NICOLE CARTRETTE

Today several subscribers in Columbus County will log on to the Internet through a wireless radio connection.

A new Internet service provider, Weblink Wireless L.L.P. erected a $70,000, 16-story tower behind CB Electronics at White’s Crossing Plaza in South Whiteville on May 13. It is capable of providing wireless Internet access to 3,000 customers within an 8 to 10 mile radius of the structure, owner and Whiteville City Councilman Tim Blackmon said.

The tower is used to transmit and receive secure encrypted radio waves from subscriber homes. It essentially provides wireless access to the Internet’s fiber optic backbone.

“It works just like DSL or cable broadband but without wires,” he explained.

The structure completion is just one phase of Blackmon’s plan to provide Internet and VoIP (Voice-over-Internet-protocol) to county residents.

Negotiations to affix antennae to water towers in Tabor City and Fair Bluff and expand the service area are underway, said Blackmon. Another tower is planned for the Nakina area.

Iver Edwards is one of four customers that participated in beta testing that took place this weekend for quality assurance purposes.

“This stuff is awesome,” Edward’s said. “ It’s so fast.”

Edwards previously paid $19.95 a month for dial-up and plans to subscribe to the highest speed connection available through the new provider.

Many of the 800 pre-signed customers are in rural areas without access to Road Runner or other broadband services, Blackmon said.

The system provides “reliable, fast and consistent speeds,” Chief Information Officer Frank Strawn said.

“Unlike other services that offer shared bandwidth in a node network environment, we offer a point to point connection to our tower and the internet backbone via fiber,” he said. Multiple users on line at the same time slows connection speeds in node environments, Strawn said. He insists that is not the case with wireless.

“You have your own connection,” he said. It’s like having a private road rather than using a busy public highway, he said.

“A 300 page e-book sized at 400 megabits (mb) can download in 12 seconds,” he pointed out.

He also indicated it is compatible with Mac, Windows, Unix, and Linux systems.

Three price tiers include: 2.0 mb speed (80 times faster than dial-up) for $19.95, 4.0 mb speed (equivalent to Road Runner) for $24.95 and 6.0 mb speed for $34.95.

The connection is secure and is virtual private network (VPN) compatible, Strawn insists.

“Even if someone did get your data it would appear to be gibberish. Just a few letters would be represented by 750 characters,” he said.

VoIP is available for $30.00 per month and includes unlimited long distance, Strawn said. It essentially works like a landline phone service in that you use a regular phone to place and receive calls.

“Customers can keep the phone number they have,” he added.

The system’s radio waves are not as sensitive to weather conditions as satellite, Strawn said. The tower, designed to withstand 150 mph winds for up to an hour, has been included in the Red Cross’ list of potential evacuation resources available in Columbus County.

“What we are doing is going to help the people of this county,” Strawn indicated. “This type of service is mainly used in tier one cities with more than two million people.”