Virginia City, angled along steep slopes in a remote mountaintop canyon,was passed over when cable and DSL lines were laid to provide what many valley residents take for granted a high-speed Internet connection.
That challenging topography didn't daunt High Speed Network, LLC, a Carson Citybased provider ofWi-Fi, which allows computers to access the Internet without wires.
The four-person company is an outgrowth of Interplex International, which had already made downtown Carson City a Wi-Fi hotspot.
What inspired the company to tackle a tough market? "We saw articles in the Virginia City newspapers, saying that residents were rallying to get fast Internet connections," says Scott Morgan, general manager at High Speed Network.
The first step was to determine how to enter the city, a challenge posed by topography, he says.
There are a number of mountaintops in the area that would serve, but only one tower location in the town that was positioned properly.
The solution uses a 100-foot transmitting tower set atop Ophir Peak that can "see" the Virginia City location, the three-story market building.
The receiving antenna is painted barnyard red to match the hue of the historic building.
From that point, the signal is sent to individual receiver antennas, each about 10 inches high, that are mounted in a customer's window or on the rooftop.
The antenna is wired into a computer to provide a high-speed Web connection.
When High Speed Network announced the service, calls came in right away, says Morgan.
The goal is to have 100 subscribers this year.
Price of the service ranges from about $50 to $150 a month.
The company plans to bring Wi-Fi to unserved and underserved areas of Nevada, says Morgan, places where there is no fiber or copper connection to provide adequate bandwidth.
Phone companies typically ignore those areas because of high expense and low return, he notes.
The route to those remote areas will begin along the Highway 50 corridor east from Carson City.
