Jackson becomes national tech leader, kind of

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

By Henry Sweets

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-It looks like something James Bond might have used in the late-90s, and it made its American debut in Jackson Hole earlier this week.
The BreezeMaxx PC card is a wireless device that allows users to travel for miles with continuous Internet access, using “WiMaxx” technology. It plugs into the side of most PCs, and goes online after you flip up its two folding flanges and wait for your computer to find the signal.

The high “propensity” of visitors who stop and spend a few days in Jackson Hole and want the convenience of a portable Internet connection made it a good market to launch the wireless devices, Joe Kochan of Digital Bridge Communications said. Digital Bridge is the parent company of BridgeMaxx, and they own the WiMaxx broadcast spectrum in parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

“Much like WiFi is to your house, WiMaxx is to a whole city,” Kochan said.
WiMaxx is an international standard, like WiFI, but the signal can be received about two  or three miles from where it is broadcast. Currently, BridgeMaxx has a tower in town, and soon will have another on Apres Vous mountain for access in Teton Village. In the coming months there will probably be still one more in South Park, and another perhaps Wilson.

This winter, BridgeMaxx hopes to rent the devices to tourists through kiosks around town. The Computer Medical Center, and [r:]eboot are now the only two dealers in town.

Though the initial marketing campaign is aimed at short-term rentals to tourists around $25 per three days, residents will eventually have wireless access for around $40 per month, Donna Nims, regional sales director for BridgeMaxx said. Right now only the BreezeMaxx PC cards are for hire, but by December Mac-compatible USB receivers should also be available.

Nims said that huge companies like Sprint and Google have invested heavily in Wimaxx technology, and she expects the technology to advance rapidly. Depending on the market demand in Jackson, and development of WiMaxx technology, she said higher speed service could be available to Jackson residents in the future.

In the meantime, Nims said that Jackson is a WiMaxx test market that techies around the world are watching. Time will tell if tourists pay for the convenience of logging on the Net anywhere in town to send photos home of themselves on the slopes.

COURTESY PHOTO
A new wireless service offers WiFi-like experience for all of Jackson.

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Jackson becomes national tech leader, kind of | Planet JH News Article: Business

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