Whidbey Telecom (legally Whidbey Telephone Company and often called Whidbey Tel) is a private, independent telecommunications company operating on the South End of Whidbey Island in Washington State, the community of Point Roberts, Washington, and its affiliate Hat Island Telephone Company on Hat (Gedney) Island. Whidbey Telecom has been locally owned and operated since it started business in 1908.
Whidbey Telephone was founded in 1908 by local business owners and farmers in Langley, Washington. They wanted to provide locally owned telephone service to the Whidbey Island community. By 1902, all residents of South Whidbey had access to the Whidbey Telephone system. The end of World War II saw an influx of new residents to Whidbey Island, putting a significant burden on the small phone company.
By 1950, the company began to make major upgrades to its network but prior to this was losing money. In 1953 local businessman David C. Henny purchased a controlling interest in Whidbey Telephone Company. Under his leadership, the company restructured and become profitable again. All while concurrently completing much-needed upgrades to the infrastructure. The Henny family still controls the company, today.[1]
Until 1961, Whidbey Telephone had overhead wires, and when the storms came, the lines went down due to wind, trees, and snow. After several winters, where more than 60% of their customers lost service, the company decided to bury its entire network. By 1961, 100% of its lines were buried, a first for local telephone companies.[2] Since then there has not been widespread service disruption due to damaged to company-owned infrastructure.
Whidbey Telephone became the first local phone company (west of the Rocky Mountains[3]) to provide Internet access to its customers in 1994.[4]
In 2000, Whidbey began providing DSL service to its customers.[5] In just two years, the entire service area, including Point Roberts and Hat Island had DSL service available. For a few years, the company's Internet division, Whidbey.NET, even offered DSL to residents in Verizon territory on Whidbey Island and other local communities. Whidbey Telecom's current internet and phone service area includes all of South Whidbey Island, including Clinton, Langley, Freeland, and most of Greenbank, Washington, as well as Hat (Gendney) Island, and Pt. Roberts.
In 2016 Whidbey Telecom announced[6] it would be installing fiber optic cables to homes and businesses in its service area. The BiG GiG® Fiber Network launched later that year in Langley, making Whidbey Telecom the only internet provider on Whidbey Island to provide synchronous upload and download speeds of up to 1000Mbit/s for both residential and business subscribers. Services were expanded to cover downtown Clinton, downtown Freeland, Bayview Center, Ken's Korner, and a few dense neighborhoods by the end of 2017.
In 2019, Whidbey Telecom introduced The BiG GiG Fiber Network in Point Roberts, Washington.
Internet services
Internet services on Whidbey Island began in 1994. Whidbey Telephone began Whidbey Internet Services (WIS) to cover the telephone company's service area. At the same time, another company, Whidbey Connections, Inc. (WCI), was founded to serve customers of GTE on the north end of the island. WIS soon expanded to cover people on the north end of the Island, and WCI later expanded to also serve people on the south end of Whidbey Island. WCI's Internet domain was 'whidbey.net', whereas WIS's was 'whidbey.com'. Initial available Internet speeds were 14.4kbit/s and later 28.8kbit/s, as demand grew. 33.6 and 56K services were added as those technologies were released. However, Whidbey.NET never supported .V92's ability to pause Internet for phone calls. Dial-up services continued until 2019, having been retired on South Whidbey and Point Roberts in 2010.
In 1995, Whidbey Telephone Company acquired the assets of Whidbey Connections, Inc., and integrated into Whidbey Internet Service to form WhidbeyNET. As a result of the merger, some customers of Whidbey.NET on the south end of Whidbey continue to have '.net' addresses whereas most south end customers have '.com'. Until 2001, WhidbeyNET maintained two different customer databases on their servers, leading some customers to have different passwords, and even different usernames depending on how and where they connected to the ISP. Usernames were fully integrated to email addresses for email and dial-up customers in 2012.
Whidbey.NET began to offer DSL services to some customers (within one mile of local exchange centers) in 2000. By 2002, all Whidbey Telephone customers were capable of receiving Whidbey.NET DSL on south Whidbey Island and in Point Roberts. In 2005, the newly rebranded Whidbey Telecom Internet and Broadband began offering 5.5Mbit/s DSL, and set their other speeds at 512kbit/s, and 2.5Mbit/s. However, Whidbey Telecom does not offer DSL services in Verizon territory on Whidbey Island, but did provide dial-up services in those areas until 2019. Dial-up services are no longer offered by Whidbey Telecom.
In the spring of 2009, Whidbey Telecom began upgrading customers, free of charge, from ADSL to ADSL2+ services. This included speed upgrades to 18Mbit/s, 12Mbit/s, and 6Mbit/s. A new 30Mbit/s bonded ADSL2+ service was also made available at that time. Additionally, existing dial-up customers were offered a discounted 3Mbit/s service, in advance of Whidbey Telecom's phasing out their dial-up service on South Whidbey and in Point Roberts which was completed by Summer 2010. With the addition of Television services, even faster Internet connections have become available, utilizing VDSL2+ technologies up to 50Mbit/s.
2023 saw major changes to DSL services, as new FCC guidelines caused work to be done to upgrade services to a minimum of 25Mbit/s services where practical. 25Mbit/s down, and 3Mbit/s up is the new minimum service advertised, with speeds of 50/20 still available in VDSL Service areas, not currently covered by Fiber.
In 2016, Whidbey Telecom announced a campaign to install Fiber to the Home. Known as "The Big Gig", the service offers 1Gbit/s synchronous service to homes and businesses. The first customers were connected by October of that same year. The initial build out is focusing on the communities of Langley, Freeland, Clinton, and Bayview. The plan is to provide fiber services to 100% of customers, both on South Whidbey, but also Pt. Roberts. As of 2023, the population centers in Langley, Clinton, and Freeland have fiber access, as well as some of the more densely populated neighborhoods/developments. Work continues to get to 100% coverage. It is believed the residential fiber services will be available in Point Roberts in 2023. Services are synchronous at 100Mbit/s, 300Mbit/s, and 1000Mbit/s. Customers who signed up during the initial inquiries in 2015/2016, and whose accounts are in good standing will get the 1000Mbit/s service for $70/mo, even if they are unable to be installed until 2025.
With changes WiFi technology moving much faster than the actual service, the decision was made to separate Internet and WiFi services offered. This culminated in the discontinuation of WiFi as part of the Internet service in 2017, and the inability to replace modems with ones with integrated WiFi in 2019. Most of this was owing to hardware costs, as integrated modem/router and ONT/routers were significantly more expensive than non-WiFi capable devices; but also to ensure modern security standards and performance were provided. Many of the latest combination devices from as late as 2019, only supported WiFi 4/Wireless N at 2.4 GHz. Additionally, support was very limited with the combination devices due to age and compatibility with newer consumer hardware. To continue to provide a managed WiFi service that customers had relied upon, HOP was developed utilizing WiFi MESH devices from Airsonics, Inc., to replace the wireless functionality of the modems, while also bringing modern WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 services to customers, the ability to MESH units together to better cover homes of various sizes and configurations, and still allow for a hands-off management of WiFi in the home, which was a request of customers. In addition to the WiFi component, HOP also includes Wireguard, a line insurance, that will cover copper and fiber wiring issues within the home, at no additional charge, from the point at which the service is initiated. Allowing the large number of fixed income residents to maintain their services with the peace of mind that they won't have a surprise bill due to a storm frying their lines, or children disconnecting critical items.
Free WiFi Hotspots are also available throughout the community, at public and private buildings, community parks, the Fairgrounds, the company offices, and the Ferry queue (but not on the dock proper). All are free to use for anyone needing access, but with no guarantee of connectivity due to various environmental factors. Whidbey Telecom also provided the first "Ferry Cams" for commuters, which prompted WSDOT to do the same at most of their other facilities, so that ferry users were fully aware of the wait times and traffic conditions.
Television
It was announced in 2011, that Whidbey Telecom would offer television to customers at competitive rates to those offered by Comcast. The service utilized Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV technology to deliver television over the DSL service. The new WhidbeyTV service was launched in the summer of 2013 quickly became a significant player in the community, with competitive pricing, local support services, and its own channel, called "WhidbeyTV", producing original shows and sharing local content. The service is cost competitive with the other terrestrial options, and continued to expand offerings and service areas until 2018.
In late 2018, Whidbey Telecom announced it was shifting its TV strategy from providing linear TV to partnering with Dish. This shift was due to the dramatic rise in content costs and a fundamental change in the viewing habits of society from linear to streaming entertainment. While it was a difficult decision by the company it enabled Whidbey Telecom to focus on strengthening its investment in its local fiber optic network to its customers. The company continues to provide its local WhidbeyTV video, streaming for free through WhidbeyTV.com.
Security and Alarms
In the early 2000s, Whidbey Telecom began its own alarm installation and monitoring company, branded as "American Alarms", later rebranded "Whidbey Telecom Security & Alarms". The company utilizes its tech support staff for alarm monitoring and dispatch, and providing services to residents of Island, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties, with a focus on Whidbey Island proper. The Alarms division monitors residential, commercial, and government installations for burglary, duress, medical, and fire alarms.
A majority of the alarm panels utilize POTS services, for reliability, but as phone installation is becoming more rare, and there is a desire for remote access to panels by customers, Cellular and IP options have become available with technologies by Alarm.com and others.
Closed Circuit video services are also installed and used by businesses and residents alike, especially snowbirds, to ensure security of property, and provide evidence in cases of a holdup or robbery.
Whidbey Telecom's UL Listed Alarm Monitoring Center, is open 24/7 and located at their headquarters in Langley {Bayview}.
Rebranding
In September 2004, Whidbey Telephone company decided to consolidate its operations under a single name, Whidbey Telecom.[7] This new identity was previewed at the Island County Fair and was officially launched in September.
'Whidbey.NET' became 'Whidbey Telecom Internet and Broadband'
'Western Long Distance' became 'Whidbey Telecom Long Distance'
'American Alarm Systems, Inc.' became 'Whidbey Telecom Security and Alarms'
Any new customers or lines are assigned numbers based on geographic location, but customers are no longer required to change prefix when moving between service areas.
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