Every person has a story – so does every company! This is the story of how Vision WiFi came to be.
Before We Begin
Josh and I are high school sweethearts – both natives of the Blackfoot, Idaho area from day one. We know this community inside and out. We came of age just as high school typewriter classrooms were being replaced by computer labs. I remember sitting in the brand-new technology lab at our school, and the teacher saying to our class, “many of you will have careers that don’t even exist now”. I didn’t think much of it then, but now I can honestly say – he was right!
The Making of a WISP: Vision WiFi Blackfoot Internet Service Provider
Josh worked for nearly two decades as a network admin for a healthcare company, managing thousands of users in facilities across the Western United States. It was critical for him to have access to high speed internet to administer the network appropriately from our home. We live out in the country, miles from the nearest cable or fiber build…the only viable option available to us was to bring a dedicated connection in to his parent’s residence and set up a wireless link. This dilemma of limited options will sound familiar to the vast majority of Bingham County residents!
When the network grew to the point that it was using excessively large amounts of bandwidth, we knew it was time to jump to a fiber backbone. This came with significantly more cost, but offered the capability of offering additional wireless connections to others not currently on the network. I wrote a business plan, Josh ordered the fiber and built a tower, and the rest is history – we became a WISP aka wireless internet service provider! (That all sounds a lot easier than it actually was!)
Growing Our Internet Company near Blackfoot, Idaho
Since that time, we’ve installed a dozen more broadcast locations, upgraded the fiber connection, and had the privilege of entering hundreds of homes to provide a solid, dependable high speed wireless internet service to residents of rural Southeast Idaho – including the communities of Thomas, Moreland, Riverside, Rockford, Pingree, Riverton, Rose, Groveland, Aberdeen/Springfield and Tyhee.
We know your needs, because they are our needs too! We believe that everyone deserves internet that works, and personal customer service that cares.