VINCENT BALL Sun Media Here?s a question for you. What do you get when you have some ingenuity, nifty technology, computer experience, some grain silos and a home in the country? Well, if you?re Andreas and Cynthia Wiatowski, you put all of those ingredients together and come up with a business. They call it Silo Wireless and it?s a growing concern that provides affordable high-speed Internet access to people living in rural areas, including parts of Oxford County. ?This came about out of necessity,? Andreas Wiatowski said. ?I?ve been involved in the computer industry since the early 1990s and been involved in several Internet ventures. ?I?m doing a consulting work for small and medium-sized businesses and I need to have good Internet access.? But the couple lives out in the Harley area and their only options were dial-up or satellite. Dial-up is far too slow for most in the computer world, especially those who rely on it for their work. Satellite is better, but costs more and it too has some issues. Wiatowski came up with a better idea. He?s using existing silos, grain elevators and other tall structures out in the country to hook into existing Internet signals and rebroadcast it to nearby homes and businesses. ?What we?re doing here is not unique,? Wiatowski said. ?This is being done in other rural areas. The area just north of Kitchener- Waterloo is one example. ?But what does make us unique is our cost and customer service.? Silo Wireless is a small company that provides affordable high-speed Internet access and WORKING TOGETHER June, 2009 - Page 77

Providing access for rural areas

Andreas Wiatowski of Silo Wireless is suited up to climb a tower atop a farm silo at a Burford area farm. is quick to respond to any calls for service when problems arise, he said. The Internet access they provide is about seven or eight times faster than dial-up and less expensive than that provided by satellite. ?We?ve got 26 sites now and for the most part we?ve been able to use existing vertical real estate like silos and grain elevators,? he said. ?We have installed some towers, but only if we have to. It?s more expensive and changes the landscape.? Silo Wireless has customers in Brant County and their service is extending into Norfolk and Oxford counties. The company has five employees and the goal is to have 1,000 customers by the end of this year. Some of those customers are farmers who can use the Internet to track the weather as well as farm commodity prices. They can also use it for research. Others are professionals who live in the country but work in the city and need affordable high-speed internet access at home. Still other customers are businesses. Silo Wireless was named this year?s winner of the Bell Technology Award presented by the Brantford chamber of commerce. The award recognizes a local business that has demonstrated excellence in innovation through technology.

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