Midwest Wireless

Based in Mankato, Minnesota and owned by a group of independent telephone companies, Midwest Wireless operates in 85 counties of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. Because of these regional roots Midwest Wireless is uniquely qualified to determine the specific communication needs of individuals and businesses in this area.

Midwest Wireless started building its wireless network in Minnesota back in 1990 when the field of wireless technology was in its infancy. In 1991 the company introduced an analog phone service recognized as the first wireless service available in rural Minnesota.

In 1998 Midwest Wireless broke new ground by making its entire wireless network digital and introducing ClearlyDigital, the first digital phone service available in many areas of the rural Midwest. Today most of Midwest Wireless’ 350,000+ customers subscribe to ClearlyDigital or Realm, the company’s newest digital service.

One of the major reasons for the convergence to digital service is the many advanced features available with the technology; including some Midwest Wireless has pioneered. Midwest Wireless’ is credited for being the first rural provider in the nation to offer two-way text messaging. Since that time the popularity of this service, called Mail.IT text messaging, has grown tremendously. Today about two million text messages pass over the Midwest Wireless network every week.

In recent years, Midwest Wireless has been actively involved in the next exciting generation of wireless technology - Internet access. In 2001, Midwest Wireless launched a fixed wireless broadband service called ClearWave, which can provide reliable high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses at speeds ranging from 256K to 1.5M. Now, the company’s newest offering, ClearWave Mobile, offers mobile Internet access at speeds up to 70K.

Midwest Wireless continues to develop and test a variety of other wireless applications and looks forward to providing its customers of the Greater Midwest the most advanced telecommunications services available.