Pete Rein, field service manager for Ethoplex, a local internet service provider, makes adjustments to equipment on the roof of Cedar Square Apartments in Milwaukee on N. 15th St. Ethoplex provides gigabit service to Milwaukee area homes. Credit: Angela Peterson

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The cable industry's internet packages could get some competition from a local firm that says it will offer ultrafast broadband for residences, starting this summer.

Ethoplex, a wireless internet service provider based in Germantown, says it will use new technology to deliver internet speeds of up to 500 megabits per second to individual homes and 1,000 mbps (a gigabit) to multifamily buildings.

The services could be available in select areas of metro Milwaukee as early as next week, according to Ethoplex.

Currently, the company says it provides internet access to more than 500 Wisconsin businesses. The new service is aimed at residences, including multifamily buildings in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

With a gigabit Internet connection, a high-definition movie can be downloaded in 18 seconds. Videos can be streamed with no worries about buffering, and a physician can view X-rays and medical images from a home computer with no delays.

Ethoplex says it won't have caps on the amount of data its customers consume each month. The firm says it will charge $90 per month for the 500 mbps service for individual homes and also $90 per month for gigabit service in multifamily buildings.

The ultrafast speeds could be appealing to doctors, architects, engineers and others who have data-intensive needs but don't necessarily want a bundled package of cable television, internet and phone service.

"I don't think that people are happy with the duopoly of the phone and cable company, so we want to bring more competition," said Ethoplex President and CEO Keefe John.

"We don't offer bundles or promotional pricing. The price you see is the price you will get," John said.

He started Ethoplex in 2004 after working for other internet service providers. Now, John says, his clients include Fortune 100 companies, hotels and schools.

Most American homes get their internet from a cable or phone company using some type of wired connection. Ethoplex says it can bring ultrafast internet to homes through the use of fixed wireless technology that is cheaper, per home, to build out than wired service.

With fixed residential wireless, the customer goes online with a connection from a cellular tower instead of cables strung to the home. An antenna mounted on the house receives the signal.

Advances in equipment and software are making ultrafast wireless service more affordable, said Jaime Fink, co-founder of Mimosa Technologies, a Santa Clara, Calif., wireless equipment provider that is working with Ethoplex.

"This is the rebirth of fixed wireless service as we know it. We are fast marching toward gigabit speeds," Fink said.

Some of Ethoplex's technology uses extremely high-frequency "millimeter waves" to send an internet signal at gigabit speeds.

With high-speed wireless, a local internet service provider such as Ethoplex can better compete with bigger firms such as Charter and AT&T.

"It's a way for them to enter the market and grow their customer base in a less capital-intensive way," said Bill Esbeck, executive director of the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association.

AT&T has said it plans to offer fixed-wireless connections to roughly 24,000 homes in Wisconsin — mostly in rural areas where it's too expensive to install miles of fiber-optic cable or copper wire.

AT&T will get $54 million, or $9 million per year, from the federal Connect America Fund II to bring high-speed internet service to rural Wisconsin through 2020.

Ethoplex says it has about 30 wireless towers in the metro Milwaukee area now, servicing business clients, and that it plans to expand the tower network with the residential service.

Unlike satellite technology, where the signal is sometimes dropped in bad weather, fixed wireless should not have that issue because the signal comes from a nearby tower.

The technology has been deployed successfully in some parts of Wisconsin, such as Sauk County, where it's offered by a firm called WiConnect Wireless.

WiConnect has fixed-wireless transmitters mounted on farm silos and other buildings that send an internet signal to more than 1,000 homes.

WiConnect owner Dave Bangert has built the system over 10 years, mostly using his own money and goodwill from farmers who let him use their barns and silos as transmitter sites.

In exchange, they get free or low-cost internet service.

In some cases, John said, Ethoplex might offer free internet service in exchange for someone allowing the company to install equipment on a building.