Although invisible, Internet traffic crackles through the skies of Central Oregon.

The region is home to four local companies that have built separate networks to provide wireless, high-speed (also called broadband) Internet access to rural areas outside the reach of cable or DSL Internet service, and to serve metro users looking for alternative access to the Internet.

The reason there are so many broadband wireless providers in the area is because “there are so many people that live out in the country beyond the scope of cable and DSL,” said Clay Beck, co-owner of one of the companies, Bend-based Yellowknife Wireless.

Beck said a speedy Internet connection is as important for rural residents as for city dwellers.

“Broadband Internet access is becoming a necessity,” Beck said. “Kids out in the country, they are at a real disadvantage, and more people are running small businesses from home where a dial-up connection just doesn’t cut it.”

Rather than rely on miles and miles of wire for their networks — as BendBroadband does with its cable Internet service and Qwest does with its DSL service — these wireless companies use radio waves to transport their customers to the information superhighway.

Each of the four companies has its niche. In addition, Central Oregonians can get online wirelessly with at least two national companies. Clearwire, a Seattle-based company, provides wireless Internet access to the region through its own network, and Qwest offers wireless Internet access through Sprint’s cell phone network.

Although based on the same Wi-Fi technology, wireless Internet access is different from the wireless routing technology available for use in home or office networks. Wireless Internet access means accessing the Internet through radio waves received and transmitted by an antenna. A wireless router receives and transmits signals between two or more computers, often in the same location.

Here is a look at the four local broadband wireless companies operating in Central Oregon, along with Clearwire:

Webformix

Webformix is a three-year-old wireless Internet service provider based in Bend.

It provides broadband wireless service throughout most of Central Oregon, although certain locations are unable to receive a full signal due to geographical restrictions that block line-of-sight access to the company’s antennas.

The company has antennas on the tops of many of the region’s prominent buttes.

Installation costs $250 and includes installing a flat-panel antenna to the outside of a customer’s home. The antenna is then connected via wire to a modem that connects with the customer’s computer.

Service plans start at $20 per month and go up to $50 per month, depending on how fast of a connection is desired and how many e-mail accounts are needed.

Company President Eric Ozrelic said his company primarily targets rural users. Ozrelic does offer service in Bend, Redmond and other cities in the region, but concedes he can’t compete with the price of Qwest’s DSL service or the speed of BendBroadband’s cable Internet service. But, he said, some customers like having a small, local company as their Internet provider.

Ozrelic said his customer base is growing, as more people switch to high-speed connections in order to take advantage of Web sites that incorporate music and videos.

Ozrelic added that growth also is coming from the destination resorts that have sprouted in the region and are often outside the service footprints of BendBroadband and Qwest.

Although Qwest is the region’s telephone provider, DSL — which runs on the same copper wire that delivers phone service — is only effective within one or two miles of the facilities that generate the signal.

Webformix has roughly 1,000 customers, Ozrelic said.

Community Broadband

Community Broadband is based in Redmond and also operates throughout most of Central Oregon.

The company, founded in April 2006, offers two wireless Internet access products in addition to hard-line solutions.

When it comes to its wireless Internet access, Community Broadband says its selling point is its symmetrical service. In other words, it operates at the same speed whether downloading or uploading data.

The company’s basic service tier costs $29.95 per month and offers download and upload speeds of up to 2 megabits per second. The speed slows with more users, however.

By contrast, a 56k modem — the standard equipment for dial-up Internet connections — transmits at .06 Mbps.

Community Broadband also offers three service plans that range in price between $39.95 and $59.95 per month and have consistent upload and download speeds of 2, 4 and 6 Mbps, respectively.

Installation costs $199.95, which includes the placement of a small dish antenna on the exterior of a customer’s home that is then wired to a modem.

Community Broadband has 1,512 customers, Devlin said.

Yellowknife Wireless

Yellowknife Wireless was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Bend. It operates eight transmission sites that provide wireless Internet access from Terrebonne to south Bend and from Alfalfa to Sisters, according to the company’s Web site.

Like Webformix, Yellowknife pursues rural customers, said Phil Baca, the company’s office manager. The company’s niche is its powerful 900 MHz signal, said Baca, which is able to travel through trees and other obstacles that hinder line-of-sight signal transmission.

The company charges $499 to install the 900 MHz antenna, and monthly service plans start at $49.95. Yellowknife also sells a less-powerful 2.4 MHz antenna that is dependent on line-of-sight transmission.

Yellowknife has approximately 500 customers, Baca said.

I Love My WiFi

Bend-based I Love My WiFi launched its broadband wireless service in 2006 with the placement of a main antenna on Awbrey Butte. The two co-founders, Tom Hogue and Chuck DeJarnett, then recruited family and friends to sign up for their service and placed antennas on their homes. They also placed repeaters with the antennas, which could retransmit the service’s wireless signals.

As more customers signed up, more antennas and repeaters went up so that the company now has a Wi-Fi network in the city consisting of 141 transmitting stations. And that’s enough, said DeJarnett, to create a Wi-Fi “cloud” over Bend.

To use the network, customers need to purchase the company’s receiver, which the company sells out of its storefront and main office on Division Street. The receiver is a small unit, about the size of a wireless router. It should be placed near a window, preferably upstairs, said DeJarnett, and it will transmit a wireless Internet signal to a computer with a compatible wireless card. In other words, it also acts as a router.

And it’s mobile. A user can put it on the dashboard and drive around Bend and receive a signal, DeJarnett said.

The receiver, powered by either electricity or batteries, costs $159.95. There’s no monthly service charge.

“It just turns out the administrative aspect of it is the hardest part, so we eliminated that and factored what we think of as six months of payments into the price,” DeJarnett said. “People can pick up these receivers and go crazy. We figure billing is too much.”

DeJarnett said the receivers also work outside of Bend because they automatically scan for other Wi-Fi networks.

The company has roughly 675 customers, according to DeJarnett.

Clearwire

Seattle-based Clearwire, a company founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, offers broadband wireless access that works throughout most of Central Oregon, is mobile and offers a secure connection, said Tim Ross, the company’s general manager in Bend.

The company uses a receiver similar in concept to what I Love My WiFi uses. It’s about the size of a paperback book, said Ross, and runs on electricity or batteries.

Clearwire’s network also extends beyond Central Oregon. The company has networks in metro areas in 16 states, including Seattle, Reno and Boise. In Oregon, the company’s networks also exists in Eugene, Grants Pass, Medford, Klamath Falls and Roseburg.

The technology behind Clearwire’s service uses a frequency it has licensed from the Federal Communications Commission, meaning it is protected from illicit interception, according to the company’s Web site.

“We put a wireless cloud over cities that allow our subscribers to have a private, encrypted, secure connection to the Internet,” said Ross.

Clearwire customers can buy the company’s modem for $100 or lease it for $5 per month. The service is currently free for the first three months but then costs between $30 and $38 per month, depending on the transmission speed desired.

Ross said the company’s customers are primarily residential users. He would not disclose how many customers the company has in Central Oregon.