Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — Slow internet connections and prolonged buffering — these problems plague some internet users at least a few times a day — but XVERGENT Networks is aiming to end these common issues.
XVERGENT Networks, a locally owned and operated business with offices in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, is providing area companies and residents in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties with fast, reliable wireless internet.
“We are in a hard wire market,” said Jeff Zaykowski, co-founder of XVERGENT Networks and SWG Inc., a telecommunications and broadband business based in Olyphant. “For years, it’s been fiber, DSL and cable.”
Zaykowski and his team are changing the norm by being the first LTE provider in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. LTE stands for long-term evolution, which is a “high tech base used to deliver wireless internet service,” he said.
“Verizon and AT&T have deployed LTE internet across the U.S. and in different regions already,” Zaykowski said. “They just haven’t gotten here, but they are on their way.”
LTE is a “much faster” way to deliver internet service, explained Mike Hoprich, vice president at XVERGENT.
Currently, XVERGENT has three residential packages with internet speeds that range from 15 to 40 megabits per second and three business packages that vary from 10 to 40 Mbps.
According to the Federal Communications Commission’s website, a home with three electronic devices or users accessing email, internet, video or radio streaming, along with online gaming, multiparty video conferencing, or high-definition video streaming would require a 12 to 25 Mbps service speed.
Benefits
The LTE delivery method has benefits for both consumers and providers.
Consumers get quick-responding and reliable internet access with no telephone pole cable connections or satellite dishes to be installed, Hoprich said.
Instead, just a small 9-inch-by–inch signal receiver box is installed on the exterior of a building to connect a home or business to their service.
A cable from the outside receiver to a router inside the home is connected and the client is up and running.
“It is super easy,” said Hoprich.
“There are no lines, no major configurations,” Zaykowski added.
As a provider, Zaykowski and his team can upgrade their service to match consistently evolving technology.
“LTE can withstand the gradual progression of technology without having to change equipment out, which means the network will sustain continuous service a lot longer,” Hoprich said. “It is positive from that standpoint because 3G and 2G and all that equipment that people deployed had to be decommissioned and they had to redeploy new equipment.”
As technology advances, Hoprich said XVERGENT Networks can upgrade its LTE software, which eliminates the downtime needed to reconnect new transmission equipment.
XVERGENT has an antenna on Penobscot Mountain, which allows it to reach its Wyoming Valley customers, who range from Pittston to Nanticoke.
For a full list of communities served by XVERGENT Networks, visit xvergentnetworks.com.
Now, Zaykowski is working to reach the more rural, underserved areas such as Mountain Top and the Back Mountain regions.
“We can cover 90 percent of Fairview Township,” Hoprich said. “We are getting a lot of requests (for service) from Wright Township.”
“Our number of residential and business clients is growing daily,” Zaykowski noted.
