Businessman provides gift of free Wi-Fi to Greenville
GREENVILLE— Visitors and local residents using their smartphones, tablets and other devices to access the internet in downtown Greenville and beyond have received an early holiday gift — free Wi-Fi service.
The gift is courtesy of Bill Varney, a well-known Maine businessman who branched out from car sales and insurance to fiber-optic and broadband information delivery a decade ago. Varney acquired Cornerstone Communications of Charleston and North Country Broadband of Dexter and Brewer, naming his new company Premium Choice Broadband. Three years ago his company purchased Moosehead Cable in Greenville, leading to the Wi-Fi service which became available from the top of Indian Hill to the downtown area earlier this month and will soon be available in Greenville Junction.
“We’ve invested about $3 million to make this venture possible,” Varney said recently. “We can now provide state-of-the-art fiber internet for Greenville and Greenville Junction, and this is available to visitors at no charge.”
Bill Varney with his horse Igor.
Greenville resident Luke Muzzy, the senior land asset manager for Weyerhaeuser in New England, was quick to praise the gift from Varney and Premium Choice Broadband. “Weyerhaeuser was one of the first companies hooked up in Greenville” he said. “It puts us at the forefront in terms of communication. The financial commitment Bill and his company have pledged to the people and businesses of the Maine Highlands and Greenville is remarkable. We are fortunate indeed.”
Steve Levesque, president of the Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation, concurred. “We certainly want to be able to enhance the visitor experience to the Moosehead region,” he said. “A lot of research is showing that even though people want to go to remote areas they want to be connected. Having this option certainly shows that we’re part of the modern age. We’re no longer stuck way up in the wilderness where you can’t have access.”
Levesque noted that when residents and visitors connect to the free downtown Wi-Fi, “They are brought to a website with advertisements from local businesses. It gives tourists the opportunity to see what’s available in the area.”
Varney said he loves the wild beauty of the more rural parts of Maine, especially Piscataquis County and the Greenville area. And he also deeply appreciates the intrinsic value of keeping up with the latest in technology, especially internet access. As a result, he has invested a great deal of time and energy in making broadband available.
He began his first venture in 1962 with an auto parts store and then moved into his first car dealership business in 1990 – Varney GMC. Since then he expanded to additional automotive dealerships throughout central Maine and also opened full-service Insurance offices from Fort Kent to Scarborough.
Now in his 80s, you’d think that Varney would like to celebrate his “golden years” by kicking back and relaxing. But that’s just not his style. When his children assumed most of the day-to-day operations of his insurance and automotive dealerships he was not about to be “put out to pasture” as he phrased it. Instead, Varney became interested in the cable business and the newly developed fiber-optic method of information delivery.
Fiber optics is pretty amazing stuff – inside an approximately three-inch wide cable are hundreds of tiny transparent fibers, usually made of silica or plastic, that have a diameter slightly thicker than that of the average human hair. These fibers can transmit data over much longer distances literally at the speed of light and at much higher bandwidths than the usual electrical cable.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the potential of this opportunity and additional benefits that will be offered to our clientele,” Varney said at the time he formed Premium Choice Broadband. “By combining our operations, we are able to create a unique and diversified business, which will significantly enhance the user experience for our customers.”
Craig Watt, Operations Manager of Indian Hill Trading Post in Greenville, recently told a reporter from Channel 7 TV, “When people are visiting the area and they’re able to see free Wi-Fi access they don’t necessarily expect that because we’re kind of at the end of the line. It’s a real nice bonus and you notice people using it downtown all the time.”
When Varney isn’t busy overseeing his fiber optic business or being involved with his family, he can be found with another of his loves – horses. He really enjoys harness racing and has won many trophies as an amateur at Bangor Raceway and other places along the east coast. During winter months he spends time in Florida with his horse Igor, taking him for almost daily runs on a track near his home in Ocala.
Erin Gordy, head of Customer Service for Premium Choice Broadband in Brewer was quick to praise Varney’s desire to create broadband availability for rural parts of Maine. “He’s a go-go-go type all the time,” she said. “And an inspiration and a wonderful person to work for – he really cares about his customers as well as his employees.”
With at least 5,000 customers, 7,000 square miles of cable covered, and 67 wireless stations, Premium Choice Broadband offers a true “fiber-to-the-home” service. That means a fiber cable runs up to the customer property, as opposed to the more common practice of completing the last leg of the installation with cheaper copper cable. “When we say state of the art, we mean it,” said Andy Hinkley, Premium Choice’s executive vice president. The speed of delivery is up to 100 Mbps (Megabytes per second).
The company has moved its offices in Greenville from Lakeview Street to the log cabin situated at Greenville Municipal Airport located two miles east of the central downtown business district. To learn more, visit their office or call 207- 735-2611. You can also access them online at premiumchoicebroadband.com.