Case Study - Page 2 of 4 - BEC Technologies, Inc.

Executive Summary

West Central Wireless is one of the largest rural fixed wireless providers based in San Angelo, Texas, with satellite offices in Brady, Texas. Their cellular services consist of 850 MHz HSPA and GSM networks, along with legacy D-AMPS (TDMA) and CDMA networks. West Central Wireless needed a way to manage all of their 8,000 units on one management platform. BECentral service enablement delivered a platform for West Central Wireless to improve operational efficiencies and optimize service delivery.

The Customer

West Central Wireless is a local mobile phone provider serving Central and West Texas based in San Angelo, Texas, with satellite offices in Brady, Texas. West Central was founded 25 years ago to provide the best cell phone service in west-central Texas. Their mission is to provide customers with the best products, services, and solutions helping to make their lives safer and worry-free.

Challenges

With over 8,000 assorted BEC units providing high-speed broadband wireless internet to their business and residential clients, West Central Wireless needed a way to remotely monitor those units in the field so that they could provide better technical support, should a problem arise.

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Fixed wireless and fiber was not feasible for their location (as is this case with most of our 4G LTE wireless customers) and without BEC, we wouldn’t have been able to service them at all!

— Sam Mountstephens from One Ring Networks

Executive Summary

When your job starts off in a completely undeveloped area, high-tech gadgets can be effectively useless. How do you connect to your team, vendors, and customers to keep the job moving? BEC Technologies and One Ring Networks teamed up to provide the ideal solution for connecting construction firms when fiber installation is pushing the pause button.

The Customer

BEC and One Ring provided the ideal solution for one North Texas construction firm that requires off-site networks for fast file sharing and efficient communication with vendors and staff. By combining temporary broadband with the MX-200e, the construction team was able to begin their production rapidly, reducing downtime and minimizing revenue loss for their business.

Challenges

Construction sites are often in need of a short-term internet connection before fiber is installed. Finding an internet service provider for a temporary project can prove difficult, as the options are limited or expensive. It can take up to 90 days for fiber to be installed, however, most projects cannot wait 3 months for the build and need the service for business critical tasks.

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Executive Summary

Eastern Shore Cycles is Spanish Fort’s destination for all things cycling; but with an unpredictable internet connection, downtime has left them unable to live up to their full potential. Altaworx, a member of BEC’s Preferred Partner Program, suggested BEC’s 6300 VNL for automatic failover with carrier certified 4G LTE to tackle Eastern Shore Cycles’ disruption problem.

The Customer

Eastern Shore Cycles is the town of Spanish Fort, Alabama’s destination small business for all things bikes, maintenance and parts. Whether you need your derailleurs adjusted, a broken spoke replaced or a complete overhaul that makes your bicycle run and look even better than new, Eastern Shore Cycles’ bike repair experts are equipped with over 25 years’ experience, knowledge and factory training to do the job right the first time, every time.

Challenges

An erratic internet connection made running credit cards unreliable and caused Eastern Shore Cycle’s POS system to frequently go out of service. Being unable to run credit cards left Eastern Shore with three unfavorable options: 1) the bike store is unable to accept non-cash payments causing customers with no cash on hand to leave without making a purchase;
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Executive Summary

United Wireless, located in Dodge City, Kansas, was approached by a local school district with a need of continuing education aboard their school bus fleet. United Wireless provided the 4G LTE service, while BEC and their MX-1000 provided the technology to not only make the extended classroom possible, but with enhanced safety and efficiency tools all in one product.

The Customer

United Wireless’s parent company was shaped 1951 when Southwestern Bell decided it was not in their interest to extend coverage to those living in the rural areas outside of Dodge City, Kansas. Fast forward to 2016, United Wireless has more towers and better coverage than any other provider in Southwestern Kansas. Their foundation was founded on the ambition to bring the latest and greatest technology to its rural Kansas customers and they continue to work towards that goal today.

Challenges

Because of this reputation, United Wireless was approached by a local school district, with the hopes of continuing the digital classroom while transporting the students to and from the physical one. United Wireless has the 4G LTE to provide to the school district, but needed a partner to supply the connection solution to make this hope a reality. BEC Technologies was the perfect solution to providing 4G LTE wireless gateways to offer solutions that provide secure, robust and reliable network connectivity for the school district’s fleet of 56 school busses.
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Executive Summary

Breezy Point Resort, located just northwest of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, offers an escape for those that want to vacation and celebrate in nature. Their remote location and proximity to multiple waterfronts make it difficult to provide internet access using traditional wireline methods. Breezy Point is utilizing the Industry’s first Outdoor 4G/LTE Wi-Fi Hotspot from BEC Technologies.

The Customer

Breezy Point Resort, located just northwest of the Twin Cities in Minnesota is a full service, year round resort on Pelican Lake in the heart of the Brainerd, Minnesota resort country. Established in 1922, Breezy Point has a rich history and has grown to include 250 rooms, cabins and condos, two 18-hole golf courses, a complete boat marina, and three restaurants. From golfing to conference and weddings, the Minnesota resort nestled on Pelican Lake has a wide variety of options for any vacationer’s needs.

Breezy Point facilities are meticulously maintained with plenty of amenities to ensure visitors feel at home and have everything they need to have the best vacation possible. One critical amenity is Wi-Fi access, which is no surprise as traveler’s increasingly desire connectivity for both leisure and business travel.

Challenges

Breezy Points customers come to the vacation destination to enjoy the remote beauty of nature. While being away from the constant connection of the city is appealing to some, others find themselves in need of connection to keep them relaxed during their getaway. Breezy Point’s remote location limits the available connection options.  While copper service is available for traditional land lines, providing DSL internet over that existing copper wire is not reliable due to the condition and physical distance from the central office.  Wireline options such as cable infrastructure and fiber are not present nor economically feasible.

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Executive Summary

By testing and deploying BEC MX-1000 M2M router, Sunshine Fire Protection District, successfully maintain a mission critical communication in-vehicle network that is interoperable, sustainable and especially during times of great stress.

The Customer

Sunshine Fire Protection District has served mountain community’s wild-land urban interface for the past 47 years. Their service is provided by 20 volunteer firefighters, ERM/EMT and fire support staff, two fire stations and 4 fire trucks. Their focus on fire protection, prevention and education as well as medical responsiveness has fostered a strong bond with the neighborhoods they serve. Since their inception, Sunshine Fire Protection District has been on the look out for first-class training and technology to best fit their mission and serve their community.

Challenges

In response to national security concerns, the MCTRJCA act was past in 2012, establishing FirstNet. FirstNet purpose is to establish, operate, and maintain a public safety network that is interoperable, especially during times of great stress. To fulfill these objectives, Sunshine Fire Protection District needed to become a part of a Radio Access Network that will connect back to the core of FirstNet.

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Executive Summary

Accents, a local indie fashion retail store, selected BEC’s, MX-200e, WWAN Failover Manager LTE router and its Multi-WAN failover connectivity solution created a secure, continuous and dependable network connection. With this new less disruption network, Accents has been minimized their revenue loss significantly.

The Customer

Accents is popular retail shop featuring styles that caters to the fashion centric women of the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex. Founded in 2006 with its first location in Dallas, Texas, the brand opened its second brick and mortar shop in 2013 in Southlake, Texas, while maintaining on online presence. Accents feature a blend of local and popular indie brands that are sure to add flare to any North Texan’s wardrobe.

Challenges

With fewer people carrying cash, a break in connectivity can cause the store to refuse revenue or take card payments against PCI compliance. Charging a card without authorization can open a store to security risks, fraud, and other vulnerabilities. Security and loss of revenue are not the only concerns caused by a connection malfunction. Frustrated customers can take to social media, causing lasting damage to your brand’s reputation.

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Executive Summary

For Kung Food Chu’s AmerAsia, being a locally-owned, independent restaurant has always been a struggle in a highly competitive market with big chains on every block. To compete and differentiate themselves, AmerAsia made a shift to a fast-casual concept focusing on technology to power every aspect of their business. The goals were seamless connectivity, a higher level of customer engagement and a new restaurant experience all while boosting the bottom line. A tall “order” for most however one key technology decision; the BEC 6300VNL Enterprise LTE Router would prove to be the catalyst for bridging all other solutions together.

The Customer

Kung Food Chu’s AmerAsia, a Chinese cuisine restaurant is a cornerstone in the Covington, TX community offers delicious dining, takeout, and delivery. In 2015, Yahoo! listed the best Chinese restaurant in every state and Kung Food Chu’s AmerAsia on was listed as the Kentucky’s finest choice for Chinese cuisine. Read More, click here. Chef and Owner, Rich Chu prides himself on serving authentic Chinese food with high-quality fresh ingredients, excellent service, and friendly staff. Unique to AmerAsia is a broad, “eclectic” mix of craft beers and rotating taps separate it from other Chinese restaurants in the area. Ancient Chinese martial arts, Kung Fu posters and the monster movie running on select TVs add to the fun and funky atmosphere.

Challenges

Overcoming poor internet connectivity at the restaurant has been a challenge for AmerAsia. There were no viable options for uninterrupted internet connectivity through their existing service provider. Another challenge was “speed to sale” a critical aspect of the fast-causal concept.Antiquated PoS systems were not reliable thus resulting in orders taken by hand and credit card transactions were extremely slow utilizing the existing landline. Additionally, the inability to process EMV “chip” cards increased the risk/liability of fraud on each transaction. The walls of the restaurant are lined with several static backlit displays, some with old menu items and others with content which remained stagnant all-day long. AmerAsia had multiple costly landlines primary for takeout orders without any PBX type functionality or options for caller Information such as the latest specials, business hours or directions. AmerAsia made attempts at offering complementary Wi-Fi access, however, the service was the plague with intermittent connection issues which could never be resolved.

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Using BEC devices, Armstrong Telephone has found BEC’s service to be easy to install, easy to use and customize to company needs.

The Customer

Providing quality telecommunication since 1946, Armstrong Telephone Company is an independent telephone company owns and operates locally. They have offices in West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York where dial tone, DSL, FTTX, and various other hicap (T1, DS3, etc.) services are offered. With the help from its partner Armstrong Cable, which offers traditional triple play over Coax, Armstrong continues to expand in the ever-changing world of telecommunications and beyond.

Challenges

Before partnering with BEC Technologies, Armstrong Telephone was struggling in finding quality products that not only could be easy to install, use, and customize to company needs. But more importantly, the products could have a higher standard of quality and service that stopped suffering from repeated failures and bad RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) experiences.

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BEC Provides Reliable Coverage in Rural Star Valley

The Customer

Silver Star Communications was the first telephone company in the lower Star Valley community of Wyoming. It was organized and financed by a group of ranchers and businessmen in 1926 and was incorporated in the State of Wyoming in 1948, where it was first operated by Sterling Weber.

In July 2010, Silver Star was awarded two broadband grants from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to complete fiber-optic projects from Jackson through Moran and over Togwotee Pass and from Jackson to Victor over Teton Pass, significantly advancing the broadband capabilities in the region and improving the reliability of communications in the State of Wyoming.

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