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| West Wisconsin Telcom & 24-7 Telcom History |
West Wisconsin Telephone Cooperative held its first organizational meeting on April 7, 1954, at Dunn County Electric
Cooperative at 912 Crescent Street in Menomonie (Now the 24-7 Telcom Office). The incorporators included: Ed Ferber, G.L. Johnson, Orin Sather, D.P. Kent, Martin Dahl and Henry Bates. It was decided at this meeting to name the company West Wisconsin Telephone Cooperative and charge a $10.00 membership fee to join the cooperative. There were eighteen members present and each one paid the fee at this first meeting.
The formation of the Cooperative was under the direction of a nine-member Board of Directors. They included G.L. Johnson,
President; Ed Styer, Vice President; Martin Dahl, Secretary; Ed Ferber, Treasurer; Palmer Peterson, Director; Boyd Harshman, Director; John Erb, Director; Orin Sather, Director; and J.N. Robbins, Director. Ira Slocumb was the Cooperative Attorney.
During the first year, West Wisconsin Telephone Cooperative made progress toward their goal of improved service. The following companies were acquired: Rock Falls & Meridean Telephone Exchange Company, Downsville Telephone Company, Spring Lake Telephone Company, Cady Telephone Company and Brookside Telephone Company. In the first year, the Cooperative received 457 new memberships.
Throughout the next couple years, more progress had been made. Art Grubb Engineering was engaged to engineer outside plant facilities for dial service. Three central offices were constructed, Rock Falls, Downsville and Spring Lake. The old bank building at Downsville was purchased and remodeled for the business office. At this time office and plant staff were hired.
Time-Line:
1959: West Wisconsin Telephone Cooperative had 5 employees.
1960: West Wisconsin Telephone Cooperative put down the money to acquire the Eau Claire County Telephone Company and also the Union exchange. These are now called our Elk Lake exchange.
The first Public pay phones were installed, one at a rest area near Wilson and the other in Eau Galle.
1962: West Wisconsin Telcom had the following members per exchange:
Downsville............243
Rock Falls..............150
Spring Lake..........325
Eau Galle...............228
Elk Lake.................362
A new garage was built onto the Downsville building.
1963: Ken Dahms accepted manager position. He served 36 years until retiring in 1993.
1970: Service was upgraded from 1, 2, 4 & 8 party service to all 1 party service, along with all buried plant & new central office equipment.
1974: Mobile Paging Service & Touchtone were available in some exchanges.
1978: Touchtone was installed in Rock Falls, Eau Galle, Spring Lake & Downsville.
1980: 110 miles of cable buried throughout our exchanges.
1983: Mobile Paging Service expanded into Elk Lake, Eau Claire & Chippewa Falls area.
1985: Digital Central Offices were completely installed giving us the capabilities of the following features: Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3-Way Calling and Speed Calling.
1986: West Wisconsin Telcom joined 3 other phone companies to create a Regional Phone Directory.
1987: Our first Fiber Optic Cable System between Elk Lake and Eau Claire was installed.
1989: West Wisconsin Telcom went to Equal Access (choice for long distance provider) interstate.
A new paging terminal with the capability of alphanumeric display & voice mail was installed.
24 miles of Fiber Cable between Downsville, Elk Lake and Rock Falls was installed.
1991: Cellular Phone service is offered throughout our exchanges.
1992: Voice Mail Service becomes available.
1993: The Downsville office is remodeled. Randy Siler became manager when Ken Dahms retired.
There is no longer a charge for Touchtone Service. Rotary phones are not manufactured any more.
1994: Extended Community Calling (ECC) is implemented.
10 Digit Dialing implemented for long distance calls.
1995: Nortel DMS 100 equipment is ordered.
Internet Dial-Up Service is available.
Menomonie (24-7 Telcom) office is opened at the former Dunn County Electric building.
Class Features available: Caller ID Number, Call Forward Remote Access, Selective Call Forwarding, Call Transfer, Selective Call Acceptance, Selective Call Rejection, Automatic Callback, Automatic Recall.
1996: New Nortel DMS 100 equipment put into service.
1997: West Wisconsin Telcom started to offer its own Long Distance Service.
1998: Mark Stenseth became Assistant Manager. West Wisconsin Telcom's subsidiary company was renamed 24-7 Telcom.
1999: Automatic Bill Payment is a new service available to customers.
24-7 Telcom started offering Local Phone Service to customers in Menomonie.
2000: DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) high speed Internet became available in some areas.
2001: The 1st Technology Fair was held at the 24-7 Telcom office.
Eau Claire office opens at 5808 Old Mill Plaza, Eau Claire.
E-Bill (online bill payment) implemented.
2002: West Wisconsin Telcom changes logo.
2003: Warehouse building is purchased for supplies.
West Wisconsin Video subsidiary company starts to offer video service to the Wilson area.
Ed Schultz is elected to the Board of Directors.
2004: West Wisconsin Telcom now employees 41 Full time employees and 4 Part time employees.
Len Wall retires from the Board of Directors.
Allan Faber is elected to the Board of Directors.
2006: Upgraded voice mail service now includes email.
2007: Fiber to the Home project begins in Downsville.
West Wisconsin Telcom now employees 48 Full time employees and 5 Part time employees.
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