What Exactly is Shelby Telecom Offering?
Our wireless internet service is a high speed connection to the internet offering speeds and performance similar to DSL or Cable Modems. Service is delivered to you via our state of the art wireless network consisting of high powered access points positioned in the areas served.

We Have Already Tried to Get Fast Internet and Don't Qualify!
You qualify with us!! Currently Bellsouth and other high speed internet providers do not offer high speed internet access to many rural areas. This is the reason we started this service. Most families can benefit from what high speed internet has to offer. Unfortunately the big phone companies and other providers can only offer their service in areas with highly concentrated populations and have strict rules as to how far away from their central office you can be. Our high powered wireless network fills this gap allowing those customers in these un-served pockets to get high speed internet.

How Do I Connect?
Shelby Telecom will send a technician to your home to install the necessary equipment. The technician will install an antenna outside your home and position it to connect to the access point nearest you. The antenna is a white or gray box similar in size to a pizza box that is mounted to an antenna mast on the side of your home or on the roof. A network cable will be routed into your home and connected to your computer. Power and data signals are fed through this single cable to a router inside the antenna.

How Well Does It Work?
We have invested a lot of time, money and effort into creating a reliable network. How well your connection performs depends on several factors including distance from our access point, terrain, hills, trees and houses. Your antenna will be mounted and tuned to achieve maximum signal strength from your location. You will generally experience download speeds similar to DSL or Cable Modems but your speed may  fluctuate  due to signal strength and network load. Peak usage times are generally in the evenings and you may experience fluctuations in download speeds during this time period.  We are dedicated to maintaining a reliable connection and will continually upgrade our connection as certain subscriber levels are reached.

Does Weather Affect Performance?
Engineering studies indicate that there should be an unnoticeable degradation of signal quality during hurricane force driving rain. Unlike satellite TV our signal comes from a tower near your home so clouds and rain should have no impact on signal quality.

Why is It So Expensive?
It really isn't when you break it down... The typical consumer with a dial-up internet connection pays between $14 and $24 per month for a slow modem connection to the internet. Many of those consumers also maintain a separate phone line to their residence to connect to the Internet. The typical 2nd phone line costs around $40 per month. Assuming that you use AOL and have a separate phone line, you are paying around $64 per month for slow internet.

Why do I Have to Pay for Installation?
We send a technician to perform every install on our network. We place around $300 worth of equipment for each installation. This equipment includes a high power radio attached to a very sensitive antenna. The antenna has to be positioned precisely for you to maintain a stable connection to our network. The technician that performs your installation will test the positioning during install with a laptop computer then verify the signal on your computer.

What am I Allowed to Do with the Connection?
You are free to use the connection for surfing the internet, sending email, online shopping and downloading updates and software. If you use your computer for business, we will begin to offer services to backup your files onto our secure servers.

What am I Not Allowed to Do with the Connection?
Shelby Telecom strictly forbids use of file sharing services, hosting web servers, downloading pirated software, downloading or viewing pornographic material, bandwidth intensive online gaming  or streaming video (if in doubt ask) and any online activities deemed illegal or immoral. If you need an internet connection for any of these purposes, we suggest you find another provider.

Can I Use My Wireless Laptop on Your Network?
At this time our service is not setup to accept connections from laptop computers.

Can I Get One Time or Temporary Access to the Network?
We can arrange temporary access to our network for special events on Main Street including yard sales and Liberty Day.