Local Business: DC Access

For most of us, how the Internet gets to our computers is basically a mystery.  It started with a phone line tethering you to a desk but now its everywhere and available on everything from a Play Station Portable to a mobile phone.  The change has been swift, and Capitol Hill based DC Access has been part of the evolution since the late 1990’s.

Matt Wade and Martha Huizenga operate DC Access, a wireless Internet service provider (WISP), from their home in Southeast.  [Full disclosure: I recently became a customer of DC Access. The myriad of questions I asked during the installation process is what prompted my interest in writing this piece.]  As CEO and Managing Partner, Wade is responsible for the technical aspects of providing service and Huizenga, Partner, covers the operations and marketing.

The company has transformed since its startup days in the early to mid-1990’s.  Having worked from home as a software developer, Wade was often frustrated with the quality of his Internet connection, so his hobby became the search to develop a better option. Though software development remained 99% of his consulting work during the early years, Wade began to offer dial-up service.  From a business perspective, dial-up offered a more stable foundation for future growth primarily because software development was billed hourly, while internet service is built on a monthly subscription model, offering a more predictable cash flow.  So he balanced both consulting and the ISP for the next 5 years.

The watershed year for the company’s transformation into a WISP was 2003.  It was this year that Huizenga left her job in telecommunications and joined full time to support the company’s growth by taking over operations from Wade.  By that point, DC Access was deriving 10-20% of its revenues from dial-up but it was clear the writing was on the wall as high speed Internet became more readily available.  Through the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals (CHAMPS), Wade became acquainted with small companies making antennas that could be used for wireless service.  It just so happened that Capitol Hill, which had been the home of DC Access for 6 years at that time, was an ideal location to launch wireless Internet service using an antenna system.  A quick outline of how it works demonstrates why.  A transmitter antenna is placed on a

Wade and Huizenga with a transmitter on top of a local apartment building.

high point, such as the top of a building, and pushes a signal out in different directions depending on how it is positioned.  A smaller receiver is placed on top of the customer’s home and a cable is run from the receiver into the home and to the box that transmits the signal throughout the house.  The basic idea is very similar to satellite television.  The building geography of the Hill is ideal for this type of delivery since most homes and commercial buildings are uniformly two to three stories tall with a few taller apartment buildings distributed throughout that play host to the transmitter antennas.  And viola … wireless Internet throughout Capitol Hill.

Today, Wade and Huizenga estimate 90-95% of the company’s growth comes from wireless and that around 90% of their customers are residential and 10% commercial.  They do still offer dial-up, but now it’s a free service used mainly by existing wireless customers who travel and need to use their Internet service nationwide.  They have also expanded to Adams Morgan where they partner with apartment building management companies to provide service to tenants.  Web hosting is another service they have recently added to their portfolio.

When asked about the competitive environment, Wade and Huizenga explained to me that their industry competes on three factors:  price, speed and customer service.  Verizon DSL and Comcast are the primary competitors in the area.  On price, DC Access is on par with Verizon and less expensive than Comcast and for speed it is again on par with DSL, though cable can be a bit faster.  Where they really believe they shine is with customer service.  Wade does all the consultations and installations (with some help occasionally).  And if you have a question or a problem, Huizenga is the person answering your phone call.  They place a high value on being part of the community and providing quality service to their neighbors.  They are very involved in a variety of community organizations, particularly Huizenga who has or is serving in leadership roles with CHAMPS, the Capitol Hill Group Ministry and the Capitol Hill Community Foundation .

Martha Huizenga and Matt Wade of DC Access