Internet services on Whidbey Island began in 1994. Whidbey Telephone began Whidbey Internet Services (WIS) to cover the telephone company's service area. At the same time, another company, Whidbey Connections, Inc. (WCI), was founded to serve customers of
GTE on the north end of the island. WIS soon expanded to cover people on the north end of the Island, and WCI later expanded to also serve people on the south end of Whidbey Island. WCI's Internet domain was 'whidbey.net', whereas WIS's was 'whidbey.com'. Initial available Internet speeds were 14.4 kbit/s and later 28.8 kbit/s, as demand grew. 33.6 and 56K services were added as those technologies were released. However, Whidbey.NET never supported .V92's ability to pause Internet for phone calls. Dial-up services continued until 2019, having been retired on South Whidbey and Point Roberts in 2010. In 1995, Whidbey Telephone Company acquired the assets of Whidbey Connections, Inc., and integrated into Whidbey Internet Service to form WhidbeyNET. As a result of the merger, some customers of Whidbey.NET on the south end of Whidbey continue to have '.net' addresses whereas most south end customers have '.com'. Until 2001, WhidbeyNET maintained two different customer databases on their servers, leading some customers to have different passwords, and even different usernames depending on how and where they connected to the ISP. Usernames were fully integrated to email addresses for email and dial-up customers in 2012. Whidbey.NET began to offer
DSL services to some customers (within one mile of local exchange centers) in 2000. By 2002, all Whidbey Telephone customers were capable of receiving Whidbey.NET DSL on south Whidbey Island and in Point Roberts. In 2005, the newly rebranded Whidbey Telecom Internet and Broadband began offering 5.5 Mbit/s DSL, and set their other speeds at 512 kbit/s, and 2.5 Mbit/s. However, Whidbey Telecom does not offer DSL services in
Verizon territory on Whidbey Island, but did provide dial-up services in those areas until 2019. Dial-up services are no longer offered by Whidbey Telecom. In the spring of 2009, Whidbey Telecom began upgrading customers, free of charge, from ADSL to ADSL2+ services. This included speed upgrades to 18 Mbit/s, 12 Mbit/s, and 6 Mbit/s. A new 30 Mbit/s bonded ADSL2+ service was also made available at that time. Additionally, existing dial-up customers were offered a discounted 3 Mbit/s service, in advance of Whidbey Telecom's phasing out their dial-up service on South Whidbey and in Point Roberts which was completed by Summer 2010. With the addition of Television services, even faster Internet connections have become available, utilizing VDSL2+ technologies up to 50 Mbit/s. The year 2023 saw major changes to DSL services, as new FCC guidelines caused work to be done to upgrade services to a minimum of 25 Mbit/s services where practical. 25 Mbit/s down, and 3 Mbit/s up is the new minimum service advertised, with speeds of 50/20 still available in
VDSL Service areas, not currently covered by Fiber. In 2016, Whidbey Telecom announced a campaign to install Fiber to the Home. Known as "The Big Gig", the service offers 1 Gbit/s synchronous service to homes and businesses. The first customers were connected by October of that same year. The initial build out is focusing on the communities of Langley, Freeland, Clinton, and Bayview. The plan is to provide fiber services to 100% of customers, both on South Whidbey, but also Pt. Roberts. As of 2023, the population centers in Langley, Clinton, and Freeland have fiber access, as well as some of the more densely populated neighborhoods/developments. Work continues to get to 100% coverage. It is believed the residential fiber services will be available in Point Roberts in 2023. Services are synchronous at 100 Mbit/s, 300 Mbit/s, and 1000 Mbit/s. Customers who signed up during the initial inquiries in 2015/2016, and whose accounts are in good standing will get the 1000 Mbit/s service for $70/mo, even if they are unable to be installed until 2025. With changes WiFi technology moving much faster than the actual service, the decision was made to separate Internet and WiFi services offered. This culminated in the discontinuation of WiFi as part of the Internet service in 2017, and the inability to replace modems with ones with integrated WiFi in 2019. Most of this was owing to hardware costs, as integrated modem/router and ONT/routers were significantly more expensive than non-WiFi capable devices; but also to ensure modern security standards and performance were provided. Many of the latest combination devices from as late as 2019, only supported
WiFi 4/Wireless N at 2.4 GHz. Additionally, support was very limited with the combination devices due to age and compatibility with newer consumer hardware. To continue to provide a managed WiFi service that customers had relied upon, HOP was developed utilizing
WiFi MESH devices from Airsonics, Inc., to replace the wireless functionality of the modems, while also bringing modern WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 services to customers, the ability to MESH units together to better cover homes of various sizes and configurations, and still allow for a hands-off management of WiFi in the home, which was a request of customers. In addition to the WiFi component, HOP also includes
Wireguard, a line insurance, that will cover copper and fiber wiring issues within the home, at no additional charge, from the point at which the service is initiated. Allowing the large number of fixed income residents to maintain their services with the peace of mind that they won't have a surprise bill due to a storm frying their lines, or children disconnecting critical items. Free WiFi Hotspots are also available throughout the community, at public and private buildings, community parks, the Fairgrounds, the company offices, and the Ferry queue (but not on the dock proper). All are free to use for anyone needing access, but with no guarantee of connectivity due to various environmental factors. Whidbey Telecom also provided the first "Ferry Cams" for commuters, which prompted WSDOT to do the same at most of their other facilities, so that ferry users were fully aware of the wait times and traffic conditions. ==Television==