Fixed Wireless For Rural Retail

Retail businesses in small towns and rural locations often find it difficult or expensive to get the broadband connectivity they need. Many go with two-way satellite or T1 lines to get the point of sale and Internet access they need. Others have discovered that 3G wireless gets them a reliable and secure connection for credit card verification at half the cost of a T1 line.

We’re all familiar with 3G as the cellular broadband service for smartphones. It is also used with USB aircards to get Internet access for laptop and notebook computers. There’s a less well known service that leverages the availability of 3G wireless signals with the robustness of high performance multi-carrier equipment and a secure VPN network. This is what you need for serious business applications.

Conventional cellular service is fine for mobile applications and has the low cost advantage for personal use. The Accel Networks fixed wireless solution adds performance reliability, coverage and security for installation in business locations. The idea behind fixed wireless is that you set it up once and forget it. It’s always on and connecting you to the data center. You can safely turn your back and forget about tweaking antennas or charging batteries. This network is managed to ensure that it is always up and running. Think of this solution as a replacement for T1 line service or a satellite dish on the roof.

Accel Networks has addressed the issue of poor rural broadband availability by leveraging the broadband signals that are available. You know that you can get cellular phone service just about anywhere. The only question is whether the carrier you are contracted with has coverage everywhere you want to go. Accel gets around the limitations of carrier coverage by contracting with multiple cellular carriers to provide coverage to over 90% of business locations in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. They have a proprietary provisioning system that determines which carrier has the most robust signal for your particular location. That data is used to configure a unique modem, router and antenna equipment package that is sent to you in a couple of weeks, although it is possible to get expedited delivery in as little as a few business days.

Once you get your wireless equipment bundle, you simply plug it in and you are up and running. No need to wait for a service technician to install an outdoor dish or roof antenna or go through a complex configuration setup. None of that is needed with the Accel Network system. You’ll be ready to go in 15 minutes after you open the shipping box. The rental of the equipment is also bundled with your bandwidth lease so that you pay by the month, without having to buy any hardware. Even at that, the cost of a bandwidth service that is competitive with many T1 installations is about half the price.

What kind of performance can you expect? You’ll get 3G data rates bursting to 1 Mbps download and 512 Kbps upload on a 99.9% available network. That’s more than adequate for most small retail applications. This connectivity is on a PCI compliant private layer 2 network that gives it a big advantage for meeting credit card verification requirements. Use it with a single card terminal or hook up all your electronic cash registers and get fast response times, especially compared to dial-up telephone line solutions.

Accel’s fixed wireless package is perfect for retail POS, security, inventory polling, tank monitoring and digital signage. Oil and gas companies have found it works great for remote site management. Other applications include lottery machine and ATM support. Specialty retail stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, automotive retailers, restaurants, payday loan stores, and car dealerships have all found that fixed wireless meets their needs.

Is your business located in a rural or out of the way location where business broadband is either hard to come by or expensive? If so, check out fixed wireless business broadband service as a high performance low cost bandwidth solution for your business location.

Small Business Merchant Accounts

Are you losing potential business because you don’t accept credit cards? You may think that it is just too expensive and way too complicated to accept credit cards and debit cards in your retail business. It certainly can be if you try to figure it all out for yourself. But if you have the right processing company on your side, it can be a very simple and easy process.

Don’t construe this to mean that the credit card processing procedure is simple. It is anything but that. There are banks, credit card companies, merchant service providers, computer networks and specialized equipment involved. The good news is that you don’t have to worry about any of that arcade detail. It’s all taken care of for you by Elite Processing Systems.

EPS has the knowledge, procedures, financial relationships, equipment and networks needed to make it possible for you to accept credit cards, debit cards and EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) at your point of sale. They’ve been doing this successfully for small businesses like yours for almost a decade. When you become an Elite merchant you’ll get 24 hours US based customer service, individual account management and rate schedules that are customized and competitive.

Any business that wants to accept electronic payments needs what is called a merchant account. That’s how the customer’s payment gets to you. Elite Processing Systems will provide you with that account and everything you need to make it work. But they also offer a lot more in the way of support for your business.

For instance, do you cringe when a customer starts writing out a personal check? Most of them will be perfectly all right, but what about the one’s that aren’t? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get instant verification that the check was good while the customer was still standing there? You can with the Telecheck service provided by Elite. Verify funds electronically at your POS and avoid the traditional four day delay involved in receiving the check, bringing it to the bank and waiting for it to clear. You’ll breathe a lot easier when you have Telecheck working for you.

Do you have trouble securing working capital when you need it? That’s not unusual in these economic times. EPS has a partnership with Merchant Money, Ltd. to make cash advances available to you based on your credit card processing future receivables. It’s linked to your processing account so you never have to write a check and funds are taken back through your credit card sales. Request funds today and have them available tomorrow.

How about other business services that you use regularly, such as payroll and insurance? Elite Processing Systems offers payroll solutions powered by ADP for efficiency and security. Other available services include life insurance, health insurance, disability and simple IRA plans.

Credit Card Processing by Elite Processing Systems a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek CA.

POS For Temporary Store Locations

One thing you see every holiday season is the emergence of “pop up stores.” These are temporary retail locations that take over unused floor or store space in malls and strip centers to offer seasonal merchandise. You’ll find them selling christmas decorations or gifts, Halloween costumes, calendars, and other items that only sell for a few weeks or months during the year. When the season is over, they shut down operations until the next year. While these stores are in operation, they need to have the same or even more efficient point of sales systems than regular stores.

Why is POS so important? Simply because the nature of a temporary store is that you have lots and lots of customer traffic in one big burst. Any slowdowns at the checkout lane will drive potential customers to get out of line and go somewhere else. These are sales that can’t be recouped. If you don’t grab them when they’re hot, you don’t get them at all.

Traditional telecom services are a problem for temporary operations of all types. The standard contract for a T1 line or other bandwidth solution is the 1 to 3 year contract. That’s fine for bricks and mortar operations that are a fixture in the community. They know they’ll need the service for at least that long. But what’s a pop-up operation to do? Pay for an entire year’s service even if you need it for only a few weeks to a few months?

Relax. You don’t need to resort to cash only sales or those credit card machines that mangle the cards. You can get highly reliable, fast and secure cashless transactions. What’s more, you can lease this wireless broadband capability on a month to month basis and be up and running in a matter of days. No professional installation is needed. The system comes ready to plug-in and use.

What sort of bandwidth solution is this? It’s a proprietary 3G wireless service from Accel Networks. What Accel has done is make arrangements with the 3G cellular service providers for coverage in the US and Canada. These cover over 90% of business locations, pretty much wherever you can get a strong cell signal. Accel provides you with a bundled proprietary hardware and access solution pre-configured for the best performance at a particular location. Support and monitoring is 24/7. Bandwidth bursts to over 1 Mbps download, considerably more than you’ll likely need for POS even during your busiest times. It’s all PCI compliant so you can accept major credit cards.

Temporary store locations are just one of the important uses for this wireless service. It also works perfectly to provide broadband Internet connectivity to construction trailers, special events, cleanup and rebuilding after natural disasters, or while waiting for permanent wireline services to be installed.

Many businesses use this service on a continuing basis. It takes the place of VSAT satellite terminals, hideously slow dial-up Internet access, and unavailable DSL or Cable broadband. The honest truth is that many smaller businesses don’t need more bandwidth or need to pay higher prices than with this near-universally available business wireless service. These include retail stores, gas stations, convenience stores, quick service restaurants and others.

Do you have a need for temporary or attractively priced wireless broadband service in your business or organization? Find out how little it costs and how fast you can get 3G wireless broadband service at your desired locations. You may wonder why you ever thought you needed a wire.

Fixed Wireless Broadband Includes Canada & Puerto Rico

We tend to think of broadband as a wireline service. T1 lines are popular for small to medium size businesses. Ethernet is rapidly gaining ground because it can offer a larger range of bandwidths and lower prices than conventional telco technologies. Many chain retail outlets depend on two-way satellite access. But there is another service that can offer reliable broadband service with little or no construction cost and low monthly rates. That’s fixed wireless broadband, now available for the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

A top provider of fixed wireless broadband solutions is Accel Networks. They offer service in all of the major 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G and 4G coverage areas. If that sounds a lot like cellular broadband, it is. But this goes way beyond consumer-grade cellular data service. What Accel has done is to aggregate the wireless data services of a number of cellular carriers to create a service footprint that is larger than any of them individually. It covers over 99% of all retail locations in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

What kind of speeds can you expect on this wireless broadband service? The 3G service area is the largest, with average download speeds of 768 Kbps and bursts up to 1.4 Mbps. Upload speeds average 384 Kbps with bursts to 512 Kbps. In lesser populated areas, 2.5G service offers speeds of 140 Kbps for both uploads and downloads.

Accel has the engineering expertise to identify the strongest network connection for your particular business location and then configure the equipment they send you so that it is ready to go. Since there are no wires, other than what you connect for your own network, you can be up and running in a a matter of days, not weeks or months. That can be critical for new location openings, temporary construction sites, special events, or when a natural disaster occurs.

What applications are right for fixed wireless 3G broadband? Point of sale is a natural. If you’ve been struggling with dial-up verifications, you’ll be amazed how fast your transactions take place on wireless. Cashless transactions are typically completed in 2 to 4 seconds. Best of all, they don’t tie up your phone line. This is a highly secure network, offering PCI/Visa compliance to protect your customer data.

Some users of Accel fixed wireless service include general retail locations, retail petroleum sales (gas stations), quick service and table service restaurants, banks, hospitality, convenience stores and monitoring for pipelines and fuel tanks. Any location that needs a broadband connection to conduct business or transmit data is a natural for 3G wireless.

Another perfect application for Accel wireless service is network continuity. With any wireline service, there is always the danger of what is called “backhoe fade.” That’s an industry term that basically means someone was digging and cut through the telecom cables. Some of those bundles contain dozens or hundreds of wires. A fiber optic break can require over a 100 fiber strands to be spliced. Once the outage has been identified and the required service personnel are on-site, it can still be hours, days or longer to get service restored. Meanwhile, all users unlucky enough to be on that cable go without service.

How long can your business go without data service before it starts to hurt? An hour’s loss of business might cost you more than fixed wireless service for a month. So even if you depend totally on your T1 line, DSL service, or fiber optic connection, having a 3G wireless backup makes a lot of sense. Since there are no wires, there are no wires to cut. Wireless uniquely offers the diversity of service to reliably back up wireline connections.

Could your business benefit from low cost wireless broadband with fast installation that you can do yourself? It’s cheaper than you think. Go ahead, check out Fixed Wireless Broadband services for your business location.