164 years ago today, Kansas became the 34th state of the United States. Over the years, Kansas has seen many changes and been a huge part of the nation’s history. Kansas was the eighth state to ratify the Equal Suffrage amendment, is the birthplace of famous icons like President Eisenhower and Amelia Earhart, helped pave the way for the Civil Rights movement with Brown v Board of Education, and is the birthplace of Pizza Hut (who doesn’t love pizza?).
October of this year will mark Nex-Tech Wireless’s 20th year providing wireless service to Kansans, but we weren’t the first. We wanted to take a trip down memory lane and see how wireless has evolved in the state. The first cellphone service started in Chicago in 1983 but it wasn’t until 1990 that Kansas would get its first taste of cell service with Kansas Cellular. Interestingly enough, our founders - Nex-Tech Inc./Rural Telephone, Golden Belt Telephone, Tri-County Telephone and Mutual Telephone helped form Kansas Cellular. Kansas Cellular’s goal was to provide this new service to Kansans and because it was so successful, it was acquired by Alltel in 1999. This, however, spelled the beginning of the end for Kansas Cellular’s legacy. Years later, Alltel was acquired by Verizon and seemingly lost interest in rural America.
As a result, our founders once again joined together to create Nex-Tech Wireless, with a focus on providing premiere wireless solutions to residents in over 40 counties of central and western Kansas. We understand the importance of supporting our communities because we live here too. We believe in bringing trusted technology and superior service to our hometowns. That includes places like Munden, KS. Muden had lacked reliable wireless coverage for many years so we worked together with the community to change that. You can learn more about our work with Munden here:
While we take the time to celebrate and reflect on 20 years of wireless service and serving over 65,000 customers in Kansas we're also looking ahead to everything we'll accomplish together in the future. We’re your friends, your family, and your neighbors. We are Connecting Kansans.
