The company began providing telephone service in 1912 and has continued the tradition of using the latest technology to bring the finest service to our customers. Below is a historical perspective of the events that have brought our company and its customers to the level of service we enjoy today.
| 1912 |
Charter filed with Secretary of State of Kansas to provide telephone service in Wamego. |
| 1957 |
Installed the first PBX at Balderson, Inc., to service their telephone requirements. |
| 1959 |
Purchased the Paxico exchange and began providing telephone service to those customers. |
| 1960 |
Purchased the Flush exchange and received REA funding to convert those customers to dial service. |
| 1961 |
Converted to dial service in the Wamego exchange. |
| 1962 |
Converted to dial service in the Paxico exchange. |
| 1964 |
The company acquired the St. George exchange and converted it to dial service. |
| 1977 |
Converted the Paxico exchange to a one-party line system. |
| 1980 |
Upgraded Wamego and St. George to digital switch services, one-party lines, call forwarding, call waiting, 3-way calling, and speed calling. |
| 1989 |
Upgraded Paxico to digital services, call forwarding, call waiting, 3-way calling, and speed calling. |
| 1990 |
Kansas Cellular is established and goes on line with cellular service to rural Kansas. |
| 1991 |
Installed fiber between Wamego and SWB, and all three exchanges and between Kansas Cellular. |
| 1993 |
Added advanced digital features: voice mail and caller ID services. Also, completed the construction of our Service Department building. |
| 1994 |
Converted to equal access for long distance service. |
| 1995 |
We became an Internet provider through Netspace Internet Services. |
| 1996 |
Calling name and number delivery made available to all our exchanges. We also remodeled the headquarters' offices at 529 Lincoln. |
| 1997 |
Installed digital loop carriers to our rural areas. |
| 1998 |
Installed fiber sonet ring to provide redundant fiber connection for toll service. |
| 1999 |
Kansas Cellular was sold to Alltel in October. Our name was changed from "Wamego Telephone Co., Inc.," to "Wamego Telecommunications Co., Inc.," to better reflect the services we provide to our customers. |
| 2000 |
Purchased Cable TV systems in Wamego and St Marys, began providing Long Distance Services, and became our own Internet Provider. |
| 2000 |
Consolidated cable TV head ends, installed OC 48 network, and purchased and opened office in St Marys. |
| 2001 |
The company acquired the St. George exchange and converted it to dial service. |
| 2002 |
Buried fiber optic cable to 867 homes within Wamego to replace aging aerial cable. Also began construction of new office building at 1009 Lincoln Ave. |
| 2003 |
Service department and business offices were moved to newly completed office building. Also finished digital head end installation and began testing new Digital Cable TV services in Wamego. |
| 2004 |
Began to offer Digital Cable TV services in Wamego exchange area. |
| 2005 |
Began FTTH construction project in St Marys to overbuild Sprint & become a CLEC to offer telephone, high speed Internet, & digital TV. |
| 2006 |
Converted St. Marys customers to FTTH & began offering local telephone, high speed Internet, & digital cable TV services over fiber. |
| 2007 |
Buried fiber optic cable to an additional 680 homes within the city of Wamego. |
| 2008 |
Continued expansion of fiber optic network and introduced 30+ HD channels of entertainment. |
| 2009 |
Signed contract to become an independent reseller (IR) of wireless service from Telispire. |
| 2010 |
Upgraded digital telephone switches to soft-switch technologies. |
| 2011 |
Buried fiber optic cable to an additional 575 homes. |
| 2012 |
Celebrating 100 years of providing service to our customers! |