When Chase 3000 announced last September they would be ceasing operations on July 31, 2017, rural customers in some areas didn’t know what their options for internet access were going to be.
    Gering-based Vistabeam alleviated those concerns last week with the purchase of the assets of Chase 3000 from Aaron Greene of Imperial.
    Matt Larsen, owner of Vistabeam, signed the purchase papers Friday and has already taken over the existing customer base and equipment of Chase 3000.
    Larsen said it should be a seamless transition because Vistabeam knows the Chase 3000 network well.
    For the last eight years, Vistabeam has handled customer support issues for Chase 3000. Larsen added he and Steve Smith shared tower design ideas when Smith initially launched Chase 3000’s wireless system in 2000.
    Larsen said Chase 3000’s equipment is all compatible with that of Vistabeam’s so customers won’t even notice the switch-over.
    Some customers have older equipment that will be upgraded to meet Vistabeam’s standards, he added.
    Chase 3000’s network includes 19 different tower and structure locations in Chase, Perkins, Dundy, Keith and Phillips (Colo.) Counties.
    By geographic size, Vistabeam’s wireless network ranks among the largest in the Midwest, covering 40,000 square miles.
    It reaches from Casper, Wyoming on the west, Chase and Perkins County to the east, Burlington, Colo., to the south and the South Dakota border on the north.

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