Sky Valley Network Increases its Outbound Capacity and Nan's Place Expands

The number of Ramona residents using the Internet must be growing because one local provider is feeling the need to expand its service.

Sky Valley Network www.skyvalleynetwork.com bills itself as “Rural Ramona’s solution for high speed Internet access.” Owner Bill Schweitzer, who has more than 30 years of experience in the computer industry, founded Sky Valley Network in 2002.

The network uses wireless equipment that “use microwaves to send and receive data through the air from our ground-based relay stations,” according to the company’s website. “It is basically a larger version of your wireless router talking to your laptop.”

“Since the [2007] fire we have been averaging about 20 new customers a month,” said Schweitzer. “Almost totally by word of mouth.”

Schweitzer said, “We’re expanding our Internet capacity down the hill, doubling the capacity of our outward connection.”

This year Sky Valley expanded its connection to what Schweitzer calls “the core of the Internet down in San Diego."

We have a very large connection but this year we doubled the connection speed by doing a second link down to San Diego,” he said.

Sky Valley did this by “doing a microwave radio link over Mt. Woodson, giving both redundancy and more capacity,” Schweitzer said.

Schweitzer said his customer base is exclusively local.

“Always has been, always will be,” he said.

*****

There's still no official word on any new tenants for the former Foodland building on Main Street. Brendan Wonnacott¸Corporate Communications Director for Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market, recently stuck by her April 5 statement to Ramona Patch, that it was “too early to confirm anything but we are looking in the area.”

*****

Alyssa White, 14, may be Ramona’s youngest entrepreneur. She has been selling her homemade cards at since February.

Working with an adult friend, Lisa Schear, Alyssa uses found objects and works in a collage style to make cards for all occasions.

“They’re selling great,” said Nan’s owner Kathy Jo “Nan” Brewer,  who told Ramona Patch recently that Alyssa is “one of the top sellers” at the store.

Alyssa is an eighth-grader at . She first started designing cards about a year and a half ago, said her mother, Susan White. Working with Schear, an artist, Alyssa succeeded in designing and selling enough cards to buy a pig to raise for Ramona Junior Fair. This encouraged her to continue.

Alyssa's card sales income goes into her savings account, said White. She said her daughter also wants to sell cards for a fundraiser being planned to benefit  the Ramona Senior Center, where Alyssa volunteers during the summer.

Alyssa is one of more than 28 new artists with works for sale at Nan’s. When the store opened in December, it had a holiday theme, with decorations and gifts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now the inventory has expanded to year-round gifts including jewelry, purses and accessories. All are made by Ramona artists, Brewer said.