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Carrier Lost & Found:
Sponsored by
ATEL
Communications, Inc.
February 2008
 In
Search of a New Beer Mug or
What Happened
to Telenational?
by Dan Baldwin, TA Founder & Editor
You pick up a lot of junk when you go to tradeshows but every now &
then someone gives away some pretty cool stuff from their booths. A couple
years ago, Nancy Baldwin (TA President) came back from the Miami Channel
Partner show with a couple pretty cool beer mugs. They seemed kind of
silly but over the years they served a lot of cold beer (we kept them in
the freezer).
Several days ago I pulled the unbroken one (we lost the mate a year
ago) out of the dishwasher only to find the base quite cracked. Sure the
glass is still cool looking but no long "beer tight". Seeing my dismay
Nancy said, "Why don't you call them up & see if they have another one?"
To which I replied, "I pretty sure Telenational no no longer exists."
Or does it?
When I tried to open the
Telenational website
it did not come up (it does now) so I put the the URL into the "wayback
machine" website and got a
 confirmation
of sorts regarding the rise & fall of Telenational. Just like Google
"caches" a single old copy of missing or deleted websites, the wayback
machine creates multiple old caches to the point where you can see
different versions of old websites. This is a reminder to us all
that you can take down a webpage but you can never stamp out the fact that
it did exist.
At this point it seemed that Telenational had slipped away and taken
any leftover beer mugs with it. Undaunted I executed the second old
website search trick - I Googled the URL inside brackets - [telenational.net].
this quickly gave me many old references to what happened to Telenational.
Apparently they merged with "Rapid Link" and developed an affiliation of
sorts with "Communications Advantage".
 But
as interesting as all this was becoming (or not if you're not really into
Internet sleuthing AKA "stalking") it wasn't getting me any closer to a
replacement beer mug so I Googled Telenational a little more and come up
with the old President's name, Chris Canfield and phone number,
970-547-8165 on an old state PUC filing. Fully expecting a disconnected
number I dialed it and it was answered, "This is Chris".
Suddenly the busted stalker, I tried the best I could to explain the
reason for my unexpected call. Somewhere mixed up in my words though were
"3.2 per cent Telenational beer mug". That seemed to be the secret
handshake to prevent my target from hanging up on me or filing an annoying
phone call complaint with his local phone company.
 In
short order Chris said that both Telenational and he were now part of
Rapid Link, that everyone was fine and that the old Telenational agents
were still around. When I asked what the new companies were into (neither
seemed to be soliciting for new partners) he said they were getting into
providing complete business communications packages through fixed wireless
and/or fiber connections. He added they were focusing on the Kansas City,
Dallas and Atlanta markets and would be looking for partners in those
areas when their product lines were ready for a full roll out.
I invited Chris to stay in touch and let me know when he started
actively looking for partners. I also asked him if he had at least two of
those beer mugs left as we completely (and literally) wore the last two
out.
Contact the "Found"
Chris Canfield, 970-547-8165,
Chris@RapidLink.com
“Carrier Lost & Found” is written by Dan Baldwin and sponsored
by ATEL Communications, Inc. Got an interesting story about a carrier no
one's heard from for awhile? Forward printable copy & photos to Dan
Baldwin at 951-251-5155 orDan@TelecomAssociation.com.
Sincerely,
Dan Baldwin,
951-251-5155
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