BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Hotwire Communications — the Philadelphia-based Fiber Optic company that has taken South Florida by storm, replacing Comcast in a huge number of HOA communities — is also helping a local church stream High Holy Days services worldwide.
You read that correctly. The word “Church” was used in the same sentence as “High Holy Days.”
From our friends at Hotwire…(and we note that Hotwire’s Broadband has not gone down for more than 20 minutes in the two years we have paid for their service):
As we welcome 5775, not only can you hear the sound of many Shofars all over the world, you can hear the sound of one particular Shofar worldwide. That Shofar is the one sounded by Rabbi Frank of the All Peoples Synagogue of South Florida. The All Peoples Synagogue is an outreach synagogue serving all branches of Judaism and interfaith families in South Florida since 1972 and now with Hotwire will be streaming all around the world. This is the fourth year of residency for Rabbi Frank and the All Peoples Synagogue at First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale on 301 East Broward Blvd.
In 2009, Hotwire Communications, a Fiber-to-the-home (FFTH) start-up with about 70 employees was looking for a place to store a piece of telecommunications equipment, with the preferred location being on the east side of Fort Lauderdale. Carl Lender, Hotwire’s Executive VP of Sales was charged with finding the proper location. There were two options, to find a place where rent was paid or have an exchange for services. Everything changed when the First Baptist Church was identified as the potential location. With the approval of Pastor Larry Thompson, Hotwire made an arrangement resulting in free high-speed Internet service to the church.
The First Baptist Church is one of the very first churches to stream their worship services over the Internet to a growing worldwide audience, but they didn’t have enough bandwidth to provide the quality they were looking for. Lender says “it was the perfect match, but more importantly it just felt like the right thing to do.” Hotwire took a small space and then agreed to provide First Baptist the access to Hotwire’s 20 Gigabit pipe and phone service for the property as long as Hotwire remained on site. Knowing Rabbi Frank for 25 years, Lender couldn’t be more thrilled at the coincidence and the opportunity to extend the goodwill especially for the High Holy days to all of his Jewish brethren.
Now the church will be able to serve the ever-growing Internet viewership and with Hotwire’s Baptist bandwidth, “looking just like TV!” A weekly prayer celebration can be seen on the First Baptist Church website http://www.firstfortlauderdale.com and Rabbi Frank expects approximately 3000 people to attend each of the High Holy Days services, with even more streaming the service online. All of the High Holy services will be available at http://www.rabbifrankhighholydays.com.Since 2009, Hotwire Communications has grown to be the largest privately held, debt-free cable TV operator in Florida. Headquartered outside of Philadelphia, PA and with over 500 technical, customer service and support staff Hotwire offers gigabit connectivity with IPTV video, Internet, VoIP, wireless and advanced home security products to single-family homes, condominium communities, businesses, hotels, campus housing, and even churches.
Mr Lender does find some humor in the fact that all the services Hotwire provides pass through the Church. When people ask him what are the benefits of Hotwire over the competition, Carl mentions the Gigabit speeds, the US-based customer service, and Replay TV. He jokingly adds, “All Hotwire’s programming is truly blessed!” Sometimes clients are taken back by that statement, and when asked what that means, he tells them, “Everything we do passes through the First Baptist Church and now the All People Synagogue too!” It’s always good for a light chuckle and sometimes it even makes the sale.
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