Towers of Power Author: Bob Shallit Edition: METRO FINAL Section: BUSINESS Page: D1 Living in rural areas shouldn't mean living without lightning-fast Internet service. Or so figure a couple of entrepreneurs who are launching wireless service next month in Lincoln and surrounding communities. They've got impressive goals: to deliver data to customers at speeds up to 10 megabits per second -- about 200 times faster than dial-up -- and let them send data out at the same blazing speed. "We've taken Wi-Fi and put it on steroids," says Bill Coleman, CEO of SkyHi Broadband. Coleman is a former Placer County sheriff who went into the business of supplying Wi-Fi networks to hotels five years ago. Last year he and partner Al Womack decided to get into the ISP business and signed on 20 "beta" customers to test their service. Among them is real estate company owner Dick Guertin, who says SkyHi is "way faster" than the DSL service he previously had. There were a few "bobbles" at first. Since then, it's been "darn dependable," he says. The beta customers are getting downloads of about 4Mb, uploads of 2Mb. Plenty fast! . But the speeds will increase to the 10Mb level, Coleman says, when the company adds 17 transmission "towers" to the seven now in place. The towers connect to SureWest's fiber-optic network, which serves as SkiHi's "backbone." Price? That hasn't been finalized. But Coleman promises installation fees of less than $100 and monthly charges below $40. Second chance: Runyon Saltzman & Einhorn has just won a nice slice of business -- promoting the state's Cal Grant financial aid program for low-income students. What's unusual is that it's the second time around for RS&E, which had the contract from 2001 to 2005, then lost it last year to Sacramento rival Crocker/Flanagan. When the state put the work out for bid again this year, RS&E got it back. What made RS&E go after a job that it effectively was fired from once before? "We always felt passionate about this campaign," says Chris Holben, an RS&E partner. "We were willing t! o take the risk." The payoff is a $2 million contract for one ye ar, with the possibility of two additional years. RS&E is partnering on the contract with PainePR of Orange County. What should we expect from the campaign, which launches Jan. 1? Holben says only that it will use "real students, real situations, a personalized approach." Charmed life: Talk about hot streaks. KVIE senior account manager Barry Pitluk was on the mother of them recently. It started when he attended a luncheon meeting held by the local chapter of American Women in Radio and Television. He tossed his business card into the monthly drawing. And won. The modest prize was a free lunch at the group's next meeting but Pitluk was happy to win it. Then came a meeting for the Sacramento Valley chapter of the American Marketing Association. The drawing prize: a bottle of Grey Goose vodka. Again, Barry was the winner. People started looking at him suspiciously. Others wanted to accompany him to Reno. There were more funny looks! when he showed up at the next AWRT event -- and won the free lunch again. And, right after, when he attended the next AMA meeting and got another bottle of Grey Goose. Four events, four wins. "I'm not a math person," he says, "but the odds of that happening? They've got to be pretty astronomical." So there was more than a little interest when Pitluk attended last week's AMA meeting. Would his "crazy streak" continue? There was a drum roll as the winner was announced. And ... it wasn't Pitluk. He is disappointed. But we're pretty sure he doesn't really mean it when he says, "I'm not going to any more of these events." Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049 or bshallit@sacbee.com. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit. Caption: Sacramento Bee / Anne Chadwick Williams SkyHi Broadband CEO Bill Coleman, left, with partner Al Womack, says of their service: "We've taken Wi-Fi and put it on steroids." Copyright 2006 The Sacramento Bee Record Number: SAC_0405101347