2017 Economic Impact Awards 6-15 Years in Operation Finalist: Total Highspeed LLC

Like other tech giants – Apple, Amazon and Google – Total Highspeed LLC began in a garage.

Founder and Executive Officer Travis Allen worked from the small space alongside another employee in 2005 to bring the company to what it is today: a growing, major high-speed internet provider.

From just two employees, Total Highspeed grew to 50 and now occupies a 10,000-sqaure-foot building on the corner of Kathryn and Gregg streets in Nixa.

Advancing technologies have driven Total Highspeed’s business model – affordable residential and commercial internet choices for people in rural and urban areas of the Ozarks from a local provider.

Sales manager Ken Thrasher says businesses are able to increase their customer base and are no longer constrained by having to use large, out of state or out of country based ISPs.

Total Highspeed also has increased its local footprint. Over the past decade its moved from providing internet services in just Christian County to 22 counties in southwest Missouri and three counties in northwest Arkansas. Thrasher also says people in rural areas who could not connect to the internet before now are given more opportunities.

“As our footprint increases, so does our bottom line,” Thrasher says.

The company generated $4.9 million in revenue in 2015, and with the help of a more aggressive marketing approach, its 2016 annual revenue grew by $1.1 million to $6 million.

Thrasher credits the jump to the company’s ads and online customer ratings, which he says interested more people in other areas of the Ozarks.

“As more and more people are finding out that they have choices in internet, they’re reaching out to us more,” he says.

Early on, Total Highspeed grew through acquisition. Originally named TA Highspeed, Allen was friends with fellow provider Craig House, who owned Total Wireless. Thrasher said the two would share tools and tips until one day it just made sense to join forces. Total Highspeed was born and House now serves as tower acquisitions manager and senior tower engineer.

“It’s been a great relationship that he’s fostered with the guys doing the same thing in our area,” Thrasher says. “The great thing about it is it isn’t competitive.”

By combining forces, Thrasher says the partnership has brought better options to more people in the Ozarks.

“A lot of internet companies will put limits on data that you can use. If you’re using the internet a lot, once you reach that data limit, it’ll slow you down or make you pay more,” he said. “Ours is completely unlimited. We don’t care about how much internet you use.”

Thrasher says the company’s unlimited internet usage helps people and businesses save money, and allows more people to operate businesses from home and contribute to the Ozarks’ economy.

Total Highspeed also gives back to the community by sponsoring adoption events with local churches, participating in mock interviews with local high schools, sponsoring the Cherish Kids Walk/Run and providing free internet at various public events.