North State Communications is a telecommunications company headquartered in High Point, North Carolina

High Point, North Carolina

High Point is a city located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. As of 2010 the city had a total population of 104,371, according to the US Census Bureau. High Point is currently the eighth-largest municipality in North Carolina....

, offering landline

Landline

A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...

 and cellular

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 telephone, residential and business broadband

Broadband

The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...

, web hosting

Web hosting service

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...

, yellow pages

Yellow Pages

Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...

, and digital television

Digital television

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

 to a 600 square miles (1,554 km²) area that includes High Point, Thomasville

Thomasville, North Carolina

Thomasville is a city in Davidson County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 21,354 at the 2010 census. The city is notable for its furniture industry as are its neighbors of High Point and Lexington. This Piedmont Triad community was established in 1852 and hosts the state's...

, Archdale

Archdale, North Carolina

Archdale is a city in Guilford and Randolph counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 9,014 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Archdale is located at ....

, Randleman

Randleman, North Carolina

Randleman is a city in Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,557 at the 2000 census. It is the home of NASCAR's Petty family, the Richard Petty Museum, and the Victory Junction Gang Camp.-Geography:...

, Jamestown

Jamestown, North Carolina

Jamestown is a town in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and is a suburb of the nearby cities of Greensboro and High Point. The population was 3,088 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Jamestown is located at ....

, Trinity

Trinity, North Carolina

Trinity is a city in Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 6,690 at the 2000 census.-History:The community was named after Trinity College, which later became Duke University. The "World's Longest Hot Wheels Track" was built at the Kyle Petty Farm in Trinity, North...

 and parts of Greensboro

Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...

 and Kernersville

Kernersville, North Carolina

Kernersville is a town in Forsyth County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 17,126 at the 2000 census. In 2007 the U.S. Census estimated the town's population at 22,309. Kernersville is located at the heart of the Piedmont Triad metropolitan area, which consists of the cities...

. North State ranks as one of the top 20 telecommunications companies in the United States.

History

In 1895, local businessmen started the High Point Telephone Exchange in High Point, N.C. In 1899, J.F. Hayden, who started a telephone system in Thomasville, bought the High Point company; both companies grew quickly. In 1905, the High Point company was incorporated

Incorporation (business)

Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...

 as North State Telephone Company. In 1919, Hayden bought the Southern Bell system in High Point, which had operated since 1907. In 1920 North State became the first telephone company in the state to install the automatic-dial system.

In 1929 the company bought the Randleman system, and in 1935 the Thomasville company became part of North State.

In 2004, North State began offering DirecTV

DirecTV

DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...

 digital

Digital television

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

 satellite TV

Satellite television

Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

.

In 2005, North State spent $30 million to begin offering the area's first fiber optic residential service.

In 2007, North State's cell phone service changed from Cingular to AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

. Also in 2007, the company began offering 3G

3G

3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...

 service.

Plex

On May 28, 2009, North State announced the brand name Plex, which includes both landline and wireless telephone; high-speed Internet capable of 80 Mbits Down and 30Mbits Up; and Plex Advanced TV, a cable TV alternative

Multichannel Video Programming Distributor

A multichannel video programming distributor is a service provider delivering video programming services, usually for a subscription fee...

 using Internet Protocol

Internet Protocol

The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...

 with existing and expanded fiber optic lines capable of delivering HDTV

High-definition television

High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

 and standard digital TV, as well as video on demand

Video on demand

Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...

and digital music.

The company added fiber optic service in new areas to its as it began offering the new TV service during summer 2009.