New Cellcom retail location opens in Merrill

Cellcom's new retail location in Merrill, located at 3420 E. Main St. (the former Rustic Pine restaurant location), opened March 12. It is the 22nd corporate location for the wireless provider.

"We are constantly looking for ways to improve the customer experience and a location in Merrill made a lot of sense," said Dan Fabry, COO of Mobile Operations at Cellcom. "We already have a strong customer base in the Merrill area and decided that opening a corporate store was the best way to continue to provide quality service."

Cellcom had not had a store in Merrill for several years. Dennis Wayda, manager of the Merrill store, said he was seeing Merrill residents at the Rib Mountain Cellcom location where he previously worked.

Cellcom is a regional service provider, with a strong infrastructure in Northeast Wisconsin. The system of towers and transmitters in the Merrill area was enhanced a few years ago. When customers travel outside their home area, coverage is maintained by roaming on other carriers' towers.

The newly rebuilt system in the Merrill area is owned by Cellcom, which went to great lengths to fill in gaps in coverage. The area is very well covered with 3G coverage, and a boost to a 4G network is in the near future.

"There are a lot of regional providers in the country," Wayda said. "The benefit for the customers is that we are able to provide the smaller carrier experience. We are the best at what we do in the area. This is home base for us. Within our boundaries, we can't be beat."

Prompt customer service is important to Cellcom. A customer calling Cellcom will be connected to a real person much faster than with the big carriers.

Cellcom is a homegrown Wisconsin business based in Green Bay. Its history can be traced back to 1910 when a group of Pulaski business people met to discuss providing telephone service to their growing community. From that meeting, the Pulaski Merchants and Farmers Telephone Company formed. The company expanded its service area over the next several decades to include more communities in northeast Wisconsin.

In 1987, the company entered the wireless industry with its subsidiary Cellcom.

The Merrill Cellcom store offers cell phone, home phone, home and mobile internet plans, along with phones, devices and accessories.

The Merrill Cellcom store hours will be Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. For more information call the store at 715-536-7475 or visit www.cellcom.com.