Call them the lucky Internet 100.

They're Minneapolis consumers who are getting high-end Internet service, with download speeds of 15 million bits per second, for an unchanging $20 a month. That's below competing offers from Qwest and Comcast, which start out in the $20 to $30 range, but go up after a trial period.

In addition, USI is testing $20 a month Internet telephone service with the same group of about 100 customers.

But the Internet and telephone service is only available in a two-block-wide area that stretches east about 12 blocks from 50th St. and Xerxes Av. S. That's because the street is next to an underground fiber-optic cable installed by USI Wireless, which runs the Minneapolis Wi-Fi network.

"The service is not offered citywide because we can't make money selling fiber Internet for $20 a month," said Joe Caldwell, CEO of USI Wireless of Minnetonka, adding that installing fiber in the ground is about a hundred times more expensive than delivering Wi-Fi signals over the air.

"But if we have run a cable past a house anyway, we might as well take advantage of it," Caldwell said. "So, for some lucky guys who live next to this cable, Merry Christmas." Those who can get the service have already been notified, he added.

The cable adds carrying capacity to the wireless network, Caldwell said. Normally, when a consumer uses the Wi-Fi service, the signal goes from a personal computer to the nearest Wi-Fi antenna on a street light or power pole. From there the signal is relayed from pole to pole until it reaches USI operations in and around downtown that actually send the signal over the Internet.

But as more people use the Wi-Fi network, additional carrying capacity is needed to take the signals downtown. The fiber-optic cable collects signals from many Wi-Fi antennas and carries them underground instead of through the air.

So far, 50th Street has been the only place this has been necessary. But this summer, USI may need to do the same thing in the Uptown area, Caldwell said. And that might create another lucky 100 Internet customers.

Steve Alexander • 612-673-4553