{image1}The Portal, 7226 W. North Ave., a high-speed Internet access center, has broadened its market and is luring in more than just teenagers and young men searching for online video games.
The business attracts customers of all ages, according to Linn Elliot, who owns The Portal along with her husband Matt Hackbarth. Elliot says Internet centers in other cities have traditionally focused on the gamers market.
The Portal -- which opened in October -- is one of a kind in the Milwaukee area.
Elliot says the type of customers varies by time of day. During weekdays they tend to get business people, job-searchers and stay-at-home moms. From 3 to 6 p.m., Longfellow Middle School students regularly pop in.
The gamers, generally young men in their 20s and 30s, tend to stop by in the evenings and on weekends to play video games.
Elliot says they intend to host computer classes for seniors at The Portal. And they offer special rates for children's birthday parties.
"We want to be an asset to the whole community," says Elliot.
Using The Portal makes sense for those who only need to surf the Web for short time spans, but don't want to pay the monthly fees for home access, which run from $30 to $50 a month, according to Hackbarth.
Customers can also avoid the hassles of using outdated 56K modems, such as disconnections and slow response and download times. High-speed Internet is virtually a necessity for gamers, says Hackbarth. Playing games on computers with 56K modems, "is a frustrating experience at best," he says.
The 20 computers at The Portal have the hardware to pull in the serious gamers; each machine has one gigabyte of RAM and a nVidia GeForce 6800 video card. A T1 line provides Internet access.
A one-time membership fee of $30 includes 10 free hours of Internet use. Members pay $5 an hour, except Mondays when the hourly rate is only $4. Non-members pay $6 an hour. The daily rates are $15 for all-day access Sunday through Thursday, and $20 per day on Friday and Saturday. Customers can also purchase blocks of time ranging from 10 to 40 hours.
Before this venture Elliot was in sales and marketing for 15 years. Hackbarth worked in security for Harley-Davidson. An Internet portal seemed like a good idea when the two were laid off about the same time. "We thought we'd combine the gaming we like with the incredible amount of spare time we had," says Elliot.
To Hackbarth the most enjoyable aspect of his new business is getting to know the customers, such as a young woman who visits regularly to use the Match.com Web site in hopes of meeting Mr. Right.
What Elliot likes is the opportunity to merge her work with one of her pastimes. "I get to buy video games and write it off as a legitimate business expense," she says.
Reach The Portal at (414) 727-7866 or online at theportalaccess.com.
