The move to Mudgee
Garry, Lynn and their two young children swapped Sydney’s beaches for a 900-acre fine-wool Merino sheep farm in regional NSW—just as one of the country’s most severe droughts took hold.
INDEPENDENT SINCE 1996
We started Highway because regional customers deserved better.
Three decades later, that is still what drives us: reliable technology, honest advice and personal support from people who take responsibility for getting things sorted.
STILLIndependent.Family-owned.Here to stay.
HOW IT STARTED
A farm, a dial-up modem and AltaVista.
“We moved to drought-stricken Mudgee to become sheep farmers. God knows why.”— Lynn Byrne
In 1994, Garry and Lynn Byrne left Sydney’s Northern Beaches with their two young children and moved to Mudgee to become sheep farmers.
Internet access was still in its infancy. Regional customers had few choices, local dial-up access was expensive and the major telecommunications companies had little interest in establishing new infrastructure in towns such as Mudgee.
So Garry decided to find another way.
Using the internet—and AltaVista, because Google didn’t exist yet—he taught himself what was required to establish a local internet service provider. Around the same time, a group of independent ISPs across the Central West had banded together under the LISP network. Mudgee joined the network, and in 1996 LISP Mudgee was ready to launch.
The new service was introduced at the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days, where around 50 customers signed up on the day. Many of those original customers are still with Highway today.
FROM MODEM BANKS TO FULL FIBRE
The technology changed. The reason for doing it didn’t.
LISP Mudgee launches
Around 50 customers signed up at the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days on launch day—many of whom are still with Highway today.
Highway is born
Expansion into Dubbo, Coonabarabran, Wellington and Gilgandra meant installing banks of dial-up modems in each town. The business outgrew the LISP network, marking the beginning of Highway Internet Services.
Still independent
Today, Garry and Lynn are back by the beach—now in Forster—while Highway supports homes and businesses across Australia. When you call Highway, you’re talking to the people who own and run it.
WHY HWY STILL EXISTS
Technology should come with someone who will actually help.
Today’s services bear little resemblance to dial-up, but the principle behind Highway has never changed. Homes and small businesses deserve reliable technology, fair advice and support from people who understand how their services fit together.
Recent customers to Highway are often surprised when we recognise them by name even before they have finished introducing themselves. Knowing every customer isn’t a marketing line—it’s simply how Highway has always worked.
We stay independent
Decisions are made by the people who run Highway—not by a distant head office.
We give honest advice
We only recommend products and services we would be comfortable using ourselves.
We know our customers
You shouldn’t need to retell the entire story every time you need help.
REAL PEOPLE. REAL SUPPORT.
Thirty years on, you can still call Highway.
No endless department transfers. Tell us what you need and we’ll help you work out the next step.