Our Story

Before you read our story please watch the most important story ever told: The Story

Spiderman

In 1979 an eight-year-old boy was at home with his babysitter. The boy was sitting on top of a bunk bed and thought he was Spiderman. He decided to grab a curtain rod and swing off the bunk bed to on his feet, just like Spiderman would do. In mid-air, the curtain rod snapped and he landed on the corner of a coffee table. Instantly his stomach hurt like never before. The sitter ran downstairs after hearing the commotion to see the boy lying in the fetal position on the floor. She took him to a bedroom so he could lie down. At that exact moment his mother, who was at a real estate closing, had a funny feeling. She called the house (this is before cell phones) and asked the sitter if everything was alright. The sitter told his mother what had happened. The mother immediately left and went home to see her boy. When the boy’s mother arrived home she rushed to the bedroom, took one look at her son, and said “My baby needs to go to the emergency room right now“. Immediately she rushed him to the hospital emergency room. Six doctors surrounded her son and could not figure out what was wrong. Then a older, more experienced, physician entered the room. He took one look at the boy and said “He has a ruptured spleen. If we don’t remove it right now he will be dead in forty-five minutes“. The boy went through surgery successfully and had a scar down his entire belly as a reminder of that day. I tell you this story because I am that boy. You see God has a plan for everyone’s life, even mine. He knew that I would start Atlantic Wireless and that this business would impact people’s lives for Christ. This experience has shaped my Leadership Point of View. It is the reason we have such a strong mission, vision, and core values. Thank you for letting me share my story.

– Brandon Tate CEO Atlantic Wireless

Atlantic Wireless is Born

In 1993 (man that’s a long time ago) Brandon Tate started in retail sales at the U.S. Cellular retail store located on Greenville Blvd in Greenville, North Carolina. He worked part-time and paid for his undergraduate degree at ECU with the commissions that he had earned. He became one of the top inside retail sales representatives in the country for U.S. Cellular. Due to his success, U.S. Cellular had him help open a U.S. Cellular corporate store on Arlington Blvd in Greenville NC. In 1995 he moved from inside sales to outside sales for U.S. Cellular. He worked full time in outside sales and went to ECU full time to work on his MBA (he was very tired). He became the number one outside sales producer in the country for U.S. Cellular. In his last semester of his MBA, on August 27, 1997, he and Tamira Tate (then Tamira Barravecchia) incorporated Atlantic Wireless Communications, Inc. The company was originally operated for 2 1/2 years out of their four-bedroom house located at 113 South Harding Street in Greenville (they still own this house today). During this time they used an outside sales staff to generate income. The company turned a profit in the first month of business.

As the company grew it demanded more space. After the company took over three of the four bedrooms, they were worried about having a place to sleep. So, in 1999 they opened the first Atlantic Wireless retail store located at 3700-C South Charles Boulevard in Greenville, North Carolina. The company has maintained systematic and stable growth ever since.

In 2001, Professor Don Boldt (a Harvard MBA) had a class in the MBA program at ECU called “Entrepreneurship”. He taught a case study that was based on the history of Atlantic Wireless. Tamira and Brandon had the opportunity to sit in the back of the classroom (in disguise) and watch as a bunch of MBA students tried to rip apart the company and find ways to improve it. They could not come up with any major weaknesses.

Atlantic Wireless continues to grow and maintains a distinct market share in the Carolinas. The future is bright. The company is strong due to its clear Mission, Vision, Core Values, and Behaviors. Its leadership is motivated and aggressive. This is evident by Atlantic Wireless being awarded the ELITE PERFORMERS award by U.S. Cellular for 2013 /2014. This honor has only been achieved by fourteen agents across the entire United States.

Community Involvement

We believe it is our responsibility to give back to the community that supports us. In doing so, we have partnered with the Carolina Pregnancy Center and First Born Community Food Bank. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we donate our resources and time to feed over 8,000 people each year.

Atlantic Wireless is proud  to support the following organizations:

Going Green

It is our responsibility to have a positive environmental impact so our goal is to intentionally decrease the waste we produce as we do business (this makes mother earth very happy). So all of our retail stores only email receipts.