Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative (MVEC) is a small electric utility, so we take risks carefully but face the same communications issues as utilities with greater resources. In spring 2008, we faced three main challenges: how to link widely dispersed assets, expand automatic meter reading (AMR) and smart grid technology and maintain or increase data reliability. Like many utilities, we used various communications methods to manage backhaul, and we had definite ideas on which would best take us into the smart grid future.