SEATTLE, March 20, 2026 -- Tim Semakula spent a decade on the road as a lighting designer for Sheryl Crow, Earth, Wind & Fire, Def Leppard, the Black Crowes, Kid Cudi, K.Flay, and others. His first real tour came when a production manager named Paul saw him, and five minutes later decided he wanted to spend three months on the road with a guy who had never toured but had a good attitude.
That tour led to a career that took Semakula from clubs to the Hollywood Bowl, from the Be Myself Tour across the US, Canada, and the UK to the Isle of Wight. When he and his husband Joe Gregory came off the road, they saw something broken in an industry nobody was paying attention to.
"The phone company that used to be part of your town had been bought, merged, and stopped caring," Semakula said. "CenturyLink got fined $10.9 million for 739,000 service violations. They stopped taking new copper line orders. Millions of people in rural America are about to lose their phone service, and nobody is building a replacement."
So they built one.
ClearBeam Networks is not a reseller or an app. The company holds its own CLEC authorization, its own FCC registration, and operates its own voice network across 12 points of presence in the United States, including bare-metal infrastructure at Equinix facilities in five cities.
Their first product, HomeStation, is a home phone service that starts at $15 per month with all taxes included and no contract. It ships a pre-configured cordless phone to the customer's door. Setup takes five minutes.
"We wanted to build the phone company we wished existed," said Gregory. "One that picks up when you call. One that does not bundle your phone bill with cable you do not watch. One that actually protects your family instead of selling your data."
HomeStation includes Kid Safe Numbers, which give children their own phone number on a real phone without a smartphone. Parents control who can call. Everyone else is blocked.
Elder wellness check-ins call a family member every morning. If they pick up, everything is fine. If they do not, the family gets notified. No app needed on the elder's end. Just a phone that rings.
"Joe pointed out that a lot of people under 40 have never had a home phone," Semakula said. "They do not know what a dial tone is. So we had to explain this as a new product, not a throwback. A phone number for your house. Not your pocket."
ClearBeam has filed with the Washington UTC for designation as a qualified successor carrier in five CenturyLink ILEC territories across Washington state. The company is also deploying an AI-powered voice receptionist for schools and government offices.
HomeStation is available in all 50 states at order.myclearbeam.net. HomeStation starts at $15 per month. HomeStation Plus, which includes Kid Safe Numbers, elder check-ins, and a Home Assistant, is $25 per month. All taxes included. No contracts.
ClearBeam Networks is an independently owned, queer-founded telecommunications carrier headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company builds and operates its own nationwide voice network. The phone your house has been missing.