The official "WTF" thread
- Thread starter Smilingreen
- Start date
Man do I hear you brother, this is a one horse town too. Windstream. They got us all by the cojones. As I type this through our DSL 25Mbps Max service down, with 1-2 up, there is a new horse in town. Spectrum is running fiber, has been for a few months. But guess what, we have seen Windstream with their fiber trucks now too. Gotta love competition, this is what most people don't get about Capitalism, it is one of the major things that has made America Great, IMO. The rush to be the first ones on the Moon.True.
And if they had been paying attention to the many, many companies pursuing government grants to bring the Internet, the overwhelming majority being fiber, to rural communties the last few years they would have realized their customer base (homes with dial-up POTS, DSL, or nothing at all) would be shrinking.
I don't think I've been out driving a single day in the last 3 or 4 years that I didn't see crews of different companies, in different mostly rural towns and counties around me, either surveying, installing or connecting people with fiber.
Since 2006 for Internet access I've had HughesNet, Wild Blue satellite, CenturyTel ADSL and AT&T Fixed Wireless (cellular). None of those were capable of streaming TV since they either had a data cap (satellite, cellular) or high latency (satellite) or were less than 3.0 Mbps download speed (satellite, ADSL). The most irritating part of this was that those service providers KNEW they were the only game in town and took advantage of us. At one point in 2018 I was paying $78 per month for CenturyTel ADSL, no voice, just data only, for 2.0Mbps down/512K up! So I shed no tears for these satellite and local phone companies losing customers or going broke....it serves them right, IMO.
Imagine my joy when our local electric co-op brought us fiber in Sept. of 2022. It's been 4 years of absolute bliss. I got 1.0 Gig down/up, no cap, with a public and static IP. It's been rock steady and when a tree down the road fell and took it and the single, high voltage primary feed around the circle out last year the fiber crew literally stood by and watched the linemen restore electrical service then jumped in a re-strung the overhead fiber. We were out only 4 or 5 hours. I think the reason for their quick response is twofold: 1) the fiber people were established by and are part of the electric co-op and 2) they monitor their sub stations and control/monitor remote switches with the fiber.
Another nice benefit of this reliable fiber here: 90% of the time when we have a severe thunder and lightning storm go through we loose cell service for a day or two. I now have a reliable VOIP line for $14 a month...I've registered with my local 9-1-1 people and they know my address if I call from it.
Man I wish our Electric company Co-op would do what ya'lls did. That is genius...very happy for ya'll...not a fan of Spectrum but you take what you can get. They still have a long ways to go before running distribution lines, right now they are only down the main Hwy with trunk lines...but that is a good 30 miles they have and still are running...just good to see a new horse
