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iFail 5G
join:2011-08-03

iFail 5G

Member

Great

So now all we get is their crappy native coverage? No dual mode devices!!!! And how is Milledgeville, GA even a market?

MooJohn
join:2005-12-18
Milledgeville, GA

MooJohn

Member

said by iFail 5G:

And how is Milledgeville, GA even a market?

It goes back a few years where the state of GA subsidized wireless broadband in several small towns. This was back when most municipal coverage was via WiFi points. Clear was already building in Atlanta and was paid over $800k to include Milledgeville (about 100 miles away) in their build out.

In return, Clear populated 3 towers and provided decent service in selected areas in town. The problem was that there was already cable and DSL in these same areas, thus they attracted mostly mobile broadband accounts. The areas with the most income and/or poor existing broadband service were not in the coverage area. The very people that would need the service the most were left out.

I'm involved with this because my store was their first dealer in town. I had all kinds of restrictions on how I could advertise, what I could offer, etc, and I was responsible for my own advertising. The potential reward was worth it so I agreed. The day the service went live it was like the wild west. Sales "agents" came out of the woodwork from the Atlanta area and even Chicago. They went door to door, left flyers on cars & doorknobs, and advertised on the web with pricing much lower than what I was given. I complained about the disparity and got no satisfaction so I threw them out after about a month.

Today I have no idea if they have a physical sales presence in town. I would be shocked if their non-student customer count is higher than than double-digits. It's too bad because the wireless service was decent. If they added a tower or two and the sales force hadn't acted like rabid car salesmen it might have been a real winner.
iFail 5G
join:2011-08-03

iFail 5G

Member

said by MooJohn:

said by iFail 5G:

And how is Milledgeville, GA even a market?

It goes back a few years where the state of GA subsidized wireless broadband in several small towns. This was back when most municipal coverage was via WiFi points. Clear was already building in Atlanta and was paid over $800k to include Milledgeville (about 100 miles away) in their build out.

In return, Clear populated 3 towers and provided decent service in selected areas in town. The problem was that there was already cable and DSL in these same areas, thus they attracted mostly mobile broadband accounts. The areas with the most income and/or poor existing broadband service were not in the coverage area. The very people that would need the service the most were left out.

I'm involved with this because my store was their first dealer in town. I had all kinds of restrictions on how I could advertise, what I could offer, etc, and I was responsible for my own advertising. The potential reward was worth it so I agreed. The day the service went live it was like the wild west. Sales "agents" came out of the woodwork from the Atlanta area and even Chicago. They went door to door, left flyers on cars & doorknobs, and advertised on the web with pricing much lower than what I was given. I complained about the disparity and got no satisfaction so I threw them out after about a month.

Today I have no idea if they have a physical sales presence in town. I would be shocked if their non-student customer count is higher than than double-digits. It's too bad because the wireless service was decent. If they added a tower or two and the sales force hadn't acted like rabid car salesmen it might have been a real winner.

I mean it doesn't even seem like it would be worth it because the coverage is so limited for mobile user's. Seems like you could barely drive around town and stay connected to the service.