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fbarber
Premium Member
join:2007-10-19
Commerce, GA

fbarber

Premium Member

Long term solution to poor Windstream service

It sucks that nothing will happen quickly, but I think my community is taking the only approach that will eventually fix the horrible service we get from Windstream:
UPDATED: Leaders looking for another Internet firm
Wednesday, April 2. 2014
Updated: 4 hours ago
With citizen and business complaints continuing about the Internet service offered by Windstream, Jackson County and City of Jefferson leaders are searching for another provider to compete with the firm.
City of Jefferson officials have been working to seek improved services from Windstream, as well as providing information to companies who are interested in entering the market. Jefferson leaders also plan to meet with representatives from Appalachian Broadband.
Jackson County leaders are also looking into the possibility of other providers. County manager Kevin Poe met with the vice president with government and community affairs for Comcast, which does have limited service in Jackson County, mainly in the Pendergrass area.
Jackson County Chamber of Commerce president Josh Fenn has met with Windstream to discuss concerns about the service.
“We have met with Windstream and expressed a concern from our membership,” Fenn said.
For the full story, see the April 2 issue of The Jackson Herald.
»www.jacksonheraldtoday.c ··· irm.html

I'd recommend that everyone in poorly-served Windstream areas contact their elected officials, their local Economic Development entity, and their chamber of commerce and stress to them how you don't want your community's poor internet service to cause it to not be competitive with other communities. You might be surprised at the response that you get. Most of those people understand how vital communication is to companies (and individuals) who are looking for a new location.

Windstream is never going to do anything about their crappy service until there are financial incentives for it to do so. Losing whole communities at a time might start to get their attention after a while. Or maybe they see the imminent demise of POTS and are just planning to ride the ship to the bottom and make as much money as they can on the way down. Either way, it's clear that their leadership has no interest in providing a quality product, only maximizing returns for investors in the short term.

Just my two cents ....
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

davidhoffman

Premium Member

Broadband over Power Line is not feasible. It was a nifty idea until the engineers found out how low the data transfer rate would be. Think dial-up. It also generates huge radio frequency interference with some existing radio systems.

What JEMC could do would be to initiate the construction of an advanced smart grid fiber optic network, similar to what Chattanooga TN EPB Fiber or Lafayette LA LUS Fiber did. They made sure to have enough strand pairs of fiber in the cabling to allow for non smart grid uses, like telephone, internet, and television.

Yes, electric rates would have to increase to pay for the network. But there are savings for both electric utility maintenance and the other services in the long run.
fbarber
Premium Member
join:2007-10-19
Commerce, GA

fbarber

Premium Member

Not sure where you got the idea that anyone is advocating for broadband over power line service ... that's definitely a non-starter.

I'm not sure that it makes sense for Jackson EMC to be involved, either, other than maybe partnering with someone else to provide the cabling and access to their right of ways. They're good at providing electric service, but I wouldn't be too excited to see them try to jump in and be an ISP.
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

davidhoffman

Premium Member

Whoops, my mistake. I thought you had read the comment section of the article you linked to. A couple of people there were talking about Broadband over Power Line.

Your idea of partnering might be a good way to go also.

The key thing I see is for the electric company to own the fiber network. Since it would start out as a smart grid to every home, business, or other location that subscribes to JEMC that would give them experience in planning and operating a FTTP network, even if it is only concerned with electricity usage. The extra pairs of fiber strands could be used to aid partners who would do the internet, telephone, and video.