Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:41:33 -0400
From: Tritech – Jody
Subject: CenturyLink vs. Bridget; thoughts on rural Internet
Bridget, I think you need to contact the North Carolina Utilities Commission, not the FCC. The FCC doesn’t regulate monopoly telecommunications provider quality of service issues, and probably won’t be helpful at all. The URL for the NCUC Consumer Information page is: http://www.ncuc.commerce.state.nc.us/consumer/ucconsum.htm
For what it’s worth, I have yet to find a residential telecommunications provider I don’t hate. Cable companies think we’re all idiots, phone companies can’t seem to get their copper lines to not scream with 60Hz noise every time it rains even though they know it’s corrosion somewhere on the line, and cell service seems to not exist where there’s no other
high-speed access alternative.
If I could erect a repurposed DirecTV dish and aim it at your house with an outdoor wireless access point attached, I would. 🙂 Sorry you’re going through all this trouble. There is an increasing number of people in Chatham County who are looking into ways to fix the limited Internet access issue here, and I would encourage you to seek them out and see if you can help.
For those people, I strongly encourage you to read this article to understand part of why our rural Internet accessibility is in such a garbage state:
http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/in-north-carolina-a-reversal-on-municipal-broadband-85899375151
Shortened URL in case the Chatlist cuts that off: http://tinyurl.com/kocsf2v
I think that the answer to this problem would be for everyone that wants Internet access to invest in starting a member-owned cooperative corporation to fix the problem. It seems to me that the wireless internet service provider (WISP) option would be the best way to go. I looked into this about four years ago, but at the time I was too busy with other stuff to use what I learned.
-Jody @ Tritech