In today’s world, solid high-speed internet is a necessity. Based on our experience with free enterprise, we have to ask why internet is not another public utility like electricity, water or sewer?
We live on a small ranch about halfway between Durango and Bayfield. We are (supposedly) served by CenturyLink with a DSL line. Our internet speeds are supposed to be “up to” a snail-like 1.5Mbps. What this means is that our actual internet service is intermittent and average speeds are a tiny fraction of the “up to” advertised speed. And CenturyLink is charging us more than $100 per month for service.
They’ve admitted they’ve sold several times more service in our neighborhood than the capacity of the “box” they’ve installed. They can do this because the “up to” nature of their commitment to us means that they don’t have to provide any minimum speed whatsoever. And if we cancel service with them, they have advised us we won’t be able to re-subscribe because the area capacity is oversold.
And after more than five years of this situation, they still won’t commit to any upgrade at any price in the foreseeable future. CenturyLink has had a lots of chances to be a good corporate citizen, and has failed us miserably. Why are they able to wield so much influence when they have failed their rural customers so completely?
Wayne Warmack
Durango
