An Introduction: Broadband Internet, Meet Stephentown
By Thaddeus Flint
Broadband internet has finally arrived in Stephentown, it was reported at the February 19 Town Board meeting.
Under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Broadband For All program, a large sum of money was earmarked to bring fast internet to Stephentown. “We were the top of the heap,” said Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt. Consolidated Communications put all that money in their pocket and said they would install the fiber optic lines needed to provide residents with up to 100 Mbps of data speed. The supposed completion date was December 31, 2018. Most people seemed skeptical of the whole plan, seeing as how similar plans over the years turned into expensive boondoggles and fiascos with nothing increasing except internet prices. Resident Rick McClave, however, was of the belief that this time was different and decided to hold the Governor and Consolidated to their words. While the faster speeds didn’t happen January 1, they did happen, and the McClave residence now enjoys speeds of around 25 Mbps, which was the cheapest of the new packages available (1 GBPS is the fastest, with introductory pricing listed at $61.95). Previously, the family didn’t really enjoy all that much the “3.1 Mbps” they were paying too much for.
“So far, I love it,” said McClave, who is believed to be the first person in Town to say such a thing about their internet. Obviously this was a historic moment for Stephentown and one wonders if maybe one of those blue Department of Education Historic Marker signs will one day pop up for a while in front of their home on Cemetery Hill Road before it is stolen, run over, or hit by a snow plow. “Here, In 2019, Stephentown caught up to much of the rest of the developed World in internet.” It might say, “A technology largely advanced by the US years before and paid for multiple times by the taxpayers of this Nation with no noticeable results whatsoever time after time, was now available to residents after a monopoly was given even more money to finally provide the services it should have been providing all along to begin with.”
Whether or not other residents will also love their internet remains to be seen. The company, for some reason, hasn’t been out and about trying to make sure other residents are also getting the speeds they deserve. “If you are waiting for Consolidated to knock on your door,” said Councilman Bill Jennings, “you will probably be last.” A recent check of Consolidated’s website still shows largely nothing for coverage when Stephentown addresses are typed in. The company does though say they have yet another shiny new fee—a surprise to just about nobody—to be added to all the other fees they have creatively fashioned if you do get the new speeds. “New Internet customers are required to add a Network Care Plus Wired ($6.95/mo) or Wireless ($11.95/mo) plan with their Consolidated Internet service” reads some tiny writing crammed at the bottom of the page. This allows the company to charge up to $143 more a year just in case the equipment or services they provide need “diagnosing.” That seems like Consolidated is planning on a lot of illness. And if one reads customer reviews of the company on various internet sites, that might just be the case. Consolidated has been providing internet service for years to other parts of the United States and their customers have been providing wretched reviews of Consolidated for years as well. “You are better off with no internet,” reads one. Obviously most people don’t sit down to write a nice shining review of their internet provider if everything works. However, the volume of complaints appears pretty high for a company that was chosen by New York State to have a monopoly service in the area. Maybe the others are worse.
So far though, customer #1 is satisfied, and was even more pleased to find that if he kept his existing phone package the whole shebang is costing him $25 less per month than before, with rates locked in for 5 years. McClave did note that one downfall of having fiber optic for the phone line is that if you lose power you now lose your phone too. There are solutions, and most people have cell phones, but good old days of having the phone lines still working while the pipes are turning to ice are just about over.
Supervisor Eckhardt said he hopes that the Town Hall will be one of the next sites in Town hooked up. The current service is so slow only one Town employee can use it to look stuff up or answer emails at a time. If multiple employees attempt simultaneous tasks, “the whole thing collapses,” said Supervisor Eckhardt.
With the Town now wired for fiber optic, residents could soon also enjoy paying for television if only Charter Communications would just come out one last time and say they don’t want to provide it, which is what they have been saying for the past years anyway. Councilman Jerry Robinson said he spent “the better part of two years” trying to get paid television to the people, only to find that just as Consolidated is offering to enter into a franchise agreement to provide Cable TV to residents, Charter has decided not to cooperate.
“I’m a little bit ticked about this,” said Robinson. “Now they are slow-walking us.” Current and past customers of Charter probably wouldn’t be the least surprised to hear that a company which has made the list of the “Most Hated Companies in the US” also has the ability to infuriate even those who aren’t doing any business with them at all. Robinson says the only thing left is for Charter to contact the Public Service Commission and say they have no interest in providing cable to Stephentown so that an agreement with Consolidated can be expedited. Nevertheless, Robinson is hopeful that a solution will be found shortly. “That’s the last step,” he said.