Perpetual Ruminations

Tuesday

This is kind of different, writing my journal in MS Word.  I have been writing in 750 Words lately, then copying it over to Writing dot Com, but today I’m writing in Word and will copy it over to my journal. I plan on still writing in 750 Words, as well, but we will see how time progresses for me.

Why the change today? Because my internet provider, ITC, sucks. That’s the simple truth. See, I have only one internet provider where I live, and it’s through my phone company. So, there is no competition for them in most areas they cover, and that means they can charge higher prices for inferior service, and that is just what they are doing.

When I first signed up for internet through them, I lived in a different town, but was still in the same area code. Back then, it was dial-up, and it was typical for dial-up service. Then, they started to offer a high speed service, still through the phone line. I had to get a modem that connected to the phone line and to the Ethernet port on the computer. We also had to install a filter, or we could not hear anything over the phone while connected to the internet.

This worked fine, was much faster, and I had no complaints. When we moved over here, we kept the same phone number, but dropped the high speed for dial-up again. Of course, after having high speed, we really couldn’t take the slowness. Soon enough we upgraded back to high speed. Now, however, there were two choices, regular high speed, and the faster, higher speed. We stayed with the high speed we had used before, and it was great.

Then, they installed fiber-optics into town, and we thought the speed would get even better. Instead, they offered three packages. They no longer offered dial-up, but had a lower speed, middle speed, and higher speed package. When they announced this, they told us that our current speed, the lowest of the three would increase, or we could go even faster if we desired.

Of course, we were happy with our current package, it was affordable and fast enough for everything we did. With the land-line, we paid about sixty bucks for everything. We did not have long distance, so this was for local service and our internet.

Since then, the cost for the phone has increased to about thirty eight bucks, and our total bill is now close to ninety dollars for the two. Even as the cost went up, the speed and quality dropped. Using an online speed test our provider has a link to, I have watched as our speed has almost dropped to half of what it was. So much for our current package speeding up as they said. Also, it cuts out quite often, at least a couple of times a day.

At the same time, they have been aggressively advertising the higher speed packages, and slowly increasing the cost for the lower speed package. Right now, I pay almost twice as much for half the speed, and it’s unreliable at that. I purchased a netbook with Windows 8 in November and was able to download apps and programs no problem, now, I have too slow of an internet connection to download apps from home. Our Netflix takes forever to load anymore, and it only seems to be getting worse.

Of course, I will have to contact them, but I have held off because I know it will cost me more money and I can’t afford more right now. See, I suspect that when I call, they will tell me it’s because I need the higher speed package for my current needs. Not that they have changed any, but that’s the answer they will give. When I ask about the interruptions in service, it will be the result of so many people on the slower speed, and when I upgrade, it won’t cut out anymore. Of course, this will solve the problems for a while, but in six months to a year, it will be just as bad and they will tell me I need to upgrade again, to the most expensive package.
They are a greedy cooperative, and they have changed a lot since I first joined in 2002. We used to get back dividends yearly, now we seldom see anything back. They continue to inform us of buying out other services and how it will benefit us and keep our costs down, only to see service become worse, and cost more. The only option I have, is to pay a lot more to have service through a wireless provider, or to pay double to get satellite internet.

In checking the cost, I see it’s reasonable in some areas, but we are in a bad spot and only have a few options for coverage, and then the price increases with the limitations. Also, we are in an area that does not get very good cell phone coverage, so using a cell phone provider for internet is not the best choice. Like I said, they have us over a rock because of where we live, and until someone can provide competitive service, the cost will remain high.
Well, it’s time to see if I dare log online and paste this into my journal. I fear it will interrupt my download on my netbook, but I can’t wait all night. We will see