Yesterday, we released our first podcast – a short discussion with Linda Kramer of the Sibley-Renville Fiber project in rural Minnesota.
When I happened across their Facebook page this morning, I found this perfect example of why the project is necessary (and they gave us permission to reprint it):
One of my friends moved from Fairfax to Gibbon two weeks ago. Her existing provider won’t hook up service to her new home until June 29. This means nearly four weeks without basic telephone service for her family (and no phone at all while her husband has his work cell phone with him during business hours).
Once she gets the service hooked up, she needs to address a billing problem, as the amount she’s being billed by this company is not the same as what she was promised when she signed the contract.
Excellent local customer service is one of the things many people are looking forward to with RS Fiber. Is this important to you?
Most of us in urban areas really hate our cable providers because of the poor service they provide. But at least they are relatively timely in the terrible service they offer — unlike in rural areas where telco technicians may be responsible for covering many hundreds of square miles.
Hesitant though I am to promote anything Facebook-related, the people in Sibley have done a tremendous job of using Facebook to organize people and share stories about why their community-owned network is so important. If you are trying to organize a community for better broadband, take some notes.