Philosopher Camus wrote “Always go too far, because that’s where you will find the truth.”
AT&T forum March 3, 2016
State Senator Pete Goicoechea opened the meeting. “We need to start kicking around what and where we can go with the Internet and cell coverage. There was a meeting with local government and schools in August. We do have problems here and in other rural areas. We need to access out side money.”
Statements were made on how the rural areas are important to AT&T. There are many problems in updating the service in areas like White Pine. Our systems are out dated and replacement parts are no longer available, they have to be purchase items on eBay for the DSL system, which is run on copper. The new IP is run on fiber optics. All the copper needs to be replaced.
There is a weather and terrain problem in maintaining and bringing in new IP systems. FCC filing, government agencies, BLM and Forestry (including habitat, land preservation and historical sites) all need to be addressed. This process is very time-consuming as well as expensive. AT&T has spent 2.3 million for 4,000 people to implement IP in Ely.
Weather is a concern, snow on towers and dishes, we all know this. Being in the mountains is also a concern, going up and down the terrain is no easy job.
Considering our population, it will take longer to recoup the investment. Government grants are being pursued to cover the costs.
A fiber optics line was brought from Reno to Ely central office, 320miles, in 2013. Ely has no fiber optics, only copper lines. It will take $8,000,000 to bring 10 gigs to schools, hospitals, etc.
AT&T has 6 technicians in Ely and 17 retires, all are doing a great job. Maintenance is a challenge.
We would rather go with fiber than microwave towers, there are less problems with weather. Fiber is much more expensive, it is really,really hard to run fiber up a mountain side, so we use microwave instead. The publication base is not here to support the investment of more cell towers.
There could be a $8,000,000 haul of fiber that could be available for local governments, schools, hospitals, etc. going from Fallon to Cold Springs, Austin, Eureka and Ely. It would have a 10 gig dwp service, this has not been funded yet.
Many questions were asked – “How much are we talking about $10,000,000?” “Why when I call your company, they don’t know what I am talking about or where I am?” “Why do you sell products to me that I can’t use here?” “Why can I listen to my satellite radio all the way to Las Vegas and I can’t use my cell phone? “Good answer – your satellite radio is a one-way transmission, your cell phone has to have two way in order to work.
The answers were mostly I will have to get back to you.
This is not a state regulated business, it is also not a mandated service. It is a very competitive business, but hard to be competitive in a small community.
Mike Coster “We heard in the first half hour talking about your challenges , I would like to tell you about ours. We have one and half grocery stores, one is entirely dependent on AT&T and it has less then 50% daily coverage in its ability to process credit, debit and edit transactions, because they have no back up. We’ve got the largest retailer in town that has to install a full blown alternative method so they can do transactions on a seven day a week schedule that they are open.”
“This is crippling not just bring new business here, but to a transaction I want to make at 3:00 on Saturday after noon.” Mt Wheeler maintains towers in the same weather you do, so does our volunteer run tv service maintains better than you do. They use snow cats to go up on those same mountains. You are a public utility that centrally has a monopoly. Are you doing the best you can do? “
“I want to know that Anderson’s doesn’t have to put a hand written note in their window, that they can not accept debit, credit or edt cards for days at a time. I know you can do better because other utilities are.”
“We can pray for future federal funding, but I feel you can do a better job. I would like to get information on outages,etc.”
“I would like follow up.”
Answer “We will get back to you on that.”
(The local tv station does do a very efficient job of maintaining service, however it is not run by volunteers. We pay for this with our property taxes, with the exception of those of us who can’t receive the service. Because of insurance matter they can not work with volunteers. As per Art Olsen – there is a 5 person board and two staff all paid. When we need outside help, they are also paid.)
(With a company as large as AT&T statistics should be easy to come by. I find the lack of statistics at a meeting such as this, is very unprofessional. I was beginning to feel like the ugly, dumb step child.)
There has been a drop in the service our county receives from AT&T. The cell service is not as important as the business services and Internet services, but we do pay for a service from a company that has no or little competition and poor service.
It appears there are plans to upgrade, but nothing concrete.
My experience with AT&T has been good and bad. When my office was in Ely, I had very good service with UVERSE, until the office was moved to the airport. There was no service that far out of town, this made my boss happy. My boss said the service was the most expensive of any office in the state.
I have been told the cost has almost doubled in the last two years.
AT&T is a large company that needs to make a profit. The profit for one year is $13,345 million. (Taken from (AT&T) stock analysis.)
Geri Wop
