Hi Jennifer! My wife and I are moving to CLV in about a month. John Rothgerber is actually our realtor!

We both work from home and rely heavily on broadband Internet access. We've just started looking into our phone/Internet options and, frankly, we're not all that happy right now. We currently pay about $120/mo. total for phone service (with unlimited long distance) AND broadband Internet access at a speed of 3 MBPS down/512 up.

From what I've seen, PSCI's fastest available service is HALF the speed of what we currently have and $120/mo. (what we pay for everything right now, including phone with unlimited long distance). We're not excited about the price increase OR the fact that the speed would be half what we have right now.

Are there any other options for broadband Internet service in CLV? For example, what cable company serves CLV? I thought it was Charter, but a Charter rep. said they don't serve CLV now. In the past, we've been able to get much cheaper, much faster broadband Internet service via a cable company. Is that an option with whatever cable company serves CLV now?

Any info. would be appreciated!

Duane Bolin

Hi Duane,

I actually called John real quick because I wanted to make sure he was okay with me answering your question instead of having him; since you are his client that is the right thing to do.
He gave me permission so ...

Here in the village - PSCI is the "Top Dog" so to speak. Satellite companies provide Internet such as Dish and/or Direct TV. I have heard that Satellite is slower than PSCI's DSL Service so I would recommend reviewing the satellite specs before making your final decision.

I use PSCI DSL at home (Since I do much of my work from home) w/ 3 wireless connections + our phone w/ psci long distance and our bill rarely goes over $95.00 per month. I do not heavily use long distance because most of my phone calls are done on my cell phone so this of course keeps the monthly total where it is.

The internet portion of our bill each month is only $49.95. We have RAPIDACCESS ADSL 768K/256K and it is more than enough in regards to speed. It isn't the fastest and we came from Insightbb and since you are coming from Indy I'm assuming you were on the same Broadband service so I completely understand your concern. I do know that PSCI is working very hard to upgrade their current service options (ie; the fiber optics) and my honest advice is to go with the minimum speed you truly need (like we are) until the optics project is finished. Once it is in full-swing I think we will all see a big difference.

Lastly - PSCI is very local in nature (in regards to company service areas) whereas Insight services a MUCH larger client base. Prices will vary because of this - population & ruralness affect pricing, but for this area - PSCI prices are very reasonable & the customer service is handled by people who live here, work here & care about our community.

I hope this helps and if you have additional questions I know that John and myself are always available & willing to make your transition as smooth & worry free as possible.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Martin

Thanks, Jennifer! I spoke to John earlier and he mentioned that you would be responding. The blog site didn't notify me via email like it was supposed to, so I didn't realize you had responded. Thank you for getting back to me.

I've looked into the satellite options and they are cheaper than PSCI, but they are definitely slower if you use a VPN, which my wife and I both do every day. So it looks like that's not a good option right now.

We're currently waiting to hear from Adventure Broadband about what services they offer at our address. They're the brand new cable company in CLV (replacing Charter). In most areas, they offer cable tv, broadband Internet (MUCH faster than DSL, as we've had great experience with cable Internet in the past), and digital phone service (with unlimited local and long distance). I've got my fingers crossed that they'll have all 3 services at our address.

If not, we'll have to go with the local monopoly and hope they get their fiber optic project up and running a.s.a.p. Thanks again for your reply. We're looking forward to making the move here in a few weeks.

Hi Duane - I assumed it was you talking with Cindy on the phone today; I asked if it was but she said no (she probably didn't really hear me lol) because I heard to conversation regarding Adventure Broadband. Definitely send me an update when you hear because I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be interested in their packages/pricing etc... and I will of course want to get the word out about this new option.

I love knowing someone else (soon to be a fellow CLV resident) knows what VPN is :) and I'm glad you contacted me. John is a wonderful guy & very interested in learning so I always make time for his questions and genuine desire to embrace the newer technologies. You have a great agent on your side and I look forward to getting to meet your wife and yourself very soon.

Stay Warm!

Hey Jennifer! It was nice to meet you at the office the other day. We're closing on Thursday, so hopefully we'll see you again soon.

I'm sorry to report that I don't have any good news on the Avenue Broadband front for now. As of now, the only service available to our address (and, I think, the rest of CLV) is cable tv. According to the person at Avenue Broadband that my wife spoke with, Charter did a miserable job of installing/maintaining lines in CLV. Avenue Broadband has already started re-installing/upgrading the lines, but the representative told my wife it could be up to 12 months before digital phone and Internet are available through them in CLV. When they are available, though, I have no doubt they'll be a much cheaper alternative to PSC.

It's high time that someone is allowed to break PSC's monopoly on the area. In this day and age, it just disgusts me to have my options so limited by a local monopoly--and one that is perpetrating highway robbery to boot. That may sound strong, but you have no idea how tight a grip they have on the area and how they are gouging customers. Here are my 3 primary gripes with them:

(1) Internet service price - We currently have DSL at a speed of 3 MBPS down/768 up. This is through TDS, a local, RURAL carrier in Roachdale, IN. PSC's TOP speed is HALF of what we have now and it's TWICE as much. That's just ridiculous in the extreme. My parents live in Tell City and they have fast DSL via AT&T, their local carrier. They pay about $25/month. PSC will be charging us $120. That's right--almost FIVE times as much.

(2) Monopoly on local phone/requirement of having local phone - We are not able to choose AT&T, MCI, or someone else for local phone service because PSC has a monopoly. This means we can't get much cheaper Internet through these other places. Moreover, we can't even use a VOIP service for phone either, because PSC requires you to have a local home phone line to get their DSL service!

(3) Long distance - This was the final indignity we learned of today. My wife works from home in a sales position. She's on the phone long distance all day long. In the past, we've always been able to have a plan that allows for unlimited long distance for a set fee. Not any longer thanks to PSC! Not only do they not even offer such a plan, they limit what plans you can choose from other companies! That's right . . . they may say you have a "choice" of long distance carriers, but they then go out of their way to limit the plans you can choose from for those companies. And to what end? Why, to force you to use them as your long distance carrier, of course. My wife wanted to choose MCI as our long-distance carrier because they have an unlimited long distance plan. When she went to set it up, she was informed by PSC that they don't "allow" that plan and she would have to choose from one of only two (much-less attractive) options. Well, she did choose one of them, even if it's slightly more expensive, just so PSC wouldn't have every last piece of the pie.

I will await anxiously for the day that Avenue Broadband is able to offer all of these services--at a fraction of PSC's costs--to CLV. I've heard many people tout PSC's "local" service, etc., but if you ask me, just being local doesn't excuse this kind of monopoly and predatory pricing practices.

Hi Duane,

It was really nice getting to meet you as well and I had high hopes for this Avenue Broadband so your experience is definitely not great news. However, it is good to know and regardless I feel that this kind of community information is very important to potential buyers coming to the area - it let's them know up-front what is and will be available & therefore helps them make a more informed decision.

I too would love to see some healthy competition; that is always good for economic growth, development and pricing strategies which benefit the consumer in the end, so I am all for encouraging interest from outside investors. I am actively involved in this type of thing and work in conjunction with LEDC (Lincolnland Economic Development Corporation) - so it's just a matter of time :).

Take care & keep me posted on things ... to include any conversations you may have with potential investors. I can get stats & financials put together pretty quickly.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Martin