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Harnett County Broadband Assessment Page 1
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ............................................................................................... pg. 3
1.1 Broadband Assessment Overview and Methodology ................................................ pg. 3
1.2 Results of Broadband Assessment .............................................................................. pg. 6
1.3 Next Steps – Further Analysis and Incorporation ....................................................... pg. 6
2. Harnett County Data ................................................................................. pg. 10
2.1 Respondent Map ....................................................................................................... pg. 10
2.2 Survey Questions and Responses ............................................................................. pg. 12
2.3 Speed Test Results .................................................................................................... pg. 62
3. Respondent Write-in Comments ............................................................... pg. 65
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Maps and Images
Survey Landing Page ........................................................................................................................ pg. 3
Information on Survey Tools ............................................................................................................ pg. 4
Speed Test ........................................................................................................................................ pg. 5
Survey Respondent Locations ........................................................................................................ pg. 11
Residential Respondents With/Without Internet Access .............................................................. pg. 19
Residential Respondents Able/Unable to Purchase the Internet They Require ........................... pg. 24
When Residential Respondents Would Sign Up for Service .......................................................... pg. 28
Households With/Without a Member Who has Difficulty Completing School Work ................... pg. 30
Internet Access Importance to Quality of Life ............................................................................... pg. 33
Internet Access Importance to Earning a Living ............................................................................ pg. 35
Internet Access Importance to Pursuit of Education ..................................................................... pg. 37
Internet Access Importance for Health Care ................................................................................. pg. 39
Business Respondents With/Without Internet Access .................................................................. pg. 45
Internet Access Importance to Business Profitability .................................................................... pg. 51
Internet Access Importance to Customer/Client Satisfaction ....................................................... pg. 53
Internet Access Importance to Vendor Satisfaction ...................................................................... pg. 55
Internet Access Importance for Industry Updates ........................................................................ pg. 57
Internet Access Importance to Employee Satisfaction .................................................................. pg. 59
Business More Competitive with Broadband ................................................................................ pg. 61
Residential Download Speed Tests (Mbps) ................................................................................... pg. 63
Business Download Speed Tests (Mbps) ....................................................................................... pg. 64
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1. Introduction
In the fall of 2018 Harnett County contracted ECC Technologies, Inc. (ECC) to conduct an online broadband
assessment survey to determine the residences and businesses within the County who continue to struggle
with limited access to Internet services, with a particular focus on broadband availability.
Due to the largely rural nature of the County, Harnett has continued to lag behind many more urbanized
counties in regards to access to the Internet at speeds the FCC defines as “broadband” (25Mbps down x 3Mbps
up). Work on the project began in October of 2018, with the online survey launching December 1st.
1.1 Broadband Assessment Overview and Methodology
For the Broadband Assessment portion of this effort Harnett County utilized ECC’s Broadband Availability &
Adoption Tool (BAAT). This online survey (https://www.harnettbroadband.com/) targeted residents and
commercial entities within the County and ran from December 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019. Below is a screenshot
of the actual survey landing page.
Harnett County worked with local libraries and the County school district to ask citizens and businesses to
participate in this broadband assessment.
This assessment was created to:
• verify availability of current broadband services in the County,
• to identify actual speeds available through the speed test, and
• collect information on demand for services from residents and businesses across these counties.
Clarifying actual current availability of broadband services, combined with demand assessment and
aggregation, is critical for enticing broadband providers, existing or new to the marketplace, to invest in
expanding broadband services for areas in need of improvement.
Figure 1 Survey Landing Page
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Participants were informed of the purpose of both the optional speed test and the survey itself on the
landing page. They were given the ability to start the speed test and the survey or start only the survey.
The choice between these two options was critical for anyone lacking home broadband. Those without home
broadband service were able to take the survey remotely (from a library, a mobile phone, etc.). Although
broadband speeds were not reported from these specific residents, it allowed for other data to be collected
on locations where the respond had no broadband service. Figures 2 and 3 below show the instructions and
speed test pages of the survey.
Figure 2 Section of Assessment Site Home Page
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Participants were asked to take the test from the address provided on the survey and instructed to skip the
speed test if they were not taking the survey from the address entered on the home page. Actual speeds
available are a critical part of the broadband assessment information gathering.
Participants were asked to respond to a set of survey questions, which addressed broadband availability,
speeds and capacity, subscriptions, and questions of broadband utilization and adoption.
Figure 3 Assessment Site - Speed Test
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1.2 Results of Broadband Assessment
The results of the survey have been compiled into this report, with related charts, graphs, and mapping to
support future efforts the County may wish to pursue in addressing broadband issues within the surveyed
areas.
The raw data has been provided to the County GIS and IT staff to develop additional mapping as they see fit.
Availability and demand data, specifically data indicating respondents who do not have access to service
currently and who would be interested in additional providers/willing to switch their services, have been
included throughout this report in maps. Survey question responses are charted and provided by area.
Data is also mapped in a KMZ file by download speed. (KMZ files include GIS-mapped data viewable in Google
Earth.) Static maps of respondent locations and download speeds are also provided. The final survey question
for both residents and commercial respondents includes a section for general comments. Those comments are
provided as written and edited only for spelling and grammar.
Over 1,600 responses were received during the survey period with roughly 90% of responses marked as
“complete” by the surveying tool. Only 10% were marked “partial,” indicating the respondent abandoned the
survey at some point.
Duplicate surveys, where the same respondent took the survey more than once, or where the respondent
abandoned the survey initially and later returned to complete it were removed. In total, 1,583 residential
responses and 78 commercial responses are included in the County survey response data.
Data collected in this survey will provide valuable information to Harnett County in their efforts to work
towards broadband and economic development planning. Anonymized data can be shared with local
government partners from each township. Harnett County and potential partners can then analyze and map
the data in various ways, depending on particular questions of focus.
1.3 Next Steps – Further Analysis and Incorporation
The survey questions, provider interviews, and speed tests allow us to begin to piece together an overall
“story” for the County that will be critical in determining the next steps to bringing broadband to areas that do
not have it and provider choice to areas that do but are dissatisfied. Harnett County presents unique challenges
that will be discussed further with the results, but the low population density is a central issue.
The largest city in Harnett – Dunn – had fewer than 10,000 residents as of the 2010 census. The County itself,
as of the same census, had 114,678 residents within its 601 square miles. To put this in perspective, the entire
County has only one quarter the population of the City of Raleigh.
The median household income is also relatively modest at $34,105 per year, while median income for families
fared only slightly better at $41,176. Nearly 15% of the overall population lives below the poverty line, with
nearly 20% of teenagers and 20% of seniors living in poverty as well. While these numbers surely come as no
surprise to the leaders of Harnett County, they are largely the same challenges seen across the country when
it comes to bridging the Digital Divide in rural areas.
There is a clear and present need not only for access to true broadband service but for provider choice that
shows how critical it is to find a solution that benefits as many residents as possible.
While 85% of residential respondents stated they have Internet access at their home, only 32% are able to
purchase the speed of service that they need. The primary reasons for respondents without Internet to lack
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service is that it is simply unavailable (62%), with service being too expensive the second most common reason
for having no home Internet (22%).
Eighty-three percent of residential respondents without home Internet would sign up immediately if service
were available, while only 2% said they would not sign up for Internet service, and 62% percent of homes
without Internet have someone in their household who has difficulty completing homework. With North
Carolina’s requirement for digital text books and assignments, this presents a significant problem to Harnett
County residents who either have no access to Internet services in their homes or who are unable to purchase
the speeds they need.
More evidence of need, even among those who report having service, is illustrated in the write-in responses
to the survey. While anecdotal evidence is not considered “hard data,” it is difficult to ignore the pressing need
in rural communities when reading responses such as:
“In my neighborhood of 150+ homes Windstream DSL and satellite-based internet is the only services
available. Some of my neighbors only have the option for satellite as Windstream cannot support
bonded pair dsl lines to all homes in the neighborhood. We have been asking the cable companies that
service Harnett County to run services to our neighborhood for the last decade and we have had no
luck. The homes literally across the street have 100Mbps service. We are lucky to have 12Mbps service.”
“Yes, the speeds we pay for monthly are not what we retrieve. Centurylink technicians have been
dispatched to our home several times during the course of having them as a provider. Nothing is really
solved when they come out besides giving us a new modem each time which doesn't help the speed.
Basically, they've told us that this will be the fastest speed for location. We've contacted Spectrum for
quotes but they say our home is not serviceable, because we are 500ft away from the road. Help us get
better WiFi.”
“We pay for 4mbps and can get 3 at best. Our upload isn’t even 1mbps. We can't even have a security
system or cameras installed because the minimum upload speed required is 1.5mbps. We also can't
rent movies off of our satellite due to such slow service.”
"Spectrum wants to charge $5000.00 to connect me, there is no DSL option. I could only do satellite
service, which also required direct TV."
“I have one step above dial up and keep getting told this is the only option available for my home?!?!?!
My kids cannot even get their homework up and I am nervous about returning to school online, as I
don't have the Internet, I need to get the job done! I pay $100 a month for the worst internet I've had
since internet was discovered. Something for the people of Harnett County has to be done!”
“I feel it is disgraceful that cable broadband is not available in my area. We moved to this address 3
years ago. We moved less than 2 miles and it was like entering the twilight zone. I was a Charter
customer for over 20 years. And now the only services available are satellite tv and internet. I am 20
feet from the road, not in the boondocks and could walk to my former address in 5 minutes. I feel that
is wrong on their part. If they have a franchise, they should have to provide service to all areas.”
“I was told by my employer that in 2019 I would telecommute 90% of my working 2019 hours. The
availability of my internet speed and reliability depends on my keeping my position. My speed is 2.9
and needs to be 5.0 or higher. Therefore, I'm at jeopardy for losing a position that I have fought to keep
and need to survive at my age/time in life as I look to retire in the next 6 years. Harnett County is low
on the job market now and this would bring us up as many positions move to working from home.”
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“I am a teacher for Harnett County Schools. I had no idea when I purchased my home that there was
not an option for internet. Many nights, I stay at school until 7, 8 or 9 o'clock because I really need
internet to complete my work. I had Hughes Net for a short time but kept losing the signal. Now it is
gone altogether. They told me I would need to cut down my trees to get a better signal. I live in a
subdivision. I would be very thankful to have internet at home.”
Anecdotal write-in responses help to flesh out and provide context for the data driven responses to the survey,
which may in some instances appear to tell competing stories. A location may appear to be well served based
on the number of households that have Internet access, but the verbatim comments of respondents illustrate
the ways in which service is still lacking, unavailable in a practical sense, or prohibitively expensive.
In Harnett County, numerous write-in responses also indicate that the problems are not confined to a single
area or a single provider. The comments overall illustrate that cost, access, and reliability are all issues for
respondents who have home Internet, with a constant refrain of paying too much for speeds that are too slow
and/or service that routinely drops. Residents clearly express the desire for more competition to force
providers to address these issues.
Lack of Internet at even minimum definitions of broadband speeds for rural areas negatively impacts County
residents in numerous activities many urban residents take for granted, such as telecommuting and submitting
schoolwork online.
When all of these pieces are slotted together, a clearer path to solving the broadband puzzle comes into view,
including specific steps the County can take to expand access to the residents most in need. The data suggests
that there are areas within the County which do not have access to sufficient broadband speeds and other
areas of the County which have sufficient speed but no viable competitive option. Some actions the County
may consider are as follows:
1. Outreach and Education
To begin, the County should consider making available ongoing educational seminars on the benefits of
broadband, emerging technologies, and safe use of the Internet.
Older populations in particular tend to need more support to avoid online scams and understand how to
navigate the Internet, but younger populations also quickly fall behind when they live where they do not have
the same access to emerging technologies as urbanized areas.
In order to get the community “buy-in” to any broadband expansion effort, it is imperative that residents and
businesses understand the importance of broadband and the foundation it creates.
Working to educate the community to the benefits of better access to the Internet (broadband specifically)
could be the path of least resistance to bringing new carriers into the County, encouraging current carriers to
expand beyond the main population centers, and closing the Digital Divide currently existing between the
urban centers and rural areas.
2. Reach out to existing providers to expand their service area:
Often providers are unwilling to invest or expand services into rural areas because of the perceived lack of
customers, where citing non-favorable returns on investment (ROI) justifies not investing. One major
component of the Study is the identification of potential customers for service providers.
The GIS components of the Study clearly show where and how many potential customers are located in any
given area. Very specific marketing data can be used to justify investments by the County or service providers.
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Most providers focus on high population density areas, little if any marketing is done in rural areas. The results
of this Study will assist providers in better understanding ROI potential in rural areas of the region.
3. Leverage the study data to entice new providers into the area:
In addition to supporting current providers in the region, the information gathered during the Study and made
available in this report can be used to attract both competitive fiber and wireless providers.
The presence of the Conterra fiber, and less directly MCNC fiber, would be highly enticing to alternative
providers, such as WISPs, whose barrier to entry would be having to build their own fiber optic infrastructure
to serve the population. In areas with a great distance between houses but relatively open land, such as
farmland, wireless could also be an ideal solution to reach unserved and underserved residents.
As part of this initiative ECC and County representatives met with a number of alternative providers to share
preliminary marketing data and discuss the overall marketplace that exists in Harnett County. These meetings,
discussed earlier in this section, were successful in creating an interest with these providers that should be
pursued over the coming months.
4. Request for Proposals:
The County should consider best options for the use of this Study and Report as they relate to improving
broadband investment in the County.
The County may wish to create Requests for Proposals (RFP) incorporating much of the findings and data in
this Study. An RFP which highlights public-private partnerships (PPPs) could be released to “test the waters”
with service providers interested in expanding or providing services in these areas.
The data along with maps of broadband supporting infrastructure, such as the county owned fiber network
and water towers, will enhance a provider’s interest in servicing these unserved areas. Furthermore, the
County can review responses, and negotiate partnership conditions and terms, to find one or more provider
who offer the best cultural fit and strategy for implementation.
5. Pursue Funding:
Upon completion of the RFP, the County have many options at its disposal to facilitate and enhance the
progression of the public-private partnerships.
Co-solicitation of grant programs such as Federal (ReConnect and Community Connect) and State broadband
(GREAT – if expanded beyond Tier 1 Counties only) grants, whereby investment incentives are created all the
way to the build out of last mile Open Access services and/or infrastructure, is being done in hundreds of
communities around the U.S.
As evidenced by the responses and mapping in this report, areas within Harnett County continue to struggle
to break the Digital Divide.
By using the data gathered during this Study in conjunction with the specific steps outlined above, the County
can develop and implement a specific, multi-pronged plan to encourage existing providers to expand service,
draw new providers into the area, and pursue ways the County may be able to facilitate the addition of much
needed coverage.
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2. Harnett County Data
The responses for Harnett County are outlined on the following pages of this report. Harnett strove for a goal
of 1,500 responses within the six-month surveying period (roughly 13% of the population) and exceeded the
goal by over 100 responses.
Many rural counties with such a widespread population struggle to reach more than 10% of the population, so
Harnett’s success without the need to extend the survey indicates a highly engaged population that is eager
for access and choice. As previously stated, the survey had a 90% completion rate, signaling the questions and
structure were well designed to reduce respondent fatigue and were not viewed as too personal or intrusive.
Of particular note in the respondent data is that issues with access not only to broadband services but sufficient
speeds in general are not relegated to one or two sections of the County. Respondents who do not have home
Internet access are spread throughout Harnett County. Likewise, respondents who do have home Internet but
indicate they are unable to purchase the speeds they require are also spread throughout the County.
2.1 Respondent Map
The map on the following page depicts the location of responses received throughout Harnett County. This
map incorporates both commercial and residential respondents.
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2.2 Survey Questions and Responses
After entering their address on the landing page, respondents were presented with the following survey. This
survey branched at several points, specifically:
1) If the address was a home or business; and
2) If the home or business had Internet access.
This branching has been outlined in the questions below.
1. Please enter in your address information. (required)
2. Is this for Internet access at your home or business in Harnett County?
• Home
• Business
If respondent selected “Home”
3. Do you currently have Internet Access at this residential location in Harnett County? (required)
• Yes
• No
If respondent selected “Yes” If respondent selected “No”
4. What is your current Internet access speed?
• Less than 1.5 Mbps
• 1.5 Mbps-6.0 Mbps
• 6.0 Mbps-10.0 Mbps
• 10-24 Mbps
• 25-49 Mbps
• 50-99 Mbps
• Greater than 100 Mbps
• I don’t know
4. Please tell us why you do not have Internet
access.
• Not available
• Too expensive
• Not needed or relevant
• I don’t know how to use it
• I don’t have a computer or device
5. Who is your current Internet access
provider?
• AT&T
• CenturyLink
• Hughes Network/Viasat
• Time Warner/Spectrum/Charter
• Windstream
• Cellular phone carrier
• Other (Not listed)
• I don’t know
5. Does anyone in your house have difficulty
completing schoolwork due to lack of
Internet service (ages K-12 through
college)?
• Yes
• No
• No one in my household is in school
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6. If you selected OTHER above, please enter
the name of your provider.
7. Are you able to subscribe to the level of
service you require?
• Yes
• No
• I don’t know
8. What are you paying per month for Internet
access?
• Less than $25.00 per month
• $25-$50 per month
• $50-$75 per month
• $75-$100 per month
• More than $100 per month
• I don’t know
6. If additional competitive services were
available in Harnett County, which services
or package would you be most likely to
subscribe to?
• Internet only
• Internet and TV
• Internet and Phone
• TV and Phone only
• TV only
• Phone only
• I don’t know
• None of the above
Asked of all respondents after initial branching
7/8. How important is Internet access…
Not
important
Somewhat
important
Very
important
Not
applicable
To my quality of life?
To my ability to earn a living?
To pursue education?
For my healthcare?
8/9. How many people are in this household?
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5 or more
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10/11. Who are (or would be) the primary users of Internet at this address? (check all)
• School age child(ren) – K-12
• Young adults – Ages 19-25
• Adults – Ages 26-45
• Mature adults – Ages 46-65
• Wise adults – Ages 66 & older
• I am unsure of who would be the primary users
11/12. What is the highest level of education obtained by any one person in this household?
• Middle school
• High school
• Technical or two year college
• Four year college
• Post graduate work
• Military Service
• I don’t know
12/13. Is there any other information you want us to know concerning Broadband and Internet access in
Harnett County?
If respondent selected “Business”
3. How many people does your company employ?
• Myself only
• 2-4
• 5-9
• 10-19
• 20-49
• More than 50
4. What is your position with the company?
• Owner
• Officer (President, VP, CEO, etc.)
• Manager
• Employee
• Other
5. What is the primary line of business at your location?
• Agriculture
• Manufacturing
• Automobiles (Sales or Repairs)
• Medical
• Professional (Law, Accounting, etc.)
• Retail
• Local Government
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• Business Services
• Residential Construction
• Commercial Construction
• Trades (Electrician, Plumbing, other)
• Electronic Commerce
• Other
6. Do you have broadband service at this location?
• Yes
• No
If respondent selected “Yes” If respondent selected “No”
7. What is the current download speed or
throughput at your location?
• 10.0 Mbps or less
• 10-24 Mbps
• 25-49 Mbps
• 50-99 Mbps
• Greater than 100 Mbps
7. What would be the primary uses of
broadband in your business?
• Email services
• Credit card and payment processing
• Manage online presence
• Security/Video
• Place or receive orders
• Send and receive large files
• Control equipment
• Other
• Use remote applications (Google Docs,
Office Online, etc.)
8. Who is your Internet service provider?
• AT&T
• CenturyLink
• Spectrum
• Hughes Network Systems
• Windstream
• I don’t know
• None of these
8. Why do you not have broadband service
today?
• Not available
• Too expensive
• Poor service
• Other
9. Please write in the name or your provider. 9. What combinations of business class
services would you be interested in?
• Internet
• Internet and Phone
• Internet Phone Hosting
• Managed LAN and WAN
• Managed Security
• Don’t know
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10. Do you have legacy communications circuits
at your business location? (Please exclude
regular dial ton telephone service (POTS –
Plain Old Telephone Service).)
• T-1 Circuit
• PRI Circuit
• BRI Circuit
• DSL Connection
• I do not have legacy services or circuits
10. Would your business require a guaranteed
level of broadband service, or best efforts?
• Guaranteed service (SLA)
• Best efforts service
• I don’t know
11. What services do you receive from your
provider?
• Internet
• Voice
• TV
• Hosting
• Email
• Managed Services
• Other
Asked of all respondents after initial branching
11/12. How important is broadband access to my:
Not
important
Somewhat
important
Very
important Critical
Not
applicable
Business profitability
Customer/client satisfaction
Vendor satisfaction
Industry updates
Employee satisfaction
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12/13. Does broadband access enable you to be more competitive in your business?
• Yes
• No
• I don’t know
13/14. Is there any other information you want us to know concerning Broadband and Internet access in
Harnett County?
A total of 1,661 respondents in Harnett County submitted a survey. The 1,661 responses to the questions
outlined above are included in the following charts and graphs, broken out by survey branching and business
vs. residential address. Some residential respondents did not select if they had Internet access, resulting in
varying bases for the branched questions based on which follow-up questions for which they provided answers.
Respondents who did not answer whether they had Internet access exclusively responded to the questions
presented in the “Yes” branching. Pie charts are reported as percentages of total response. Graphs report the
actual number of respondents.
Write-in questions are reported with parenthetical data to show how many respondents wrote in the same
provider. Where there is no parenthetical number, the provider was written in only once. Also included are
maps of the responses to questions that ECC feels would be of special interest to the County and any interested
potential providers presented with the results.
Residential responses are presented first, as they provide the bulk of data.
95%
5%
2. Is this for Internet access at your home or business in Harnett County?
Home Business
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Respondents selecting “Home” (Base: 1,583)
86%
12%
2%
3. Do you currently have Internet Access at this residential location in Harnett
County?
Yes No No Response
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“Home” respondents selecting “Yes” to Q. 3 or providing responses without answering “Yes”
(base: 1,366)
9%
17%
14%
11%5%
8%
11%
24%
1%
4. What is your current Internet access speed?
Less than 1.5 Mbps 1.5-6.0 Mbps 6.0-10.0 Mbps
10-24 Mbps 25-49 Mbps 50-99 Mbps
Greater than 100 Mbps I don't know No response
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Base: 1,366
1%
44%
4%
33%
8%
2%2%
4%2%
5. Who is your current Internet access provider?
AT&T CenturyLink Hughes Network/Viasat
Time Warner/Spectrum/Charter Windstream Cellular phone carrier
Other (Not listed)I don't know No Response
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6. If you selected OTHER above, please enter the name of your provider.
• ABC Company
• Direct TV
• Dish Net
• Hotspot
• Hotwire (5)
• Pay by the gigabit scheme
• Spectrum/Charter (7)
• Verizon (3)
• Verizon Wireless Jetpack WiFi
• VIASAT/Excede
Base: 1,365
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32%
51%
15%
2%
7. Are you able to subscribe to the level of service you require?
Yes No I don't know No response
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2%
25%
41%
18%
8%
4%2%
8. What are you paying per month for Internet access?
Less than $25.00 per month $25 - $50 per month $50 - $75 per month
$75 - $100 per month More than $100 per month I don't know
No response
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“Home” respondents selecting “No” to Q. 3 (Base: 180)
62%
22%
0%
0%
3%
11%
2%
4. Please tell us why you do not have Internet access.
Not available Too expensive Not needed or relevant
I don't know how to use it I don't have a computer or device None of the above
No Response
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83%
13%
2%2%
5. If a new Internet service provider were going to be made available, when
would you sign up for the service?
Immediately Unsure of when I would sign up I would not sign up for Internet service No Response
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62%12%
25%
1%
6. Does anyone in your house have difficulty completing schoolwork due to
a lack of Internet service (ages K-12 through college)?
Yes No No one in household is in school No response
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33%
44%
4%
16%
0%
0%0%1%1%1%
7. If additional competitive services were available in Harnett County, which
services or package would you be most likely to subscribe to?
Internet only Internet and TV Internet and Phone Internet TV and Phone
TV and Phone only TV only Phone only I don't know
None of the above No response
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All residential respondents (Base: 1,583)
Matrix question 8/9 responses.
1%
12%
84%
0%
3%
How important is Internet access to my quality of life?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Not applicable No response
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11%
24%
54%
7%
4%
How important is Internet access to my ability to earn a living?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Not applicable No response
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7%
20%
61%
8%
4%
How important is Internet access to pursue an education?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Not applicable No response
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10%
39%
43%
4%
4%
How important is Internet access for my health care?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Not applicable No response
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8%
35%
20%
19%
13%
5%
9/10. How many people are in this household?
1 2 3 4 5 or more No response
582
218
706 712
285
8
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
School age
child(ren) - K-12
Young adults - Ages
19-25
Adults - Ages 26-45 Mature Adults -
Ages 46-65
Wise Adults - Ages
66 & older
I am unsure of who
would be the
primary users
10/11. Who are (or would be) the primary users of the Internet at your
address?
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0%9%
28%
30%
22%
5%
0%
6%
11/12. What is the highest level of education obtained by any one person in
this household?
Middle school High school Technical or two year college
Four year college Post graduate work Military Service
I don't know No response
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Respondents selecting “Business” (Base: 78)
9%
29%
21%
12%
6%
14%
9%
3. How many people does your company employ?
Myself only 2-4 5-9 10-19 20-49 More than 50 No response
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33%
20%
17%
17%
8%
5%
4. What is your position with company?
Owner Officer (President, VP, CEO, etc.)Manager Employee Other No response
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12%
1%
0%1%
14%
6%
8%
6%4%3%
3%
0%
36%
6%
5. What is the primary line of business at your location?
Agriculture Manufacturing Automobiles (Sales or Repairs)
Medical Professional (Law, Accounting etc.)Retail
Local Government Business Services Residential Construction
Commercial Construction Trades (Electrician, Plumbing)Electronic Commerce
Other No response
61%
31%
8%
6. Do you have broadband service at this location?
Yes No No response
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“Business” respondents selecting “Yes” to Q. 6 (base: 48)
41%
19%
14%
7%
14%
5%
7. What is the current download throughput or speed at your location?
10 Mbps or less 10-24 Mbps 25-49 Mbps 50-99 Mbps Greater than 100 Mbps No response
0%
49%
39%
0%
2%
4%
4%
2%
8. Who is your Internet service provider?
AT&T CenturyLink Spectrum Hughes Network Systems
Windstream I don't know None of the above No response
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9. Please write in the name or your provider.
I don’t know
Verizon
7%
2%
0%
24%
41%
26%
10. Do you have legacy communications circuits at your business
location?(Please exclude regular dial tone telephone service (POTS -Plain Old
Telephone Service).
T-1 Circuit PRI Circuit BRI Circuit DSL Connection I do not have legacy services or circuits No response
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“Business” respondents selecting “No” to Q. 6 (base: 25)
44
29
7
2
13
1 0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Internet Voice TV Hosting Email Managed
Services
Other
11. What services do you receive from your provider?
84%
12%
0%
0%4%
7. Why do you not have broadband service today?
Not available Too expensive Poor service Other No response
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40%
48%
0%
4%
0%0%8%
8. What combinations of business class services would you be interested in?
Internet Internet and Phone Internet Phone Hosting Managed LAN and WAN
Managed Security Don't know No response
34%
33%
29%
4%
9. Would your business require a guaranteed level of broadband service, or
best efforts?
Guaranteed service (SLA)Best effort service I don't know No response
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All business respondents (Base: 78)
Matrix question 11/12 responses.
1%
7%
32%
31%
5%
24%
How important is broadband access to my business profitability?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Critical Not applicable No response
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1%
10%
27%
33%
4%
25%
How important is broadband access to my customer/client satisfaction?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Critical Not applicable No response
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5%
13%
28%
21%
9%
24%
How important is broadband to my vendor satisfaction?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Critical Not applicable No response
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2%
17%
27%
26%
4%
24%
How important is broadband access to my industry updates?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Critical Not applicable No response
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0%8%
31%
33%
2%
26%
How important is broadband access to my employee satisfaction?
Not important Somewhat important Very important Critical Not applicable No response
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59%
6%
12%
23%
12/13. Does broadband access enable you to be more competitive in your
business?
Yes No I don't know No response
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2.3 Speed Test Results
Before the survey, respondents were given the ability to conduct a speed test to check their upload speed,
download speed, and latency. The following maps show the download speed test results for residential and
commercial respondents throughout Harnett County. Based on the responses collected, 71% of residents who
took the speed test receive speeds lower than the 25Mbps broadband download speed recognized by the FCC.
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3. Respondent Write-in Comments
The following comments were provided in response to the open-ended question: “Are there any other
comments you wish to share regarding broadband service or Internet access?” These comments have been
edited only for basic spelling and grammatical errors where it impacted response clarity.
Residential Responses
1. “I have been trying for years and years to get better internet access. I have talked to the county
and plenty of ISPs with no hopes of getting a better line run down my road. I have internet which
I am thankful for but it’s not much better than dial up. I have a problem doing my schoolwork,
making a living, and accessing healthcare. Centurylink, who I am with now, I have trouble getting
help through. I get hung up on and none of my problems ever get resolved when they send techs
out here to look at my line.”
2. “Rural options for internet service are very limited. Internet access is vital in today’s world for
almost every aspect of life. I would appreciate the leadership in Harnett County exploring options
to improve/enhance internet access throughout the county.”
3. “I’m tired of paying high prices for cable/internet. My Spectrum bill alone, for just internet access,
is $60.00 per month. The TV aspect of it is another $70.00 per month. When they were combined
with Spectrum, they were over $150.00 per month.”
4. “I would like to see periodic emails letting residents of Harnett County know of any new info
regarding this issue.”
5. “Get Windstream to upgrade their system.”
6. “If I knew how poor the internet was I never would have moved here. It never entered my mind
that in this day and age it would be a problem!!”
7. “Desire 100 Mbps or more for down and upload.”
8. “CenturyLink is the only provider at my residence. We’ve searched for others but no one services
in our area. My service is also reduced from the 80mb/s I am paying for and I only get possibly
20-40 mb/s. We need more options.”
9. “Windstream is the only provider we can get in our neighborhood. We pay a lot of money for
internet that’s super slow. We should be able to have more choices as to who we use for the
internet.”
10. “Where we live we need another option for Internet provider since the company we have now
always has an outage.”
11. There has been no improvement or any other internet providers available in the 10 years we have
lived here.
12. “Century link is the ONLY option. I’m stuck with them, dealing with extremely slow speeds, which
ultimately caused me to lose my job due to my employer having minimum speed requirements.
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Century link seems to know they are the only hope for anybody tin more rural areas, and anybody
living surrounding me. By so knowing, they take advantage after advantage.”
13. “DSL internet service in our area, provided by CenturyLink, is rarely the speed CenturyLink says
they’re providing. Also, rainy weather somehow frequently causes issues with internet
connectivity. After periods of rain the internet speed slows and will drop frequently causing
problems connecting or staying connected to internet. Because the problem is intermittent,
CenturyLink usually says there isn’t a problem.”
14. “Century Link should not have a monopoly here. Plain and simple.”
15. “We pay a large sum of money for internet service to have the low speed service that we have.
We can do no concurrent activity on the internet, this means no ability to steam videos through
netflix or amazon. We can barely use the services such as google drive, one drive or the apple
iCloud as any devices that are syncing completely crush our ability to perform other task on the
network. As this is 2019, we shouldn’t have faster service through tethering to our phones than
we have on our broadband.”
16. “The only options we have is 1.5mbs from century link or 30mbs high latency with low bandwidth
from Hughes net. I work from home 3 days a week and need access to high speed low latency
high bandwidth internet. In addition my wife is going to home school our kids so we will need
high speed for when we need to start teaching them. This is our only complaint on living in Harnett
county, it would be perfect if not for the internet. Please help!”
17. “Being able to connect personal devices in Harnett County Schools would be a great thing.”
18. “There needs to be more options. Our options were limited to century link of Hughes net.”
19. “Centurylink is horrible. Reliability is their biggest problem. Their customer service is the worst
of any business in Harnett.”
20. “Sometimes the price of adequate internet service is cost prohibitive to many I our area.”
21. “While I was testing my home access internet, I have two internet connections at my home
because my work/employer requires a separate line and I work from home full-time. So it’s
extremely important to have a fast internet connection, something I’ve not had since I had to get
rid of my T1 line in the ‘90’s.”
22. “I have a home office so the ability for fast and reliable access is critical. We use VOIP phones,
Skype and Citrix/Cisco remote connection/VPN tools.”
23. “Just that I would like to see it improve. We went away from cable TV and only stream Hulu/Roku
and struggle with the speed. I also go to school online and have to battle with slow connection. I
work from home as well very often and it becomes a struggle.”
24. “I would favor an increase in taxes to pay for broad infrastructure to increase internet speed and
provider choices.”
25. “Service need to be strong and not go in and out.”
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26. “We have tried several times to get access to spectrum internet, which is available to our next-
door neighbor, but we’re unable to do so. We are at a disadvantage because we are unable to
shop around for our providers because of where we live. We have to use is ISP we have and are
overpaying because it is our only option. We have tried reaching out to our local representatives
but have heard nothing back.”
27. “It’s just not very accessible to everyone.”
28. “Am limited for internet service since cable in not on our street. I would like more options.”
29. “In my area, we only have one option for internet service. The amount we are able to receive is
unacceptable. I have called other providers and they laugh at the idea of having better internet
in my area. This household would benefit greatly from having more providers as well as better
internet quality (more MPS).”
30. “I would like more options to choose from. As of now, Windstream is our only option and they
are not very dependable in my area. I work from home and the Internet is a vital instrument in
my income.”
31. “Sometimes it doesn’t work at all - very frustrating! It would be nice to have options (that work).”
32. “Our service is horrible!!”
33. “It needs to be better outside of town.”
34. “Centurylink told me the only way I would get faster internet service would be to move...”
35. “We only have access to internet through Centurylink, and the service goes out quite often when
the weather is bad. Spectrum is 1 mile away but so far unwilling to come down our road, as we
live on a rural road. We have had issues where during roadside mowing the operator cut down
the hub for our area we were without internet for 1 week, we constantly have buffering issues
and lag time. It would be nice to have the same service we had when we lived in Angier 100mbps
and not the < 1 we have most days.”
36. “The line between my service and another service provider is at my property line. But the FCC will
not allow us to choose the other that is faster by a large extreme and very much cheaper also.
We do not have the right to choose when there is an option to choose. Also the faster provider
was prepared to give us the faster service also. We wouldn’t have been the only family and
business to benefit also. There would have been at least 50 plus. Thank you, for doing this in the
far western Harnett County.”
37. “Internet in my entire area is extremely slow and completely inadequate. We desperately need
faster service. My speed is not even enough to adequately operate one device.”
38. “The internet access at this address is horrible. The download speed was repeatedly 1.0-1.2 and
out of about 5 tries, the upload speed only went through once, at .1. We cannot access internet
in many parts of the house and cannot use the Smart TV to stream any movies or apps. I have
been told by Centurylink that it was the best it would get. All neighbors have the same issue.”
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39. “The service out here can be sketchy at times, and some of our neighbors constantly report
outages, and very slow speeds.”
40. “Slow and interrupted service from Century Link for Internet service. Need another tower as cell
services is also poor in this area.”
41. “Coverage is spotty. The internet goes out periodically, and it is slow.”
42. “I don’t feel we are getting the speed we pay for. Harnett county is far behind in the internet
world. Not sure why we still pat for internet, when other countries it’s free and better.”
43. “A great need in Harnett County.”
44. “I have repeatedly asked about other providers for faster internet speeds but no other ones are
available. I currently have Windstream and their broadband access speed of less than 3MB is
horrible. I cannot even pay a higher rate to get a business line. Less than a half a mile away in
Charter is available at much faster speeds and $30 less a month.”
45. “We only have 2 options for wired service - CenturyLink and Spectrum. I have had both and they
both are terrible. CL is my current, and technicians have to come out 5 or 6 times a year and it’s
always something at their end. We both work from home so we lose work when internet is out.”
46. “Centurylink dominates the Harnett area because there’s no competition, so we’re stuck with
slow speeds and high bills. My internet speed has been the same for 10 years. Centurylink has
zero intention on upgrading their infrastructure any time soon. I’ve been told this by several
people who work there. We need Spectrum or other known company to come in and offer some
competition at a reasonable price. We pay $59 monthly for around 7mb down. I know people
with Spectrum who pay $40 a month for 200mb down.”
47. “Are we going to get any options if you live outside of town?”
48. “Our internet service is extremely poor. We have tried to get better internet service and have
tried to get several other service providers to give us service here without success. We
desperately need better service. Our entire area here is underserved.”
49. “Fiber Optic cable is buried within a half mile of my residence and subdivision. I would like this
Fiber Optic cable provided in my neighbor.”
50. “Our location is in a “dead zone” where we are not able to get internet service from Century Link
or Charter. Our option has been Verizon WiFi hotspot.”
51. “From doing some research, it looks as if Century Link has been given 2 grants for the purpose of
upgrading service in the outer areas of Harnett County. Three years ago they said they would be
upgrading within a couple of years. Not only has that not happened, according to employees,
Century Link has no intention of upgrading these outer areas. I know of several micro businesses,
including mine, that are seriously affected by the lack of decent internet speeds. Thank You.”
52. “I am only able to get VPN service through my local Phone company. This severely limits the
speed of my broad band internet.”
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53. “So tired of having to use a hotspot that doesn’t work half the time!”
54. “There are no choices.”
55. “We need more options. The monopolies need to end.”
56. “Pay for 100mb speed but consistently only get 30-50mb.”
57. “Spectrum charges way too much because they are the only broadband service available to me.
they advertise a particular speed and price but the speed is slower than advertised and more
expensive.”
58. “Price is too high considering the lack of speed.”
59. “Because I live too far off the road I can’t have reliable high speed internet via telephone or cable.
I am forced to use a hotspot thru my cell phone provider which isn’t very reliable either given the
cell service in rural Harnett County. In lieu of spending a ton of taxpayer money on infrastructure
it would seem the County could help in the facilitation of sharing cell towers to improve signal
strength up to at least a consistent 4G. Thank you.”
60. “We need other options besides Century Link. spectrum does not have service on this part of
McArthur Rd.”
61. “During holidays and summer internet drops down to less than a Mbps.”
62. “While most cities are going to Gigabit service, we in the outlying areas are struggling to get
decent highspeed internet to keep up with technological advances. While I have the option to
work from home, my internet speed keeps me from being able to do that. 2 miles away from my
home there are people who have over 20mps service. 2 miles in another direction are people who
don’t have access to highspeed internet. It would be great for all of us to have an equal chance
for highspeed.”
63. “I live in an area that “should” have access to charter broadband but currently only has
Windstream dsl....Windstream has been THE ONLY provider here for 10+ years and the speeds
are horrendous and EVERYONE in my neighborhood is frustrated and hates the fact we should
have broadband but haven’t gotten it yet.”
64. “In our neighborhood we have minimal internet and every time someone new moves in, they spilt
our internet cable. It’s ridiculous!”
65. “I have been trying to obtain Cable internet service in my area for over 10 years. (Johnsonville
area). Cannot get service in my area by a provider outside of Windstream, which does not offer
cable.”
66. “There should be multiple ISP available to choose from in Harnett County. No more monopolies.
Competition is good for the customer. In order for this county to thrive and compete with
neighboring counties 3mbps is completely unacceptable in this day and age. Bring fiber optic to
Harnett County!!”
67. “Speed is not consistent. I pay for 200 and get 50-15 usually.”
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68. “We used to live within the town limits of Lillington and we had good internet there. We built a
house and moved out to rural Harnett County and it is like stepping back in time as far as the
internet is concerned. We often have problems with our service to the point of not being able to
complete simple tasks online.”
69. “With all the options in surrounding counties it’s very surprising to see Harnett County this far
behind in broadband service.”
70. “There should unlimited access to internet for this day and time no one should be operating on
slow internet especially with the cost of these services.”
71. “I have one step above dial up and keep getting told this is the only option available for my
home?!?!?! My kids cannot even get their homework up and I am nervous about returning to
school online, as I don’t have the Internet I need to get the job done! I pay $100 a month for the
worst internet I’ve had since internet was discovered. Something for the people of Harnett County
has to be done!”
72. “We have lived at this home for 12 years and have had the same speeds for 12 years. Centurylink
has made no effort to increase the speeds yet raise our rates every year. We have no choice I.
Providers so until we have choice Centurylink will be able to continue to raise the price but not
the level of service.”
73. “Having a fiber broadband in the area would be nice. Centurylink and spectrum can’t keep up
with broadband demands and are very inadequate.”
74. “I think it’s asinine that some places in this county cannot get broadband and would have to pay
upwards of $5000 to get spectrum internet, when it would benefit people living on the road.”
75. “We have Windstream communications dsl subscribe to 50mbps lucky to get 25-30 mbps. Would
love to be offered high speed broad band of 100mbps or higher due to usage.”
76. “Improve cellular coverage in Harnett county.”
77. “We’ve contacted Century Link multiple times - we’ve been told we have better service than that
of our neighbors further down the road as the DSL quality gets less and less the further it needs
to travel. I teach and my husband is self employed. We both use the internet, but it is so sketchy
sometimes we are using mobile devices as hotspots, because the internet we pay for is not always
reliable. We regularly rely on mobile devices to enter grades, do payroll and communicate with
parents/customers.”
78. “My service speed is extremely unstable and sometimes dips below 1MB/S. I am paying for
100MB/s service but have never come close to getting those speeds. Technicians have come out
twice to figure out what is wrong but they both told me it must be the amount of people that are
in the area now slowing the service down.”
79. “We have subscribed to Windstream, the only provider for our neighborhood for more than 5
years. The speeds that we pay for we do not receive. The fastest we are offered is 10Mbps, and
it is typically only 5-6 Mbps at best. The internet is unreliable, and doesn’t provide a solid network
for our home services.”
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80. “We pay for 4mbps and can get 3 at best. Our upload isnt even 1mbps. We can’t even have a
security system or cameras installed because the minimum upload speed required is 1.5mbps.
We also can’t rent movies off of our satellite due to such slow service.”
81. “It would be nice to have other options, as Century Link is Awful!”
82. “Yes the speeds we pay for monthly are not what we retrieve. Centurylink technicians have been
dispatched to our home several times during the course of having them as a provider. Nothing is
really solved when they come out besides giving us a new modem each time which doesn’t help
the speed. Basically they’ve told us that this will be the fastest speed for location. We’ve
contacted Spectrum for quotes but they say our home is not serviceable, because we are 500ft
away from the road. Help us get better WiFi.”
83. “Century Link DSL became available at this address ~15 years ago. Speeds have not changed in
this time. Having greater speeds available at this address would help me feel more confident
about staying in the area. 3.5 mb DSL is absolutely horrific in 2019. Spectrum /Charter do not
go far enough down Cokbesbury road to provide service to my home.”
84. “Sometimes the internet just stops working even when the weather is good outside. The price
that I pay for internet is too high since I don’t get that speed on my computer.”
85. “Our street is only serviced by CenturyLink and in addition to it being slow it is also unreliable and
their customer service is poor because they know they are our only option.”
86. “We over pay and Windstream is constantly not working our neighborhood can’t wait for another
provider to come in.”
87. “GET GOOGLE FIBER.”
88. “Please bring google fiber. Not a fan of Spectrum.”
89. “Would love to get some fiber optic in here but Ting doesn’t run out this way and neither does
AT&T.”
90. “Why not look into Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPS) They allow you to provide service
to a large area without having to dig utilities to each street. One tower could cover a large area.”
91. “We do a lot of video streaming (both just watching netflix and casting onto twitch) so a good
connection is really important with us. Although what we have now is alright for our needs, we
still get blips of disconnection for whatever reason.”
92. “I would love to see fiber.”
93. “In my neighborhood of 150+ homes Windstream DSL and satellite based internet is the only
services available. Some of my neighbors only have the option for satellite as Windstream cannot
support bonded pair dsl lines to all homes in the neighborhood. We have been asking the cable
companies that service Harnett County to run services to our neighborhood for the last decade
and we have had no luck. The homes literally across the street have 100Mbps service. We are
lucky to have 12Mbps service.”
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94. “Need more access to higher speeds and more providers to choose from, especially in areas
outside of town.”
95. “We need more access other than Century Link and Spectrum in the area. Bring in more options
so better price options can be made available in addition to better quality internet service. More
competition promotes better service and price options.”
96. “As of now, Windstream is the only ISP in Yorkshire Plantation. Currently, they only offer DSL at
the highest speed of 25mbps. Due to the equipment being solely DSL, more than 50% of the
neighborhood barely gets 10mbps on a good day. On average, most users receive between 2 and
8mbps and still pay the same price as those that get the full 25mbps speed. Along with the speed,
Windstream is constantly in the neighborhood due to technical problems with their service.”
97. “It’s terrible. You can only run one device at a time and nothing else and we are the first house
on the line.”
98. “Internet is expensive. The competitors in an area the lower the price will get pushed. Also note,
Windstream service for 50Mbps internet in my neighborhood was $90 after taxes. Once Charter
installed service I was able to get 200Mbps to my home for $65 a month after taxes. Please ensure
that Windstream is not price gouging. I’ve filed an FCC complaint in the past against them but it
didn’t fix their pricing. I was told by a rep that they charge so much because they can. Therefore
competition is needed!”
99. “Not as good as I am used to.”
100. “Please advocate to the maximum extent feasible for fiber optic cable infrastructure in Harnett
County. While the copper DSL service currently provided is acceptable, utilization of the most
modern technology is important to me. I believe I am currently over paying for the speeds
provided. I would be willing to pay up to about $125/month for 1 Gigabit per second service and
that achievable with fiber optic service.”
101. “I am only able to purchase internet through CenturyLink at my house, and I am only able to
purchase 15 Mb/s download speed maximum. This is difficult and not fast enough with 3 people
using the internet.”
102. “My internet provider is Windstream. They do not offer fiber or cable internet, only DSL so
internet speed bog down tremendously during peak hours and weekends. The only other option
for internet is satellite which is not cost effective.”
103. “Need more options and faster internet other than century Link.”
104. “Our internet stinks, please help.”
105. “We use internet to stream TV/Movies, work from home and for home schooling purposes.
Centurylink has been very good so far and is our only option in this area. However, they do have
connectivity issues occasionally and our nearest hub is much further away than would be ideal
for higher speeds.”
106. “I have called multiple times and they still have not installed broadband service in my
neighborhood.”
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107. “I currently have 1 provider that services my address. If government requires 3 bids on jobs to
make sure that the best price is received then I believe this should also be an option for the
residents that live here. My are moving into a bigger technology area where broadband is highly
important. Fuquay citizens are about to be offered fiber and I can’t get but 20 mbps of service.”
108. “My current Broadband service speed varies by about 10Mbps and it often stops. CenturyLink is
the only provider in my development, so I have no choices.”
109. “We have Windstream.”
110. “This internet is terrible.”
111. “Centruylink is terrible internet, you can’t hardly get service in the front of my house and you
don’t get any signal if you are right outside of my house.”
112. “We should be able to acces better internet. Our rural communities are lacking & newer lines are
not that far from us.”
113. “Yes I’d like to know if I’m receiving the actual internet speed I’m paying for and why it cost so
much for basic internet with wifi. I’d also like to know if there is any low cost internet for low
income families.”
114. “Centurylink cable is so bad cutup and grounded to get good broadband and telephone service
down 401 south of Lillington! They won’t fix it!
115. “We are told that Windstream is the only provider for our location.”
116. “I was told by Spectrum that I was 350 feet from the connection. I had it before and it was
disconnected because I didn’t pay the bill. I’ve tried several times to get reconnected with no
success. The service I have now isn’t very good.”
117. “Would like more internet provider choices. My location currently only can use Windstream,
which is a very poor provider. We constantly have to call Windstream Tech’s to our house for
repairs.”
118. “I’m paying for 4 nap it’s if internet speed but never receiving that much.”
119. “Better Internet speed.”
120. “Century Link is only thing available here and I hate it, we use to have Spectrum at old house, we
pay for the best speed and it seems to always go back to slow speed and we have to call and
complain.”
121. We have reached out to MANY companies to try and receive high speed internet. No luck. Our
only option has been satellite internet which is extremely slow.
122. “I have Netflix and recently I had to contact them because it would not work properly. After many
different attempts to troubleshoot, it was discovered that my speed was less than what I even
subscribe to and it was not enough to even power Netflix in UltraHD which I s only available for 4
devices. I was forced to downgrade to two TVs to allow it to operate. We have an XBOX, and it
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frequently lags when the children are playing and nothing else but my phone will be using the
WiFi.”
123. “Century Link Sucks. We need broadband.”
124. “No carriers will install a line to my home. The phone lines that exist will not be upgraded either,
so we continue to not enjoy our slow DSL.”
125. “The amount of money we pay for the poor service we get is ridiculous.”
126. “We need more options. The pricing is killing us because there’s no real competition to charter
and their speeds.”
127. “Vandercroft farms needs internet access besides Centurylink!!!”
128. “Be glad when we can get fiber.”
129. “We can only get Hughes net and it is terrible and expensive. We own our own business and I
work from home which requires internet.”
130. “Internet around here is slow and some people can’t access it. It needs to be better than it is. Do
what needs to be done to have better faster internet.”
131. “We have wind stream.”
132. “Internet service provided not listed. We use Windstream.”
133. “It would be nice to expand the higher speeds out to the rural areas of Lillington. I am literally a
mile out of the high speed internet and have to settle for century link. Would love to have more
options in my area.”
134. “Downloading any sort of large file for both business and personal use could take several hours.
Any improvement would be good.”
135. “Windstream is the only option we gave unless you want satellite service. We live in 150 house
neighborhood. We pay $60-80 per month for max of 15 MBPS but the normal max speed is
usually 3-10 mbps. Service constantly goes out as well. We have petitioned several companies
only to be rejected. Nobody in our neighborhood likes windstream. Please help.”
136. “On the western side of the county we only have 1 or 2 options for internet providers. They are
very expensive and very unreliable.”
137. “I get 200+ MB but I have to reset it almost daily because of the infrustructure.”
138. “I would love to have access to something more reliable.”
139. “We are only able to get CenturyLink at our home as no other provider comes down our road.
There are outages and slow speeds on a regular basis with 8 Mbps being the max speed we could
get on a good day.”
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140. “We would love better internet! I don’t understand with the amount of people that live in Harnett
County and the number of businesses, why we don’t have better options. Thank you!”
141. “I feel it is disgraceful that cable broadband is not available in my area. We moved to this address
3 years ago. We moved less than 2 miles and it was like entering the twilight zone. I was a Charter
customer for over 20 years. And now the only services available are satellite tv and internet. I am
20 feet from the road, not in the boondocks and could walk to my former address in 5 minutes. I
feel that is wrong on their part. If they have a franchise, they should have to provide service to all
areas.”
142. “Internet access, choice of providers, and reasonable cost are a very important factors when
choosing a residence. It is a factor that can drive property values and increase tax base, which in
turn can improve school systems and education as a whole in the county. There are areas of
Harnett county that have poor access, no choice of providers, and limited service (ex. Windstream
in western Harnett county still only providing 3-12 mbps vis DSL. See Cypress Pointe subdivision).”
143. “Out where I live south of Bunnlevel the only internet provider aside from really expensive
satellite internet is CenturyLink. All we are able to get is DSL which limits us to 3 megabytes per
second if we are lucky. That usually isn’t even enough speed for my wife to work on her college
work and my daughter to watch Netflix at the same time. Availability of faster internet would
improve our way of life exponentially as 3 mbps isn’t fast enough for anyone in today’s society.”
144. “Our internet is extremely slow. Only internet service we can get is century link.”
145. “When we moved to Harnett county, we were forced to wait almost 6 months for broadband
internet. With mother providers other than Windstream, I was forced to use businesses WiFi to
do any online business (pay bills, etc). It was a huge inconvenience. We have never run into such
an issue in all of our military moves.”
146. “Have a better variety of providers with competitive rates and better speed.”
147. “It’s slow and 70% of the time don’t work.”
148. “I pay Windstream $90 a month for 100mbps. Your test from this site says the speed is 20mbps.
Also, this is the only available internet provider in my neighborhood.”
149. “We need symmetrical gigabit service to keep up with the growing demand.”
150. “When I first moved into my home about 7.5 years ago CenturyLink sold me a “high speed
internet” package. After complaining repeatedly of slow internet speeds a technician was sent
out. He informed me our subdivision didn’t have the hardware to support the high speed
internet. I called Centurylink and they downgraded my package. Total BS! I fortunately they are
the only provider available. Thank you for investing in the people.”
151. “Broadband access in our neighborhood is less than desirable. Our choices of ISPs are overpriced
and provide horrible service. Unfortunately we have to choose the lesser evil which is century
link. They charge me more than I paid in Fayetteville for half the bandwidth which is a MAXIMUM
of 6Mbps. I have two neighborhoods flanking mine. Both have Spectrum as an ISP and receive a
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much better product, but won’t serve our neighborhood. There are 3rd world countries with
better service than us. It’s sad.”
152. “It is garbage. We have a friend a few streets over (Cumberland County). They pay less for
Internet and cable than we are paying for just internet alone. We are currently only able to get
CenturyLink or satellite Internet (i.e. hughesnet).”
153. “My area has no access to cable or fiber internet. One company said my neighborhood was 1200
feet away from a cable line, but they were unwilling to install even if I were to help with the bill.”
154. “Windstream is the only cable internet provider where we live. I have had better and cheaper
internet in Afghanistan.”
155. “Currently Windstream is the only Internet provider for my neighborhood. This is a fairly new
subdivision called Pittman Crossing. We have 32 homes in the neighborhood. We would like
better options to select from.”
156. “I live in rural Broadway on the Harnett county side. For years I have been contacting Windstream
about the service here to little avail. They will credit me $10 off my bill and say there is nothing
they can do for us out here. I pay $101.22 total a month for 3mb of service and a land line I get at
best 1mb of service at any given time. I have been told anything from I might just need to find
another provider to right out lies of were next to be upgraded this has been going on year after
year. We need help.”
157. “Internet access in this part of the county has been woefully lacking. Fiber optic cables were run
across the street from us but only for public school usage. While I applaud this use, it is
inconceivable that the public cannot have this same access. Do our taxes not pay for this? Century
Link was invited into NC to address this issue of expanding rural internet access. This has been
many years ago and no progress has been made. Please do not let this issue fall between the
cracks.”
158. “Usually runs slow but sometimes it doesn’t work at all. We have to cut off the system and
reboot.”
159. “We are currently using a Mobile hot spot to access the internet. It is less than acceptable when
we try to use any video or streaming services. Although my access fee is fairly low our data speed
decreases from 4G to 3G or less with the amount of usage over the month therefore by the end
of the month it is extremely slow. We are very hopeful this survey will result in increased & better
service for our entire county & local community! Thank you for listening to us!”
160. “We have Windstream only and are lucky if we can get 10mbps during the evening. Once
everyone is home we may get 4-5mbps. This hinders children with accessing resources for
homework as well as those of us that work from home. Windstream refuses to make any changes
to the service in the area. We have tried a petition with no success.”
161. “I would like broadband access.”
162. “We would prefer to have something like spectrum or Time Warner Cable internet. Century link
is slow and unreliable when the weather is bad.”
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163. “Other than slow bandwidth, no....just wish we could get faster Internet service.”
164. “Would like to see fiber in my home. Satellite service is borderline acceptable. I moved from NJ
and I had cable and the bandwidth and data speeds were much better than Hughesnet. My
current service is very expensive for what I am getting because I am limited to how much data I
download and the performance is subpar. And because satellite is bandwidth limited my service
slows significantly during peak usage times.”
165. “It is very expensive and we only have the choice of Windstream which is subpar or Charter which
has a corner on the market and raises prices with no regard for its customers.”
166. “Would like to have other options than Spectrum/need realizable high speed Internet for multiple
mobile devices and working from Home.”
167. “The only provider available to us is Century Link. They are terrible and we are on the phone
constantly complaining. They do not care. We need other options that work. Thank you for
looking into this. It is a big deal if our county is to advance.”
168. “Get better internet! Ours is slow every single night!”
169. “I work from home and usually lose internet access at least once per week. This interruption is
annoying since I need to be able to complete my work on a regular basis.”
170. “We have Windstream but it was not one of the options you have listed. They are the ONLY
provider we can use because my children online game and you can’t do that with satellite. It’s
ridiculous how much we pay and the service they provide!!”
171. “The citizens of Harnett County deserve another choice in internet. We live in a time where
internet is vital to everything we do. Increased internet speeds could give businesses an incentive
to come to our county and stay.”
172. “We have tried to get cable Internet with Charter/Spectrum, but they aren’t sure that they can
provide internet service in the area. They have to do some test that will take up to 3 weeks to
see, but I have to agree to sign-up with them before they do the test. Currently, we have DSL
access which is horrible. It’s very slow and goes out, as does our phone line, every single time
there’s a storm winter, spring, summer and fall. As a result, we have inconsistent service. It
impairs my ability to do work.”
173. “It’s interesting that most internet companies only guarantee hard wired computers yet
everything in our homes is wireless! You pay for speeds that you don’t really get because you
have so many things that are connected...phones, tablets, TV, computers, game systems etc.”
174. “For what I pay, I do not get good service. If I watch anything on Netflix or Youtube, it buffers too
much.”
175. “I telecommute from my work and we run a farm and there are days we cannot operate because
the internet is so slow. We have had to go to McDonalds to download things. It is ridiculous for
this day and age. When my daughter was in college she could not do online classes because of
the connection. We are unable to stream movies on our TV. We pay for options, like DSL and
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directTV, but cannot utilize all of the options because of the internet speed. I pay for way more
internet speed than I am receiving!”
176. “I have contacted Spectrum after they installed cable outside my home - allegedly I will be able
to get 200mbps but haven’t gotten it installed yet.”
177. “I know some folks in my neighborhood have Fiber from Centurylink, but whenever I try to sign
up with Centurylink, they say it is NOT available in my neighborhood!”
178. “My wife works from home and we really, really need access to a cable modem. Our internet
speed, the highest available from CenturyLink, is a joke.”
179. “Centurylink is our only option and their speed is ridiculously slow.”
180. “Would like to see high speed internet available to all.”
181. “Charter posts higher speeds, but those speeds are only instantaneous, not sustainable. Also,
Charter service sucks. If you have a problem, the customer service reps blame it all on you and
your equipment, even though everyone else in the neighborhood is have the same slowdowns
and crappy pings, bad latency.”
182. “Choices would be nice. Reliability is key.”
183. “I would like faster internet however cable stops 300 yds before my house and they refuse to
come down for me or my neighbors. Cable co says there is not enough residents.”
184. “I work from home remotely and have issues with access. I also want to start a small business but
lack of internet speed and capabilities have limited the services I can provide.”
185. “We need at least 11 mbps internet to do anything nowadays. This speed we get is unacceptable.
Spectrum doesn’t even come down our road which is crazy. We have spoken to neighbors who
would sign up for cable, internet and phone.”
186. “We need more options of internet providers in Harnett County. Centurylink does not provide
the best service for what we pay them for.”
187. “I live in Lexington Plantation. We are supposedly only allowed to use Hotwire.”
188. “We would prefer to have more options. Century Link was the only provider here. Also, we have
the internet down for no obvious reason pretty often.”
189. “Internet is listed as 25Mbs, but is rarely above 10 Mbs. Often below 5 Mbs. Centurylink states
that there is no issues with the internet and does not resolve the speed issues.”
190. “Need some SPEED!!!”
191. “I have DSL. I am 2 miles from high speed. I would dig the lines with a spoon for high speed wifi.
I love to stream.”
192. “We need reliable service that does not break up.”
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193. “I work from home and have to access the organization’s system via VPN. I currently cannot do
this from home, so I have to go to a public place to do this. This is a huge negative impact on my
productivity for work.”
194. “I am fortunate to have decent internet but for years as in many parts of the county there is poor
service. There is little competition so prices are high. Many time prices are better for new
customers than long time existing customers can obtain.”
195. “WiFi is not too helpful, cannot use smartTv because of speed.”
196. “Many potential residents choose to move into Wake because high speed internet is available.
We cannot even watch Netflix or download files onto the computer in a timely fashion. He service
is too slow to do anything.”
197. “My current carrier is Windstream and it the only option I have in my neighborhood.”
198. “I have Windstream internet, but that was not an option in the drop down box. Our internet is
very expensive and very poor quality, but we have no other options on the western side of the
county. As usual, the western part of the county has been left out.”
199. “It is very slow and continuously disconnects, even at 400 mbps. It is frustrating.”
200. “I would like to hear choices for greater competition. I feel my current provider can charge
whatever they want.”
201. “We are in the very edge of county but it is growing fast. Would draw more homes if better
internet was available.”
202. “Similar to water and electric, internet access should be a public utility. It is incredibly important
to our day to day lives. Education, business, communication, and entertainment occurs on it. It is
a link to our families and to our paychecks. I performed military service in Korea. Their internet
easily surpasses ours while being far more affordable. Local American governments can ensure
its citizens do not get left behind because of private companies using the bottom line to justify
societal progress.”
203. “This service is awful. I would like to see more options. I know I pay for more than what I am able
to get in my home. I get told I am “too rural” but I am right down the road from other locations
with 100 megs. I wish we could have some competition, as I feel we overpay. Also, the county
needs to ensure that our tax money collected in Spring Lake is going to Harnett County and not
Cumberland County, my bill says differently.”
204. “Spectrum wants to charge $5000.00 to connect me, there is no DSL option. I could only do
satellite service, which also required direct TV.”
205. “Our internet access is intermittent.... speed varies and sometimes goes out.”
206. “Google fiber would be a great addition! We are planning a move to another area in a year if cell
and Internet doesn’t improve.”.
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207. “I have called Charter and they told me to do a neighborhood survey then i was told they weren’t
enough people in my neighborhood yet Tim Currin Rd has Charter.”
208. “Getting internet access has been so difficult. Initially it was a monopoly having only century link
now that spectrum is available getting service has been difficult.”
209. “Time Warner/Spectrum/Charter has a complete monopoly on broadband internet. They are the
only company that offers internet speeds above 20 mbps.”
210. “The housing community in Lexington Plantation only allows one internet provider in the
community depending on where you live. There wasn’t an option in this survey for the internet
service provider of Hotwire. Hotwire is our internet service provider and we have had only a
handful of issues with slow service or loss of service; however, there are others in the community
that appear to have more issues. Not sure if this is due to their modem/router quality or their
location in the neighborhood.”
211. “Five miles away fiber internet is a thing. Why not here?”
212. “It would be great if we had more than one option for internet service in our area. Windstream
DSL is the only option. The expansion of 5g may allow cell companies to compete with DSL in rural
areas of Harnett County.”
213. “My home is also my business. The internet options are laughable. There is not enough
competition to make anyone try harder to make better service and faster internet. We need to
be looking at getting fiber lines put in and growing the internet speed. We have a major
university, multiple decent sized hospitals, multiple municipalities and are suburb areas of Wake
and Cumberland County. We should have better.”
214. “I would pay a lot of money to get better internet. I am deeply unsatisfied with my internet
accessibility.”
215. “Faster internet service would be great and help with work.”
216. “Century Link is my ONLY option. It was a battle to even get them to provide service based on a
claim to have limited connections.”
217. “We have Windstream for our internet. That was not a choice on the pull down menu and the
internet here is AWFUL. It’s a daily complaint in our subdivision. We’ve tried to get Charter, in
fact Charter comes in at the beginning of our subdivision, but that’s where it stops. Some people
can’t get internet in the back of the subdivision until someone drops theirs!”
218. “We would like to see finer come to Harnett county. I subscribe to the 1gb service and due to a
shared connection it is not a true 1gb service.”
219. “We need access to fiber 1GB internet.”
220. “Currently our only access to high speed internet is through cable internet. Speeds have improved
but services can vary at times of heavy use. We could benefit and prepare for the future demands
by investing in fiber infrastructure now!”
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221. “For our county to be progressive, our children to continue education outside school walls, and
our citizens to be informed, this is a service Harnett County needs and deserves.”
222. “In our neighborhood, Yorkshire Plantation, we have attempted several times to solicit high speed
internet. We have several people that work from home (me included) and home school that could
truly benefit from high speed internet. We are paying over $100/for subpar service.”
223. “My biggest concern is lack of choices of internet providers.”
224. “Please let this happen!”
225. “We would like better options for faster internet to facilitate work and pleasure. Our current
options are substandard in comparison to available technology.”
226. “We only have one option for broadband internet in my area. I would like an option to c hoose
which service is best for me and my family.”
227. “It is a monopoly in the western part of the county!!! We need more options!”
228. “I work in Online Education and often work from home, that’s why internet access is important.”
229. “Would like a fiber service.”
230. “We currently have Windstream as our provider, which was not listed in the options provided in
an earlier question (unless Windstream is owned by another company and I’m just being flaky).
We would greatly prefer having Charter/Spectrum but have been told repeatedly by the company
that it is not (nor do we anticipate it to be) available in our small neighborhood.”
231. “My internet option was not available. I have Windstream. No other provider will provide
internet access to my location, and Windstream will not invest the money to provide modern
speed internet service. VERY inconvenient.”
232. “We have Windstream and it’s awful. Any upgrades will be a welcome change.”
233. “I would love if there was competition among providers that can provide at least 100 MB down
and 5 MB up. I need to use the internet to work at home. The prices are constantly increasing,
and I can’t cancel my service, because I depend on the internet for work.”
234. “Our subdivision has around 150 homes in it and there is only one wired internet provider
(Windstream). Our only other option is Satellite based which is far too expensive. We have been
told since we purchased our home in 2006 that cable providers would be providing service soon
however, it has yet to happen. I have lived in third world countries that have had more options
and better service.”
235. “The lack of infrastructure in our county is embarrassing. Harnett doesn’t seem to be leading the
way in innovation and technology outside of Lillington and Campbell University.”
236. “I live in the center between Buies Creek, Lillington, and Angier. Since we have no cable providers
running down our road then we have limited internet which seems illogical since we are so close
to a medical school.”
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237. “The only provider in my area is Windstream and they refuse to increase access speed because
there isn’t any competition.”
238. “I would like to be able to choose between different internet providers in my area, but
CenturyLink is the only one available.”
239. “Our internet seems to be pretty good here. Only seems to not work is when it’s super windy,
which is understandable.”
240. “The only internet available to our entire neighborhood is CenturyLink Prism. We would love to
have more options.”
241. “In my area, there are very few options available to choose between. The fastest internet option
I have available is DSL through Windstream. I would like the option to choose different services
that could provide faster internet speeds via cable or fiber optic infrastructure.”
242. “I want more options than DSL. I want access to cable or fiber optic.”
243. “Important for the county.”
244. “Expand cable internet into more rural areas. DSL is too expensive for a subpar service.”
245. “Have been advised by Centurylink I cannot increase my speed due to my rural location.”
246. “Only 1 provider in this neighborhood lots of problems with speed and acess.”
247. “I’m paying for 100. Windstream cannot deliver what I pay them for. Spectrum will not come to
this area. I’m so tired of Windstream. We have over 167 homes in this development. How does
Windstream continue to get away with this?”
248. “The cost is too high for what we are able to get. I have slow internet service. My husband is
hooked up to a machine at night because he is a kidney dialysis patient. We need WiFi for that
machine so that it can be accessed at the kidney center in Dunn.”
249. “Currently Windstream is my internet provider and the service is not meeting my expectations.”
250. “MOST OF THE TIME THE SPEED IS 1.2 AND .4, WE MOVED HERE JUST OVER A YEAR AGO FROM
PITTSBURGH AND ONE OF THE “MUST HAVE” WAS HIGH SPEED INTERNET - PITTSBURGH WAS
150 UP AND 20 DOWN. WE WERE TOLD THAT WINDSTREAM HAD HIGH SPEED SO WE RELIED ON
THAT AND PURCHASED THE HOME. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW WINDSTREAM CAN SAY THEY
HAVE HIGH SPEED, THIS IS A LIE - I TELL OUR FRIENDS IN PITTSBURGH WHAT OUR SPEED IS AND
THEY LAUGH AT US PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! HELP US.”
251. “I moved to my present location in Harnett County 26 years ago. The providers said High Speed
was not available at the time and that they would let me know when it was available. I’m still
waiting.”
252. “Hughes was recommended over Windstream (DSL). Windstream is bad, but my Hughes internet
access is terrible. I couldn’t take your speed test because it failed to connect to a server after
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trying 5 times and waiting for several minutes. I am currently working with Spectrum to get service
for a home based business.”
253. “We have had the same slow internet speed from Centurylink for 12 years. Our speed is .75 kB.
That’s correct .75 and we pay the same amount for that as those getting the top speeds.”
254. “My ISP is windstream.”
255. “We’d like to receive internet access that we are paying for.”
256. “We’re currently under CenturyLinks service and have been for around a decade. They have
monopolized service coverage in our area and know that there isn’t another suitable provider.
There was a period for months where we were paying for basically nothing, and we told them.
They would send “technicians” that would leave without solving the problem. Needless to say we
have been taken advantage of. Hundreds of dollars for low tier internet. I am in school and
struggle to do assignments for my college.”
257. “It is currently AWFUL!!! We have no options that allow for faster speed.”
258. “The internet service is not available to upgrade in this area, it’s too slow and not enough to
provide connectivity to work from home.”
259. “We have Windstream. The only option in our area of Western Harnett.”
260. “Centurylink is the only provider I have access to and they SUCK.”
261. “I worked for Spectrum for a while. In the Raleigh Area the ULTRA is running at 1000MPS
Download speed for roughly $80 a month. Here in Harnett you get 400MPS Download speed for
that same $80. At the present time you need at LEAST 400MPS to stream anything on your TV or
Tablet/Mobile. If we do not get Spectrum to upgrade the “plant” in our area we will fall
completely out of the loop within a year or two from now. To add the standard internet in the
Raleigh area is 300-400MPS for $50 a month.”
262. “I have two students in my household who both have classes online so reliable internet access is
crucial to their academic success.”
263. “I have asked for better internet here since we built this house in 2001.”
264. “We have lived in our house for twenty years and can only get one service, is slow and terrible.
We have tried for years to find other providers and there is no one.”
265. “Our internet service is so poor that we could not even take the strength test for this survey.”
266. “CenturyLink unwilling to provide faster speed in my location. Tried wireless broadband with
AT&T and it is barely 3Mb. Neither are reliable. Tried to get Charter or Time Warner service, but
they all claim to not service our area, but we are completely surrounded with neighborhoods with
faster Internet. I am an IT professional and the lack of high speed Internet is forcing me to possibly
relocate toward Raleigh or Cary in order to maintain my employment.”
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267. “We have cable in the area but cannot get service at our house because they say we live to far
down the road. They should run cable to the end of the roads they service and not just stop at
the big housing developments and forget about the small houses along the way.”
268. “I only have one provider to choose from.”
269. “There needs to be more access to high band internet.”
270. “Our county is underserved. Too many residents do not have access to service other than satellite
providers and they are too costly.”
271. “Internet service is horrible around Elliott Bridge Road.”
272. “Century link speed is horrible. Luckily we are able to get cable internet.”
273. “We’ve resided in Harnett County for one year and are thinking of moving just because of the
internet. It’s hard to check work e-mail, do college courses or pay bills if you don’t have fast
enough internet to stay connected. Would love to see Spectrum or a stronger service here!”
274. “When are we going to get another provider to choose from. Would like to compare prices.”
275. “To maintain my job.”
276. “There are many that commute to Durham -RTP, Wake County and further for jobs. Many of these
jobs offer work from home. Without proper internet service we are unable to utilize this very
time, money saving benefit. I myself have lost positions due to the slow and inconsistent internet.
The talk is that many would pay more just to have GREAT service. My current position is a 2 hour
commute that can be done from home if Ihad the proper services to do so. This would free up
highways, wear and tear and other.”
277. “I was told by my employer that in 2019 I would telecommute 90% of my working 2019 hours.
The availability of my internet speed and reliability depends on my keeping my position. My
speed is 2.9 and needs to be 5.0 or higher. Therefore, I’m at jeopardy for losing a position that I
have fought to keep and need to survive at my age/time in life as I look to retire in the next 6
years. Harnett county is low on the job market now and this would bring us up as many positions
move to working from home.”
278. “We can never get online when we need to. If one is on a computer the other can’t get on. It costs
us 98.00 a month for nothing but there is no other server in our area.”
279. “Schools are too old.”
280. “Compared to other counties we’re actually behind as far as speed. Wake county residence tell
me they get 100MB service whereas I can only get 20mb.”
281. “It seems that the cable companies charge you for a speed faster than you are actually receiving.”
282. “The costs of this service is too much but there is no equivalent service available.”
283. “Need faster speed.”
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284. “If the county handles it it will be fubar.”
285. “We need this for our county. Unable to take advantage of WiFi devices because my internet is
so slow.”
286. “It would be great if there was more competition for our Internet Access Dollars.”
287. “Pricing.”
288. “I am unable to perform many work-from-home opportunities due to the slow speed of my
internet. Centurylink said my home is not wired to receive faster speeds. Centurylink is the ONLY
option to me and I pay $80/month just for internet. It’s a Monopoly and is too expensive.”
289. “It’s greatly needed.”
290. “Not very good in the Flatwoods.”
291. “Yes, my Internet goes out continuously. I think that if you guys want to continue doing
everybody’s Internet out here you might consider fixing this problem.”
292. “Lowest rates for fast service?”
293. “I am limited to just one internet provider. It appears the provider knows this and provides rather
poor service with frequent interruptions. The residents of Harnett County should have a choice
in providers. With more than one provider, they would compete and do more to gain my
business.”
294. “We live in a rural area, approximately 1 mile off of Hwy 55. Due to the small number of houses
in our are (less than twelve spread out over several acres) no high speed provider will run lines to
us.”
295. “Increased throughout is paramount.”
296. “As some of us have work-at-home jobs, which are becoming more popular, great internet with
fast speeds is very important.”
297. “Trifecta running a business out of my house couldn’t do it because it didn’t have the right
internet availability to make money at it had to close down the business.”
298. “Internet connection was promised at 20 speed and we barely get about half of that I believe.
Have had tech out a few times but there isn’t anything they can do to make the speed higher for
us here at this location.”
299. “Please help spectrum move to this area.”
300. “Windstream is our provider, which I see was not on the list, therefore I had to put I don’t know.
Windstream has promised faster service, but still after 8 years the service has either stayed the
same and or gotten worse. We are not able to get another provider in our neighborhood which
seems like we are being held hostage by Windstream.”
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301. “My service provider was not listed. I assume since Windstream is so bad, they are not allowed
on the list. If we had a viable alternative, I am sure everyone in my subdivision would move to
the new provider. It is like having one airline in your town. You have to travel and you must pay
whatever fee that airline is charging is you want to leave.”
302. “We are charged for high speed however only obtain high speed occasionally.”
303. “How can I get Cable Internet Service in my location. DSL is 2x the cost for 1/10 of the Service.”
304. “We are pretty much limited to 2 providers more or less. Centurylink or Spectrum. Either way
they have you over a barrel. Other providers contract out through them so not really any savings.
ATT, Verizon, Sprint and the other have throttling and caps so that is not an option. Spectrum has
no cap or throttling so lesser of two evils.”
305. “It would be more than AWESOME if we had any other internet provider available to us besides
CENTURYLINK. We pay more than anyone we know for crappy/subpar service at best. Our service
is very shotty to say the least. It most definitely is not worth what we pay. Centurylinks excuse for
the excessive outages and slower than slow speed, most days is because we are on the very end
of the line for Harnett County. The option of switching providers would be great, because our
service CAN’T get any worse!”
306. “Prices for internet are ridiculous.”
307. “It is very slow and goes out often making it harder to work from home.”
308. “We need more options. I have 2 primary options Charter or Windstream. Windstream is too slow
and needs to invest in fiber to the home. Charter ends up being the only option for my
household.”
309. “Is this survey to determine where there is a need for better internet service in the NEAR
future!!??”
310. “My service provider was not listed, it is windstream. Internet quality is poor and often times
unreliable.”
311. “We are only able to use Specteum at our residence as it’s the only one that works. In less than a
year we have had Hughes Net, Cetury Link, hotspots from Verizon and AT&T. The only one proven
to work is Spectrum which has been a thorn in my side with their service and support. I wish we
could have Windstrem.”
312. “Prefer to have more than one company for internet. Currently century link is the only provider.
I need at least 200 mb/s for internet.”
313. “I have Windstream and it awful and slow.”
314. “I have lived in NW Harnett County for 15 years. Our internet access is so slow the speed test
only registered 0.2 download and could not complete the upload test due to the slow speed.
Century Link is the only provider in this area. According to Century Link we are over 8 miles from
the main hub and are surprised we even get the little bit of connectivity that we have at that
distance. We love this quite area but have considered moving due to the internet issue.”
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315. “I notice around Campbell College at my mom’s that there is limited wifi in area & low signal. You
would think it would be much better but it’s not. Everyone should be able to have the same acess
to bandwidth for internet. A lot have to rely on the phone service internet such as Verizon or hot
spots due to the areas that lag or don’t have at all.”
316. “We have tried multiple times to have our speeds increased with no luck. CenturyLink is our only
provider and due to this they have been very hard to work with on price and services. There
would be a dozen or so families and a few businesses on Duke road that would greatly benefit
from upgraded telecommunication infrastructure.”
317. “Get more fiber installed and don’t let CenturyLink have a monopoly.”
318. “Good service equals expensive.”
319. “Yes our neighborhood is only accessible to one company and that is century link with the highest
access being up to 6Mbps which is considerably low compared to other providers. This has
hindered being able to work from home and even complete certain school assignments. Other
providers offer significantly higher speeds and am unsure why our neighborhood isn’t accessible
to anyone other than century link.”
320. “Only have access to CenturyLink’s slowest available internet service. No other provider, except
for satellite internet will service our area.”
321. “Many businesses now have remote access and homeowners can work from home. I myself have
to work from home and I am very limited to this due to cost for the speed I need. I personally can
not add some home security and automation due to the same problem of cost for the speed
required.”
322. “I am only able to get one internet provider and that is Windstream. I would prefer cable internet
speeds, but I am about 50 ft too far from the closest access point.”
323. “Would love to have it.”
324. “More affordable options would be nice...”
325. “The only internet provider available for me is century link. The internet service is very spotty and
always seems to cut out or not work. I’m paying for 8 Mbps but only getting approximately Mbps.
It would be nice to have another option for service.”
326. “We have terrible internet service!”
327. “Spectrum says we get 100 speed internet but we never read that high. Rarely over 65.”
328. “There should be more options for internet service.”
329. “Windstream and Hughesnet are absolutely awful and expensive for having very little download
and upload speeds. Spectrum would be the preferred internet option and is currently not
available to us.”
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330. “CenturyLink is the only provider I can have. Literally 1/4 mile up the road there’s other options
that have way higher speeds for the same price.”
331. “Windstream is horrible, wish we had a better option in our neighborhood. Or they would get
fiberoptic set up out here finally.”
332. “There are only 2 providers that I know of, and rates are ridiculous for speeds/service provided.”
333. “Would like to be able to choose the best service and not just have one or two available for those
choices.”
334. “It’s horrible. We only have one provider to choose from. No one else comes out here. The lines
stop right before us.”
335. “Charter/Time Warner/Spectrum... whoever they are named this month... are price gouging and
offering mediocre service with poor/subpar connection. I’ve had to have my equipment replaced
4 times this past year alone! We would glad switch to a more reliable company if there was an
option for that!!!”
336. “Not having broadband internet access makes several things difficult, children’s school work, job
searches, paying bills, and several other important daily activities. Having broadband internet
would life changing, and not having to explain to the children’s teachers that we don’t have
internet to complete work assignments. It is truly embarrassing. Please help us living in the rural
areas obtain this.”
337. “I have charter always going out. The internet here is behind. When we lived in Florida fiber optics
was installed and 3 times faster speeds.”
338. “While my access is adequate to my needs, neighbors mere yards from me on a side road have
no true broadband option, only substandard and unreliable DSL.”
339. “Century Link took 22 days to hook up the crappy service we have now. They know we can’t go
anywhere else. I’m disabled and can’t work from home because I don’t meet the minimum
internet requirements to obtain employment.”
340. “Centurylink is awful and is the only internet option in this area they do not update their service
or equipment to match the current needs of their customers.”
341. “Windstream is our provider. I’ve lived in multiple states and outside of the US and I’ve never paid
so much money for so little service. They are abusing the fact that they dont have competition in
our neighborhood to charge us over 100 dollars a month for less than 10mbps. I am disabled and
am unable to work from home as a help desk after moving here because of the poor internet
speeds.”
342. “Need better cheap options.”
343. “I think it’s safe to say we all want faster internet.”
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344. “We only have one internet provider in my subdivision. Windstream has a monopoly and knows
it. We are over charged for subpar internet service that is constantly in and out. There is no
competition to spur innovation and improvement in my area.”
345. “Our internet service is never reliable. Some days you cannot access wifi at all or the speed is
extremely slow or nonexistent.”
346. “Would love to see more companies offer their internet services. With more competitors, the
internet rates can be reasonable and reliable. So impressed that the county is working to get more
diversity in the county; I’m sure this will make many locals happy.”
347. “I have CenturyLink which is the only internet provider in this area of the county. I wish there
were other companies we could consider for internet.”
348. “No other Internet provider available in our subdivision. Only 10mbps. Basically a monopoly on a
crappy Internet connection.”
349. “We are with Windstream and yes it’s the only service provided unless you go with a satellite
provider. We are paying the same price that other people, but those other people are getting
100 Mbps. I feel it’s not fair that we cannot receive the same type of internet speed that a house
down the street is getting. Nine years at our residence and our internet option is the same. Very
disappointed with our current provider.”
350. “We had 2 choices for internet access. Century Link offered speeds of 6 mb which is completely
unacceptable. We had to go with Spectrum.”
351. “The cost is outrageous but an evil necessity.”
352. “Please, please, please help us on Baptist Grove Road with providing true high speed internet, not
the 4.5mb DSL that is being provided. We run a home business and have three kids that depend
on this absolutely terrible service for our daily needs. I have tried everything including a fully
mobile $700 hot spot to pull high speed from the “local” cell tower 2 miles away but had constant
reliability issues. Now what I have is a reliably slow sad excuse for internet.”
353. “We have been subject to little choice at our home, so we have remained with Centurylink. Our
HOA has recently negotiated a contract with Spectrum for 200MBps service coming in 2019 for
our development. I work from home and have for years, but I am looking forward to the needed
speed increase. Until now, availability of basic Internet and cable service in our Harnett county
development has been sorely lacking.”
354. “Our only physical internet connection is Centurylink. We have no other providers due to our rural
setting. Other options are desired and would be supported.”
355. “We have DSL internet in my neighborhood that caps out at 15 mpbs on a good day. My upload
speed is less than a 1MB making streaming to media outlets such as twitch impossible. The people
in my neighborhood have tried signing petitions and contacting other internet providers to get
improved speeds and options to no avail so far.”
356. “It is in dire need, especially in rural areas.”
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357. “Must be cost effective to have service connected to house. We were just quoted $4000.00 in
addition to the $3000.00 credit from the carrier. This is not reasonable. If you want to provide a
service to one then it should be available to all for a reasonable price.”
358. “Spectrum offers service to our neighbors but quoted us a $4000.00 price to run the line to our
house which is outrageous. We currently pay for a Verizon Hot Spot for use which does not come
close to offering us the internet services necessary. Thank you.”
359. “High speed Internet is available on both ends of our road, but not in the center where we are.
Numerous attempts to get Spectrum to provide have been fruitless.”
360. “We have been making do with the hotspots on our phones but that is not a sustainable option
for Internet due to the expense and data limits.”
361. “We currently do not have any internet providers for our location. These days, internet is a
necessity for our family. We own a small business, have one kid in college, one in high school and
one in middle school! We ALL need internet! We have to go somewhere else to use the computer
when we need it. Harnett County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation right now,
there is no excuse for not having internet in all areas!”
362. “The residents on my street have been trying to petition for internet for years. The Coble Ski
School had to pay money to get the lines out to their property but most of us can’t afford that
luxury. My child should have the same amenity available to him, especially if everything at school
is moving online.”
363. “Today currently having to use wireless as internet provider because poor service and limit
availability.”
364. “Century link is too slow in the area. Price for installing and monthly bill is too high for the services
provided, which is why we have opted out of century link. Not much further up the road there is
faster century link which is sufficient for what our household would need.”
365. “I have heard some people have had it in this area but it is spotty and not reliable. That needs to
be fixed.”
366. “Hopefully we can have broadband and internet access soon.”
367. “I’ve contacted Spectrum several times asking for installation and they continue to cite that it’s
under construction. It’s been 3 months and I haven’t seen a single cable employee installing
service.”
368. “At my address I have contacted every single internet company. None of them provide internet
access at my house, despite the neighborhood literally across the street in Johnston County
having access.”
369. “A couple of years ago, myself, along with neighbors in a 2 mile radius petitioned Charter to bring
internet to this area. Everyone in my neighborhood as well as people up and down McDougald
Rd, CP Stewart Rd, Tim Currin Rd, and Peach Farm Rd all signed stating their intent to get internet
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service if provided the opportunity. That’s quite a bit of lost revenue for a company just in this
small area.”
370. “The access definitely needs to be expanded. The only access available in our neighborhood is
satellite internet and we’ve tried several different providers all of which were terrible. If we had
known when we moved here that there was no internet access, we wouldn’t have moved here.”
371. “Satellite internet is not an acceptable internet, we tried it a few times and it is crap. We would
love to be able to have access to broadband internet to give me the opportunity to further
education if I wanted to and just to have a better standard of living. If I had known we didn’t have
internet access at the home we bought beforehand we probably wouldn’t have bought it.”
372. “The only option we have right now is very slow and costly for such slow internet speed. We
would love another option and faster speeds!!”
373. “We are in a pocket that is under served by the large providers in the area because we are on a
one lane road with 5 other houses. We all have the same problem. I use cellular hotspots currently
because the lack of response from Charter or DSL providers in the area.”
374. “Please make it more affordable!”
375. “Would just love to have other internet options out here! I believe there is just CenturyLink but
when my sister got it about 2 years ago (she lives out here too) Centurylink told her it won’t be
worth it for what she is paying to have it because the service was so slow.”
376. “Need internet we can afford I use it every day for my job and my children school work,
Centurylink is too high and messes up too much.”
377. “When we first moved here we didn’t know there wasn’t any available internet, it’s crazy too
because maybe a mile down the road from us has internet! It’s that it’s that close & we can’t even
get it! Also I wanted to take some online college courses but that’s out the window until someone
can help us get some out here because with my work schedule it would just be easier to do classes
at home but I can’t without internet also wanted to get cameras for security system and cant
cause no WiFi please fix this.”
378. “Bring high speed internet to all of Harnett County. We are located five miles from Lillington
without high speed internet or cable access. We are relying on our cell phones as hotspots for
internet access. Thank you!”
379. “Internet service is so important. Please consider my area.”
380. “I think it is interesting that 3rd world countries have high speed internet and I live in a developed
country and have to use my phone to access the internet. In particular I am concerned for the
children in my neighborhood who are living in the age of technology and cannot use online
resources.”
381. “Children in my area are greatly disadvantaged in school work. Teachers require homework online
and children in this area cannot complete without going to coffee shops out of the area to
complete or travel 20 miles to the county library. I would not recommend anyone living in this
county given how poor internet service is in the area.”
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382. “Not only are residents living in our area but also businesses. There is a large need for internet
services especially with the requirements put on students not only in middle school, high school
but college as well.”
383. “For this address, 1097 Johnson Road, Coats- there is high speed internet within 1/2 mile of this
residence but Spectrum nor CLL refuses to extend cables down Johnson Road. Roads that
surround Johnson Road have various providers of internet but all refuse to run cables on this
section. There are a total of 16 homes on this 1.5 stretch of road. Any consideration given for this
area of Harnett County would be appreciated. I was told if a farmland owner would sell a farm-it
would be considered by Spectrum.”
384. “We had Charter at our old address and it worked great. We would like for it to be available here.”
385. “I am a teacher for Harnett County Schools. I had no idea when I purchased my home that there
was not an option for internet. Many nights, I stay at school until 7, 8 or 9 o’clock because I really
need internet to complete my work. I had Hughes Net for a short time but kept losing the signal.
Now it is gone altogether. They told me I would need to cut down my trees to get a better signal.
I live in a subdivision. I would be very thankful to have internet at home.”
386. “Our Community needs the access of a good internet service. We are left out.”
387. “We need broad band for economic development to attract industry.”
388. “Centurylink is the provider nearest to us --- but nothing is available here. We did have an “air
card” through AT&T (10 GB) but only used for work purposes.”
389. “CenturyLink has been promising “within 6mo” for over 10 years. They also show access available
to us by zip code but once they enter address it’s a more accurate answer-not available.”
390. “Fast plenty of bandwidth and inexpensive flat fee.”
391. “We live across a swamp area and would need new lines ran to our home. We have had dial up
before and the last I checked that is all that is available to us but high speed internet would make
our life much easier and I could work from home if I had it as well.”
392. “Not only do I need internet for home use- I also own poultry houses and need internet there
also. I own a business in Coats and need to work from home which is not possible at the current
time except for use of phone as a hot spot which is very unreliable. It is ridiculous that internet
is all around us, but not available on Johnson Road because it is mainly farm land and not
subdivisions. It is as if we are punished for feeding our country.”
393. “I work from home and need strong internet to support VOIP. Century Link is not st rong enough
and we stream a lot like Netflix and they all throttle down. Ting or Google Fiber would be better
than internet.”
394. “This heavily traveled highway full of homes one mile from the county university has no cable for
internet, the phone equipment is so antiquated useful DSL service is unavailable.”
395. “I have tried for years to get internet access on our road. I have contacted Century Link, Charter
by email yearly and also spoke to the previous County Manager on this issue. It is awful to have 2
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kids who rely on internet for their daily homework & my son who is college having to go to a
public restaurant like McDonalds to do homework. We live exactly 7 minutes from the town of
Coats and every road that connects to us & around us has internet access. If I can help in anyway
please let me know. Thank you!”
396. “We would love for more providers so we would be able to stream movies effectively, as well as
stream/broadcast gaming. My husband wants to be a streamer but cannot because the internet’s
not of the quality he needs.”
397. “I really need internet, for myself and for my son, he is an A student and I need him to be able to
continue his studies. I also need it for my job. Thanks for offering this.”
398. “I have contacted spectrum and charter and their reply was there is not enough people on our
road to continue service any further.”
399. “I’d do anything for internet access. Address isn’t serviceable by any provider because we are too
far from the road.”
400. “Make it accessible regardless of how far someone may live off a state maintained road.”
401. “We need high speed internet!! My husband and I would like to further our education but cannot
because we do not have online access.”
402. “If there is a new service provider in Harnett County please make it available for rural residents.”
403. “We would love to have internet access in our area. We live only six miles outside of the city limits.
If i had realized that internet options were not present in our subdivision, i probably would not
have purchased home in this particular area.”
404. “The only provider in our area is century Link, and they don’t offer high speed. About 2 minutes
up the road near hillman grove Windstream provides but they don’t provide to our address. I’m
hoping in the next year they expand so I can start online schooling.”
405. “Been trying to get broadband internet access at this address for close to 10 years. There are
people less than a mile away that are able to get internet service provided to them. Only option
is overpriced satellite internet that is way to slow for anything.”
406. “We live off the road some ways and the internet is inaccessible to us.”
407. “We live on a road that is 1 1/2 miles long, high speed runs 8/10 of a mile on one end of the road
and 3/10 of a mile on the other end. None of those homes are businesses, they basically exclude
one family on this road.”
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Business Responses
1. “We need speed.”
2. “Charter service is spotty, many times speeds are as slow as dsl or lower. Often time their service
drops completely. But, as bad as the internet service is, their customer service is absolutely
despicable. Any calls to get the service fixed are automatically dealt with as if the fault in the lapse
of service is due to the customer. Customers are treated like crap because Charter has a monopoly
and the commissioners are unwilling to kick them out.”
3. “PLEASE SEND INTERNET OUT THIS WAY!!”
4. “Camp Agape: The nearest BB service is in Duncan. We’re 5 miles away as crow flies. CenturyLink
offered to provision 100 Mb metro ethernet for $15K + $2K/ month. When 100 guests are present,
it is impossible to serve them. Currently, HughesNet provides 75Mb metered service /month for
$150. This is barely adequate for business. It’ our only option. Previous to HughesNet, we had a
DSL 1.5Mb circuit for $300/mo serving 5-10 business machines. Impossible situation. I’m the IT
contractor.”
5. “I am in IT and work remote/from home. I tried several local internet providers and was not
satisfied. We called all the major providers and no one services our area, at ALL! I ended up
purchasing a Verizon Hotspot that works moderately well. I absolutely would be interested in
better options. Thanks for reaching out with this survey.”
6. “Our internet system with Centurylink is so unreliable that we also have spectrum. We have both
because internet is vital for our ordering process.”
7. “It’s technically feasible but cost prohibitive at my location ($15,000 +).”
8. “I’m a work from home employee of Sedgwick. We’re a large third party administrator of insurance
claims. I have been working from home since 1998, when a T-1 line was used originally. Then I
received satellite DSL before I eventually received CenturyLink services (or their prior names; same
company).I use multiple internet software programs throughout the day & need fast& reliable
internet speeds so that I can get my work done. When the internet is slow, I have to wait in order
to move on to the next task.”
9. “I am 1000 feet from existing broadband but they are unwilling to bring it to my location. They
won’t even quote me a price.”
10. “I own poultry houses at this address with no internet service. Service would allow equipment to
be monitored remotely and security could be monitored. Two very important aspects that are not
available at this time.”
11. “We are connected through DSL. If broadband speeds are faster, faster is always better. I would
welcome it. However, if this is a “fishing” tactic for a private company to try to sell me services,
please don’t forward or sell my information.”
12. “It would be nice to have competition. Windstream is our only available provider.”
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13. “Although at our non profit we are able to take advantage of fast internet speeds, many of the
client’s we service have little to no access.”
14. “Yes: 1. Our internet is bad enough that I had to take my computer home to even do your survey.
2. How soon might something be available. We are considering options by the end of the year 3.
How will our non-profit status effect this project. 4. HELP!”
15. “The service is terrible due to the slow speeds. It is very frustrating and things that might be done
in an hour can take most of the day due to the slow speeds. it is costing me a lot of time and
money as a result.”
16. “We rely on internet access to run our day to day business. Without it our business wouldn’t be
able to use our accounts and invoicing software, as well as using maps to identify job locations for
ourselves and our drivers.”
17. “I am in utter disbelief and disgust that broadband is yet unavailable at my business and home.
Wake the hell UP! What are we...? An episode of Hee Haw?”
18. “We’ve had three different types of internet service here, beginning with Hughes Net. That worked
for about a year, until they started limiting our access stating that we knew that was the service
we had signed up for. We soon parted ways as they couldn’t produce the “recording” of us
agreeing to the service terms. The next iteration was an “air-card” with Nextel which proved useful
until the technology was outdated. Finally we switched to CenturyLink as the only remaining
solution.”
19. “Their is a cell tower on our property that is currently used to provide communication services for
local EMS/Fire Department, Sheriff’s Department and State Highway Patrol. We encourage
consideration of the use of this tower as a shared site for a broadband satellite dish.”
20. “We would love to have faster internet especially with several people all working at one time.
Additionally, we have children at the daycare who would benefit from use of internet learning
based curriculum but we would have to have a more reliable service.”
21. “The current throughput at my location is dependent upon the usage of my neighbors. During the
day and at night the usage it high causing the speeds to drop to an almost unusable level. I have
reached out to CenturyLink multiple times however nothing ever happens. They are the only
provider besides satellite in my area. I know my neighbors also operate home businesses and this
is affecting their ability to compete as well. Soon we may need to move to address the issue.”
22. “Internet is very fickle. Sometimes it works good and often times during the day it stops working/is
very slow. This is critical to my business and employee’s productivity. I have to pay more for my
employees when internet is slow as they are less productive. All healthcare records are online as
required by law.”
23. “What Windstream is claiming is High Speed Internet should be criminal. The speed is not even a
5MBps. In today computer realm nothing works until it is above a 5mbps. When we purchased
this home a year ago it stated that it had High speed internet, where we moved from that is 125
mbps, that is High speed internet. My Asperger son has done cyber school for 3 years, and because
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of the Internet speed he could no longer participate in the school. Please catch up to the rest of
the United States.”
24. “I am extremely disappointed with CenturyLink’s service a customer service. I am a regional
employee and must have internet service every day! I need a higher speed to perform my job.”
25. “Having a local Fiber option would be incredible.”
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