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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

After so much public investment, user rates should be affordable

Posted

Governor Dayton should be applauded for considering using part of the budget surplus to assist Minnesotans in need. I wonder though, if he and other politicians realize what actually happens when they propose providing broadband Internet services to rural communities as a means of accessing community services and competing for jobs, and give away all those tax dollars.

The contracted service provider and optic fiber installers pull in millions in tax dollars. When the cable is finally laid and the rural residents can finally sign up for the long anticipated Internet it is not affordable. This is the current case in Lake County where this process has begun. “Lake Connections”, the contracted Internet service provider (ISP) is currently offering up its services at a minimum price of $59/month. That is the most basic, introductory service and prices go up steadily from there. Of course there is an installation fee and also cancellation fees if you decide later you don’t want or can’t afford the service. Cancellation fees start at $500! This is a ridiculous amount of money to ask people to pay for “basic” services. They don’t even offer anything below 30mbs but if you look at their chart describing what the typical user needs to conduct business over the Internet - email, paying taxes, connecting to community services etc all that’s required is 0.5mbs. Most other ISPs begin basic service at 3-5mbs and charge more like $15 to $30/month. Google, which is installing fiber optic connections at their own expense, offers a 5mbs connection for $12/month for one year and then it is free for the rest of your life - no more payments after the first year.

This is unbelievable. This service is paid for by state and federal taxes intending to level the playing field for rural folks unable to access services like signing up for insurance. The intended mission is a failure. Why are there not basic, affordable service plans available? This program will be a burden on the population it was intended to help. This is especially true when you consider that if you decide you can’t afford this wonderful thing you’d waited for but realize now your initial excitement clouded your judgment about ability to afford it and you cancel, you will be slammed with a $500 cancellation fee!

If we are going to give tax monies to contractors with the intention of assisting rural residents we should impose realistic end user costs in order to make this work the way it was envisioned.

Brad Carlson

Fall Lake Twp., Minn.