ETC Communications — Local services in Jasper

Okay so my ETC cable TV and of course my cable internet both went out tonight. I am now forced to listen to crickets and other sounds of nature here in the mountains tonight as a result. I remember vaguely that was why we moved here 22 years ago. Anyway I shot a text to ETC to see if it was just me they were torturing or if the world was coming to an end or what. I got a nice polite text message back from Bryan. He informed me that my account was current...the world was not coming to an end...and that I was not the only one in town without the ETC services. I thanked him and he very customer servicely asked if there was anything further he could do. I told him in fact there was...he could send me a sack of hundred dollar bills. He said he didn’t think that he could do that but he would let me know if he could. I think I’ll be waiting a long time for ETC to make that happen!

Anyway, ETC service has been pretty solid and this is the first real problem we have encountered so I guess I can’t complain...well wait a minute I could complain...the service is too expensive! There I’m on record saying it! I switched from Dish a few years ago because they had gotten outrageously expensive and ETC gave me a good deal for a year or so...now that have crossed over the $200 a month threshold. I guess that’s just the way it is. Doesn’t mean I like it though!

Finally, Bryan was a gem to deal with! In these days of bad or non existent customer service I have found Bryan and actually the staff at the local ETC office to be well trained, efficient, knowledgeable, polite and very well trained! Good job on that ETC. Now...Bryan about that sack of hundred...

The internet speeds for what you pay are incredibly high. As someone who lived near metro Atlanta, coming to Jasper and buying internet was a wake up call. Yes I don't have many outages, or issues I can't fix myself. And that's great and all. However, paying around $60/mo for broadband level speeds is horrendous. Last I checked, 30MB/s went for around that price. Now, if you use your laptop to check emails and maybe stream a video or two, that's fine. Anything more, and you'll be wanting to start pulling from your savings. Granted, your location can greatly limit what you can get speed wise, but unless you bundle, and want speeds in excess of 30-50MB/s (for download), you'll be wishing other companies started servicing the area.

What gets me even more, is when I've personally called to ask for faster speeds, the representatives over the phone seemed to lack much knowledge of the correlation between activies (gaming, streaming, home automation), and their respective recommended internet speeds. Sounds like either more training is needed, or, for lack of better terms, less greed.

Now, at the time of writing this review (3/30/2019) this was accurate to my knowledge.

Hopefully, if other market research associates from other companies see this, it may peak their interest as there is plenty of demand for better service, but not supply, in terms of quality...

As usual there’s nothing to complain about. A Tech named Josh came out this morning to finish installing and tweaking some surveillance cameras I needed. This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with him and again we were on the same page right from the start. I’m by no means an electronics expert but did have some thoughts concerning this equipment. Josh listened patiently and actually utilized a couple of my ideas. And also explained why I was wrong on a couple. However he was still willing to try them if I wanted. After hearing his opinion on a couple of things I felt it best just to hush and let this guy do his job. I had to leave for a Dr appointment and my wife called me when he was finished. This btw is not a small job. They’ve installed and adjusted six cameras for me. When I got home before I even went inside I casually took a stroll around the house and was happy to see that the four outdoor cameras had me caught. I’m probably going to still have some additional stuff done. Guys like Josh is exactly why ETC will be getting the call. Thanks to Josh and everyone that’s been involved with this project. Ed...