Pioneer Broadband maintains several different types of Internet access in rural Maine Many years ago we employed unlicensed fixed broadband wireless Internet access and bill it as "up to 1Mbps download and Kbps upload" It is a shared service We do not support streaming due to the small amount of bandwidth on the system For example, the tower site only has Mbps available to share with all the customers The customer radios are set to 1Mbps download and Kbps upload They have been this way for years Our price for access is $ We had a price increase from $two years ago This customer is not bound by contract and can disconnect from the service at any time Our prices are set to ensure a proper margin to keep the business afloat Every year tower rent goes up by a percentage because we lease space and do not have our own tower at this site The customer's argument about speed vscost might make sense to him, but unfortunately it is what it is We have recommended that the customer seek service elsewhere if he needs more than we can offer In this rural setting there are not many choices for reliable Internet access, but we do our best to provide good service Unfortunately, our good service on wireless does not allow customers to stream shows or play online games effectively due to the technical aspects of the service that have not changed in a decadeI have included the email trail below Pioneer does not feed obligated to alter our price for service We once again recommend that the customer seek service elsewhere if they need more than we can offer We are supplying the same service we have supplied for a decade It is too expensive to upgrade the service without grant funding which we are constantly seeking for areas like the ones this customer lives in.-------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, at 7:AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Frustrated Customer/Service issuesDear Pioneer Broadband, My name is CUSTOMER and I live at CUSTOMER ADDRESS just outside the NEARBY town lineMy wife and I are both avid internet users and enjoy spending time using services like [redacted] , [redacted] , or Participate in online Gaming MMORPG’s and suchAt our location the only service you offer is a Wireless Antenna on the outside of our houseI did a speedtest this morning at [redacted] It’s currently 6:am on SaturdayPing was 29ms Download speed was Mbps and Upload Speed was MbpsThat is lower than what it should be but I have contacted tech support constantly to have them work on itI have repeatedly asked for your company to try and upgrade our service and I do understand the the overhead to do so is necessarily there and that a grant might be needed to run [redacted] or cable to my house so poor internet speeds in and of itself don’t bother meWhat does bother me is that my wife and I can’t reasonably even surf [redacted] at the same time to the point where we’ve been using cell data just to surf or Have to deal with constant buffering on [redacted] That also in and of itself isn’t why I felt the need to contact youThe thing that really upsets me is that you’ve been able to run [redacted] cable and provide Gigabit service to towns like [redacted] and within [redacted] , which is great, but you are offering it at the same price I am paying for bottom basement service! I pay $a month for less than 1Mb/s down and less .5Mb/s up, but other customers are getting 1gb/s down and up for the same priceAlso especially before you started having a tech in the office on the weekends we would experience constant service interruptionsThis household has been a customer for at least a decade, if not longer, and I truly feel like I am being ripped offI’m getting less than half the service for the same priceI wouldn’t even be upset if I was paying even $or $dollars less a monthI’m literally mile from your [redacted] office and I can’t get anything betterAt this point if another company were to offer me even double the service I’m getting now even if it was double the price I would switchI am very upset because every year we can do less and less on the antiquated equipment as the internet requires higher speedsI don’t feel that your company can hold off much longer on upgrading my service before I start to look for other solutions to receive better internet or at least similar internet at a lower rateI really want to stay with your company because I feel that overall you have done a great job for the majority of your customers, but as for my personal experience I am very angry and I really need to see some light at the end of the tunnelHow long must I wait for internet with reasonable speeds or slow internet at reasonable rates.Sincerely,CUSTOMER ————— On Sat, Feb 13, at 7:AM, PIONEER wrote: CUSTOMER, I understand your frustration The wireless technology that we employed years ago does not keep up with today’s customer demands That being said, we still maintain it for folks that cannot get anything else Even though your speed may not be as much as you want it is still cheaper than satellite or leased line servicesWe cannot offer you a lower price unfortunately because the tower sites cost us money to run and we have fewer customers on them than the original investment model allowed So less revenue and the same expense means we are probably losing money on the site We continue to operate the site with the hope of being able to provide new investment to the area either by ourselves or with the help of a grantNow, more specifically, the CUSTOMER AREA has been on our grant target list for over years That equates to the same amount of time that the ConnectME Authority has gone without offering grants So, the ConnectME Authority has just announced a funding round for and we will be submitting a request for CUSTOMER AREAWe applied before and just barely missed the mark We suspect that we have a pretty good case for the grant Unfortunately, if the grant does not go through, the number of people on CUSTOMER AREA do not allow a fiber build to occur with only private investment We would never make our money back if we invested and we are trying to provide a service and make money at the same timeI hope this reply helps with your understanding of why and how we are doing what we do We appreciate your patronage and want you to be happy That being said, if you need more than we can offer you should look into [redacted] Internet until we can get you more bandwidth Even if we get the grant it takes over a year to permit, design, and build the [redacted] lineThanks again for being a customerFeel free to contact us at any timePIONEER ——————— From: CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, at 8:AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Re: Frustrated Customer/Service issuesAlso one of the main things I enjoy doing only is playing MMO's and satellite internet isn't able to run them because of the delayWhen can I find out if you will receive the grant for our road? On Sat, Feb 13, at 8:AM, CUSTOMER wrote:I understand the problems you are having but currently the tower isn't even giving me the service I'm supposed to getThat being said my road had [redacted] run nearly to my house from the other end of the road and I would literally pay double for [redacted] let alone [redacted] ***Quite frankly I don't really see how your company operating at a loss on antiquated towers is my faultWhy should I be forced to pay for service I'm not receivingI should be paying for the quality of the service not infostructure you plan to phase outIf it's about the info structure why are [redacted] customers paying more seeing as how that should cost more to maintainAlso Satellite internet does not provide enough usageWe would use up data cap within a weekIt's beyond frustrating because we have no viable options and I feel like I'm wasting my money especially since our rates were raised from last year to —————— We apply in April and the decision is made in June You will hear about it on our [redacted] page or you may go directly to http://maine.gov/connectme and view the awarded grantsPIONEER
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***Please add your rejection comments below.
I am rejecting this response because Mr
*** is either misinformed or lyingWe always spoke to *** at this company with the same response"Someone is out there today, they will have to climb the tower to find the issue." As far as complaint on file..that is untrueI know I myself had called at least times and my husband had called multiple timesIt is not our fault that their customer service reps do not log every time we calledThey were aware of this issueAt the very least *** was aware because he was always the gentleman we spoke toAs far as why we didn't look elsewhere for another serviceI informed you in my complaint that we have no other choices available to usThe ones he listed either do not come up this way or are not equipped to stream anything or run videosUploading is slow and shuts off because the of the time it is taking to do soWe now have Hughes Net which took us another month before anyone could come up this way to install it and we have to run off a data planI can say one good t hing is that when their internet was working it was greatThis is why we stayed with themI was upset with the way they shut us down without a warning not the fact that they had a service that wouldn't work every day without issue.
Regards,
*** ***
A letter was sent to all customers served by the site that serve Ms*** on 3/27/ The letter is attached and states that as of 4/30/2017, the site would no longer be operational We trust that serves as proper notification and resolution of the problem. ***
Ms*** appears to be "recalling" a number of things that do not fit the timeline *** *** is the only *** we have ever had employed at Pioneer Broadband *** moved on to a copier repairman position with another company on 4/11/ Again, I sympathize with Ms***, but the circumstances do not warrant any compensation We offered our service until it was no longer feasible and we were not bound to a contract to provide service The customer could have left our service at any time after the initial contract term with no penalty, but chose to stay for whatever reasons When the electrical failure occurred we wrote a letter explaining the circumstances We applied a credit of $to her credit card on 4/28/because of an overpayment on the account.It is unfortunate that Ms*** feels wronged by the process We wish her all the best *** ***CEOPioneer Broadband
Pioneer Broadband maintains several different types of Internet access in rural Maine. Many years ago we employed unlicensed fixed broadband wireless Internet access and bill it as "up to 1Mbps download and 256 Kbps upload". It is a shared service. We do not support streaming due...
to the small amount of bandwidth on the system. For example, the tower site only has 3 Mbps available to share with all the customers. The customer radios are set to 1Mbps download and 256 Kbps upload. They have been this way for years. Our price for access is $49.95. We had a price increase from $44.95 two years ago. This customer is not bound by contract and can disconnect from the service at any time. Our prices are set to ensure a proper margin to keep the business afloat. Every year tower rent goes up by a percentage because we lease space and do not have our own tower at this site. The customer's argument about speed vs. cost might make sense to him, but unfortunately it is what it is. We have recommended that the customer seek service elsewhere if he needs more than we can offer. In this rural setting there are not many choices for reliable Internet access, but we do our best to provide good service. Unfortunately, our good service on wireless does not allow customers to stream shows or play online games effectively due to the technical aspects of the service that have not changed in a decade. I have included the email trail below. Pioneer does not feed obligated to alter our price for service. We once again recommend that the customer seek service elsewhere if they need more than we can offer. We are supplying the same service we have supplied for a decade. It is too expensive to upgrade the service without grant funding which we are constantly seeking for areas like the ones this customer lives in.-------------------------------------------------------------------------- F...⇄ CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 7:07 AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Frustrated Customer/Service issues. Dear Pioneer Broadband, My name is CUSTOMER and I live at CUSTOMER ADDRESS just outside the NEARBY town line. My wife and I are both avid internet users and enjoy spending time using services like [redacted], or Participate in online Gaming MMORPG’s and such. At our location the only service you offer is a Wireless Antenna on the outside of our house. I did a speedtest this morning at [redacted]. It’s currently 6:30 am on Saturday. Ping was 29ms Download speed was 0.56 Mbps and Upload Speed was 0.28 Mbps. That is lower than what it should be but I have contacted tech support constantly to have them work on it. I have repeatedly asked for your company to try and upgrade our service and I do understand the the overhead to do so is necessarily there and that a grant might be needed to run [redacted] or cable to my house so poor internet speeds in and of itself don’t bother me. What does bother me is that my wife and I can’t reasonably even surf [redacted] at the same time to the point where we’ve been using cell data just to surf or Have to deal with constant buffering on [redacted]. That also in and of itself isn’t why I felt the need to contact you. The thing that really upsets me is that you’ve been able to run [redacted] cable and provide Gigabit service to towns like [redacted] and within [redacted], which is great, but you are offering it at the same price I am paying for bottom basement service! I pay $49.95 a month for less than 1Mb/s down and less .5Mb/s up, but other customers are getting 1gb/s down and up for the same price. Also especially before you started having a tech in the office on the weekends we would experience constant service interruptions. This household has been a customer for at least a decade, if not longer, and I truly feel like I am being ripped off. I’m getting less than half the service for the same price. I wouldn’t even be upset if I was paying even $10 or $20 dollars less a month. I’m literally 4.6 mile from your [redacted] office and I can’t get anything better. At this point if another company were to offer me even double the service I’m getting now even if it was double the price I would switch. I am very upset because every year we can do less and less on the antiquated equipment as the internet requires higher speeds. I don’t feel that your company can hold off much longer on upgrading my service before I start to look for other solutions to receive better internet or at least similar internet at a lower rate. I really want to stay with your company because I feel that overall you have done a great job for the majority of your customers, but as for my personal experience I am very angry and I really need to see some light at the end of the tunnel. How long must I wait for internet with reasonable speeds or slow internet at reasonable rates.Sincerely,CUSTOMER ————— On Sat, Feb 13, 2016 at 7:24 AM, PIONEER wrote: CUSTOMER, I understand your frustration. The wireless technology that we employed years ago does not keep up with today’s customer demands. That being said, we still maintain it for folks that cannot get anything else. Even though your speed may not be as much as you want it is still cheaper than satellite or leased line services. We cannot offer you a lower price unfortunately because the tower sites cost us money to run and we have fewer customers on them than the original investment model allowed. So less revenue and the same expense means we are probably losing money on the site. We continue to operate the site with the hope of being able to provide new investment to the area either by ourselves or with the help of a grant. Now, more specifically, the CUSTOMER AREA has been on our grant target list for over 2 years. That equates to the same amount of time that the ConnectME Authority has gone without offering grants. So, the ConnectME Authority has just announced a funding round for 2016 and we will be submitting a request for CUSTOMER AREA. We applied before and just barely missed the mark. We suspect that we have a pretty good case for the grant. Unfortunately, if the grant does not go through, the number of people on CUSTOMER AREA do not allow a fiber build to occur with only private investment. We would never make our money back if we invested and we are trying to provide a service and make money at the same time. I hope this reply helps with your understanding of why and how we are doing what we do. We appreciate your patronage and want you to be happy. That being said, if you need more than we can offer you should look into [redacted] Internet until we can get you more bandwidth. Even if we get the grant it takes over a year to permit, design, and build the [redacted] line. Thanks again for being a customer. Feel free to contact us at any time. PIONEER ——————— From: CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 8:24 AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Re: Frustrated Customer/Service issues. Also one of the main things I enjoy doing only is playing MMO's and satellite internet isn't able to run them because of the delay. When can I find out if you will receive the grant for our road? On Sat, Feb 13, 2016 at 8:00 AM, CUSTOMER wrote:I understand the problems you are having but currently the tower isn't even giving me the service I'm supposed to get. That being said my road had [redacted] run nearly to my house from the other end of the road and I would literally pay double for [redacted] let alone [redacted]. Quite frankly I don't really see how your company operating at a loss on antiquated towers is my fault. Why should I be forced to pay for service I'm not receiving. I should be paying for the quality of the service not infostructure you plan to phase out. If it's about the info structure why are [redacted] customers paying more seeing as how that should cost more to maintain. Also Satellite internet does not provide enough usage. We would use up data cap within a week. It's beyond frustrating because we have no viable options and I feel like I'm wasting my money especially since our rates were raised from 39.95 last year to 49.95. —————— We apply in April and the decision is made in June. You will hear about it on our [redacted] page or you may go directly to http://maine.gov/connectme and view the awarded grants. PIONEER
Pioneer Broadband maintains several different types of Internet access in rural Maine Many years ago we employed unlicensed fixed broadband wireless Internet access and bill it as "up to 1Mbps download and Kbps upload" It is a shared service We do not support streaming due to the small amount of bandwidth on the system For example, the tower site only has Mbps available to share with all the customers The customer radios are set to 1Mbps download and Kbps upload They have been this way for years Our price for access is $ We had a price increase from $two years ago This customer is not bound by contract and can disconnect from the service at any time Our prices are set to ensure a proper margin to keep the business afloat Every year tower rent goes up by a percentage because we lease space and do not have our own tower at this site The customer's argument about speed vscost might make sense to him, but unfortunately it is what it is We have recommended that the customer seek service elsewhere if he needs more than we can offer In this rural setting there are not many choices for reliable Internet access, but we do our best to provide good service Unfortunately, our good service on wireless does not allow customers to stream shows or play online games effectively due to the technical aspects of the service that have not changed in a decadeI have included the email trail below Pioneer does not feed obligated to alter our price for service We once again recommend that the customer seek service elsewhere if they need more than we can offer We are supplying the same service we have supplied for a decade It is too expensive to upgrade the service without grant funding which we are constantly seeking for areas like the ones this customer lives in.-------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, at 7:AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Frustrated Customer/Service issuesDear Pioneer Broadband, My name is CUSTOMER and I live at CUSTOMER ADDRESS just outside the NEARBY town lineMy wife and I are both avid internet users and enjoy spending time using services like [redacted] , [redacted] , or Participate in online Gaming MMORPG’s and suchAt our location the only service you offer is a Wireless Antenna on the outside of our houseI did a speedtest this morning at [redacted] It’s currently 6:am on SaturdayPing was 29ms Download speed was Mbps and Upload Speed was MbpsThat is lower than what it should be but I have contacted tech support constantly to have them work on itI have repeatedly asked for your company to try and upgrade our service and I do understand the the overhead to do so is necessarily there and that a grant might be needed to run [redacted] or cable to my house so poor internet speeds in and of itself don’t bother meWhat does bother me is that my wife and I can’t reasonably even surf [redacted] at the same time to the point where we’ve been using cell data just to surf or Have to deal with constant buffering on [redacted] That also in and of itself isn’t why I felt the need to contact youThe thing that really upsets me is that you’ve been able to run [redacted] cable and provide Gigabit service to towns like [redacted] and within [redacted] , which is great, but you are offering it at the same price I am paying for bottom basement service! I pay $a month for less than 1Mb/s down and less .5Mb/s up, but other customers are getting 1gb/s down and up for the same priceAlso especially before you started having a tech in the office on the weekends we would experience constant service interruptionsThis household has been a customer for at least a decade, if not longer, and I truly feel like I am being ripped offI’m getting less than half the service for the same priceI wouldn’t even be upset if I was paying even $or $dollars less a monthI’m literally mile from your [redacted] office and I can’t get anything betterAt this point if another company were to offer me even double the service I’m getting now even if it was double the price I would switchI am very upset because every year we can do less and less on the antiquated equipment as the internet requires higher speedsI don’t feel that your company can hold off much longer on upgrading my service before I start to look for other solutions to receive better internet or at least similar internet at a lower rateI really want to stay with your company because I feel that overall you have done a great job for the majority of your customers, but as for my personal experience I am very angry and I really need to see some light at the end of the tunnelHow long must I wait for internet with reasonable speeds or slow internet at reasonable rates.Sincerely,CUSTOMER ————— On Sat, Feb 13, at 7:AM, PIONEER wrote: CUSTOMER, I understand your frustration The wireless technology that we employed years ago does not keep up with today’s customer demands That being said, we still maintain it for folks that cannot get anything else Even though your speed may not be as much as you want it is still cheaper than satellite or leased line servicesWe cannot offer you a lower price unfortunately because the tower sites cost us money to run and we have fewer customers on them than the original investment model allowed So less revenue and the same expense means we are probably losing money on the site We continue to operate the site with the hope of being able to provide new investment to the area either by ourselves or with the help of a grantNow, more specifically, the CUSTOMER AREA has been on our grant target list for over years That equates to the same amount of time that the ConnectME Authority has gone without offering grants So, the ConnectME Authority has just announced a funding round for and we will be submitting a request for CUSTOMER AREAWe applied before and just barely missed the mark We suspect that we have a pretty good case for the grant Unfortunately, if the grant does not go through, the number of people on CUSTOMER AREA do not allow a fiber build to occur with only private investment We would never make our money back if we invested and we are trying to provide a service and make money at the same timeI hope this reply helps with your understanding of why and how we are doing what we do We appreciate your patronage and want you to be happy That being said, if you need more than we can offer you should look into [redacted] Internet until we can get you more bandwidth Even if we get the grant it takes over a year to permit, design, and build the [redacted] lineThanks again for being a customerFeel free to contact us at any timePIONEER ——————— From: CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, at 8:AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Re: Frustrated Customer/Service issuesAlso one of the main things I enjoy doing only is playing MMO's and satellite internet isn't able to run them because of the delayWhen can I find out if you will receive the grant for our road? On Sat, Feb 13, at 8:AM, CUSTOMER wrote:I understand the problems you are having but currently the tower isn't even giving me the service I'm supposed to getThat being said my road had [redacted] run nearly to my house from the other end of the road and I would literally pay double for [redacted] let alone [redacted] ***Quite frankly I don't really see how your company operating at a loss on antiquated towers is my faultWhy should I be forced to pay for service I'm not receivingI should be paying for the quality of the service not infostructure you plan to phase outIf it's about the info structure why are [redacted] customers paying more seeing as how that should cost more to maintainAlso Satellite internet does not provide enough usageWe would use up data cap within a weekIt's beyond frustrating because we have no viable options and I feel like I'm wasting my money especially since our rates were raised from last year to —————— We apply in April and the decision is made in June You will hear about it on our [redacted] page or you may go directly to http://maine.gov/connectme and view the awarded grantsPIONEER
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ***Please add your rejection comments below.
I am rejecting this response because Mr
*** is either misinformed or lyingWe always spoke to *** at this company with the same response"Someone is out there today, they will have to climb the tower to find the issue." As far as complaint on file..that is untrueI know I myself had called at least times and my husband had called multiple timesIt is not our fault that their customer service reps do not log every time we calledThey were aware of this issueAt the very least *** was aware because he was always the gentleman we spoke toAs far as why we didn't look elsewhere for another serviceI informed you in my complaint that we have no other choices available to usThe ones he listed either do not come up this way or are not equipped to stream anything or run videosUploading is slow and shuts off because the of the time it is taking to do soWe now have Hughes Net which took us another month before anyone could come up this way to install it and we have to run off a data planI can say one good t hing is that when their internet was working it was greatThis is why we stayed with themI was upset with the way they shut us down without a warning not the fact that they had a service that wouldn't work every day without issue.
Regards,
*** ***
A letter was sent to all customers served by the site that serve Ms*** on 3/27/ The letter is attached and states that as of 4/30/2017, the site would no longer be operational We trust that serves as proper notification and resolution of the problem. ***
Ms*** appears to be "recalling" a number of things that do not fit the timeline *** *** is the only *** we have ever had employed at Pioneer Broadband *** moved on to a copier repairman position with another company on 4/11/ Again, I sympathize with Ms***, but the circumstances do not warrant any compensation We offered our service until it was no longer feasible and we were not bound to a contract to provide service The customer could have left our service at any time after the initial contract term with no penalty, but chose to stay for whatever reasons When the electrical failure occurred we wrote a letter explaining the circumstances We applied a credit of $to her credit card on 4/28/because of an overpayment on the account.It is unfortunate that Ms*** feels wronged by the process We wish her all the best *** ***CEOPioneer Broadband
Pioneer Broadband maintains several different types of Internet access in rural Maine. Many years ago we employed unlicensed fixed broadband wireless Internet access and bill it as "up to 1Mbps download and 256 Kbps upload". It is a shared service. We do not support streaming due...
to the small amount of bandwidth on the system. For example, the tower site only has 3 Mbps available to share with all the customers. The customer radios are set to 1Mbps download and 256 Kbps upload. They have been this way for years. Our price for access is $49.95. We had a price increase from $44.95 two years ago. This customer is not bound by contract and can disconnect from the service at any time. Our prices are set to ensure a proper margin to keep the business afloat. Every year tower rent goes up by a percentage because we lease space and do not have our own tower at this site. The customer's argument about speed vs. cost might make sense to him, but unfortunately it is what it is. We have recommended that the customer seek service elsewhere if he needs more than we can offer. In this rural setting there are not many choices for reliable Internet access, but we do our best to provide good service. Unfortunately, our good service on wireless does not allow customers to stream shows or play online games effectively due to the technical aspects of the service that have not changed in a decade. I have included the email trail below. Pioneer does not feed obligated to alter our price for service. We once again recommend that the customer seek service elsewhere if they need more than we can offer. We are supplying the same service we have supplied for a decade. It is too expensive to upgrade the service without grant funding which we are constantly seeking for areas like the ones this customer lives in.-------------------------------------------------------------------------- F...⇄ CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 7:07 AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Frustrated Customer/Service issues. Dear Pioneer Broadband, My name is CUSTOMER and I live at CUSTOMER ADDRESS just outside the NEARBY town line. My wife and I are both avid internet users and enjoy spending time using services like [redacted], or Participate in online Gaming MMORPG’s and such. At our location the only service you offer is a Wireless Antenna on the outside of our house. I did a speedtest this morning at [redacted]. It’s currently 6:30 am on Saturday. Ping was 29ms Download speed was 0.56 Mbps and Upload Speed was 0.28 Mbps. That is lower than what it should be but I have contacted tech support constantly to have them work on it. I have repeatedly asked for your company to try and upgrade our service and I do understand the the overhead to do so is necessarily there and that a grant might be needed to run [redacted] or cable to my house so poor internet speeds in and of itself don’t bother me. What does bother me is that my wife and I can’t reasonably even surf [redacted] at the same time to the point where we’ve been using cell data just to surf or Have to deal with constant buffering on [redacted]. That also in and of itself isn’t why I felt the need to contact you. The thing that really upsets me is that you’ve been able to run [redacted] cable and provide Gigabit service to towns like [redacted] and within [redacted], which is great, but you are offering it at the same price I am paying for bottom basement service! I pay $49.95 a month for less than 1Mb/s down and less .5Mb/s up, but other customers are getting 1gb/s down and up for the same price. Also especially before you started having a tech in the office on the weekends we would experience constant service interruptions. This household has been a customer for at least a decade, if not longer, and I truly feel like I am being ripped off. I’m getting less than half the service for the same price. I wouldn’t even be upset if I was paying even $10 or $20 dollars less a month. I’m literally 4.6 mile from your [redacted] office and I can’t get anything better. At this point if another company were to offer me even double the service I’m getting now even if it was double the price I would switch. I am very upset because every year we can do less and less on the antiquated equipment as the internet requires higher speeds. I don’t feel that your company can hold off much longer on upgrading my service before I start to look for other solutions to receive better internet or at least similar internet at a lower rate. I really want to stay with your company because I feel that overall you have done a great job for the majority of your customers, but as for my personal experience I am very angry and I really need to see some light at the end of the tunnel. How long must I wait for internet with reasonable speeds or slow internet at reasonable rates.Sincerely,CUSTOMER ————— On Sat, Feb 13, 2016 at 7:24 AM, PIONEER wrote: CUSTOMER, I understand your frustration. The wireless technology that we employed years ago does not keep up with today’s customer demands. That being said, we still maintain it for folks that cannot get anything else. Even though your speed may not be as much as you want it is still cheaper than satellite or leased line services. We cannot offer you a lower price unfortunately because the tower sites cost us money to run and we have fewer customers on them than the original investment model allowed. So less revenue and the same expense means we are probably losing money on the site. We continue to operate the site with the hope of being able to provide new investment to the area either by ourselves or with the help of a grant. Now, more specifically, the CUSTOMER AREA has been on our grant target list for over 2 years. That equates to the same amount of time that the ConnectME Authority has gone without offering grants. So, the ConnectME Authority has just announced a funding round for 2016 and we will be submitting a request for CUSTOMER AREA. We applied before and just barely missed the mark. We suspect that we have a pretty good case for the grant. Unfortunately, if the grant does not go through, the number of people on CUSTOMER AREA do not allow a fiber build to occur with only private investment. We would never make our money back if we invested and we are trying to provide a service and make money at the same time. I hope this reply helps with your understanding of why and how we are doing what we do. We appreciate your patronage and want you to be happy. That being said, if you need more than we can offer you should look into [redacted] Internet until we can get you more bandwidth. Even if we get the grant it takes over a year to permit, design, and build the [redacted] line. Thanks again for being a customer. Feel free to contact us at any time. PIONEER ——————— From: CUSTOMERDate: Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 8:24 AMTo: PIONEERSubject: Re: Frustrated Customer/Service issues. Also one of the main things I enjoy doing only is playing MMO's and satellite internet isn't able to run them because of the delay. When can I find out if you will receive the grant for our road? On Sat, Feb 13, 2016 at 8:00 AM, CUSTOMER wrote:I understand the problems you are having but currently the tower isn't even giving me the service I'm supposed to get. That being said my road had [redacted] run nearly to my house from the other end of the road and I would literally pay double for [redacted] let alone [redacted]. Quite frankly I don't really see how your company operating at a loss on antiquated towers is my fault. Why should I be forced to pay for service I'm not receiving. I should be paying for the quality of the service not infostructure you plan to phase out. If it's about the info structure why are [redacted] customers paying more seeing as how that should cost more to maintain. Also Satellite internet does not provide enough usage. We would use up data cap within a week. It's beyond frustrating because we have no viable options and I feel like I'm wasting my money especially since our rates were raised from 39.95 last year to 49.95. —————— We apply in April and the decision is made in June. You will hear about it on our [redacted] page or you may go directly to http://maine.gov/connectme and view the awarded grants. PIONEER