NastyMcT : Alaskan Blogger

While there are many advantages to living in Alaska.  Competition and reasonable prices in the internet provider sector are bleak at best.

I’m not totally picking on GCI in this post, but they are the butt of my anger. 

I live in Wasilla. There are two choices for high speed internet here. MTA (Matenuska Telephone Association) or GCI.

MTA = DSL / GCI = Cable

Now I don’t need to explain that even with two big choices, it’s still a monopoly. But here’s my beef.

Internet transfers are metered. When they’re not metered, IE: unlimited, it’s the most expensive package. If you get the cheaper package, and go over your monthly transfer limit (typically 5gigs to 25gigs), it’s $5 PER GIG you’re over. Remember when AOL was by the minute?? This is what it reminds me of.

So fine. I sign up with MTA. My unlimited 128K internet is $139.99 + taxes per month. Now I need a phone line to have DSL, and even with NO bells and whistles, it’s $40 a month.  So for just under $200 a month. I have internet, and a phone line I NEVER use.  This scenario doesn’t even include any TV channels. And honestly, other than a few original series on Showtime and HBO, I don’t watch it.

After about 3 months, I decide since I never use my landline, that it’s a waste of money and want to switch to GCI. With GCI, obviously cable, I won’t need a home phone, and at the time… gci was just coming online and offering local phone service in Wasilla. With GCI, I sign up for the Ultimate Package. This includes GCI’s only unlimited internet option, the usual cable channels, and 150 of long distance (which I don’t care about and don’t use). I have a DVR box, and a regular box, HBO & Showtime. Monthly total around $150. So for less money, I have everything I need.

Fast forward. When we disconnected the MTA, our local phone was obviously disconnected. So this week I had to call GCI to resolve a billing issue.  After I made my payment, the guy noticed I don’t have local service with them, and explained that since they offer local phone service in Wasilla now, I need to add local service onto my plan, or I will be put on the stand alone internet/cable plans.  Doesn’t sound so bad right?

Wrong! The stand alone plan has a limit of 25gigs per month.  When Sean is here, we use substantially more bandwidth. For instance last month, we used around 65gigs. I told him I had never been told the stand alone plans have a 25gig limit, or that we were REQUIRED to have phone service to be on the Ultimate Extreme plan.

I mean, I know we’re getting screwed here in Alaska, and I know they’re trying to push their local phone services, but I think it’s really unfair, that people who signed up for a package under one assumption, are being forced to add services to their bill/plan, to keep the same plan.

The way it was handled though was pretty shitty. I was more or less threatened, in a nice way, that I could add local phone service THAT DAY, or he would switch me (against my wishes and without my permission) to the stand alone plan, and my internet for last month would be a staggering $225.  Then of course, my cable would be stand alone and more I’m sure.  I was pissed.

I told him I needed to talk it over with the other person I lived with, so he was SO KIND to give me two days to decide, or he would just switch me to the stand alone plan… since I had been “getting away” with having the Ultimate Package without a phone line, WHEN NO ONE TOLD ME DIFFERENTLY.

Anyway. I added the fucking phone package. I’m getting a $25 credit each month for three months, which will basically cover the local phone service. Then God only knows how much my total bill will be after everything is said and done.

My other choice is to drop to a stand alone cable plan, which will be $99.00 plus tax, with a 25gig limit. So I’ll pay the $60-70 extra a month, so I can have unlimited internet, and tv, for those few shows I do watch…. and a fucking land line, which I will never use, and never even plug a phone in to.

I switched from MTA to get rid of a service I didn’t use or need, the phone.  And now MTA’s competitor is forcing me to get a service I don’t want or need, a phone. Do you see the problem here?  And they know we have no other choices. NONE.  Clearwire isn’t in Wasilla yet. Maybe when AT&T finally has their 3G network up and running here, I’ll go 3G wireless internet, and be done with it.

I think it’s their last ditch effort, to suck as much money out of us as they can. Both companies offer basically the same services now for around the same price, and they will never “be competitive” and lower their prices, they have the market locked up.

If I ever wanted to start my own ISP, it’s now.

Anyone want to help?

Laura