Thank you to all for following us and supporting our fight for fair internet service.
We are happy to see that we are finally getting our voices heard! Gov Hochul and the NY Department of Public Service are launching their own survey and speedtest to see where the issues are with broadband access throughout the state.
We’ve been following this battle against Optimum and other providers for some time and heard hundreds of complaints.
We cannot stress enough how imperative it is for EVERYONE to take action NOW!
The government finally seems to be listening and we may never get this chance again.
The survey and speed test itself can be found at the link below.
A few important points we gained from the release:
- PSC will
- Hold Public Hearings to be Held to Receive Input from Public and Other Stakeholders
- FIC will be looking into whether we can be included as “Other Stakeholder” and perhaps include our own research data.
- Identify areas at a census block level that are served by a sole provider and assess any state regulatory and statutory barriers related to the delivery of comprehensive statewide access to high-speed internet.
- Providers such as Optimum?!
- Identify instances where local governments have notified the Commission of alleged non-compliance with franchise agreements and instances of commission or department enforcement actions that have had a direct impact on internet access;
- Produce and publish on its website, a detailed internet access map of the state, indicating access to internet service by address;
- …and more!
- Hold Public Hearings to be Held to Receive Input from Public and Other Stakeholders
Part of this survey will run a speed test on your home network, so it can compare advertised speeds with what you are receiving. Make sure to run on your home network, preferably from a PC directly connected to your router.
The map is planned to be much more accurate than the FCC, checking individual residences instead of simply “Census block” level.
Below, we will include samples of some of the key questions you will see, including our clarifications and suggestions.
- Home address and county.
- Question 8 asks: “How would you describe where you live or are located in New York?”
- Suburbuan, Rural or Urban.
- Questions 13 for most residents, you would choose “no to either the Charter or Governor’s program.” Only choose the other two if you’ve participated in either program.
For question 14, most would select “Local Cable Company”. This includes Verizon, Spectrum, Optimum, Comcast. Cellular would be T-mobile 5G, Fixed Wireless would includeStarry Internet or NYCMesh.
4. Question 16 is one of, if not the most important.
Do you have active access to the Internet in your home from more than one provider excluding cellular?
As many of us are painfully aware, the answer here is “No – only 1 provider currently“
5. Questions 17 and 18 ask about pricing for internet service. This is the first place where you can submit a comment, in Question 18. Select option “Yes I am but…”
Here, we would not list your “promotional price”, but instead list the price for what internet service would be after the promotion expires. This is the more honest number to use when comparing services.
6. Short comment about question 22. You can of course answer however you choose. Keep in mind, there are providers around the country that offer Gigabit for $50/month without a bundle. Frankly, us here at FIC don’t think we should spend another dime for internet service that others are already getting cheaper and faster.
7. Remember, you don’t need cable TV channels from your provider. Live TV Streaming is here and more affordable than ever. TV Service shouldn’t be a bargaining point for broadband internet.
8. This is the last point where you can submit your own comments. If you’d like a copy of the comments you submitted to our survey, send us an email and we’ll send it back to you.
Broadand Access is of course essential today and we hope everyone submitting selects “YES” for questions 34.
And that’s it! We highly encourage that you send the survey link (or this blog post) to your friends/family, email, coworkers, Facebook groups, wherever you can!
This is the best chance we’ve ever had to finally have our voices heard.