Congressman Doug Collins Continues To Inquire About Windstream’s Poor Quality Of Service

Congressman Doug Collins (R-GA-09) has sent a letter to Windstream CEO Tony Thomas regarding issues with customers not getting the quality of service that they are paying for.  That’s not usually a thing a congressman gets involved with, but the issue is that Windstream is participating in a federal government program to provide access to areas that do not have broadband service.

My understanding is that people aren’t getting the speeds they are paying for (i.e., paying for 10 Mbps and only getting 2 Mbps) and have made it known by calling the Congressman’s office and making their displeasure known.  Congressman Collins had sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler inquiring about the Phase II Connect America Fund grant that Windstream is using to expand its network in northeast Georgia. Chairman Wheeler responded outlining that Windstream, by the end of the project in 2020, will provide 65,000 customers with at least 10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up and will be subject to penalties if providers do not provide adequate service.

It sounds like that, although we aren’t to 2020, customers who have access aren’t getting the promised speeds.  Perhaps there are too many customers on the under-built network and, hopefully, that will be rectified as Windstream adds capacity.  We’ll wait to hear back from Windstream’s CEO and provide answers on why customers aren’t getting the service they should be receiving.