Better cell phone service for Newton/ Ransom

[Ed]

Newton/Ransom twp. could use a Nextel cell phone tower to better serve the residents. Cell phones add efficiency and time savings to everybody's life.

[Sal]

As a supervisor, I would support this however I have doubts that Carl would go along with it.

Carl works for Verizon.  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:

[davidk]

Please tell me neither of you are going to use that annoying Verizon catchphrase in your campaign.

[JoeP]

Carl works for Verizon eh?  Maybe he can bring Verizon voice & DSL into Newton and break the monopoly Commonwealth Telephone has on us for both of these services.

Another point, I became active in this site and Newton politics as a result of the garbage contract the supervisors foisted on us.  I have since learned that Lakeland Sanitation can serve our community competitively and at the each resident's discretion, on a per bag basis (currently $2.50 per bag).

I'll await the election/installation of the new supervisors who can review the current garbage contract for legality and possible replacement with something that better serves Newton and its residents.

JoeP

[Sal]

I’ll let Carl or Susie answer about Verizon since they work there and know a lot more about it than me.

Copies of the garbage contract, bid and ordinance are available on this website and I looked them over carefully.  The contract could be challenged but that would result in legal action that I think would only end up costing the taxpayers money.   However, I am not saying that nothing can be done because I think there is.

One of the problems is that there was only one bid and so WM got it.  I would think that when there is a large contract to be awarded, companies should be contacted so that they know they could bid on it.

There is no question that there are things that can be done with the ordinance that would be fairer to the people of Newton Township.  When Carl and I are supervisors, that and other nuisance ordinances will be addressed.

There are a lot of people that are being harassed by Waste Management’s collection agency that keeps trying to collect around $50.00 for services that they never received and there are certainly things that can be done about that.

[susie]

Hi JoeP,  us mere bottom level employees at Verizon cannot affect how our company decides to do business.            As far as land based telephone lines are concerned I have always been told by our company (even before the great AT&T split up in the early 80's), that the companies do not make money in the rural areas.  The cost of facilities on a per customer basis prohibit it.  In the pre-divesture days,  AT&T would subsidize the land service with long distance profits.  The money to be made in that kind of venture is where there are more people especially business customers concentrated in a smaller area.  And I'll bet to a degree that's true of wireless services who are looking at the cost of cell towers and associated equipement and how much revenue it will actually bring them.  As it stands there has been an opening of competition into the Verizon areas whereas someone like Commonwealth can sell their services using Verizon's infrastructure.  I think that if they wished Verizon could do the same.  But it is not an attractive revenue propositon.  I do know that Verizon pushed to have competitors come into it's areas so that it could prove it was allowing competition and have restrictions against itself lifted so it could get into inter-state long-distance service.  There are so many regulations and requirements in an FCC and PUC controlled environment.  And then even when you look at competitiors coming into Verizon's areas, they do not want the rural areas.  They want the big lucrative cities where they can spend less money to get alot more customers!!!    :lol:    Us rural people are kind of stuck as long as the businesses out there want to maximize their profits.  Even the deal that Waste Management offered probably has to do with the cost of collecting garbage in a less populated area vs. where all the houses are right next to each other.  I just view living in a rural area as you give up something to get something else.      :D

[JoeP]

Thanks for the detailed response Susie.  I wouldn't give up our rural way of life for technological modernization that often brings housing developments, traffic and other undesirable elements into our peaceful community.  But technology will eventually come to rural areas - like it or not.

First, regarding Nextel availability - I think Verizon is better in all aspects (service, availability, plans, support & price) over all other carriers, having used other wireless carriers over the years.  Nextel is a close 2nd but I'm told they won't share their towers with any other carrier or use any other carrier's towers.  And Newton won't generate enough Nextel customers for a profitable ROI to build a tower out here.

But something must be happening because Epix (Subsidiary of Commonwealth) just lowered their monthly DSL rate by $10 - and they the bumped the download speed up to 1.5 Mbs at no extra cost.  Plus if you renewed your expired contract for a year they gave you a free Linksys 4 port wireless (B) modem (I got one).  It appears they are positioning themselves to be more competitive but with whom?

While Commonwealth and Epix overall have provided solid service, they too may be doomed in the rural market.  WI-Fi and fixed wireless (using existing towers) are growing by leaps and bounds, people are dropping land lines (or at least their 2nd line) for cell phones and long distance landline calls (and revenue) has to be evaporating as everyone uses their free cell phone minutes for long distance.  The emerging VOIP (voice over IP) technology is another nail in the local landline's coffin.  Even their own DSL offering resulted in a revenue loss when most customers who had a 2nd landline, for dialup internet access, dropped it when they went to DSL.  

Power companies are now getting into movies, TV and internet access via the existing power cables running to our house.  Nothing to install but a black box - the infrastructure is already in place.  This along with satellite TV will break the cable company monopoly once and for all.  The communications landscape is changing rapidly.

Unfortunately, for those rural folks who cannot understand or embrace these new technologies (like grandparents, older folks), they may get stuck with increasing phone costs just because landline revenues will continue to decline in rural areas.

[Darkwizdm]

I Agree!
I get 1 bar if I hang outside my upstairs window.