How the Internet Should Work in America

Today I received a check from EPB Chattanooga, which provided my family and I with high quality fiber internet while we lived in Chattanooga TN between April 2013-June 2015. The check was for $29.94 and was a refund for overpaying them during the time we used their services.

Here’s a photo of that check: IMG_0281

Let me also take this moment to say that when we were living in Chattanooga TN that our monthly bill for 100 Mbps/sec internet service was only $57.99 and that there was no data cap. Here’s a copy of that bill: Screenshot-2

I moved to Titusville PA knowing that the internet situation wouldn’t be the same and I was ok with it. I knew Chattanooga TN and EPB was special. But here’s what I’m running into month after month with our internet service provider here in Pennsylvania:


What’s different? First and foremost, the price of the actual internet: $89.95 for a service that gives us 30-50 Mbps. FUN FACT: we just got an email saying that the price is going up to $99.95/month for this same service. What else do we see here? ADDITIONAL INTERNET USAGE fees. Yes, we have a data cap. How much data do we get? 400 GB/month. I know that sounds like a lot, but when you have 2 tech savvy homeschooling kids, a wife that does virtual assistant work from home, and your awesome mother in law lives with you and everyone streams YouTube and Netflix the data usage goes through the roof. We usually go over by 50-100 GB, but as you can see in January/February we went over by 350 GB, costing us an additional $70. That’s $70 taken away from either our monthly grocery bill or the money we’re spending to repair Fidelia Hall. It’s tough, especially when I believe that everyone out there should have equal, cheap (I also like free but hey I get it), and accessible ways to get the internet.

I’m not writing this to specifically call out Armstrong Internet because hey you’ve actually been really kind to us and have provided a great service. You may want to think about your ADDITIONAL INTERNET USAGE fees and how you should reconsider what those may be financially doing to a family living in the modern age where internet is needed to function from day to day.

I’m writing this to give a real world example of what equal and cheap internet access SHOULD look like in our country. America is pretty awesome and a lot of us have a really good life here. Access to the internet should be available to everyone and should be available at affordable rates. There should be no ADDITIONAL INTERNET USAGE fees. No one should worry about using too much internet. No one should have to pay more for using too much internet. HECK, no one should have to decide whether to pay a student loan or put food on the table or use the internet at home. These things should just happen.

I ask you to think about this. Armstrong, I ask you to reconsider your ADDITIONAL INTERNET USAGE fees. We’re not using your service for evil. We’re using it to learn and to enjoy a movie together as a family.

Thank you.



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