Breaking News: Speedconnect to make Sweeping Internet Improvements

This info comes from Diana Judson, your PVPOA Vice-President who invited SpeedConnect to come to our last PV Board meeting.

A number of our PVPOA members expressed a concern about internet service speed, reliability and ability to reach someone in the event of a problem with Speedconnect (formerly eSedona). We asked Speedconnect to come to our last PVPOA meeting on Saturday, February 28, to address these concerns.  We were fortunate to have Matt Zurcher from Speedconnect speak to us about Internet service in Pine Valley and what we can expect in the coming months.

Matt advised us that Speedconnect management is well aware of the slow service speed, repetitive “buffering” on movies and overall reliability of the service, but assured us that Speedconnect has the financial resources and the plans in place to improve service and reliability in our area.

He gave us a brief overview of the history of the merger of Speedconnect and eSedona and the planned service enhancements.

“When SpeedConnect bought out eSedona, CommSpeed, and Swift Wireless back in November 2014, they inherited their existing network.  That existing network currently offers customer’s speeds at a rather dismal 1.5 to 3 Mbps download speed and approximately .5 Kbps upload speed.  

“For the last 3 months, SpeedConnect has diligently been working on upgrades that include fiber-drops and battery backups at tower locations.  It has been very time consuming, but in the end it will be beneficial for all, including those residents in Pine Valley.

“SpeedConnect plans on deploying LTE sites throughout the service area (Coconino and Yavapai Counties), which should be completed by the end of June of 2015.

“When completed, along with the other upgrades, SpeedConnect will be able to offer download speeds up to 20 Mbps and upload speeds of 5 Mbps.”

Matt went on to say that they intend to keep the Sedona office open for service calls and we should expect a marked improvement in service, speed and reliability in the coming months as Speedconnect comes up to speed on the merger and all around planned improvements.

There was a rather large group in attendance at our meeting, and many questions were peppered at Matt, and he seemed very confident that these improvements are definitely planned and already in the works.  Other members present at the meeting commented that they were in contact with Century Link, who basically has no intention of increasing service to our small market.  If you are one of the few on the limited capacity Century Link service in Pine Valley, consider yourself lucky!  At this time, they apparently are not able to service any new clients, nor is our market large enough for them to consider making any further financial outlay.

One of the most interesting things that Matt explained was in the works, was that the new service is going to act much like your cell phones, all WIRELESSLY.  The state of the art modems that they are going to be providing after the upgrade will not require any wires or drilling into roofs or walls.  This is the newest leading edge technology, 4G LTE (stands for Long Term Evolution) that is available on the market today.  This technology has the ability to “see through walls,” and can deliver a much faster and much more reliable internet experience.

For those of us living in the lovely peaks and valleys in Pine Valley, we are promised that this service will outperform anything we’ve seen here, penetrate all those peaks and valleys and provide a universal, fast and reliable service for all residents.  Most members remain skeptical, having “heard this all before,” but I got the distinct impression that Speedconnect did not invest ONLY in Yavapai and Coconino counties, NOT to capture the market and provide the promised upgrades.  Certainly, it would be a foolish investment to sink all this money in these three acquisitions, and NOT outperform the competitors in their chosen area.  The consensus among members, however,  was a “wait and see” attitude.

Proposed Costs

If you are an existing Speedconnect (eSedona) client, your prices are grandfathered in.

For example, I am an existing Speedconnect client on the old eSedona $39.95 monthly plan.  This plan gives me unlimited  data usage, but at a VERY SLOW SPEED:  1.5 Mbps download and .5 upload.  Hence all the “buffering” on my Netflix movies, and unbelievably slow internet upload/download speeds.  I understand that there is another existing eSedona plan that is a bit more expensive – 59.95.  This too is an unlimited data usage plan, but at 3Mbps download and .5 upload, twice as fast as my plan – but still horrendously slow.  IF you want that promised FASTER download speeds up to 20 Mbps and upload speeds of 5 Mbps, you will need to upgrade to a new plan.

The plans are broken down into three plans, and are priced basically like your cell phone, allowing increasing amount of data usage at the higher price points:

1. The least expensive plan allows 7GB on monthly data usage and costs $46.95 per month ($39.95 plus $7.00 a month for that amazing lightning fast modem rental mentioned above) – then you pay $2.00 per Gig used over the plan allotment.
2. The mid-range plan allows 100GB on monthly data usage and costs $53.95 per month ($46.95 plus $7.00 a month for that amazing lightning fast modem rental mentioned above) – then you pay $2.00 per Gig used over the plan allotment.
3. The unlimited plan allows unlimited monthly data usage and costs $59.95 per month (includes the amazing lightning fast modem) – no other charges – data usage is unlimited.

Of note, Matt indicated that, on average, an hours worth of Netflix uses about 1 GB of data usage.  So that can add up quickly if you subscribe to movies over the internet.

In summary, the Gig usage difference between the lowest priced plan and the unlimited plan is about 6 GB of usage.  (6x$2.00 GIG = $12.00 + $46.95= approximately $59.00).

Finally, for existing Speedconnect (eSedona) clients, if you want to UPGRADE your existing service to one of the above plans, there will be NO ACTIVATION FEE.

Activation Fees Explained

If you are NOT an existing Speedconnect (eSedona) client, and you are considering moving your service to Speedconnect from another provider, there is a $99.00 onetime activation fee.  Your PVPOA board has negotiated a discount for PVPOA members on this activation fee:  PVPOA members receive a 50% discount on this one time activation fee, or just $50.00!

If you are not a PVPOA member, consider joining the PVPOA – for ONLY $30.00 per year to get this discount!  You get all those PVPOA benefits that your board has spearheaded for you, including that arsenic-free water that we all now enjoy.  We are also introducing curbside yard debris collection in 2015, no more bi-annual dumpsters!  You get pertinent neighborhood news, that all-important Big Park update and those wonderful mixers to meet and greet your neighbors at the spring and Christmas parties and MORE!  Now you get this Speedconnect discount!  You will save $19.00 overall on switching over to Speedconnect, by joining your Pine Valley Property Owner’s Association! ($99.00 original activation fee less $30.00 annual PVPOA dues, less $50.00 discounted activation fee = $19.00 SAVED!).  Click here for a form to join the PVPOA and get this Speedconnect discount:

Above the price plans, along with PVPOA member Activation Fee discount of $50.00 as noted on the bottom of the price sheet.

If you want to sign up for this service AND get this $50.00 activation fee discount, here’s how you do it:

1. Call or email Matt Zurcher at Speedconnect: Phone:  928-772-1111 x 183   Email:  matt.zurcher@speedconnect.com
2. Advise him that you are  Pine Valley Property owner HOA member and you want that activation fee discount of only $50.00.
3. Give him all your information and select the service level you wish.
4. Matt will contact our membership director,  Rose Marie to verify your membership in the PVPOA and you are on your way to FASTER internet speeds!

Finally, once we have reached June of this year, when Speedconnect has promised that the upgrades will be in place, there will be PVPOA members who are going jump on this promised upgrade.  We’ll ask our members who have upgraded at that time  for a report on the results of the promised upgrades for you to review on this website, and then we’ll see if Speedconnect has made good on their promises.  Then you can make an informed decision about your internet service in Pine Valley.

STAY TUNED – JUNE IS ONLY 3 MONTHS AWAY!