Letters to the Editor
Internet blues
Dear Editor:
Towards the end of 2013, Digital 395 finally made it to Mammoth and the last mile was closed before the end of the year. Suddenlink disposed of its waiting list and took on new customers while guaranteeing a minimum of 15 Mbps service. Unfortunately, Suddenlink’s sales department was ahead of its engineering department. During this time, Suddenlink had not upgraded its system to meet the new demands. During the Christmas holidays of 2013, thousands of tourist hit town. Download speeds dropped to below 0.5 Mbps during the busiest times of day. One could forget streaming videos and other usage of the internet.
After I complained about this lack of service, the Suddenlink Senior Vice President for Western Operations, David Gilles, asked me to hold off writing a letter to the editor and “work with him”. He said that Suddenlink had grossly underestimated the surge demand that would occur during the holidays. He stated that Suddenlink would be upgrading some of the infrastructure and putting in a new server that had 10 times the capacity.
Fast forward to the 2014 Christmas holiday season. Yes there has been some improvement. But Suddenlink is still far from solving the surge problem. During the holidays, download rates were around 1.5 Mbps or lower during the busy times. During the evening streaming was impossible.
Our community is greatly impacted by tourism. We talk about improving the quality and quantity of rentals for our visitors. We formed a TBID to improve and amplify marketing. We have provided trails, skating rinks, and other amenities to attract tourists. More of the populace are using the internet for business as well as entertainment. It is a given that we must provide our citizens and our visitors with a first class internet system.
Suddenlink basically has a monopoly in Mammoth Lakes. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has jurisdiction over Suddenlink. One way for Suddenlink to get the message is to file a complaint with the FCC at http://www.fccgov/complaints.
John Stavlo
Mammoth Lakes
Out of paper, out of luck
Dear Editor:
I parked at the Village at Mammoth and went to the kiosk to pay for parking. The machine STATED it was out of paper and would not give a receipt, so I left the car without a pass. My daughter’s car as well as mine both got violations within 10 minutes of our leaving them. We were at the Village for not more than an hour.
It appears that the “attendant” is there to write violations only, and not to supply the kiosks with paper, or to assist people in paying fines. The kiosk does not have paper!
I almost paid the fine without proof of payment, but this is something I’m not willing to do, and there was no one there who admitted to being an attendant. Rather than escaping LA, this seems like something I would have to deal with in LA.
If I pay a fine, I expect a receipt.
Dan Haynes
Mammoth Lakes
