Stalland Letter to IAC 8-13-20201
k.cammilleri
From:k.cammilleri
Sent:Thursday, August 13, 2020 5:08 PM
Subject:Scandia Internet Action Committee - August 13 meeting input
From: Nancy Stalland
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2020 3:52 PM
To: mail <mail@ci.scandia.mn.us>
Cc: Scott Ivester; Melody Ivester; Peter Stalland
Subject: Scandia Internet Action Committee - August 13 meeting input
TO: Scandia Internet Action Committee & Steve Kronmiller
Thank you Steve and all members of the Internet Action Committee for your countless hours spent working to improve
internet services in the Scandia community.
We would like to present several concerns and observations as you and your group move forward. We have been Midco
internet customers for a number of years, working from home.
With the onset of Covid-19, and the stay at home orders instituted in March 2020 our community has changed to more
adults working remotely from home, and more kids working at home online - both full time distance learning and part-
time hybrid models for school. We anticipate this increase in internet usage will continue as our "new normal". It is
highly unlikely that the internet needs of our area will decrease over time.
1. We are concerned that the Midco expansion planned and proposed prior to the onset of Covid-19 is currently
insufficient in terms of bandwidth and capacity.
2. While our neighborhood is outside of the Midco expansion area that is partially funde d by the DEED grant, we
believe our experience as adults working remotely from home and having students using distance learning
and in need of online resources applies to those within the expansion area and will hopefully be taken into
account as Scandia plans for further internet needs.
3. Our confidence in the stability of Midco’s internet service has greatly diminished in the past 3-4 months as our
neighborhood continues to experience periods of decreased connectivity, dropped internet (and phone line)
coverage which impacts our jobs - particularly when "zoom" or other types of online meetings are scheduled
with multiple individuals & rescheduling is difficult.
4. We have been told that unless each individual homeowner calls the Midco service line (1-800-888-1300), it is
assumed that the homeowner has done something wrong, or their lines are at fault. Our neighbors are
communicating and calling and many of the outages are a result of the relay station for our area having
problems. We have also been told that the Scandia expansion area is a different relay station from the one
that services our neighborhood, and thus the expansion work should not affect our relay station. The outages
last from 2-3 hours during normal business days.
5. We have had Midco reset the "VPNP setting" of our modem, we have had new modems installed in our home
(both from Midco and personally purchased). We have also had new lines and cable connectors replaced
within our homes, and from our home to the street's "main line".
6. On a recent troubleshooting visit, a Midco technician making a house call suggested that Midco verify
possible "interference" caused by other homes in our area, and is supposedly checking our neighborhood
relay station for problems.
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7. Is Midco prepared or planning to increase the bandwidth to our areas and ensure greater stability of the
network infrastructure, so that multiple users can be online with less disruption - either in speeds or
decreased coverage?
8. Is there a long term plan to bring fiber optic lines to Scandia in 5, 10 or 15 years?
Thank you once more for your time on this important issue that impacts citizens' ability to work from home and our
students' ability to maximize their educational opportunities.
Sincerely,
Nancy & Peter Stalland
Scott & Melody Ivester