To address ongoing problems with internet service providers, residents of the Hunt Club Farms neighborhood in unincorporated Warren Township visited with members of the Lake County Board’s Financial and Administrative Committee. A 10-year agreement between Lake County and Comcast for cable internet service in unincorporated regions is up for renewal. In October, it is scheduled to expire.
At the meeting on Thursday, board member Carissa Casbon, who represents the neighborhood, begged the county to finally assist the community in getting high-speed internet via Comcast’s direct service lines. According to Casbon, Comcast is asking the subdivision to pay $400,000, or nearly $3,000 per household, to install service in the community.
In addition, Casbon said that other cable competitors had abandoned the area during the past ten years due to Comcast’s franchising arrangement. Even after the payment, residents would still have a monthly expense. For the right to use their service, people shouldn’t have to pay $400,000, Casbon told the News-Sun. Particularly given that they have had that exclusivity arrangement (with Lake County) for a long time and have eliminated everyone from the market.
Mustafa Badrudduja said the Wi-Fi service alternatives have been harmful during his four or five years of residing in Hunt Club Farms. To think that I do not have the internet access I need in this day and age is quite surprising, Badrudduja said. “I can walk to Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Gurnee Mills. “It makes no sense how it could be.”
Badrudduja claimed that although he has managed to get by without high-speed internet, his four children have been affected, particularly during the pandemic. Although I overcame this, my school-age children have undoubtedly suffered due to excessive internet use, according to Badrudduja.
Aimee Reissenweber, a local of Hunt Club Farms, claimed that her husband was forced to work from home using a hot spot because the Wi-Fi connectivity was unstable. Reissenweber stated, “I know that the internet situation has caused new people to question their decision to live here. “The majority of people relocated here from an area with fast internet. One of my most significant worries is that it will scare away potential buyers.
According to Casbon, the community satisfies Comcast’s requirements for density yet is only a mile away from existing hookup locations. According to her, the time before reentering the agreement is “the only leverage we have” to assist the people of Hunt Club Farms. She thinks Lake County ought to claim that Comcast is failing to fulfill its service quality criteria by failing to provide service to all of the county’s unincorporated areas.
This corporation did have an exclusive arrangement with us, and as a result of having that complete agreement, Casbon stated, “We’re talking about a David-and-Goliath situation here.” The contract is anticipated to bring in the county around $1 million annually, according to Steve Reiss of the Lake County state’s attorney’s office. He claimed that the county’s leverage in the circumstance is “very modest.”
Reiss added, “It’s not like we can go to Comcast with our entire list of requests and then say, well, we’re not going to sign this agreement. It’s a time-consuming, expensive procedure, he continued. “And here is the most crucial point: It is extremely improbable that the outcome of that procedure will have a relationship to Hunt Club Farms.”
