Turner promises top notch broadband services
Published 6:31 pm Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Turner Broadband owner Shane Turner told the Decatur County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday his upgraded internet service will deliver on a level the county has never seen before.
After dealing with a failing internet service and a disgruntled customer base, Turner addressed the commissioners with his plans to fix it. Turner wasn’t able to disclose who he had struck a deal with or the specifics of his upgraded service due to a non-discloser agreement, he said.
“A lot of this I am having to tiptoe around,” Turner said. “Just understand this new equipment is nothing that Decatur County has ever seen. It is nothing that Verizon or AT&T has. The investors are strong when it comes to not giving you something that is up to date. They are going to give you something that is advanced. Period.”
When Turner took over Main Street Broadband in August 2012, the company was under contract with Decatur County to provide quality internet to anyone in the county. The equipment used to provide the service is attached to Decatur County towers. For months, county commissioner Russell Smith pushed for an updated contract to be drafted that would give Turner the permission to update the equipment while holding him accountable with Decatur County for providing his internet service.
Turner said he plans to have the new service up and running within the next 60 days, but that wouldn’t equate to how quickly customers would have the service in their homes.
“That will almost be impossible just for the sheer manpower (I would need),” Turner told the commissioners. “It also depends on how many people I can get trained up. But the tower sites will be up in the next 60 days.”
Training new employees is definitely on Turner’s shortlist, he said.
In the next six to nine months, he hopes to increase the Turner Broadband workforce by 20 men.
Other service improvements will include a 24-hour service hotline that customers can call for immediate assistance.
“This is something that Decatur County has never seen,” Turner said. “It is putting us up there with Atlanta. It’s a metropolitan internet service that is going to be used by a rural community. Very exciting times.”