Our current Qwest-provided fiber optic Internet service runs at 8 Mbps (download) and 1.5 Mbps (upload). It costs us about $35 per month.

This is much slower than Comcast's offerings. For $30 per month, Comcast provides almost triple the speed (20 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload).

Who should I talk to about improving our Internet service?

Lol, good luck. The HOA sent out a poll several months ago to decide on if they would review our internet options. Since they weren't real specific on WHY they gave the poll (only those on daybreak daily really knew why it went out), people voted that they were happy and thus they decided to keep things the way the were. There have been numerous attempts to switch providers, let residents choose whats best for them, etc, but all in all, the HOA has stopped listening since the poll went out.

JustMe hit it on the nose, except the HOA/Kennecott never really did listen. The actions taken, like sending out a survey (which I never received) is just lip service. A show to say they extended the effort.

Complaints have been submitted on this issue for years. Our over lord Kennecott just doesn't give a big rat's rear end how the system works. "Fiber optics" is a major buzz word for marketing. Whether it works or not, doesn't matter as long as it looks good in print. Kind of like them calling the Dog Park a premier amenity.

The obligatory service from Qwest is a joke. Our corporate masters get to decide what service we need, who we will buy it from, and how much it will cost. Oh, and we also get the privilege of subsidizing the service for those who do not pay their communications assessment (and that includes all of those vacant bank owned houses). Isn't the free market wonderful?

The "survey" was a non-scientific sham and was obviously written to get the desired outcome. I liked the question about whether we would want to select another provider even if it meant that our costs would rise dramatically. All it lacked was some scary music.

I stopped using the service entirely more than two years ago because Qwest was never able to make it work properly. Since then, I have continued to pay my Qwest assessment every quarter. I'm finally fed up, and I'm to the point where I'm ready to explore legal action to allow those who wish to opt out to be able to do so. At a minimum, the discovery process would force disclosure of the actual terms of the contract between Kennecott and Qwest, which I suspect would be very enlightening.

I've actually been quite happy with my service so far. It's been reliable and speedy. At this point I would just like it to also be competitively priced for the service. In my view, it would be a good value if it were either increased to 15Mbps or if the price were reduced to $20/month.

Oh, and the funny thing is that fiber optic is such an odd technology choice for such a slow network connection. Fiber can carry data well into the gigabit range. It seems rather odd to use it for such measely speeds as 8Mbps.