When you are living in rural areas, you often don’t have some of the luxuries that people in big cities enjoy.

Some things, however, like phone lines and internet connections are provided thanks to government subsidies, but what would you do if the internet service provider in your area was collecting the subsidies but not providing you the services?

That is what the person in this story experienced, so he contacted the FCC and got the ISP in big trouble.

Let’s read all the details.

Siccing the FCC on Hawaiian Telcom

So for about a year I was living in a rain-forest on the eastern side of Hawaii (the big island).

It was 2012 I was working independently as an amateur video game designer (with the help of my loving parents who lived in California).

There was just one problem, high speed internet was hard to come by in the rural farmland areas of Hawaii.

Whatever works I guess.

I managed to make temporary solution by wrapping my cellphone in plastic and hanging it outside in the rain, wired with a long usb cable to use it tethered to my laptop.

The problem was that cellular internet was VERY expensive and my bills were reaching $150 each month for cellphone usage which was not feasible in the long run.

I tried ordering from the local company “Hawaiian Telcom,” but they tell me they aren’t servicing my area.

So I looked into what companies were servicing my area.

This is some interesting information.

While looking around I find out a few things.

President Obama had signed into law a measure to reward cable companies for servicing rural areas.

It turns out phone and cable companies dont care to bring services to rural areas.

They have to set up a ton of telephone poles just to reach a few houses, and its a much better business strategy to just compete with each other in cities since there are already poles everywhere and many more houses to steal business from their competitors.

Years ago when telephones and television were becoming a thing, nobody wanted to extend the service to rural areas and farmland.

It took the FCC to force companies to extend the service nationwide for the benefit of the whole nation, NOT just the cities.

This makes sense.

Its this regulatory philosophy that ensures that our rural areas don’t fall too far behind.

This is why even the most Podunk backwater places in the US are often miles above rural areas in other countries.

So, you built a giant metropolis in the desert?

So what? 20 miles away your poor people are still sacrificing goats.

Take care of your poor farmers. They are the legs you stand on.

Anyway, In 2009 it was decided that the economic benefits of high speed WIRED internet needed to be shared with all Americans in the same way that telephones and television were, and that the FCC would be giving paychecks out to cable companies for EACH HOUSE they put in their “jurisdiction” (not how many they actually serve just for every house that had the option to sign up).

There are always excuses.

So, I look up the governement broadband plan website that finds out which companies are serving your area and guess what?

It was Hawaiian Telcom.

My whole section of rainforest (called Hawaiian Acres) was supposedly being serviced by Hawaiian Telcom.

So, I called them back and they were basically like (we are serving Hawaiian acres, but your house is too far and we would only come out there if you wanted to set up a T1 Line for 300$ a month instead of the 19 dollars a month.

Btw we had telephone poles, they would just have to add the wires to start servicing our forest.

Of course, they do the minimum required.

So, I start asking around and found out that the only houses being served are the 3 houses in the far lower corner of hawaiian acres.

The same corner that just happens to be touching the edge of Keaau, a town that DID have high speed wired internet.

I started corresponding for a few weeks with the FCC to discuss the evidence I gathered and the puzzle pieces start to fall into place.

Basically Hawaiian Telcom put in just enough wires to stretch the internet from Keaau to the 3 houses and then told the FCC that our WHOLE area was now available to service, just that the podunk backwater hawaiian farmers didn’t care about having high speed internet.

This was a lie because people in hawaiian acres had a message board they would access on their cellphones, and we talked about how much we wanted real internet and not cellular.

They did that to themselves.

Anyway, the FCC had been giving Hawaiian telcom thousands of dollars in subsidies and rewards for serving all these rural areas, when in fact, they weren’t and the last I talked to the FCC investigator, they were fining Hawaiian Telcom, putting them under review, and forcing them to pay back their unearned money.

I wish I had the exact details, but that’s all I gathered about the situation.

After this incident Hawaiian Telcom finally put the wires in for the rest of the farmers to get online.

At least everyone finally got the internet connection they were entitled to.

Let’s read on to see what other people in the comments on Reddit have to say.

Here is another person with a Hawaiian Telcom horror story.

Sometimes the ISPs just make no sense.

Here is a Hawaiian who says Internet prices are still way too high.

This person is having a similar problem.

I hope Hawaiian Telcom got a huge fine for this.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.