Customers of a broadband internet provider that serves northern New England — including some in remote communities such as Grand Lake Stream — have been without service for nearly two weeks over what the company calls a network issue.
Trailrunner Broadband Internet, which is owned and operated by Portland company Wireless Partners, has posted messages on Facebook saying it is trying to resolve the issue with Consolidated Communications, which owns the physical distribution network that carries its internet signal to customers.
Consolidated, however, has said the issue is one of “payment for services rendered.” In other words, Consolidated has restricted Trailrunner’s use of its network over what it says are unpaid bills.
Kathi Milicia, who lives in remote Grand Lake Stream in Washington County, says she has been without internet at her home since Feb. 19. She said she has both landline and cellular phone service at her house, and has been calling Trailrunner regularly to try to find out when her home internet service will be restored.
“We just want to know what’s going on,” Milicia said Tuesday. “We’re not happy, but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything that can be done.”
The problem isn’t affecting just people who live in Grand Lake Stream. The Portland Press Herald reported last week that 600 Trailrunner customers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have been without service.
Caitlyn Lyons, Grand Lake Stream’s town clerk, said several residents have relayed their frustrations to the town. Lyons says Grand Lake Stream uses the satellite-based Starlink for internet access at the town office, but that she uses Trailrunner at home.
Grand Lake Stream has 125 or so year-round residents, though that number roughly doubles when seasonal residents arrive for the summer, Lyons said. The town office is open for only a few hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so Lyons sometimes performs work tasks from her home — when she has working internet access there.
She said that in the meantime, some local Trailrunner customers have been coming to the town office, even when it is closed, to access the town’s Starlink from their cars while they are parked out front.
“They’re not giving us info, either,” Lyons said. “They say they’re working on it, but they’re not really telling us much.”
Bob Parsloe, the head of Wireless Partners, did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. But the company did post an update Monday evening on its Facebook page.
“We have turned off comments on our posts to try to stop the inaccurate information customers and non-customers have been spreading,” the company wrote. “Please know we are doing EVERYTHING we can to resolve this situation as quickly as possible and we understand the frustration this is causing many of you.”
Milicia, a former select board member in Grand Lake Stream, said Trailrunner temporarily has sent subscriber identity module — or SIM — cards to some customers so they can use their cell phones for internet access, but those haven’t worked for everyone.
She said she has looked into switching to satellite internet service, but lives in the woods and doesn’t want to cut trees down to ensure a receiver dish on her house could get a signal.
She said Trailrunner has offered to credit customer accounts for the outage after it is resolved — but she still doesn’t like having to pay in the meantime for a service she isn’t getting.
“It’s just frustrating to run in circles every day,” she said. “I don’t know how long they expect our loyalty to last.”
