The City of New Bern continues to take action against a company accused of poor internet service.
City officials have created an email account where people can send their complaints about Suddenlink. New Bern is one of three cities in eastern North Carolina that has complained to the state about the service; the City of Washington sent a letter to Attorney General Josh Stein about the company earlier this year.
Suddenlink customers in New Bern told NewsChannel 12 said they are thankful the city has recognized their issues with Suddenlink and hope this is a step in the right direction to a better internet.
“It’s constantly shutting off and coming back on again, shutting off coming back on," said Tracy Brantley.
She said it is difficult to use her computer and other devices due to poor internet.
“Painful," she said, "it’s just pure hard to get them to do what I pay them to do which is have my service."
Brantley said she is a business owner, so reliable internet is a necessity.
“It affects my gaming system that runs off internet; our register that runs off internet; we do virtual learning that runs off internet," she explained. "Everything we do is centered around internet.”
She said she wants another option; and New Bern Mayor Dana Outlaw said she is not the only one with that sentiment.
“The amount of complaints we have on register is overwhelming," he said.
He said it was time for the city to step in and try to fix the problem of poor service.
“There's nothing wrong with amicably sitting down with Suddenlink and seeing if we can resolve the issues," he explained. "The issues are poor communication, service, lack of retail store. We are more than willing open arms, olive leaf out to work through this with Suddenlink, but at the same time, we have tried that.”
Outlaw said he is willing to work with Suddenlink but will look elsewhere if need be.
“The process procedurally is to look for some more competition,” said Outlaw.
Most importantly, he said he wants to see change.
“Politics starts at the grassroots, and this is a good example of it," he added. "The citizens getting involved and maybe we can make a difference for them. I am going to continue this process until our customers in eastern North Carolina get better internet service. "
Brantley said with the city involved, she hopes to see improvement.
“I felt like they were taking up for me," she said.
Outlaw said is he reaching out to other providers to see if people could have more than one option in New Bern. The City has set up an email for people to send complaints: suddenlinkconcerns@newbernnc.gov.
Officials said that the more complaints received, the more support the city gains in the fight against poor service.
"We are going to continue this process until the costumers in eastern North Carolina get better interview service," said Outlaw.
"We are assembling these complaints, we are going to send them to every representative, and senator, in the State of North Carolina, " said Outlaw. "We are going to try and get justice for these costumers."