03-16-2026, 03:22 AM
(03-16-2026, 02:36 AM)ironyak Wrote: HJ - But then, maybe I have a little bit of the politician in me...
Well then maybe you can give the best politician answer to how putting money into the business of a sieg-heiling, white-supremacist-supporting, apartheid-South-Africa-born billionaire, is better for Hawai'i than supporting a local telcom that provides local jobs and community investments? (and has some of the best install folks I've ever worked with - gave enough details on the conduit setup that we could do it ourselves to their required specs, and even did a hands on install so I expanded my CAT cable pulling experience with some insight on installing fiber - very chill professionals)
I'd be more than happy!
First, Hawaiian Telcom no longer has a majority of direct install/repair employees. They are "sub contracted" 1099 vendors who do the work. At least here in the Puna area. The 1099 vendors get a "flat fee" for every install regardless of actual time spent installing. Same with repairs.
Secondly, the repair service telephone desk is now mostly answered by a dude named "Mark" who has a striking Indian accent. There is no ability to communicate an issue, it is starting at Page 1 of the Power Point Slide Deck and reading it until the last page before a crew is dispatched. Even when reporting the main wires coming down the driveway were ripped apart by a falling tree, we have to go reboot everything then on to Page 2, 3, 4, 5... and third, as we have two separate houses on our properties, we are required to have two separate Hawaiian Telcom circuits. When the tree fell on BOTH lines, a repair call required two separate calls and was answered by sending Crew 1 out to repair circuit wire number 1 one day and repair crew number 2 out to repair circuit wire number 2 two days later. BOTH wires run next to each other and terminate on the same pole before being run to each separate house.
Additionally, Starlink has employees based in Hawaii and is constantly advertising for more.
And, let's remember, Hawaiian Telcom is owned by an Ohio based venture capital firm.
Now, I am in no way defending Elon Musk. As I originally said, my feelings about him are unfit to post on PunaWeb. But I figure since its good enough for the legendary PunaWeb posters "terracore," "Obie" and "Knieft" why not give it a try?