GRIDLEY COMMUNICATIONS

Description of Work: Gridley Communications is a small communications services company based in Gridley, Illinois. It is a division of a group of similar companies scattered at least mostly in the Midwestern US. I have had voice telephone service from this company for many years, and in recent years I have added DSL Internet access and an associated e-mail account with them. They do not offer cellular phone service, but they do offer cable TV service within some parts of their service territory. I do not have cable TV service from this company; so, this review is based on my experience with voice landline service and DSL service only, plus the fact that I do not have the option of bundling cable TV with my other services. (I have been told that they are running fiberoptic cable to many of their customers so that they will be able to offer cable, Internet, and voice all over one line to those customers. But this service is not available in my part of the county, from anyone. This sort of problem is common in rural areas, I'm sure; nevertheless it does represent a negative factor in my overall impression of what Gridley Comminications has to offer its customers.) Call quality for outgoing and incoming landline voice calls is always excellent. And I cannot remember any times when the system was down. Various standard landline services, such as caller ID and answering service, are available at extra cost, and I have subscribed to a bundle of these. These add-on services also always seem to work properly. The only negative regarding the landline service is its overall price, once long distance charges are taken into account. Because the company has a small number of customers, almost all calls I make are long distance calls, and the rates for long distance calling range from 6 cents to maybe 12 cents per minute. So, I have been avoiding making outgoing calls over the traditional telephone line; I maintain my landline number primarily because I can then receive incoming calls and be listed in the directory. For outgoing long distance calls, I have a separate telephone hooked into a VOIP service, so that my calls go out over the DSL connection and I am not faced with any long distance charges from Gridley Telephone. At least for my area, the fastest DSL service available from Gridley is 5 Mbps, which is good enough for streaming movies and VOIP calling as well as for more standard browsing. I have checked my DSL connection speed and found that it once I ran a CAT line directly from my router to the outside connection with the Gridley phone line, I am getting the full speed that I am paying for. The DSL connection almost always works properly. The DSL connection enables me to browse and make VOIP calls on my smartphone from my home without using any cell phone plan minutes or data plan allocations. This is a real plus for me, and I mention it here only because it makes me value the DSL service provided by Gridley Comminications, despite the fact that they are not a cell phone service provider. In other words, the DSL line can be a form of limited cell phone service, if you have a smartphone that can connect to that DSL line via a wireless router. No need for me to be concerned about signal strength from a cell tower when I am at home. This wouldn't work with a basic DSL service that runs at only 1.5 Mbps; so it is a real plus for me that Gridley offers me the 5 Mbps DSL service (for which I do have to pay extra). Gridley Communications evidently has an arrangement with an outside company to provide troubleshooting help when the DSL connection is not working. I have called for help a couple of times, and my calls have been handled promptly and well.