Off-campus students express qualms with NTC

Despite some problems, JMU's largest telephone, cable and Internet server works to keep students connected.

The Network, Telephone and Cable Communications Web site at www.ntc-com.com states that customers will "receive the same benefits of on-campus services in the comfort of their own off-campus apartment."

However, some students said NTC falls short of its promise.

NTC provides ethernet, cable television and local/long distance phone service to about 7,000 customers in the Harrisonburg area. The company was established in 1998 in response to student property owners recognizing the need for students to have faster and easier Internet access.

Since the company's founding, the number of student complaints about its services has increased dramatically. Among the accusations from students was NTC's unreliability in its service, its domination over the Harrisonburg area and poor customer service.

"There's not another university in this country with 85 percent of the [off-campus] students having ethernet," said Daniel Beam, president and founder of NTC.

As a result of this 85 percent, some students feel this creates a monopoly when it comes to NTC's lack of competition.

"I think the worst thing about NTC is that they're a monopoly; we have no other choice in Internet providers," sophomore Jennie Reed said. "Therefore, we must bite our tongues and pay whatever rate they charge."

Beam said, "We do [have a monopoly on service] in a sense. [Students] have alternative choices to service, but it won't be as cheap or as fast and it won't be connected to the JMU network.

"If there were two providers [in Harrisonburg], neither one would survive," Beam said. "There's not enough revenue and demand to offset the investment."

Brad Wetsel, director of marketing at NTC, said many students are dissatisfied because they have never dealt with other service providers.

"It's easy to look bad when you have three basic services," Wetsel said. "[Having so many services] puts you more at risk."

Considering the revenue needed to offset the infrastructure costs of the ethernet system and technical support personnel, Beam believes NTC offers fair pricing for its three services.

Senior Travis Roundtree uses NTC for his services and said he finds the prices very reasonable. He said when you compare monthly Internet and cable costs, his fee is small.

"I think the fees are low considering all that you receive," he said.

Beam said, "Programming costs have only gone up 10 percent in a six-year period. We know students have limited funds."

Some students complain that the service is too slow.

"At the beginning of the year, the Internet was so slow in Fox Hills [Townhomes] that no one could use it at all, and it was like that for at least a week," junior Leanne Chambers said. "It is just frustrating because we are paying a lot to be connected to the Internet all the time, but it goes out so frequently."

According to Beam, the reliability of the NTC service depends on the quality and operating condition of the customer-owned equipment, including telephones and television sets, as well as personal computers.

Beam emphasizes the importance of installing and maintaining up-to-date anti-virus software, which is provided to students free of charge by JMU.

"Service is usually never out for more than a couple of hours in a building," Beam said. "If [students] didn't have service three-fourths out of every month, we wouldn't have any customers at all."

Other students allege that NTC has poor customer service.

"Our sales representative was rude," sophomore Stasia Wright said. "I had to drive out to [the NTC] building to cancel [our service]."

Senior Kate Pazdan said she received good service when she called NTC to help her with her television problems.

"They helped me fix my [television] by telling me what to do over the phone," Pazdan said. "They were very helpful."

Beam would rate NTC customer service as excellent. According to Beam, NTC has purchased cutting-edge call center software to enable its management to monitor call volume, answer time, wait time and the number of abandoned calls in general.

"We generally answer incoming calls within a minute for customer service," Beam said. "Technical support calls could take within five to 20 minutes, but we do monitor that closely."

Another accusation from students is that NTC poorly handled its purchase of Crisp Communications in June 2003.

"NTC kept sending me late fee bills when I wasn't even using a service [anymore]; it went on all last semester," junior Eringiri Watts said.

Beam agreed that NTC didn't handle the Crisp Communications transaction as smoothly as it would have liked to. He added that NTC is in the process of upgrading all Crisp properties to ethernet technology.

"We had to straighten out a lot of discrepancies in September and October," Beam said. "[NTC] tried to credit the bill[s] back to [those students]."

For those experiencing problems, Beams said students should contact NTC.

"Don't be afraid to call us," Beam said. "We can only fix what we're aware of.

"Our entire business is students, and we want to keep them happy," he added. "If there's anyone worth taking care of, it's JMU."