Buffering. Dropped service. Trips into town just to send an email.

Residents near Proctor Pond in Albany Township say they are fed up with spotty internet service and are frustrated by the lack of options.

The only option? Consolidated Communications — now called Fidium Fiber.

Dean Abby, Sandy and Dick Dion, and Deb Mason were hopeful a competitor had arrived when, in late May, Spectrum technicians strung cable through their neighborhood in this western Oxford County township, but service never materialized, they said.

The group has reached out to the county and community organizations for help, but have seen little progress.

The residents said they have written to Tony Carter, Oxford County supervisor of unorganized territories, for an update on internet expansion, but they say they are still awaiting a response.

Mia Purcell, vice president of economic development and impact for Community Concepts and an advocate for rural broadband access, confirmed that on McAllister Road, where Mason lives, residents have Fidium Fiber.

Purcell said the service should improve when Fidium converts the existing DSL to fiber.

However, Fidium Fiber spokesperson Kyle Thweatt said this month that fiber optic service is not yet available in Albany Township. The company received provisional funding through the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program. The government was expected to approve the funding awards in December, he said, but the federal government shutdown could have an effect on the timing.

“Once approved, we would expect to begin working with the State on contracts and environmental permitting, as we have done on other projects as a part of our expansion to more than 400,000 homes and businesses statewide since 2021,” Thweatt said in an email. “We will also need to obtain compliant materials to coordinate the start of fiber expansion for BEAD locations. It is likely that buildout of fiber to these locations will be sometime beyond 2026.”

Purcell said that Fidium Fiber anticipates providing high-speed internet service to residents in the area of Abby and Libby lanes, where the Dions and Abby live, but no one knows when that fiber expansion will happen.

The residents, who expressed frustration in September at a cross-jurisdictional meeting in Paris, said a recent tax increase has not resulted in better services, including internet access, which they say has only gotten worse.

“I can have 50 choices of bread but I can’t get more than one choice of internet provider,” Abby said.

For Mason, the frustration runs deep. She passes several Spectrum-connected homes in neighboring Stoneham before reaching hers, where she must sit next to the modem in her basement for a somewhat reliable connection.

“I have set up a permanent office space in the laundry room next to the modem,” she said. “I have been taking my MacBook Pro to local libraries to update, upgrade and to stay connected long enough to complete more than a reply email message.”

“We have an antenna that fire Chief Albert Fox put on our barn over 40 years ago that allows us to view all the network TV we care about,” she added. “We use a Roku streaming stick but we put up with a lot of buffering for the few subscriptions we purchase. The Spectrum lineman told me a simple drop line from where they left off in Stoneham would suffice for our two homes.”

Thweatt said Fidium tries to address problems with unstable service as they come up and encourages customers to call them for help.

“We understand how frustrating service disruptions can be and appreciate their patience as we work to get them back online as quickly as possible,” he said. “DSL customers experiencing service disruptions are encouraged to call 1-844-968-7224 for assistance.”

Abby said the quality of service from Fidium is deteriorating. On Oct. 9, he was awaiting a technician to come to his home to check his modem. He said he was not optimistic the service would improve, even after the technician’s visit.

While Spectrum has not responded to multiple media inquiries, Albany Township resident Tom Miller said they did respond to him. He said Spectrum representatives told him that the company cannot provide access in addresses in unorganized territories like Albany.

“That’s why Stoneham (an incorporated town) gets Spectrum service and we do not,” he said.

Fidium says residents are free to choose any internet provider, but because availability isn’t always there, they are dedicated to continuing service.

“For areas where fiber expansion has not yet been feasible, we are committed to providing connectivity solutions through our existing infrastructure as we continue our efforts to upgrade more than 80 percent of our network to fiber,” Thweatt said. “We’re on track to reach this milestone in the coming years.”

In a statement, Fidium’s vice president of market development, Sarah Davis, acknowledged more needs to be done to improve internet access in rural areas.

“We’ve made tremendous progress bringing fiber internet to communities across Maine, eclipsing 400,000 locations since 2021, but we know there’s still more work to do,” Davis said.

Thweatt said the best way to stay updated on Fidium’s fiber expansion is by signing up for updates at FidiumFiber.com.