A local telephone and internet company addressed concerns about service issues affecting some Patrick County residents and received a letter of support to pursue Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding.
Brightspeed Government Affairs and Public Policy Director Chris Dillon said the company, a two-and-a-half-year-old startup, purchased CenturyLink’s assets and now serves localities in 20 southeastern states.
Brightspeed has built fiber infrastructure to reach 1.8 million residents in 2024, making it the third-largest fiber builder in the United States, Dillon said.
“So that puts us behind giants like AT&T, Verizon, and above people like Google and other huge providers,” he said.
Dillon acknowledged that aging copper lines are a problem in Patrick County. He said the industry is transitioning away from copper, which will no longer exist within five years.
“That is a great thing for you and your residents and businesses,” he said.
Brightspeed has also increased fiber installation efforts. Since acquiring CenturyLink’s infrastructure, the company has seen a 49 percent increase in 48-hour repairs, a 38 percent increase in 96-hour repairs, and a decrease to fewer than three trouble tickets per 100 customers within a year of ownership.
However, Hurricane Helene impacted the company’s services and fiber projects, Dillon said.
“That has impacted service for all companies and utilities in this part of the region,” he said.
The company’s out-of-service calls were expected to be resolved within 48 hours, Dillon said at the meeting. “If you call before a certain time, I think it’s 2 p.m., we can get same-day repairs on most trouble tickets to your home. We are fully staffed.”
To transition from copper to fiber, Brightspeed has partnered with Verizon Wireless to launch a fixed wireless voice and data solution for its remaining copper customers. Dillon said only 9 percent of Brightspeed’s copper infrastructure remains in use, yet maintaining it is more expensive than running its entire fiber network.
As the company stops maintaining copper, customers will have a wireless device installed on their homes to maintain service.
“This is going to take the place of their landline,” Dillon said. “Your phone number doesn’t change, you don’t have any different functionality—you pick up the phone, and you have a dial tone. The customer does not see any difference in their service, but it is extremely more reliable.”
Mayo River District Supervisor Clayton Kendrick asked the audience how many were dissatisfied with their service. About a dozen residents raised their hands.
“I’d hate to dispute what you’re being told,” Kendrick said. “You had a supervisor named Scott Strader… when he was up here, I went with him one day, almost a whole day, showing him problems, and he got them took care of.”
However, he questioned whether Brightspeed’s wireless solution would work in areas with poor cell coverage. If there isn’t already cellphone signal, “it’s just got terrible,” Kendrick said.
Vice chairman and Dan River District Supervisor Andrew Overby agreed.
“Unless you live in the Town of Stuart, that’s probably the only place you’re going to get Verizon at all,” he said. “I live two miles from a T-Mobile tower, and I get no signal. So, in my area, that would not do any good.”
Overby also asked why residents report waiting up to a month for repairs, despite the company’s stated 24- to 48-hour response time.
Dillon said Brightspeed could verify records to determine whether service requests were rescheduled, missed, or impacted by hurricane disruptions.
“I’m not saying anybody’s lying, and we did have disruptions because of Helene,” he said. “We can go in and pull a file… They said 28 days, we came (within) a week, and nobody was there. It shouldn’t be a week; we should be rolling within 48 hours.”
To help expand its coverage and work to replace its copper lines with fiber, Brightspeed requested a letter of support from the board to apply for its BEAD grant application, which the board approved in a 3-2 vote.
Under BEAD, Virginia will receive $1.48 billion to expand broadband access statewide.
The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and the broadband office want every home to have fiber or an affordable alternative, Dillon said. “Virginia’s deadline for applications is March 1. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is FDR building out the phone system in the ‘30s and ‘40s. This is building out highspeed internet to areas like Patrick County.”
Brightspeed’s proposal includes 3,000 addresses in Patrick County, with 621 classified as unserved or underserved by DHCD.
“Our proposal for Patrick County will provide 3,000 addresses with highspeed, fiber internet, Dillon said, adding that fiber is not susceptible to disruptions like copper lines are. “We have to order parts from Vietnam because nobody’s making these parts for copper networks anymore. Fiber is the only fix for copper, there is no other option,” he said.
“We’re going to pay to build past 2,230 other addresses. The grant won’t come to those addresses; we’ll pay out of our pocket for that,” Dillon said. “We’re making significant investments in western Patrick, southeastern Patrick, and the eastern area south of Fairystone State Park.”
Jonathan Wood, board chairman and of the Peters Creek District, questioned the company’s commitment to existing customers.
“At almost $99 per month, 3,000 potential customers would pay Brightspeed nearly $3.6 million annually,” Wood said. “Right now, I don’t believe the taste in everybody’s mouth is where it should be.”
Wood said his grandparents, who rely on a full-time caregiver, waited 21 days for a phone repair.
“Thankfully, we have good cellphone signal. Verizon might work great for a few people but it’s not going to fix” a lot of people, Wood said, and estimated the company is the fifth provider to request a letter of support for the BEAD program. “It seems like what you have needs to be repaired and maintained before we add more to it. That’s just the way I see it.”
Smith River District Supervisor Doug Perry noted that fiber investment is necessary to replace copper.
“In order to fix the copper, you got to run the fiber-optics, and of course, that takes money,” Perry said. “That’s why they’re here tonight to request the support of the BEAD grant.”
Dillon said copper will be retired nationwide within five years.
“If we don’t get BEAD or fiber, or somebody doesn’t get it, there will be a hole there where people will have to get Starlink or something,” he said. “What’s key is this money is to fix the copper problem. It is not I don’t like your company, it is there’s a copper issue and we have to fix it,” Dillon said.
Several residents spoke about persistent service outages.
Regina Wood said her landline and internet were out from Dec. 10 to Jan. 25. She and her husband, both disabled, could not make emergency calls.
“We had a cellphone that we thought we could get out an emergency call. Had no idea we could not,” she said.
On Jan. 24, a logging crew’s equipment caught fire near her home, but no one could call 911.
“They were trying to use their cellphones – would not work. We live down in the Patrick Springs area. They came to the house; we thought we could get out an emergency call. Tried, tried, and tired. Nothing,” she said.
Regina Wood’s husband eventually had to get in his car and drive about a mile down the road to summon a fire department. “There’s no sense in that. That’s unacceptable. You’re not doing your job!”
Galen Gilbert criticized the company’s infrastructure maintenance.
“If you ride down Route 8 from the high school, there are probably eight or nine places where there’s trees on the lines,” he said. “You see the pedestals that are laid over with an orange bag on top. That must be a new way of fixing your phone lines—cover it up and forget about it.”
Jamie Clark said his mother’s pacemaker relies on landline monitoring, but her phone service is unreliable. “She does not have internet and does not want it, but would like to have a reliable telephone service that doesn’t go out at least once a month,” he said.
When an outage occurs, Clark said he calls in the work order and is told it will be a minimum of 21 days before a repair technician is available.
“Ironically, the last time that a repairman was physically at my mother’s house was about a year ago. He told her then that the problem was in the main line between Roanoke and Stuart, and none of the outages were caused by problems at her house, they were all infrastructure problems with equipment,” he said.
Noting he addressed his issues about two years ago, Clark said, “honestly, the service has not gotten any better. In 2025, I can’t believe we’re still talking about phones not working. How can we expect any company to invest here when we can’t even get reliable basic services?”
