Thieves leave St Mary residents disconnected

Some St Mary residents have been struggling to stay connected to the Internet as thieves are making off with equipment.

In one incident on April 11, several copper wires from the coaxial cables used by a data centre were stolen from posts in and around the St Mary Central and St Mary South East constituencies.

“I have two daughters, one in grade seven at Marymount High School and one in grade 10, and from April 12 they have been struggling. They have missed quite a lot,” said Viviene Ramsay, a teacher of Orange River.

“The reports look dismal because they did not get to present most of the work that was given. On a number of occasions, I had to take them elsewhere so that they could do some of the work.” Ramsay says she has tried to use cellular data that she has purchased but that is ineffective and costly.

Another teacher from the area, Marjorie Whyte, says that since she lost her Internet connection, she has been paying twice her usual bill in data service to keep herself and her daughter connected.

“The data is very expensive. And even so when you purchase the data, it still does not hold up to have the classes without being disrupted right throughout. When I put on a 28-day plan it doesn’t last me for more than eight days because I am hotspotting tablets and I am hotspotting laptops,” Whyte said. “Every eight days I have to keep getting more and that is for $2,500.”

Ramsay says she has reported the issue to FLOW several times but has yet to get a response and continues to be billed for a service she cannot access. According to Kayon Wallace, director of communications at FLOW, the issue of wire theft and vandalism is an ongoing one.

“We have several communities that are out of service because of theft and vandalism. Right now, we’ll have to put aside roughly US$2 million a year just to replace infrastructure that was removed. So, it’s not going to be a case where thieves come and steal it today and we’re there tomorrow to put it back in. It’s not as simple as that,” she said.

Member of Parliament for St Mary South East, Norman Dunn, says residents must identify the thieves, and reasoned that the perpetrators may be from the areas and are hurting their own children.

“We need to have these conversations that we call out these things for what they are. We can only stress upon FLOW that they need to return the service, but for them to keep returning the service over and over and people keep stealing them, what can we recommend? So, we need to call out these people for the wrongs that they are doing,” he said. Dunn said he will be speaking with the education ministry to see what other immediate action can be taken.