SHEBOYGAN FALLS — It’s been more than a week since residents at Berkshire Sheboygan Falls Senior Apartments have been without internet, a service baked into their lease contract.
"It's been a huge problem and we feel like we're not being listened to,” said tenant Jodi Dulmes. She’s one of dozens upset by the sudden cancellation.
Residents received a notice in mid-November warning of the halt in internet, part of which stated the property was working to “have service restored as soon as possible.”
A second notice was sent out in early December apologizing for the inconvenience and offering an updated timeline of 21 days to reinstate the internet.
Dulmes had to change her phone plan shortly after the service stopped.
"I purchased an additional package of data and that was gone. At the end of my month, I was out of data again,” she explained.
Many residents living at Berkshire are disabled or on a reduced income. They depend on the internet for health reasons.
Watch: Sheboygan Falls community wanted answers after their complex turned off internet
Dulmes noted, “Whether you're ordering groceries or talking to a doctor, or sending your doctor messages,” the internet is key for a good quality of life.
Other residents I spoke to, who were not comfortable being on-camera, said their medical devices require internet. The devices could be taken away if their vitals aren’t recorded regularly.
"A lot of these people are basically home-bound,” remarked Barb Beck, a resident who moved into her apartment in September.
"One of the reasons I chose to move here was because of the basic internet being included in my rent."
Beck was diagnosed with macular degeneration, which means her eyesight is slowly declining. She said she can’t use her phone or her tablet because it’s too small.
The TV is her main electronic but it’s currently unusable because it’s not connected to the internet.
Berkshire management told residents to use the guest wifi and TV in the community space.
"It's not secure if you have to do business transactions,” Beck said. "But it comes in and out. I mean, every five minutes I'm going back into settings, like 'reconnect, please!’”
Dulmes and others said they followed up asking for more information but got none.
That’s when she contacted NBC 26.
“I sent the email because we weren’t getting answers,” she told me during our interview. “We hoped that maybe you could at least put the pressure on this corporation so that they can give us the answers that will help us move on.”
I knocked on the property manager’s door who declined to speak with me, but received the following message from the management company later in the afternoon.
It read, in part:
Unfortunately, we were given only a few weeks’ notice that Spectrum was pulling service from the property due to changes in their service… Our goal is to provide all our residents with a wonderful living experience, and we will continue on that mission.
“Residents are customers and we deserve to know what the plans are with more specifics,” insisted Beck.
The internet is projected to be reinstated by the end of the week if no problems arise.
