Paul Bunyan Communications has been plastering the fact that they are returning over 2 million dollars to their members. But one question keeps bothering me. As a Coop why is it making money? The idea of a coop is to bring a service to a group of people. Coops by the very nature of the concept should not make a profit, if it does it is to return the money as it is doing. The Problem is that we hear that they are returning money every year. This would make it appear that the services are over priced. In the year that we were members of this we received a 20 dollar rebate check, we paid more than 120 dollars per month for residential account(They claimed at the time that they did not differentiate between residential and business accounts). This included a phone line(which we did not want) and a 5 Mbps Internet connection(this line would now be 25 Mbps). A phone line is required for service as they get federal subsidy for it. We could not buy a static IP at the time(they now offer them at 10 dollars/mo). Since we host servers we had to set up a dynamic ip dns service to accommodate the servers which cost us an additional 20 dollars/mo. About six months into our contract our servers were hacked and copyrighted content placed on them for a mere one night. Because of this Paul Bunyan Communications firewalled our connection, effectively taking our servers offline. We filed the proper DMCA paperwork and secured a release from the copyright holders. We then filed the proper paperwork to Paul Bunyan Communications. Paul Bunyan Communications had been legally freed from any DMCA requirements to block access, and was then required by the DMCA to restore service, they refused to do so. The reasoning, our service took to much resources. As I pointed out to them our contract did not show any limit to our service, did not come with any TOS or AUP. They then gave me the best best advice I have yet to receive they told me "If I did not like it, I should take my needs else where". I did exactly that. I called Charter, set up a business account with 10 Mbps service, a static IP for 110 dollars/mo. Since then Charter sold the local network to MidContinent Communications which bumped speeds and decreased prices. We now pay 55 Dollars/mo for 30 Mbps service with static IP and 24x7 support. That price include all taxes and fees. Currently with Paul Bunyan Communications, for 25 Mbps service, static IP and Support M-F 7am-7pm would cost us 113.95/mo plus taxes and fees. On the residential side I have cable with MidCo as well. I pay 63 dollars/mo for the service and the equipment, I have one HD receiver which is included and 2 Leased cable cards. I have 100 channels of HD service and nearly 200 channels of SD service. Paul Bunyan on the other side charges 67.95/mo for the basic package plus 19.95 for an HD DVR( I own a HD DVR. Paul Bunyan offers IPTV and is not required to activate outside Equipment) An additional 9.95/rm for HD equipment. For the sports channels I get as part of my package is 6.99/mo and the "Extra" channels I get in my package would cost 9.95/mo. So to get the same that I get with MidCo I would have to pay 124.70 Dollars/Mo plus taxes and fees. So When it comes down to it, it is easy to see why they can return over 2 million dollars a year and mind you the average subscriber get about a 20 dollar check. They have the audacity to call this "The Cooperative Advantage". When You consider what I am about to type you will see why I think this is a huge scam. I know one of the "Head" guys personally and he drives a very nice luxury car and lives and 4000+ sqft house worth more than a million dollars. He travels to conferences all over the world on Paul Bunyan's dime. It looks a lot like a scam to me. So I have to Ask Where Is the Advantage. MidCo will serve customers in four states shortly. Offers faster services and operates one of the countries fastest fiber networks for half the cost to customers and does it without government aid.