Totelcom Communications has been a vital part of De Leon, Texas—under one name or another—since 1895, when the first phone service was started. So it’s not surprising that the company showed up strong and proud for the town when COVID hit.

When the Federal Communications Commission asked telecom companies to take the Keep Americans Connected pledge on March 13, 2020, Totelcom was one of the first companies to sign up.  The pledge was a promise to not terminate residential or small business customers due to pandemic-related disruptions; to waive late fees due to pandemic-related economic difficulties; and to open public Wi-Fi hotpots wherever possible.

Throughout the pandemic, Totelcom did all that, and more connecting local hospitals, supporting health care delivery, and enabling thousands of Americans to work or learn from home.

“In the beginning of the lockdowns, [we] worked evenings and weekends to accommodate the sudden and intense increase in demand for new connections – many at no additional cost to the consumer,” said Jennifer Prather, Totelcom Chief Executive Officer, in testimony to Congress. 

Totelcom placed several free rural public Wi-Fi hotspots for use in their service area and upgraded area medical and educational facilities’ bandwidth at no charge. They provided free installs to any customer with a K-12 or college student in the household, using local schools to help identify and deliver free service for students in need.  The company helped the county emergency management center in setting up a communications center free of charge.

Totelcom also partnered with three local Chambers of Commerce in its service area (Comanche, De Leon, and Gorman) to help maintain the financial health of local businesses. The local Chambers ordered meals from local restaurants and distributed them each day to local businesses.