Brandon Wildman
A couple of guys that I started playing games with, like ten-plus years ago. And after playing with them, you know, almost every day for a handful of years, I decided to go and meet them in person up in Minnesota. So I drove like eight hours to go meet a couple of guys that I had never actually met in person, which was a little bit nerve wracking, not knowing what you were really getting into. But at the same time, I felt like I knew these people because I had spoken to them online for years and it was just getting to meet them in person was a neat experience, and I still to this day, I'm talking to them on a pretty much daily basis.

Laura Seney
Welcome to Connected Conversations, the official podcast of Kosciusko Connect.

Kosciusko Connect is a subsidiary area of Kosciusko REMC. Since 2021, we have been providing fast, reliable fiber to the home internet service to rural portions of northern Indiana. On Connected Conversations, we talk about fiber internet technology, community, and how to navigate the digital world in which we live. I am your host, Laura Seney. Thank you for connecting with us today.

Laura Seney
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Connected Conversations. Today in studio we have guest Brandon Wildman, who is a local Kosciusko Connect customer. He is an avid gamer and we have invited him on today to talk about his gaming experience and how having Kosciusko Connect fiber internet has impacted that. Hi, Brandon, how are you today?

Brandon Wildman
Hi, Laura. Doing well. Thanks for having me here today. I'm really excited.

Laura Seney
Yeah. Thank you for being willing to come in. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what kind of games you play?

Brandon Wildman
Sure. So I've lived in Indiana my whole life. Elementary school years, I lived in Mentone for a little bit, and then in middle school, high school, I moved to Warsaw. As of now, I do currently live in town in Leesburg, just a few miles from where I grew up, and I currently work for one of the big box retail stores here in town as a supervisor. I play a large variety of games, starting out playing games like Call of Duty. That's when I first started getting into gaming, and I moved on to a bunch of other MMOs, single player survival games, all kinds of different things.

Laura Seney
Nice. I feel like Call of Duty is the gateway game for all gamers. They all start out there and branch out into the very vast world of gaming. How did you first get into gaming and what has kept you interested?

Brandon Wildman
So like I said, I've been playing video games for the majority of my life. I initially started out playing on like an original Xbox and I was, oh, I don't know, eight, nine, ten years old later got into PlayStation three. So that would have been my first experience with like online gaming. And that was when I got into Call of Duty and I was really, really into that for a long time. And then yeah, it kind of grew out of that. It was kind of repetitive. The same games over and over again year after year, and found friends that I had played with also kind of moved online. So a lot of what has kept me interested in gaming one, it's a good way to spend time, but to it I get to stay in contact with people that I've met from all over the country, some that I, you know, know personally that are local to me. But I've got friendships with people that are in other states I stay in contact with that I've known for years.

Laura Seney
That's awesome. Yeah, gaming definitely is a great way to keep up with friends and keep in contact with friends who live far away. What is your go to game right now?

Brandon Wildman
That's hard to answer. I jump around between a lot of different games, but I suppose the one that comes to mind that I spend the most time playing most frequently is, Star Citizen.

Laura Seney
Nice.

Brandon Wildman
So it's a large scale space simulator, MMO, RPG type of a game. It's still in early access and has been for quite some time, but fingers crossed it'll be, finished up here in the next few years.

Laura Seney
That's awesome. That does sound like a lot of fun. What is your current gaming setup like right now? And what is your dream setup?

Brandon Wildman
So I would say my current gaming setup is pretty close to what I would consider a dream setup. The way technology changes year after year, it's hard to have like the top of the line, fanciest, most powerful hardware, and it's expensive to try to stay on top of that. So right now I'm running a Ryzen Nine 5900 X. It's a 12 core CPU, 32GB of RAM, and Nvidia 3070 TI. So it's a few years old. It's a little bit dated, but it's still more than enough hardware for the games that I play to play at a good resolution and good frame rate.

Laura Seney
Nice. Do you have like your perfect gaming chair? Is it like an office chair? Is it like a comfy chair? Like do you have, I know a lot of gamers set up lights and stuff like the neon lights. Do you have decorations like that?

Brandon Wildman
Definitely not much of a streamer. I know a lot of people that want to do streaming do have a lot of like, decorations and stuff. I mean, I do have a big, like eight foot desk that I built, three monitors. I do have some kind of reactive lights that are under the desk that kind of react to what's going on on-screen. So it's a little bit more immersive. And I do have some joysticks for the Star Citizen game. As far as like computer chair goes, gaming chairs, chairs that are branded specifically towards gamers that look like racing seats are not comfortable to sit in for any amount of time. So I just have a decent office chair that I got from Staples. And it's way better than anything that I've had previously.

Laura Seney
That makes sense. Do you play by yourself or with friends most?

Brandon Wildman
It's 50/50. I mean, I do really enjoy spending time playing games with friends, catching up, staying in contact with them. But I do enjoy some time on my own, just kind of playing whatever it is, solo games, just in the evenings after work when I'm kind of tired and I don't want to be social, I just want to spend some time, unwind and kind of get ready for bed type of thing. So it's 50/50.

Laura Seney
Yeah. I feel like gaming is both good for socializing and catching up with friends, but it also is a good way to unwind at the end of the day. So it's nice that it's such a multifaceted activity. Do you ever playing in competitive settings?

Brandon Wildman
Competitive in the sense of like tournaments and brackets and tiers, no, I do play a lot of player versus player games, and those tend to be a little bit, I guess, competitive, but I guess when I think of a competitive game, I'm thinking of games like Counter-Strike that has a really large e-sports presence. And I do have, you know, quite a few hours in Counter-Strike, but I just don't really play what I consider really competitive games much anymore. They're stressful, and I spend a lot of time playing the same thing over and over again. It just gets repetitive and boring.

Laura Seney
Yeah, that makes sense. If gaming is an activity you do to relax, you don't want to turn it into something that is stressful. How has gaming helped you connect and stay in touch with friends. And you talked about this a little bit already.

Brandon Wildman
Yeah. A couple of guys that I speak to on a regular basis, I started playing games with like ten plus years ago. And after playing with them, you know, almost every day for a handful of years, I decided to, you know, go and meet them in person. A couple of them, up in Minnesota. So I drove like eight hours to go meet a couple of guys that I had never actually met in person, which was a little bit nerve wracking, not knowing what you were really getting into. But at the same time, I felt like I knew these people because I had spoken to them online for years, and it was just getting to meet them in person was a neat experience, and I still to this day, I'm talking to them on a pretty much daily basis.

Laura Seney
That's awesome. It's incredible how something like a hobby, like gaming can connect people from far distances, and you can connect over that and build real and lasting friendships out of that. Do you have a favorite gaming memory or experience you would want to share?

Brandon Wildman
Lots of gaming memories, not ones that I'm willing to share on a public venue like this. But most I mean, most of the time when I'm playing games with my friends, there's always some lasting moment of just a really good time or something funny that happened. I just it's kind of hard to pick one.

Laura Seney
That makes sense. It is a lot of fun. And yeah, like we talked about a great way to connect with people. How important is a fast internet connection for gaming in your experience?

Brandon Wildman
More and more, it seems every day that, fast internet connection is a requirement for gaming. Having powerful hardware is one part of it. Being able to play the games themselves at a good frame rate and a good resolution. But anymore, just to play a game, a new game specifically, you can't just go to the store and buy a disc or a cartridge. Most everything is digital download, and games continue to get more and more complex and detailed. And you're talking multi-gig. I mean, you know, 200 gig downloads and under any other circumstance with slow internet, you're talking like several hours, if not a couple of days of just constant downloading. And then as games update, you know, they're going to be 20, 30, 60 gigs for every update just to keep playing the same game that you're, you're playing. So that alone is very important to have a fast internet connection.

Laura Seney
Yeah. Having a fast internet connection is become more and more crucial to every aspect of our lives. Because I remember as a kid having the games that you would just buy the disc and you would plug them in, but those barely exist anymore. Yeah. And pretty much everything is you have to download it from the internet, and it takes internet to run successfully. Have you noticed a difference in playing on Connect Fiber internet versus other internet services you have had in the past?

Brandon Wildman
Massively, yes. Growing up, the only internet that was available to us out in the country was DSL or dial up. Early on the last internet service we used when I was growing up before because, yeah, so Connect became available was like a line of sight, satellite, internet. And that was the best thing that we had had, like up until that point. And you're talking ten, maybe megabits per second with like crazy high latency. So finally getting into a service like, Kosciusko Connect with really fast fiber internet. It's been incredible. I don't have really any downtime at all. And widths are wide open. Download speeds stay consistent. The one thing that's really big difference between, say, something like cable with other companies and causes you connect is upload speed. Most of the time, if you get a high download speed package with like a cable connection, it may be, you know, 800mbps down, but your upload is like 30. Whereas with Kosciusko Connect, you get both really, really fast download speeds and really, really fast upload speeds. So that's been a noticeable, noticeable difference.

Laura Seney
That's awesome. And we're glad to hear that here at Kosciusko Connect. I also I grew up way out in the country. I remember the days of dial up. I remember not being able to get fast internet out in the country. So the fact that we're able to provide fast and reliable internet to those rural communities at Kosciusko Connect was the goal of our company. And so we're glad to be able to do that successfully. Downloading new games or even downloading updates can often take a long time. Has having Kosciusko Connect impacted your experience downloading large games?

Brandon Wildman
So yeah I guess I kind of already touched on that. It's a big difference. I remember growing up having slow internet, I would really only be able to download games and updates at night when everyone else was asleep, and then pause it during the day so everyone else could use the internet and then repeat that process for days and days. Now it's, you know, a matter of 10-15 minutes at the very, very most for even really big updates or new game downloads. So it's had a very large impact.

Laura Seney
That's awesome. We're glad to hear that. Do you have people using multiple devices at the same time in your house while you game? How does the internet connection hold up under these circumstances?

Brandon Wildman
Yeah, I mean, right now I do live alone, but I can have say a game running, playing an online game and I could be updating something in the background. While I don't know, streaming 4K video on YouTube on another monitor, and my girlfriend may be downstairs watching Netflix at 4K and also browsing the internet, and you wouldn't know the other person is using the internet. There's just so much bandwidth, crazy high download speeds that is able to support multiple devices. Really, I think the limitation comes down to the hardware on your use of the internet. The internet is more than capable of keeping up with what it is that I'm wanting to do.

Laura Seney
That makes sense. That's awesome. It's definitely helpful for when everyone in the house can use the device they want to and do the activity they want to, and you don't all have to fight over it or, you know, download games in the middle of the night or what have you. What level of internet do you have with Kosciusko Connect? Do you know?

Brandon Wildman
I think it's Speed Pro? I think it's the high end, right? Yeah, I think currently I have that one because Kosciusko Connect became available to me. I was super excited. And when it finally was rolled out into Leesburg, I reached out to sign up for service and basically just said, what is your highest package and how much is it cost? And I've been happy with it ever since.

Laura Seney
Yeah, we usually recommend the higher end for people who game because that does take a lot of bandwidth, so I'm glad that it is working well for you. How long have you been a customer?

Brandon Wildman
So before I moved into my house in Leesburg, I'm still living with my parents. This was back when they were still rolling it out, like in the four quadrants around the county. So I had them get on the list to be one of the first to finally upgrade our internet. So we did that, and I think I was there for maybe a year at that point. So that would have been 2022. And then I moved into Leesburg and it wasn't quite available at that time. So 2020 to 2021, I'm trying to think when did Kosciusko Connect start fully rolling out?

Laura Seney
I think it was 2021, 2020 or 2021. I'm not 100% sure, but sometime around there.

Brandon Wildman
Sure. Yeah, it's been a few years and it's been great. The customer service is awesome, and then the internet itself is just incredibly fast and super duper reliable.

Laura Seney
Yeah, I'm glad that you have consistently had a good experience over 3 or 4 years now.

Brandon Wildman
Yeah, it's awesome.

Laura Seney
And I know that all of the people on our customer service team work really hard to provide the best to our customers, so it's good to hear that. Would you recommend Kosciusko Connect internet to other gamers?

Brandon Wildman
Oh, 100%, yeah. I'm pretty sure every one of my family members that live in an area that is supported or covered by Kosciusko Connect is now using their services and I'm sure my friends and my coworkers are tired of hearing me talk about Kosciusko Connect, because I really do genuinely enjoy the service. After living with crummy internet for so many years, it's been such a relief having quality internet at a actually really good price. It's actually cheaper than anything else we've had and way faster. Yeah, not only gamers, but I do recommend Kosciusko Connect to anybody if it's available to you.

Laura Seney
Awesome. Thank you for promoting us to your family and friends and other people that you're in contact with. And it's good to hear that Connect is also affordable because that's important to a lot of customers. You know, you're getting a high quality product for a reasonable price. So yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you very much for joining us today. And for talking to us about your gaming experience. I hope that you have a good rest of your day.

Brandon Wildman
Yeah. Thank you for having me. It's been a privilege, enjoy the rest of your day.

Laura Seney
Right now, you can upgrade your Kosciusko Connect plan to the next speed level for free for three months. Find out the difference a higher internet speed can make in your home without the price. Call our Kosciusko Connect team at (574) 269-0327 or by emailing connect@kosciuskoconnect.com to start your free upgrade today.