Gaming is often dismissed as escapism. It’s a pixelated distraction from the “real world.” But for one lifelong gamer, it’s been a source of joy, community, and a husband.
Yes. You read that right. You could call it love at World of Warcraft.
For years, her gaming life was held hostage by a villain that no cheat code could fix – unreliable Internet.
Meet Sondra Waite
Her story starts in the late ’80s with a dad who gamed and a toddler captivated by the hypnotic simplicity of Pong on Atari. She caught the gaming bug early, evolving from Pong to Super Mario Brothers on the original Nintendo and eventually to an immersive world of multiplayer adventures.
By the time she was an adult, gaming wasn’t just a pastime, it was a way of connecting. That connection became literal when she met her husband in World of Warcraft. And gaming has been a big part of their relationship. But as romantic as that sounds, her connection to the gaming world was often interrupted by lagging, buffering, and the dreaded words “connection lost.”
Scarier than a Horror Movie
For years, her connection to these virtual worlds was plagued by unreliable satellite Internet. Multiplayer games were almost impossible, and her goal of reliably streaming on Twitch felt like a pipe dream. “I couldn’t even start a game without timing out,” she recalls. “Streaming? Forget it. I had to keep apologizing to my community on Discord, telling them I couldn’t stream until I had better Internet. It was frustrating.”
Her game of choice and the one her followers subscribe to watch her play? Phasmophobia.
The game is a grown-up, suspenseful, and darker version of Scooby-Doo. Hear me out. Players are ghost hunters, but unlike Scooby-Doo, you’re not unmasking a disgruntled local. The immersive sounds, dark rooms, and clues will spike your adrenaline to its highest levels.
“I love horror games. They give me this euphoric thrill that’s unlike anything else,” she explains. The game’s design drew her in. But every ghostly encounter was shadowed by the same real-world nemesis: poor Internet. “Imagine trying to hunt a ghost while your screen freezes. It ruins the whole experience.”
New Beginnings. Again.
Enter CLtel.
After trying satellite and another Internet company, she jumped at the chance to try CLtel Internet. The difference was immediate.
“It used to take me all day to download a two-gigabyte game. Now, I can download 14 gigs in 15 minutes while my husband downloads something else. It’s life-changing,” she says. With reliable Internet, her Discord chats focus on her love of anime and answering questions about her favorite games instead of announcing that she needs better Internet to stream.
Her Twitch channel is her digital home base. She’s built a thriving community. “I stream because I love it. It’s not just about gaming. It’s about connecting with people who get why this means so much to me.”
For Sondra, reliable Internet was the difference between feeling immersed and feeling excluded. Between screaming with excitement and sighing with frustration.
Her story illustrates that big improvements can come from the smallest-seeming changes. A fiber connection doesn’t just make downloads faster – it makes dreams accessible and achievable. “This is the best Internet we’ve ever had,” she exclaims. “I tell my viewers, family, subscribers, anyone who will listen – CLtel is the real MVP. Friends want me to host game sessions because my Internet is faster and reliable.”
All it took was a local call. One local call delivered more than an Internet upgrade for a gamer whose life was once terrorized by buffering wheels and error messages.
That’s the kind of magic that deserves its own epic quest.
