High Speed ISP Work Requirement (Lincoln: cost, deal, company)

[221B]

Originally Posted by lovemaine

We use Fairpoint for internet. Just got an offer in the mail to upgrade from 3 Mbps to 15 Mbps. We've been really happy with Fairpoint. Their # is 877-779-8927 or Residential Services | Fairpoint Communications.

OK! Thank you for the Fairpoint link. I checked out the site, and at least initially, it gives us some hope for the areas we are looking at. There is also a tool to enter a specific address to get a more accurate picture of what is available.
So, this, combined with cable possibilities should help us get in the ballpark as far as some homes we are looking at. Thanks again!

[Eric-M]

My wife and I were in the same situation this summer when looking to relocate to Maine. We didn't have a specific location in Maine in mind, but we were limited by needing high-speed internet for our jobs. Things may have changed in the past three months, but what I found was that the satellite/DSL providers all had monthly data limits. We ended up buying a place about 20 miles north of Bangor in a fairly rural community and we were worried that the internet speeds would be awful, but we ended up going with Time Warner (20 Mb/s package), and so far we've had really good results with it. My best advice is this: once you find a house, use Time Warner's online tool to see if they can provide service and then call them to verify. The customer service rep that I talked to was very nice and was able to confirm that the house we were looking at had Time Warner for both cable and internet and she also confirmed that 6 other people on our "street" have Time Warner. High speed internet *is* available in some more "remote" areas where you might not think it would be. Just do your due diligence and you'll be fine.

[Submariner]

I spent 20 minutes on the phone today with Fairpoint. They do not cover my town.

I tried the Time Warner website it says: "This provider does not seem to offer service in your area. Please try again in the future."

We use OTT/ MidMaine Hosted PBX, VoIP, Phone & Internet providers for your business or home in Maine, Western MA, NH, VT & WV - OTT Communications

[221B]

Originally Posted by Eric-M

My wife and I were in the same situation this summer when looking to relocate to Maine. We didn't have a specific location in Maine in mind, but we were limited by needing high-speed internet for our jobs. Things may have changed in the past three months, but what I found was that the satellite/DSL providers all had monthly data limits. We ended up buying a place about 20 miles north of Bangor in a fairly rural community and we were worried that the internet speeds would be awful, but we ended up going with Time Warner (20 Mb/s package), and so far we've had really good results with it. My best advice is this: once you find a house, use Time Warner's online tool to see if they can provide service and then call them to verify. The customer service rep that I talked to was very nice and was able to confirm that the house we were looking at had Time Warner for both cable and internet and she also confirmed that 6 other people on our "street" have Time Warner. High speed internet *is* available in some more "remote" areas where you might not think it would be. Just do your due diligence and you'll be fine.

Thanks for the input on data limits on DSL. I wouldn't have thought of that, as I've never run into data limits on the DSL that we currently use; it's all unlimited; and we can blow throw 60~90 GB/month without breaking a sweat.

[HighTechRocker]

Oxford Networks is a FTTH (Fiber to the Home) Internet provider in Maine. You have to live near main roads in service areas though.

http://www.oxfordnetworks.com

[221B]

Does anyone here actually use satellite for for their "high-speed" internet connection? If so, would you share what speeds you are actually getting on average.
You can use a site such as:

Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

… to test your actual speeds.
Thanks for any input on this!

[krelithous]

have you read all the horror stories with satellite internet??

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by 221B

Does anyone here actually use satellite for for their "high-speed" internet connection? If so, would you share what speeds you are actually getting on average.
You can use a site such as:

Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

… to test your actual speeds.
Thanks for any input on this!

I've never known anyone that actually liked satellite internet. Usually you download from the satellite, and upload through your phone line, although it's possible (and very expensive) to go both way with satellite. I wouldn't even consider it unless using cable and DSL weren't possible.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by krelithous

have you read all the horror stories with satellite internet??

What other option is there?



This topic has comes up routinely when people move to Maine. The lack of cable/dsl in much of Maine is a big factor.

Many townships do not have cable or dsl. So your only remaining option to be online is dial-up [assuming you have access to phone-lines] or satellite.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by 221B

Does anyone here actually use satellite for for their "high-speed" internet connection? If so, would you share what speeds you are actually getting on average.
You can use a site such as:

Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

… to test your actual speeds.
Thanks for any input on this!

I have used satellite internet when I lived in FL. Despite what you hear, I actually DID like it. The only other option was dial up and you may as well just shoot me, instead. Satellite did continue to work even when we had our massive summer storms, and it worked well. I d/l and u/l through satellite and it was actually cheaper than cable, when I lived down in FL. Now, the fact that I liked it a lot may have quite a bit to do with the fact that Atlantic Broadband, the cable company, was just below TWC when it comes to utter dolts working for the company. The fact that it took them two months to fix a problem on THEIR side, I'm sure biased me, and when I moved to another part of the city, (out in the Everglades), got satellite, and NEVER had problems with it, well, then I decided that satellite was pretty darn good.

The only problem that you are going to have is that you stated at the beginning that you do a lot of downloading. You will easily go over your threshold each month if you do that. You can pay for tokens to be able to d/l more, but in the end, if you do a ton of d/l, it's going to cost you a pretty penny. Satellite is good if you're not a gamer, (I am but considering I worked more than I did anything else, I dealt with it), and you don't want to stream movies, or you don't need to d/l a lot of stuff. I would not recommend it ONLY because you said you do a lot of d/l.

TWC does have deals for first time customers. You can get fast internet for $50-60 each month, depending on what you want. Back in September, someone mentioned that their TWC slowed down after they told them, "no thanks" to a deal. Let me tell you, I have gone through absolute HELL with TWC because about 2 people there know what they are doing, the rest are complete morons. Extremely long story short, (seriously, two year story here), they upgraded their systems in July. What they failed to do was TELL ANYONE ABOUT IT, and so older modems no longer got the power that they once did BECAUSE of the upgrade at TWC. So, you can pay for your 30MBS d/l speed, but with the modem suddenly being outdated, you only got 3. Do NOT get me started on the incompetence of that company. If you call those idiots and tell them that you are paying for x speed, you want x speed, they'll send a new modem and wah-lah, suddenly you have x speed that you are paying for. I swear to GOD those people are flippin' idiots. I said don't get me started.............point is, even though they are total IDIOTS, it really is the best ISP you're going to get here, as far as speed. Just....make sure that you stay on top of them at all times because they truly are IDIOTS.

And just in case I did not make my point clear: TWC is the best option, but they are idiots. It's amazing that one company can have so many fricken idiots working for them. Unfortunately, you have to deal with the incompetent idiots because nothing else compares to the speed you can get.

tl;dr : Satellite is good, but not for you if you d/l a lot. Get TWC only because nothing else out there is better, but be prepared to deal with the stupidest people that walk the earth.