HughesNet service in Washington County.. is it good?

[JC3]

Originally Posted by Maineah

My Daughter had the satellite internet in Vermont and hated it. They ended up getting Blackberries and going with their wireless system. They're still not all that fired up about the wireless system but she says it's 10 times better than the sattellite.

I have checked with Verizon about service by going wireless. I have to do some more checking because I am not sure I understood what I was told correctly. Which in itself is nothing new.

I though they did say there was a limit on useage, then you pay for minutes like you would using a cell phone. Not sure if I understood this correctly so back I will go because for me it might the best option for my area.

[harry chickpea]

I'll add my 2 cents about Hughesnet. I am just waiting out the days until I've been on it two years so that I can avoid the $300 penalty they impose if you drop the service early. That penalty should tell you right there what to expect out of that sleeze company.

[droobie]

I'd watch out for the satellite dish unless you have absolutely no other options -
A> They severely limit the bandwidth you can use, especially if you do anything intensive like downloads. They can actually degrade the service to speeds around dial-up.
B> It's slow, latencywise, because your data has to go up to a satellite, down again, then up from there, and down to you.
C> Contracts, up front costs, etc.
D> You'll never be doing any online gaming on it, (see B).


I'd watch out as far as using the cell network because -
A> Verizon Wireless doesn't do much of Washington and Hancock County, which means you're better off with US Cellular there. US Cellular does sell Aircards and they upgraded to 3G recently in much of ME. Verizon customers can roam for voice and the slower 2G data service, but only US Cellular customers get access to the new US Cellular 3G service.
B> The limit is 5GB of transfer a month on either carrier. They really don't want you watching Netflix on it or anything like that.


The Wireless ISPs in these areas may be better, and they're certainly more responsive than the satellite dish.

This is something that is installed on the house usually, with an antenna and a small radio. They usually install it all for you and it works similar to regular DSL in terms of speed.

In Washington and Hancock County, (Axiom Technologies, LLC | Bringing the internet to rural communities) serves much of the area.
In Hancock, Waldo, Somerset, Penobscot and Piscataquis (and some other) counties, Premium Choice Broadband (Premium Choice Broadband - Internet Service Provider) covers much of the area either through their company or through Mainely Wired (which they acquired earlier in the year). I usually call PCB 'the place I work', but I also work for some other places.

Up North (Aroostook County), Aroostook Internet (Home) (which just acquired SJV), and Pioneer Wireless (Pioneer Broadband - DSL, Cable, Wireless, Satellite, Dialup, Web Hosting, Data Center).

For people in Fairpoint areas, they may also want to check out Great Works Internet at (GWI: Phone and Internet service for your Maine home or business) . GWI sells a faster and more reliable service over the Fairpoint copper. They seem to have more stroke to actually fix problems. However, GWI's network does not extend into Washington County, though they cover all the way up to Presque Isle, and down to Ellsworth, over to Norway, etc. I am a very happy GWI customer for many years.

There's also always the cable company. Time Warner is something like 85% of the cable coverage in the state. However, cable covers something like 60% of the state and most of that is in Southern Maine. Obviously cable is scarce in much of the surface area of the state, especially north of Augusta.

[Maine Writer]

Pioneer is available in parts of Washington county. I've had it for four years and am pleased with it. I asked Axiom about service. They said no. If I can get service from Pioneer, TW or Fairpoint they cannot offer me service. If Axiom had better service they'd be my choice - if I had choice.

For people in Fairpoint areas,

Only some people in Fairpoint areas. They called several times to offer broadband. That's not a service they offer here. Their phone lines are so old the best they can do for me is 26.4 dial up.

[Elcarim]

The only "high speed" we're able to get here is satellite. We chose Wild Blue simply because they had the better deal and better rates. Other than the fact that we lose signal when the weather is bad, it's not been too terribly bad. It's NOT DSL, but it's working.

Also, I upload a lot of pics (big shock! ) and haven't gone over-limit with bandwidth yet.