High speed internet in Hilo (to rent, new home, landlord)

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by mdand3boys

You CAN NOT use people's experiences who do not live IN HILO to determine the answers you are looking for.

I live near Pahoa, have Oceanic (cable) and have 20MB down and 1 MB up. Rarely is it down or slow.

My experience with Oceanic Time Warner's (OTW) service is closer to Terracore's than it is to mdand3boys's. Like mdand3boys, I'm near Pāhoa, but like Terracore, I had the cable/phone/internet bundle. While the cable part of the bundle was reliable, the phone/internet portion would go down several times per day. Eventually, I ended up just using the phone portion to check whether or not the internet service was up, since both relied upon the cable modem (i.e. no phone dial tone = no internet service). However, OTW has a tendency to increase its rates periodically, and over the course of several years, my OTW bill had increased from around $100/month over $165/month. So, I finally cut the phone service, but kept the cable and internet service. Ironically, after cutting the phone service, the reliability and speed of OTW's internet service improved and it's now similar to what mdand3boys is reporting.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Jonah K

While the cable part of the bundle was reliable, the phone/internet portion would go down several times per day.

Ditto my experience with TW in Volcano, except that the cable goes out too. Well, whaddya expect anyway, living in a third-world country like we do.

[HiloDiver]

Sounds like cable internet is not the way to go, then. And we never watch TV so we're not getting that anyway. We don't even think we need a land line telephone, haven't had one here in years.

Who has DSL near Hilo and can give some input?

[mdand3boys]

All of the rural areas of the island will have problems with cable, telephone (DSL) and electricity going out due to several reasons:
None of the lines are buried
Trees, vines etc grow all year 'round and grow very fast
Most of the infrastructure (poles/lines) are old and in need of repair
Hilo does not have as many issues with outages as the rural areas.

*** Being in an area where DSL is available does not mean that you can get DSL though. This is why I said you have to call the phone company and inquire. ***

Here is why. Several years ago, Hawaiian Telcom went into bankruptcy and as a result, all infrastructure improvements stopped. (and still have not picked up) In any particular area, once all of the available ports are taken (used) by customers, no one else can get DSL until a port opens up. They do not maintain a waiting list. This means you have to call, every day at 8 am and inquire if a port has become available. Ports become available when a customer moves away, doesn't pay the bill and gets cut-off, or drops service. In any given area/neighborhood, there might be a dozen or more people who call, every day, looking to score the next available port! It can easily take a year or more of this daily calling before one gets service.

[HiloDiver]

I'm not going to be in a rural area, I will be walking distance to town. I sure wish someone in my soon-to-be situation would be able to share what they use for DSL.

I am very aware that I can get DSL at the new house, despite being told two or three times to do something I've already done.

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by DebbyDiver

I'm not going to be in a rural area, I will be walking distance to town. I sure wish someone in my soon-to-be situation would be able to share what they use for DSL.

I am very aware that I can get DSL at the new house, despite being told two or three times to do something I've already done.

Only one company offers DSL - Hawaiian Telcom. Any other company that offers it is a broker who is reselling Hawaiian Telcom service.

Now, I will explain some more for you and for others who may come across this thread.

There is a valid reason why Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) has so much business in Hilo even though their service costs more per month, is slower and very prone to outages. It is because so many areas within Hilo cannot get DSL because all of the ports are full. You will not find out that you can or cannot get DSL - in Hilo - until you actually try to place the order. Once you have DSL, in Hilo - the service is just fine. Hilo has few outages for cable or DSL. AWS performance and customer service is terrible.

The business I last worked at in Hilo, on a major street, could not get DSL and had to resort to AWS for internet service. One of the secretary's main job, 1st thing every morning, was to phone Hawaiian Telcom to try and get us DSL service. This had gone on for over 2 years!

I know of people who have even tried to "buy" a neighbors DSL service - essentially asking the neighbor to give up their port for cash so they could get the port.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by DebbyDiver

I'm not going to be in a rural area, I will be walking distance to town. I sure wish someone in my soon-to-be situation would be able to share what they use for DSL.

There may not be anyone to answer. I've noticed over the last couple of years that most of the regulars here on the Big Island forum who are actually residents seem to live outside Hilo. My theory is that the folks in Hilo live such fast-paced lives that they have no time to hang out on the interwebz, while those of us out in the country... well. once it gets dark, unless you like TV, it gets kinda boring. I mean, how many times can you do the same jigsaw puzzle?

So, what part of the teeming metropolis of Hilo are you locating to, anyway?

Originally Posted by DebbyDiver

I am very aware that I can get DSL at the new house, despite being told two or three times to do something I've already done.

Don't take it personally that people answer questions you didn't ask. Haven't you noticed how many people clearly don't read the whole thread before they post? Multiply that by the fact that many obviously don't read very well, and that a few have apparently been out in the sun too long (or the rain, as the case may be) and it's sometimes a wonder to me that anyone ever gets a useful answer from anyone here other than Hotzcatz.

So anyway, if you call the phone company and tell them the address where you want DSL service, they can tell you whether or not you can get it.

[BigIslandBum]

I have Oceanic internet/phone (no cable tv) and live in Hilo. I work online so I'm fairly sensitive to internet issues. There was an issue with the modem dropping the connection periodically (1 - 5 times a day) but they managed to get it resolved in a timely fashion. Overall my experience with Oceanic has been decent.

[HiloDiver]

Originally Posted by mdand3boys

Only one company offers DSL - Hawaiian Telcom. Any other company that offers it is a broker who is reselling Hawaiian Telcom service.

Now, I will explain some more for you and for others who may come across this thread.

There is a valid reason why Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) has so much business in Hilo even though their service costs more per month, is slower and very prone to outages. It is because so many areas within Hilo cannot get DSL because all of the ports are full. You will not find out that you can or cannot get DSL - in Hilo - until you actually try to place the order. Once you have DSL, in Hilo - the service is just fine. Hilo has few outages for cable or DSL. AWS performance and customer service is terrible.

The business I last worked at in Hilo, on a major street, could not get DSL and had to resort to AWS for internet service. One of the secretary's main job, 1st thing every morning, was to phone Hawaiian Telcom to try and get us DSL service. This had gone on for over 2 years!

I know of people who have even tried to "buy" a neighbors DSL service - essentially asking the neighbor to give up their port for cash so they could get the port.

AGAIN...I know for a fact that Hawaiian Telcom serves the house (as it does right now). However, thank you for the explanation that all others are HT resellers, that's some new information at least.

Originally Posted by OpenD

There may not be anyone to answer. I've noticed over the last couple of years that most of the regulars here on the Big Island forum who are actually residents seem to live outside Hilo. My theory is that the folks in Hilo live such fast-paced lives that they have no time to hang out on the interwebz, while those of us out in the country... well. once it gets dark, unless you like TV, it gets kinda boring. I mean, how many times can you do the same jigsaw puzzle?

So, what part of the teeming metropolis of Hilo are you locating to, anyway?



Don't take it personally that people answer questions you didn't ask. Haven't you noticed how many people clearly don't read the whole thread before they post? Multiply that by the fact that many obviously don't read very well, and that a few have apparently been out in the sun too long (or the rain, as the case may be) and it's sometimes a wonder to me that anyone ever gets a useful answer from anyone here other than Hotzcatz.

So anyway, if you call the phone company and tell them the address where you want DSL service, they can tell you whether or not you can get it.

LOL OpenD, you always crack me up. Believe it or not, I have a very fast-paced life planned in Hilo and environs filled with self-employment (we have an internet business), volunteer work, and a few clubs we will be joining after we arrive. At night, we are all about good food and live music (without leaving home!) and we do love to watch music videos on YouTube. Remember, we're coming from a 3rd world country environment...Hilo is just so CIVILIZED and URBAN!!!!! (To us!!!)

You are right, people really don't read or understand the questions I ask, sometimes I wonder why I bother, lol. All I asked is "what DSL do you have and do you like it" and I got all sorts of elementary answers about how DSL works that I knew 15 years ago from being one of the first DSL customers where I used to live. :le sigh: Not telling where we're moving yet because it would give it away, but we are in a very private area not far from Hilo. NOTE that private does not mean rural and yes, I know the house has DSL. It's also cable-ready but we never watch TV so we told the landlords we won't pay for it (I think it's bundled with theirs?)

Originally Posted by BigIslandBum

I have Oceanic internet/phone (no cable tv) and live in Hilo. I work online so I'm fairly sensitive to internet issues. There was an issue with the modem dropping the connection periodically (1 - 5 times a day) but they managed to get it resolved in a timely fashion. Overall my experience with Oceanic has been decent.

Thank you, finally, someone with real experience!!! Much appreciated.

I'm thinking...hubby can get online with his USB router thing and I can tether my Droid with PDAnet if he's out on the boat; I think we'll just exist with those for the first couple of weeks until we get settled.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by DebbyDiver

Not telling where we're moving yet because it would give it away, but we are in a very private area not far from Hilo.

Oh, I don't care specifically, I was just wondering generally if you were going to be NE of the cruise ship dock and airport, or NW along Hilo Bay (or wherever) so I could start giving you heads ups on specific places near you that you may like.

In any case, hubby may have already discovered it, but my #1 pick in town has to be Cafe Pesto, on the bayfront in the old downtown area. It's in a beautifully restored 1912 building with high ceilings and cool ambience. My favorite time there is mid-afternoon, after the lunch rush quiets down, but before the dinner buzz builds, when I can sit there for hours in a wicker chair with a tall cold beverage, looking out the huge windows at the surf crashing in on the beach, reading a good book, whatever. The food is spectacular, from the small plates and wood fired pizzas to full dinners, and on weekends there's usually a slack key player/singer from Happy Hour on. I know you're gonna love it.

Cafe Pesto Hilo Bay Location