Working remote and in need of reliable high speed internet (Hilo: rentals, house)

[Trixie4]

Hi,

My family is looking to move to the BI before the New Year and our only real concern at this point is having reliable high speed internet - my husband is a software developer and works remote from home. We have lived just outside Asheville, NC for the past three years and the internet access has been slow and at times has even stopped for several hours at a time due to weather and poor quality overall. Are there areas of the BI where internet access is problematic or slow? Also, is there one specific provider that locals prefer? We have four children so losing his well paying position with a mainland company due to not being able to skype in to a morning meeting would cause serious panic with this Mama! I have done a great deal of research on this move and honestly the internet access is the only thing that keeps me up at night - I can only imagine my husband's boss will not be overly patient with any type of problem we might have in beautiful Hawaii as he is stuck commuting to an office in Raleigh, NC. Any comments on working remote from the BI would be greatly appreciated.

[RugbyDave]

Couple of good threads:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/big-i...rnet-hilo.html

https://www.city-data.com/forum/big-i...-internet.html

Bottom line: some options besides direct service (air cards, hotspots). Many areas up the Kohala and Hamakua are spotty (i do travel med work), and it drops off here and there around the Belt (Ka'u is spotty). like anything, it depends on a lot. Many like Verizon, though AT&T is 'supposed to' roll out better 'G' service this year. The threads I posted are pretty recent so no worries on old info!

[Trixie4]

Thanks so much for the informative links! I can't wait to make this move happen now.

[RugbyDave]

Haha you and about 1000 other people good luck and let me know if you need anything else!

[Fredesch]

I also work from home doing software and have the same idea as you- moving to Hawaii and continue working in my same job. I currently have Verizon FiOS which is fast and solid.

One aspect your husband will have to deal with is a 5 or 6 hour time difference. So a 9am eastern daylight savings time meeting will be a 3am meeting in Hilo.

So far the information I have gathered is Time Warner Cable would be your provider of choice - fast, dependable and reasonably priced. The down side of Time Warner is a limited service area and poor customer service with respect to commitment on when an address would be hooked up. Aloha Broadband is a point to point Internet provider that provides coverage in lots of areas that Time Warner may not cover. You must have line of sight to their tower. For a software developer I don't think there are any other real alternatives because of our upload requirments, being constantly on a VPN and having chatty source control. If your husband only works on small projects or does not have to ever switch streams/branches you may have a few more options.

Good luck in your search and please update this thread with your experience if you move.

[Trixie4]

Thanks Fredesch,

My husband said that the Verizon FiOS is probably the way we will go as well. Have you zoomed in on where you might settle in Hawaii? We are still a few months away from making the move and will probably settle on the BI for convenience and proximity to back up employment. As a Senior .NET programmer he is hoping that if the position in Raleigh ever goes away that we would not be stranded without a livelihood. I am a writer and was raised in and went to university in Northern Virginia so I get how Hawaii would appeal to you - I still love Northern Virginia but left due to the crowds and attitude. My husband has a daily SCRUM meeting at 11 a.m. Raleigh time daily - but on a positive note he will be able to finish up work very early and hit the beach by lunch! Here is hoping it works out for the both of us!

[RugbyDave]

Did someone say 'scrum'?

Please update trixie - lots of people post about their move but rarely come back to update us! it can be helpful to us as well as others who may want to make the move. Feel free to ask anything else as you need.

[Fredesch]

We do not have a area picked out yet. We will go back next spring to get a better idea of the areas. All the folks on the forum that live on the big island suggest living there for a while before you buy a home.

One issue I am still working out is how to get fast Internet while we are renting. One idea is to rent space in Hilo's technology incubator thingy and use the Internet there. That might not work for early east coast meetings but might be an alternative to trying to get fast Internet in a rental.

[RugbyDave]

You may be surprised with the speed at some of your rentals. Im renting up in Waiakea-Uka as i move back in July - i was surprised that the high-speed was so high-speed! It's a beautiful area you may like as well.

Waimea just gives you a great feel for both sides, though hopefully you'll go down into both sides of the island and dig around yourself I really love the Hilo side myself and couldn't imagine life without the rain and lush tropical foliage. But I'm building my house in Waimea (towards Honoka'a side) myself!

[Fredesch]

Rugby Dave,

If they have Time Warner it could be fast, but if the have dish or some other satellite based system, that tiny up link is not good enough for developers as we have software that can upload or download thousands of files for a single process like switching streams/branches.