Hawaii Telcom Customers (rental, credit, hotel) - Big Island - (HI) -The Island of Hawaii - City-Data Forum

Luau Time · 11-03-2020, 08:19 PM

Looks as though we may be moving into our new home. The subdivision has Hawaiian Telcom internet service. When I called them for info, on three different occasions, none of the reps even knew about the subdivision and said they would have to come out to the house before they could give me any info. Looking at their website is clear as mud.

So, my question is to anyone of you who might have them only for internet and landline phone service. What is your monthly fee? Does it include repair service coming out to your home? Their website appears to push internet and TV bundles, then will charge $15 for a landline. So, is it cheaper to have TV service? We were planning to just live-stream rather than paying high cable fees.

Any advice regarding Haw’n Tel? Any “warnings”? Would you recommend them? We’re located in the Ola Hou Estates in Kea’au, 1 mile from downtown Kea’au, across from Kea’au High School. Calling Spectrum, I was told they would have to come out to the house to see if they would provide service. It appears we can only have HT.

So frustrating. I know I could wait until we move in, but I like to do research before talking to reps who tell you one thing and then they “add on charges” after the installation.

Mahalo.
Judy

terracore · 12-11-2020, 05:30 PM

We have HT fiber internet. It's just as fast as they advertise. We don't have any TV or landline service.

Navigating their pricing is a challenge, because you'll sign up for whatever "intro" price they have, and then before it expires (usually 1-2 years), call them back and basically renegotiate the price based on whatever the rates are going to be then. We started out with gigabit service, and then when renegotiation time came, actually brought our price down a few dollars for 300mbs, though there was no noticeable change in internet speed (most web sites can't dish out gigabit speeds to individual users, so there is no point in having it on the receiving end unless you have dozens or hundreds of users sharing the bandwidth).

Luau Time · 12-12-2020, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terracore

We have HT fiber internet. It's just as fast as they advertise. We don't have any TV or landline service.

Navigating their pricing is a challenge, because you'll sign up for whatever "intro" price they have, and then before it expires (usually 1-2 years), call them back and basically renegotiate the price based on whatever the rates are going to be then. We started out with gigabit service, and then when renegotiation time came, actually brought our price down a few dollars for 300mbs, though there was no noticeable change in internet speed (most web sites can't dish out gigabit speeds to individual users, so there is no point in having it on the receiving end unless you have dozens or hundreds of users sharing the bandwidth).

Thanks for the info. The owner of the first home built in our subdivision said he’s happy with their service. Good thing, that’s the only internet provider that’s available. Lol

Thanks for the info.

Wishing you safe and happy holidays.

Judy

GoldKona · 12-12-2020, 10:23 PM

I have internet service only in a rental for about 18 months. It went out recently and they could not make a service call before 10 days. This is in Waikiki. Geez! But by miracle it came on by itself after about 4 days. For internet only I pay about $50!

Luau Time · 12-13-2020, 12:17 PM

Wow. Not good service. Mahalo for sharing GoldKona.

GoldKona · 12-13-2020, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luau Time

Wow. Not good service. Mahalo for sharing GoldKona.

To be fair my Spectrum (Oceanic Time Warner) went out and it was a 4 day wait. I kept playing around and got it up but I did do all the reboots, Etc. before I called. I think it was still on their end and they fixed it because of my call.

Arktikos · 12-13-2020, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terracore

We have HT fiber internet. It's just as fast as they advertise. We don't have any TV or landline service.

Navigating their pricing is a challenge...).

Same here, just signed up for internet only in the last month.
Service crew was prompt, friendly and COVID cautious.
My deal is $30/month with a jump after a year to $40.
Got the slowest available I believe, 25 mbps.
It’s at least as fast as the service we have in Alaska for much more money so I can’t complain.
At least, not yet.

terracore · 12-17-2020, 08:28 PM

The worst experience I had with HT was when the only option was copper DSL. Internet went out, they did diagnostics, accused me of having bad wiring inside the house, and said it would be two weeks before they could send a "tech" out.

On service day, the "tech" didn't show up, he called my cell phone and asked me to check my internet. It was working fine. He explained that somebody in the billing department had reassigned my "port", he reassigned it back to me, so it was entirely a software issue on their side. And if it was working he wouldn't have to come out. WHY COULDN'T THEY SOLVE IT OVER THE PHONE 2 WEEKS AGO?!

I was pissed. I asked for a credit since I had been a half month without internet, they agreed and said I would see it on next bill. It was thirty seven cents. 37 PENNIES. I just accepted it as my fate. I was paying like $15 for 7mb/s unlimited through HT and I had been paying over $300 for similar speed but limited to 10GB/month through Verizon cellular before the DSL was available at my address.

Now that I have fiber I feel like I'm really in the 21st century.

Starlink has an FCC grant so they have to provide low-latency high speed satellite internet to Hawaii around the 150mb/s level. It will probably be available about this time next year. They have almost 1,000 satellites currently up there and are launching about 60 more every other week through 2021. So if you don't like your wired or cellular options, a new option is right around the corner.

Luau Time · 12-18-2020, 12:21 PM

UPDATE: HT only offers TV on Oahu.

My husband was quoted $98/mo. for internet (500 mbps) plus a landline.

terracore · 12-21-2020, 08:56 PM

Unless you're running a hotel, 500 mbps is a far, far faster a speed than you will ever use. Just my opinion. I used to admin a web server and there was no way we could dish out individual client speeds anywhere near that. (aka, go for a cheaper option).

I haven't had a "land line" in 10+ years. At this point I don't even understand the concept because you are only paying for a phone number. When you are on fiber if your internet goes out so does your land line. Anybody on fiber can get a free "land line" through Google Voice or any other similar service. Certainly, don't pay a premium for it.