Moving to Saddlebrooke AZ (Tucson, Pima: fit in, 2015, new home)

[jgpool]

Hi,

I am moving to Saddlebrooke AZ next week and I have lot's of questions but I'll start with Cable/Internet/Phone providers (I have been told that Saddlebrooke is not an open market for Cable/Internet/Phone providers) . This is what I think I know right now.

Orbitel Communication can provide all 3.

Century Link can provide Internet/Phone.
Dish Network can provide Cable.

What I am looking for is some pros and cons about these providers from experienced users. Thank you in advance.

[Jukesgrrl]

First of all, let me note that I live in the NW suburb of Tucson, about 10 miles south of SaddleBrooke, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But I will take shot at providing some info since no one else has. (If I say something wrong, that's when someone else will chime in. )

Dish Network provides satellite television, not cable television. I believe Comcast provides cable service there. You are correct that Metro Tucson is not open to all service providers. Areas are zoned so that various companies provide service in different areas. Comcast operates where I live, but other people in the Metro can only get cable through Cox Communications. I've seen listings for Time Warner in SaddleBrooke, too, but since I have no experience with them except back East, I don't know about their service areas in Arizona. You might check them out if you are used to their service from wherever you are moving from.

When I switched from Comcast cable to DirecTV satellite, I looked at Dish, too. I found out that its expanded basic package (what I wanted price-wise) didn't provide some of the channels I watch most often. So no matter which service provider you consider, make sure they offer what you want to watch. All are not equal in that respect. You can find the channels they offer, and what packages those channels fit into, on the companies' respective websites.

I switched from cable to satellite because of service issues. With Comcast, the picture on my TVs often pixelated or cut out altogether. Multiple service calls didn't correct it. I had warnings from people that satellite often cuts out here because of high winds. While I have had some occurrences of that in bad monsoon storms, disruption has proved FOR ME to be much less with the satellite (and I've had it for more than three years now) so I'm satisfied with my choice to switch.

Both Comcast cable and Century Link provide internet service. I know a lot of people who use Comcast because they like the quality of its internet service. My brother lives closer to the city than I do and he experienced none of the problems I had with Comcast TV. Perhaps that's because he pays much more for premium channels and HD? He's also happy with the internet service. His family uses cell phones exclusively, so they don't worry about linking in landline phone service.

I, on the other hand, need a landline. (Don't ask.) When I moved here, I signed up with Qwest for it, internet, and cell phones (they offered Verizon then). When Qwest dropped Verizon, we got cell service elsewhere, but I kept them for internet/landline because I was getting a very good price and I had no service problems. When Qwest was taken over by CenturyLink, my price stayed the same. I have not been nearly as happy with their customer service, but it's not bad enough that I want to give up my bundle price. Also, I get a discount on my DirecTV by allowing CenturyLink to bundle it with my other products. (They don't provide the service, but they are allowed to BILL for it.) That won't be an option for you, however, if DirecTV doesn't operate in SaddleBrooke.

I've never even heard of Orbitel Communications, so I have no insight there. But I Googled them out of curiosity and they do serve SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch, although nowhere in Pima County. I'd be interested in how competitive they are price-wise and what kind of channels they include. A lot of companies advertise they have "everything you want to watch," yet that is far from the truth sometimes. Bundling DOES save money in any situation I've encountered, but buyer beware in anything having to do with telecoms.
» Orbitel for Your Home Orbitel Communications

[jgpool]

Thank you jukesgrrl,

I have subscribed to the Orbitel bundle,

I have phone, internet and cable for $114 a month for a year. It has been a good service and I am satisfied so far. It took a little longer to get my phone than expected( by about 3 days which cost me approx. $40 bucks of usage of my old phone service setting up appointments) because of an acknowledged screw up by Orbitel. Thank you for your input. I am loving our new home in Saddlebrooke. This is a great website for newcomers to this area. I hope to contribute to this website in the future.

Joe G

[Jukesgrrl]

Welcome, Joe. Glad your phone finally came through. I hope you get some kind of rebate for their screw-up. In general, that sounds like a reasonable price.

Best of luck to you in SaddleBrooke. There are some nice houses and interesting people there. Let us know how you're doing in the future. We could use more people from SaddleBrooke chiming in here with observations.

[jgpool]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

Welcome, Joe. Glad your phone finally came through. I hope you get some kind of rebate for their screw-up. In general, that sounds like a reasonable price.

Best of luck to you in SaddleBrooke. There are some nice houses and interesting people there. Let us know how you're doing in the future. We could use more people from SaddleBrooke chiming in here with observations.

Thanks for the kind wishes. We have been here since Jan 17th and retirement is a wonderful thingy! This has been about a year and a half in the planning and all went well to get here. Our life since we got here has been a constant stream of contractors threw our house which will not end anytime soon. The people we've met in Saddlebrooke have been nothing but exceptionally nice, helpful and non-intrusive so far. My days consist of Breakfast, To Do's and contactor estimates, lunch, billiards, breaking down boxes, beer, dinner, sleep, repeat. It's a great life!! I have recently received some good rep from a member but do not know how to tell who gave it to me? I assume it was you, thank you if it was.

[Tea&Kay]

Hi, wanted to pick up on your relocation to Saddlebrooke. How has life been at the community? I too am considering retiring there and wanted to know your satisfaction with the quality of the home you purchased (was it built well and were any issues repaired quickly? Also was curious to know about water rates and wind conditions. From my reading of this community, those are two items that are concerning to me.

Thanks, Tea&Kay

[BestintheWest]

Orbitel is absolutely horrible in Maricopa, nothing works right, voice problems on TV for over a year, channels randomly are temporarily not available(for weeks at a time, phone seldom shows caller ID and internet in fast then slow and on and on.

Hope you are having better luck, but we are done with Orbitel.

[vlanger2]

Hi, I too am moving to Saddlebrooke. I understand that there are limited services for Internet and Cable. It is now 2017. Has anything improved or otherwise. I am not talking about the wind or rain. I am interested in comments regarding the communication services. Thank you.

[Daisypups]

Originally Posted by vlanger2

Hi, I too am moving to Saddlebrooke. I understand that there are limited services for Internet and Cable. It is now 2017. Has anything improved or otherwise. I am not talking about the wind or rain. I am interested in comments regarding the communication services. Thank you.

We live in Saddlebrooke as of Oct 2015. We have Orbitel for our wifi (50 mps), AT&T for our mobile phones, and Directv. Century Link is another choice for wifi but don't know anything about it. In short, all are performing very well with no complaints. Even during monsoon our power remained on, TV remained on and phones and computer were fine. We had cable when we lived out of state and now we must say Directv has been really good. Hope this helps!