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knieft
malihini
99 Posts |
 Posted - 01/24/2011 : 09:33:52
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Hi ho all
I know there have been several isp threads of late, so I hesitate to start another. However, Aloha Broadband is now serving our area (Kamaili Rd.).
http://www.alohabroadband.com/
Had frustrating experience with coconut-wireless, then switched to advanced wireless--similar frustrations. Lots of outages, inconsistent connection speeds, which have never been fast enough to stream anything really. More like glorified dial up speed. A youtube video of, say, three minutes (360) will often take two or three times that to load. Another frustration with AWS is that they cut you off every eight hours and you have to log back on. This can make simple software updates impossible at slow speeds.
We have no dsl, cable, or even cell reception so we pretty much put up with it, are glad to have it, compared to dial-up.
In any case, anyone using Aloha Broadband right now? They are in new areas, seem to be growing at a steady pace. I would love to switch to them, but am by now wary that I'll just be paying someone else for a junky internet connection. What sort of real life connect speeds do users get. Can you stream netflix, for instance, even lower quality?
Their set-up is only $100 (vs several hundred) and the $50 monthly is less than we are now paying per month. So it probably can't be worse than what we have now, but still...anyone with actual Aloha Broadband experience on PunaWeb?
Cheers,
Kirt
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Kapohocat
Punatic
USA
4319 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 09:56:33
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| I'm interested in what you find out as my pals are on Kamaili too and dial-up is making their business harder to do so they come and sit on my deck and work if they have a lot of internet stuff to do. |
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Obie
Punatic
USA
1004 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 10:53:14
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I have a neighbor who has Aloha Broadband and he is very happy.The installer even came out on a Sunday.
He has only had it about 2 week though.
Kat,His name is Bill and he rents the downstairs of Mary's house on the corner by me. |
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knieft
malihini
99 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 10:54:02
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I have one family who lives in Waa Waa and they are very happy with it. They can stream Netflix, for instance, with only an occasional hiccup. I can't find much at all online to get a feel for how they rank.
Unless I hear a bunch of bad stuff, I'll likely switch as fast as I can. Expect a full review. ;)
The trouble with w-fi isp's is that location and landscape matters so much. Neighbors may have entirely different experiences depending on their line of site. Finding out where exactly I will get my signal from will be telling. Population density is so low along Kamaili Rd that I'm surprised they targeted it specifically. Must be pent up demand?
Sometimes I wonder how many PunaWebbers exist who live beyond Leilani anyway...
Cheers,
Kirt
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konadave
Da Kine
USA
214 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 13:34:51
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Knieft,
I have a friend in Ocean View who has been using them for about 5 years now. Says they are good. Not perfect but good. He has been happy with them overall. He had a few issues with them in the past. Nothing major. Also, he says they don't honor their referral program. Which they no longer offer so it is a mute point.
He used to have Coconut Wireless and he said they went downhill real fast.
I hope this helps!
|---The Ka'u Web---||---The Kona Forum---||-----Da Kine Hosting-----|
| www.KauWeb.com || www.KonaForum.com || www.DaKineHosting.com | |
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knieft
malihini
99 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 15:44:10
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| Thanks for the info, Dave! |
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macuu222
Punatic
Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
1829 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 15:55:18
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Bad Sign. I called Aloha Broadband to get set up and no one was there. It said their office hours are 8am-5pm Monday through Friday. I called at 3:30pm on Monday and had to leave a message.
Aloha Broadband is in my area in Lower HPP according to their coverage map. Right now I have AWS which is a small step up from dialup. Lots of down time...and signal loss....and slow as molassas.
But I'm not jumping ship with AWS until they can prove that they are faster and more reliable |
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knieft
malihini
99 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 16:41:08
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macuu222,
I suspect these guys are out doing installations or troubleshooting, probably half the time in areas with no cell reception. This applies to coconut-wireless, aws, and probably aloha broadband. This is Puna, and these small businesses are on the cutting edge in a way.
A bigger irony to me, is calling the Hilo AT&T store and waiting 20+ rings and getting a message from AT&T that the AT&T customer you are calling is not available. Other times they answer after 20+ rings. And this is a HUGE company that is in the business of offering phone service!
Not sure what it all means, but we'll see...
Cheers,
Kirt
PS. and thanks Obie for the feedback, missed you first time around |
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Ryan.
malihini
USA
95 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 21:47:20
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| Thanks so much for bringing this new service to our attention. We're currently with AWS out in Kalapana and oh, how we've longed for the day we could ditch them and find something better. Also great to discover that Aloha Broadband has a strong signal where we're building our new home in Kapoho. |
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tgalarneau
Newbie
40 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2011 : 08:43:43
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Kirt,
I have had Aloha Broadband since Sept in Waawaa. The service has been consistent, There was only one half day outage due to Time Warner issue who they obtain their service from.
I always get 1 - 2.5 mbps down and .7 upload, Usually at 2.5 down. We use it for streaming netflix and internet radio without trouble and youtube never lags and loads fast. My software updates of 100-200 mb files are done in but a few minutes. It's so nice.
I have no complaints like I did with Coconut Wireless or ATT. They are also easy to deal with.
The signal is received from Kaloli point as the service was initially setup for lower HPP after the demise of coconut wireless.
The tech guys were good and said on installation they would not do it if the signal was not top notch on testing and they did test and position the antenna carefully. Spent a lot of time doing it, I was impressed. |
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macuu222
Punatic
Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
1829 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2011 : 08:55:25
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| Yes...I'm impressed also. But they don't answer their phone...or return recorded messages for new service! |
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Johnnycake
malihini
USA
91 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2011 : 10:08:16
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My neighbor in Puna Beach Palisades had Aloha Broadband installed into his house and Loves it! He said he was able to stream a whole movie with no hiccups. He had AWS before and just couldn't handle the constant disconnections and slow running internet. I predict the days are numbered for AWS to remain in business.
Good Luck.
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knieft
malihini
99 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2011 : 11:10:16
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Sounding real good. Thanks to all for the reports. I'm definitely going for it.
Aloha Broadband returned my call/email (within 24 hours) and I am scheduled for an install this Sunday afternoon. (They set up your account to sign in at their webpage. There you enter cc info. Then the appointment is confirmed. The $100 set up fee is ready to be charged upon installation. Monthly fee is recurring on the cc.)
This is fun. Real internet after all these years? Time to dump DISH...;)
I'll give an update after installation.
Cheers,
Kirt |
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rbakker
Da Kine
USA
485 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2011 : 13:02:52
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macuu222, try calling Oceanic Time Warner and tell them where you live. You never know...
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macuu222
Punatic
Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
1829 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2011 : 15:34:48
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Finally got a called back from Aloha Broadband. Did the same as knieft. Sunday installation. (All HPP installs are on Sundays). They say once set up it's 2.5 down and .7up which is about 10 times faster than current AWS. Also no cutting off after 8 hours like AWS does. And no download or upload limits.
I'll believe it when I see it.
As far as Oceanic Time Warner goes...I gave up on them. Been trying since 1990 and finally decided a few years back that even if they do show up here someday...I'll never connect with them. |
Edited by - macuu222 on 01/25/2011 15:48:45 |
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macuu222
Punatic
Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
1829 Posts |
Posted - 01/30/2011 : 18:13:49
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| Well I've hooked up with Aloha Broadband today and all I can say is "I'm a believer". My god what a difference!!! I'm cancelling my AWS account tomorrow morning. About 10X faster than AWS. I type in address and I'm there. I'm on 5th street in HPP. Their tower is on beach road between Makuu and Paradise and can line of sight connect from the coast up to about 12th street. The installers were very knowledgable and very nice people. It's a win, win situation for people in lower HPP looking for fast internet |
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Aloha Broadband?
