12-31-2010, 05:00 AM
My experience with Hawaiian Telcom and DSL.
We live on 13th off Kaloli almost to the dead end, and have had DSL at 3 megabits for more than 4 years. We know a neighbor who lives on the corner of 6th and Kaloli who has DSL only without getting the house phone. We couldn't get that in 2006 but in 2008 he could.
DSL works most of the time to the point that I would call it dependable. It wasn't always that way and we have learned some tricks in that time.
Calling the sales office is not reliable. As awkward as this sounds, we found talking to the lady in the HiTel truck who installs and maintains the lines was the way to go. She is often in the neighborhood. The office said we could not get DSL. She said we could and we did.
Advertisements said we could get up to 3Mbits but we only got 1 Mb after the install.
Called Hi Tel TECH Support (NOT the first layer usually) and got a technician who said the line was qualified for 3Mb. As I understood it, he did nothing more than flip a switch (remove a limit??) and our line went to 3Mbits.
It seems that you may be given one speed and if you don't know to complain, they will never set you higher.
For at least the first year we called support several times a month because the line was so undependable. After more line work on the street the connection's reliability improved dramatically.
Buying a ZOOM ADSL Modem/Router also improved the reliability. That model gives you a status and speed quote for the connection setting as set by HiTel. Apparently getting a good modem from Hawaiian Telcom is a real hit or miss.
Sometimes being on the phone breaks the DSL connection (YES even with the proper filters installed).
Sometimes the connection speed drops and it takes touching tin foil to the wires to make it all better. This could be needed once a day, once a week, or once a month. There is no rhyme or reason to it, heavy rains not withstanding.
Last we checked, we still could not get Road Runner to our street.
Matt
We live on 13th off Kaloli almost to the dead end, and have had DSL at 3 megabits for more than 4 years. We know a neighbor who lives on the corner of 6th and Kaloli who has DSL only without getting the house phone. We couldn't get that in 2006 but in 2008 he could.
DSL works most of the time to the point that I would call it dependable. It wasn't always that way and we have learned some tricks in that time.
Calling the sales office is not reliable. As awkward as this sounds, we found talking to the lady in the HiTel truck who installs and maintains the lines was the way to go. She is often in the neighborhood. The office said we could not get DSL. She said we could and we did.
Advertisements said we could get up to 3Mbits but we only got 1 Mb after the install.
Called Hi Tel TECH Support (NOT the first layer usually) and got a technician who said the line was qualified for 3Mb. As I understood it, he did nothing more than flip a switch (remove a limit??) and our line went to 3Mbits.
It seems that you may be given one speed and if you don't know to complain, they will never set you higher.
For at least the first year we called support several times a month because the line was so undependable. After more line work on the street the connection's reliability improved dramatically.
Buying a ZOOM ADSL Modem/Router also improved the reliability. That model gives you a status and speed quote for the connection setting as set by HiTel. Apparently getting a good modem from Hawaiian Telcom is a real hit or miss.
Sometimes being on the phone breaks the DSL connection (YES even with the proper filters installed).
Sometimes the connection speed drops and it takes touching tin foil to the wires to make it all better. This could be needed once a day, once a week, or once a month. There is no rhyme or reason to it, heavy rains not withstanding.
Last we checked, we still could not get Road Runner to our street.
Matt