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Warning of Hawaiian Telcom. Be certain you can acquire DSL when they say you can and don't invest $ into their new home install demands, as I did for my business service. It cost me about $350 as customer service reps continued to try and sell me other services while the supervisor repeatedly refused to speak w/ me.
My purpose is to notify Puna residents not for financial resolution, but to reveal the outlandish and unethical manner in which Hawaiian Telcom conducts business. In summary, they are guilty of false advertising, deceit and avoidance; #8210; and in addition to causing undue expenses for consumers and the public.
They have no ethics and deserve to go under. Hawaii consumers will be better off. For whatever it's worth, I've filed complaints with BBB, FCC and the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.
FYI Hawaiian Telcom bankruptcy reports:
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stori...ily10.html
http://emailwire.com/release/18483-HAWAI...-No-5.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...02575.html
Delia Montgomery
d/b/a Chic Eco
Environmental Fashion & Design ~ Consultant & Broker
www.ChicEco.com Info@ChicEco.com
Delia Montgomery,
Environmentalist
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Interesting Delia.
More than 1 yr ago, I again tried to get DSL service from Hawaiian Tel becausemy neighbor who lived in the next to last lot on my road got DSL service. I live on the dead end of 5th off Maku'u in HPP. Their pitch was they could serve me/us. Actually, they couldn't and had no plan to do so in the near (or any) future. I recently got a device from Verizon and I am singing it's praises. Prior to Verizon, I had internet access through Advabced Wireless Systems.
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ChicEco, Thanks for sharing your experience.
Barbara, Can you tell us a little more about the service you are using from Verizon? Is it a wireless card you insert into your laptop or something else? Thanks.
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Moi aussi....I had the same experience with hawaiian tel and DSL. They told me it was available...then told me it wasn't and didn't know when it would be available on my street which also happens to be on 5th on the dead end side of Makuu about half way down. I finally told them they could keep their land line and terminated our telephone line permanently. We then signed up with AWS satalite internet which has been adaquate for us.
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The Verizon wireless service works well for us, being entirely off grid. Not just for the usual email and surfing, but also uploading a lot of images to our website. Many videos work OK but that's pushing the bandwidth. I've measured a 1 megabit/second download time on McAfee's internet speedometer. It's a "dongle" setup with a half-card deck size device attached to the USB port on our Macbook.
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We got an Air Card from Sprint along with a wireless router.
We basically have unlimited usage and the data line was added
as an extra line on my cell phone plan. We can use the Air Card
indiviually in one of our laptops or plug it into the router
and then we can both use it at the same time since our laptops
are wireless capable. We also got a Brother wireless printer
and plugged it into one of the ports on the router and can print
wirelessly as well. We are completely off grid and any telephone
pole is hundreds of feet away, so not landline capable. We have
DSL in CA and the Aircard is much faster. Purchase of the Air
Card and Router was about $250.00, but now only have the monthly
charge.
"From knowledge comes understanding"
"From knowledge comes understanding"
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Hey Pete & Ed, Thanks very much for the detailed information. It really helps. Like you, we're approaching this from an off grid context, so it's great to know what's working for others.
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Glad to read the communications, as my only purpose now is to prevent others from such a nightmare. Got a call from a gal @ Hawaiian Telcom's Customer Relations Department today. She only referred to the BBB complaint. She told me that the reference numbers Hawaiian Telcom provided me were mysteriously pulled from the system. She agreed that there was no excuse for such unprofessional avoidances (not answering my calls + no response to the BBB complaint) and intends to help the company understand that they have a dysfunctional system for determining who is eligble for DSL from the Honolulu offices.
As for the cell phone air card, it saved me. I use AT&T and am a fan of their professional customer service. But from reading above, it seems other companies provide systems without the limitations I have. My business requires lots of uploads and downloads. It's like wondering if you should flush the toilet when you know you're running out of water!!!
Delia Montgomery
d/b/a Chic Eco
Environmental Fashion & Design ~ Consultant & Broker
www.ChicEco.com Info@ChicEco.com
Delia Montgomery,
Environmentalist
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Not meaning to defend Hawaiian Telecom, but DSL availability can't be guaranteed on more remote locations. DSL has varying distance requirements that depend upon the quality of the copper wire that has been ran from their CO (central office) to your home or business.
I have encountered cases of next door neighbors where one can get it and the next one can't, because they are another couple hundred feet away from the CO. Dependent upon the type of equipment used by the telco, the range can be as little as 1.5 miles or as much as 3+ miles. This range is not by a radius from their CO. It is miles of actual wire that runs from their CO to your location.
Sometimes, I have been able to get a concerned telephone company tech to literally
go the extra mile for me and move the home owner's pair of copper wire to different unused segments as the wire goes from one little green box to the next back to the CO. (Staying non-technical here... ) It can be quite labor intensive to do that and I have paid
special fees [
]to help out a tech in that situation before. Still, it can be hit or miss.
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Appreciate your words Da Kine,
I got an engineer's name w/ Time Warner Cable and phoned him. He took the time to drive through Nanawale and investigate. He phoned me back w/ his report afterwords and told me that I could call him back anytime if I moved and wondered about availability. Boy, what a difference in service and professionalism! Hawaiian Telcom resisted me speaking w/ an engineer and when I pursued, they gave me the wrong phone number. I called them back to let them know and the reply was that they would phone me back, which they never did. Inexcusable!
Delia Montgomery
d/b/a Chic Eco
Environmental Fashion & Design ~ Consultant & Broker
www.ChicEco.com
Delia Montgomery,
Environmentalist
