Fairpoint versus Metrocast

[Lakepilot]

We switched from Fairpoint to Metrocast way back when their service and billing were atrocious. Right now we have cable, internet and phone with Metrocast, but the phone is not reliable (Wolfeboro). It's tied into our alarm system that goes bonkers if it doesn't have a phone connection. It looks like Fairpoint offers phone and internet (and TV through DirecTV).

Is anybody using Fairpoint for phone and internet. If so how is their reliability and service nowadays? How is their speed versus Metrocast? We've noticed that in the morning during the summer, the internet speed drops to a crawl.

It looks like we could save a substantial amount of money by going back, but we don't want to go from the frying pan into the fire.

[nicole]

We live in Laconia and have Fairpoint. When our house was built in 2006-we tried to go with Metrocast for phone and internet. It was problem after problem-the phone never worked, internet was slow-we had people out here all the time and we spent hours every week talking to customer service because our phone hardly ever worked and the internet was always down. They tried to blame it on everything but them-it was our phone, our wiring, you name it. Well it is was not us it was them-they could never fix the problem. We also know many people who have similar issues with them. Well we switched over when it was still Verizon-now Fairpoint. We were very concerned as we had heard the horror stories from Fairpoint. We never have problems with our phone and our internet is fast(we are close to the DSL house-about a mile). We can run our regular computer, lap top and download movies on our DirectTV on demand all at once and it all runs quick. We are happy as far as the service goes.

The billing is another story-it was an absolute nightmare for the first year and then some. No bills received, not being credited with our payments, threatening collections-you name it. They never fixed it, never had a clue when we called and they never did what they said they were going to do. We had to deal directly with someone at the PUC. The billing had been set for about 6 months, when last month we again did not receive a bill and they had no reason why-we did get a bill this month however, so hopefully we are all set again.

We have DirectTV but our personal choice is to never combine the bill with Fairpoint-because of all the billing issues we had for well over a year. To us, it is not worth the few bucks we might save.

So we are very happy with the phone and internet but hoping this latest billing problem was just a one time deal. However, even if the billing does get messed up again, we still could not go back to Metrocast-the billing was the only thing they could do right.

Nicole

[Lakepilot]

I called last night and Metrocast said they fix things in the night when people aren't using the system. Nice, but our alarm system needs to see an active phone line. So when they take down the phone, our alarm goes beep beep at 2:30 a.m. The system can't be reset, other then disconnecting power and the battery backup. We have a houseful of little kids that are only up for the week of the 4th. Can't they find a better time to fix the system?

I connect it all up this a.m. and it starts again! I call and they tell me it's all my fault. They'll send some out. But last night at 2:30 they said they knew they took the system down. It really frosts me that the folks on the phone are told to play mickey the dunce about problems.

I really don't want to go back to Fairpoint though unless they have their billing act together. Again, I don't want to go from the frying pan into the fire. On the other hand if they are OK I'll switch in a New York second.

[upthesaukee]

One feature that I like is that the phone does have battery backup for up to 8 hours. I realize that would be in standby mode, and not actively using the phone line. Also, this doesn't work with cordless phones...has to be the old wired phones. Does your alarm system need power as well to function, or can it operate for a period of time with the power out.

If it is simply looking for a viable phone line, is it not able to pick up on the metrocast line, or is Metrocast taking your phone line down totally?

[Lakepilot]

Our alarm system has a battery backup. The problem comes when the Metrocast phone line goes away. The alarm thinks someone may have cut the phone line to the house to disable the alarm so it beeps incessantly. I have to remove power and it's backup battery to quiet it.

We also lose the internet when this happens.

[KBoater]

I switched from Fairpoint to Metrocast for phone this spring and have had no problems with it. I also have an alarm system and they had to reset their system setup when I installed Metrocast phone. After the first day I have had not problem.
I already had internet and TV with them. I've been a satisfied custom in Wolfeboro for many years.

[Mr. Prop-B-Gone]

One thing to consider when switching your TV service from Metrocast to Direct TV is that you might lose the Boston stations. I may be wrong, but I believe that Wolfeboro is over the line and into the Maine market. If so, Direct TV is required by federal law to only give you the Maine network stations. Only channel 9 is exempt from this by a special exception to the law passed a few years ago.

That said, Direct TV is a good service, but you do lose it for a few minutes during thunderstorms. But, if you have a generator, it works even if power and cable are knocked out.

If you want a good "Video on Demand" service, consider NetFlix. We just signed on, and for $8.95 a month we get an excellent selection of instantly watchable movies and seasons of TV shows over the internet that play perfectly through our Wii game, and about 8 DVDs by mail every month. Doesn't take a lot of bandwidth as it works fine over our wireless g network even while both of our laptops are surfing the net. We have a 10 foot projector, so any video glitches would be easily seen.

We get our internet from Time Warner, and it's reasonably quick, but a friend in Alton who has Metrocast said it didn't work for him because Metrocast was too slow.

[chipj29]

Not sure if this is related to your possible phone probs, but we had probs with our Comcast phone service and it took months to figure out what it was. The phone would cut out while using it, and it would sometimes not give us a dial tone when trying to make a call. Our internet would intermittently cut out. Nothing fixed it. We got a new "upgraded" modem from Comcast. No luck. We had several service visits. No luck. No one could figure it out.

Upthesaukee alluded to it above...it was our cordless phone that was screwing things up for us. It seems that the combo of cable wireless internet and cordless phones can cause trouble. Comcast has a list of "bad" phones that are not compatible. Our phone was not on this list. We picked up a new phone, and have not had any trouble since.

[webmaster]

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...&postcount=177

[Slickcraft]

Switched from Fairpoint to Metrocast digital last fall. Lower cost and many new new features with no problems. We especially like the internet access to home voice mail when traveling or on the island along with e-mail notification of new voice mail. Also like the selective call blocking.

Battery back-up works for several hours provided the cable is not out but I admit that POTS (plain old telephone service) is more reliable. Our back-up is the cell phones and the broad card in the laptop.

[Lakepilot]

I appreciate all the responses so far. I'll check out OOMA. Not so much from a reliability point of view, since if we lose the internet, we'd also lose our phone, hence our alarm would go beep-beep-beep. And it seems Metrocasts' choice of times to bring down the system is in the middle of the night.

I know of no way to disable that feature in our alarm system, because to do so would disable a key feature of any alarm system and that's to let you know someone may have cut your phone line in preparation for breaking in.

OOMA may not be more reliable (since it would still be based upon the underlying Metrocast service), but it's a lot cheaper.

We currently have DirecTV in our motorhome. It has an in-motion sat. system and it works quite well for TV. FLBoater - we also have a cable modem in Naples, FL which works well. Other places we use Verizon's mifi.

So far I've heard no one say they switched back to Fairpoint and recommend their service as being more reliable then Metrocast.