Island Cable TV Providers Inquiry

[Dowislandman]

We have had Direct TV for some 15 years and have had a technician come to the island before to fix the service. Well this is now 7 weeks of trying to get the GD Direct TV back in service since we opened up 4/21/18 weekend! First time the technicians were out of "capacity" on Mother's Day weekend( the guy band and then this Memorial Day weekend got the "we do not service the area" excuse! Both time we lined it up and got the confirmation they would be coming! Well we are done with them and want to explore the local providers. Are there any reliable customer service orientated cable providers the will come to the island like Dow Island? Our neighbor now has Dish so wondering how good that service is?
Please help us get our TV service back!
Frank

[chasedawg]

Originally Posted by Dowislandman

We have had Direct TV for some 15 years and have had a technician come to the island before to fix the service. Well this is now 7 weeks of trying to get the GD Direct TV back in service since we opened up 4/21/18 weekend! First time the technicians were out of "capacity" on Mother's Day weekend( the guy band and then this Memorial Day weekend got the "we do not service the area" excuse! Both time we lined it up and got the confirmation they would be coming! Well we are done with them and want to explore the local providers. Are there any reliable customer service orientated cable providers the will come to the island like Dow Island? Our neighbor now has Dish so wondering how good that service is?
Please help us get our TV service back!
Frank

Not sure what the problem is. We called Direct tv service on Sunday 4/22 and they were here early the next day Monday 4/23 and gone before Noon. We live on Chase Island. Never had a problem with service from Direct TV.

[MAXUM]

I'm dumping directv and replacing it with Roku + Directv NOW for a fraction of the price. Service has no commitments, all the same channels including locals I have with conventional Directv minus the HD charges, DVR charges and no equipment to buy or rent from Directv. Even better the service is completely portable with no commitments - cancel any time, I can use it at the lake or at home or anywhere for that matter with 2 concurrent streams going at the same time, for an extra 5 bucks you can go with three.

Streaming is in full HD, they are now offering free cloud based DVR for up to 20 hours plus there is a ton of free content via Roku or if you already have it, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu or one of thousands of streaming TV, Movie or other content, much of it free.

All you need is high speed internet. In a pinch can even stream it over cell hotspot but the data consumption adds up quick.

[Twox48]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

I'm dumping directv and replacing it with Roku + Directv NOW for a fraction of the price..

I just dumped my "basic" Metrocast (now known as Atlantic Broadband) cable TV and am trying the Roku with Direct TV Now. Like it so far. Getting far more channels and movies for $25 less a month.

[Lakeboater]

Originally Posted by Twox48

I just dumped my "basic" Metrocast (now known as Atlantic Broadband) cable TV and am trying the Roku with Direct TV Now. Like it so far. Getting far more channels and movies for $25 less a month.

We pay $50 for basic thru Atlantic. How much are you paying for your new package of Roku with Direct?

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by Lakeboater

We pay $50 for basic thru Atlantic. How much are you paying for your new package of Roku with Direct?

I pay 50 bucks for the middle package of DTV now, it has just about every cable channel you would want, plus local channels, so major networks out of boston and wmur. Everything is in full HD so long as you have the bandwidth and like I said before they are now offering cloud based DVR up to 20 hours for free. This is a new feature. They have a cheaper 35 dollar package that is also nearly as good just a few less channels.

The nice thing is DTV doesn't have any additional charges unless you want a 3rd concurrent stream, that's 5 bucks a month. Beyond that it's a month to month deal, no contracts, no additional fees. Roku is free after you purchase the device itself and you can get a free Roku streaming stick from DTV if you pay a month upfront.

To me it's a no brainer, can use it anywhere so long as I have internet. DTV now has by far the best channel line up for the money. They are also one of the only ones to offer local channels as well.

Best part of all this is I had Atlantic put broadband into my camp, I had them stick the router in my utility closet and since everything is wireless no need to run cable inside the house.

https://www.directvdeals.com/directv-now/channels/

[chasedawg]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

I pay 50 bucks for the middle package of DTV now, it has just about every cable channel you would want, plus local channels, so major networks out of boston and wmur. Everything is in full HD so long as you have the bandwidth and like I said before they are now offering cloud based DVR up to 20 hours for free. This is a new feature. They have a cheaper 35 dollar package that is also nearly as good just a few less channels.

The nice thing is DTV doesn't have any additional charges unless you want a 3rd concurrent stream, that's 5 bucks a month. Beyond that it's a month to month deal, no contracts, no additional fees. Roku is free after you purchase the device itself and you can get a free Roku streaming stick from DTV if you pay a month upfront.

To me it's a no brainer, can use it anywhere so long as I have internet. DTV now has by far the best channel line up for the money. They are also one of the only ones to offer local channels as well.

Best part of all this is I had Atlantic put broadband into my camp, I had them stick the router in my utility closet and since everything is wireless no need to run cable inside the house.

https://www.directvdeals.com/directv-now/channels/

It would be nice if we could do that. There is only one internet provider for the islands in Tuftonboro. DSL with Fairpoint.

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by chasedawg

It would be nice if we could do that. There is only one internet provider for the islands in Tuftonboro. DSL with Fairpoint.

Depending on what kind of speed they can provide DSL may work too. I was over the winter time streaming over my cell hotspot in full HD. Granted I was eating data but it did work fine. DSL is either good or horrible but I'd give it a whirl the sustained bandwidth requirements are between 4-7 Mbps so it may be achievable.

[Just Wonderin]

We're on Cow and are located in an area that direct TV doesn't work, no access to the correct direction in the sky. We have no access to internet either. We noticed that we finally had 4G cell service at our house, so, we thought we finally solved our problem and bought a wi-fi hotspot from Verizon. We were told that the hotspot was considered another device, and that device would just share the data plan that we already have...GREAT! So far, so good. We have an unlimited data plan so we are all set, right? WRONG! We actually were able to stream perfectly but then after 15G of usage, we get a message that we're almost out of data. WHAT? How can that be on an unlimited plan. Well, here's the catch. We have 4G for the first 15G then it slows to 3G. So, technically, we do have unlimited data, but it's unusable for streaming. As soon as the new billing month begins, we're back to 4G until we hit that 15G wall again. 15G can get eaten up very quickly after a few rainy days on the island.

If anyone knows of any other provider that does not restrict the speed, please let me know. Thanks!

[kawishiwi]

Originally Posted by Just Wonderin

If anyone knows of any other provider that does not restrict the speed, please let me know. Thanks!

I have AT&T 'unlimited', in Nashua, and I have 'DirecTV Now' bundled with it. DTVNow is internet based on your devices or on TV. We use a roku box on one and a FireStick on another. While my unlimited data can be throttled after 22GB, the streaming of DTV does NOT count. I have a hot spot that feeds the TVs. We also have Netflix on all devices and while THAT could be throttled we dont see any degradation. We often exceed 500GB monthly. AT&T unlimited is spendy, but we get DTV 50+ channels for $25 p/month.
I think I get pretty good coverage on the lake but I dont use internet when I am fishing...

[KPW]

Originally Posted by Just Wonderin

We're on Cow and are located in an area that direct TV doesn't work, no access to the correct direction in the sky. We have no access to internet either. We noticed that we finally had 4G cell service at our house, so, we thought we finally solved our problem and bought a wi-fi hotspot from Verizon. We were told that the hotspot was considered another device, and that device would just share the data plan that we already have...GREAT! So far, so good. We have an unlimited data plan so we are all set, right? WRONG! We actually were able to stream perfectly but then after 15G of usage, we get a message that we're almost out of data. WHAT? How can that be on an unlimited plan. Well, here's the catch. We have 4G for the first 15G then it slows to 3G. So, technically, we do have unlimited data, but it's unusable for streaming. As soon as the new billing month begins, we're back to 4G until we hit that 15G wall again. 15G can get eaten up very quickly after a few rainy days on the island.

If anyone knows of any other provider that does not restrict the speed, please let me know. Thanks!

Consolidated Communications (formerly Fairpoint)

[rick35]

We had an HD upgrade scheduled for last Saturday between 12 and 2. I received an automated confirmation call at 1 saying they were still coming. When nobody showed at 4:30 I called Directv and found that my appointment had been rescheduled to Wednesday without me knowing about it. It had to have happened that afternoon but Directv couldn’t determine who changed it. After 3 calls to Directv I rescheduled for this morning. The tech called before 9 and said he was 15 minutes away. He arrived without the equipment I ordered and after several calls he located a receiver but would take another 2 hours to get it. I ordered non-dvr and apparently everyone orders dvr. I decided to stay with the old receiver and he realigned the dish and got me going.

Directv contracts with Goodman for this area. There’s one guy who covers this area and he said his day starts at 7am and can go to 9pm. He’s dispatched daily and Directv assumes he has the equipment (which resulted in me not getting upgraded). Directv significantly reduced their funding with Goodman which resulted in lower staffing and explains why there have been service issues. The guy from Goodman was great. My issue is with Directv and I’m thinking seriously about switching to cable. Just need to work out a seasonal contract.

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by rick35

We had an HD upgrade scheduled for last Saturday between 12 and 2. I received an automated confirmation call at 1 saying they were still coming. When nobody showed at 4:30 I called Directv and found that my appointment had been rescheduled to Wednesday without me knowing about it. It had to have happened that afternoon but Directv couldn’t determine who changed it. After 3 calls to Directv I rescheduled for this morning. The tech called before 9 and said he was 15 minutes away. He arrived without the equipment I ordered and after several calls he located a receiver but would take another 2 hours to get it. I ordered non-dvr and apparently everyone orders dvr. I decided to stay with the old receiver and he realigned the dish and got me going.

Directv contracts with Goodman for this area. There’s one guy who covers this area and he said his day starts at 7am and can go to 9pm. He’s dispatched daily and Directv assumes he has the equipment (which resulted in me not getting upgraded). Directv significantly reduced their funding with Goodman which resulted in lower staffing and explains why there have been service issues. The guy from Goodman was great. My issue is with Directv and I’m thinking seriously about switching to cable. Just need to work out a seasonal contract.

I suspect that Directv and Dish are both seeing the writing on the wall the internet is a far better medium to deliver content, doesn't require them to put up and maintain broadcast satellites and they completely cut out the whole needing to have hardware and service it on the customer side of things. Funny when we called and cancelled our regular service after 15 years they were happy to see we had swapped over to Directv Now and were asking how we liked it in comparison. Bet it won't be long before they start encouraging people to switch over.