 Review by pog 
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 5.4 years, 2712 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Kihei,Maui,HI
 $31 per month
 "solid connection, no peak period slowdowns"
 "slow"
 "good value but aging infrastructure"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I've had service on this line from the Telco since 2000. For a while it was GTE, then it was Verizon, now it's Hawaiian Telcom. During my time with Verizon, I made the transition from Frame Relay to ATM... however, the speeds I'm getting now (3mpbs/768kbps) were more than possible with the FR equipment.
Anyway, I also manage a number of other DSL connections around Maui... all either Upcountry, Lahaina, Wailuku, or Kihei. I don't really pay attention to Pre Sales info but nothing negative stands out.
The installation in Lahaina (business) was done on Hawaiian Telcom's watch and it pretty much went without a hitch. The modem arrived quickly and the service was live even more quickly (I plugged in a temp modem earlier).
Connectivity has been rock solid for a long time. Routing was weird at first when Hawaiian Tel first took over. It's a lot better now but there's no escaping the 100+ms ping penalty for being located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
My experience with Hawaiian Tel Tech Support was very positive. Something went wrong at the CO that required a reset (not exactly sure). The front line person was smart and informed... it didn't take much on my part to demonstrate the problem was not on my premises. I didn't have to teach the guy basic networking tools, even.  He opened a ticket, put me on hold while he reach a network guy, told me they'd identified the problem and "could they get back to me at home?" It was fixed a half hour later. I got a call from the network guy about 45 minutes later to verify things were working. With GTE and Verizon, this would have taken multiple calls over several frustrating days.
The services are great. I define service as connectivity only, though. I don't use ISP email, I don't use the portal, I don't care about "value-added" anything.
Awesome value for money. No slow downs (at least for me, connected to my Kihei CO). No caps (yet). There is no 3rd party DSL provider that comes close... especially since you still have to pay Hawaiian Tel for the line no matter what.
update 2008-08-17: I dinged HT 2 points for "services" and 1 point for "value" since it's been over a year since 7mbps and 11mbps services were announced and my CO has yet to be upgraded. In fact, very few areas have these speed packages and more than one insider has let on that it's unlikely that more will be upgraded. If this persists, I can see myself shopping around for service elsewhere... my options are limited though: Road Runner or Clearwire, basically.
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