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Review by watmore See Profile

  • Location: La Pointe, Ashland, WI, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
  • No Cap
Fast, local technical support
Fantastic
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I get Airstream via my local co-op telephone company in northern WI. Good service. Lucky to have broadband DSL in an extremely rural community. Good service. Reliable.

Update, in 2014 our service was upgraded to FTTH or fiber to the home. Service is rock solid, fast, and reliable. Pricier than in a city but this is a very rural location, so really great to have this cutting edge internet service.

member for 16.6 years, 1719 visits, last login: 107 days ago
updated 8.6 years ago


Review by Apophis See Profile

  • Location: Galesville, Trempealeau, WI, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $1000 per month (84 month contract)
  • Install: about 90 days
  • No Cap
Awesome Speed, Awesome Service!
Zero.
I would do it again in a heart beat.
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We are out in the country quite a ways. TCC (Tri-County Cooperative) was the only company willing to pull fiber to our location. The distance was around 3 miles from the closest fiber drop.

We had quite a long contract to sign and a rather large up-front installation fee however I am extremely happy with every part of this transaction. Speed is fantastic and unheard of in this area.

A+++

Would do it again in a heart beat.

Speed tests revealed 100mb/100mb+. Virtually zero latency (9ms to 13ms)

member for 22.2 years, 5171 visits, last login: 2 days ago
updated 8.8 years ago


Review by reboots See Profile

  • Location: Clear Lake, Polk, WI, USA
  • Cost: $88 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
Easy to install, (for a tech) works great with my routers, dsl modem replacement as easy as going to the office.
Expensive monopoly. Support requires a call back number.
Its the only ISP for broadband connections. Pay it, pass the costs on somehow...
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Update: 12/04/13: I have had the service for years now and can say that the uptime is impressive. I have been updated to the 6mb down, 1mb up level for $50/month. Modem still going strong. Local technical assistance via Northwest Communications is more helpful than the remote helpdesk, I've found.

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Updated 6/9/12: I have had the same service for a few more years now and have had near 99% up-time. But as we all know, when it is down, we notice and of course have something important to do. I now have the 3mb service for $50/month thru performance upgrades and possibly the utility realizing it was overcharging in the beginning years. I am grateful for that, though we still have no other choice when working from home in this area. As most of you already realize SAT internet is not good for data entry type work. I have burned up only one modem in the last 3.6 years and now have a supplied ADSL2+ modem (blue) from Comtrend. Seems to be a champ. I have it raised up and nothing around it to prevent airflow problems.

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I have the 512k DSL service at $54.95/month added to my required phone service. Ordering/upgrading is a breeze with the excellent customer service at Amery Telephone, now known as Northwest Communications, which ties up the surrounding communities under one singular entity now. The new modem recently supplied to replace the Paradyne equipment is the Comtrend CM-5071T. There are occasions when bad electrical storms take out service, but they are few and service is rarely down for more than an hour or two.

The worst part about rural connectivity with lesser known providers is knowing that you can get reliable 4-10mb service 20 miles away for the same price. Not worth moving over, but still deserves consideration when moving into this geo location.

member for 16.8 years, 207 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
updated 10.3 years ago


Review by hmdv See Profile

  • Location: Amery, Polk, WI, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 3 days
At least it is faster than dial-up. Airstream ok, not our local choices
Quality connection poor with dial-up, now poor with DSL due to poor wiring rural area
What else is a person suppose to do in a rural area? One choice, one only
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Nothing wrong with airstream at all - they are decent - it's with the poor wiring in rural area. With dial-up, fastest was 26k - provider stopped coming out to repair connection anymore - even complained to WI Agency, was told by law they only had to provide 1.5k - was told big wig would come out, never did. Then noticed after soaking rain would get decent connection of 48k, still talking dial-up. When speed dropped soaked different areas with hose, found 2 buckets of water on telephone connection box by road increased speed back up to 48k again. So I would get the hose out there and water the pole. Neighbors laughed, wanted to know if I thought the pole would sprout telephones, but not when I told them what was happening - since they too were suddenly getting better connections. Best guess? Pole was loose and grounded in mere sand. As such, box was not grounded until I soaked the soil and so got a decent ground again to sheild all the connections. Now DSL - never told us it had become available. Had to sign up since I had changed providers who went out of business locally - only found out when I asked. Told I was all set up, got on, but then went dead - had to call in and be put back on dial-up. Now get it, but speeds pathetic, dropped connections every hour. But better than dial-up, what are we rural people supposed to do?

member for 15.3 years, 9 visits, last login: 13.6 years ago
lodged 15.1 years ago


Review by rccwhitehead See Profile

  • Location: Deer Park, Saint Croix, WI, USA
  • Cost: $61 per month
  • Telco party AllTel
Service to get connected was outstanding.
no other service to choose from, very expensive
Cost a whole lot to get normal speed. Dial up is less than 256 k.
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It is too bad the people in rural areas don't have more options to choose from. This does not seem fair. We pay more for our electric because we are spread out and we have to pay more for our phone and internet service for same reasons.

member for 16.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 14.1 years ago
updated 16.2 years ago







Review by StCroixData See Profile

  • Location: Hammond, Saint Croix, WI, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $45 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Consistly good upstream performance.
None to speak of.
Great overall performance and service for the money.
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Service provided by Baldwin (WI) TeleCom. They have a 99% uptime, and support through local provider is good. Purchased modem through provider and they were willing to forego the installation charge if I agreed to keep service with them for one year on a handshake. They are the only game in town for this area, but don't take a "take it or leave it" attitude. Had problem with son's gaming performance and they fixed it in a couple of days with a real concern to "get it right". Price for service has remained stable.

member for 17.3 years, 10 visits, last login: 5.6 years ago
lodged 16.7 years ago