Portland, ME internet service provider that we can live with?

July 15, 2014 11:18 AM

Me, the husband and Supercoolbaby are heading south to live in Portland! We've had TimeWarner and Comcast and do hate them so. So what Internet providers do people recommend for price and decent service in Portland, Maine? If possible we'd like to avoid the big horrible companies. We're an internet TV-only household so no TV or phone service required. Thanks!
posted by supercoollady to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

We used one called GWI at one time. They are DSL, from what I recall. I think they are out of Biddeford (a town south of Portland). We had no problems with them, will be interested to hear what others have to say.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 1:14 PM on July 15, 2014

Unfortunately, your options are pretty limited and not very attractive. AFAIK there is no fiber up here just yet. I think Fairpoint was talking about it, but... they are kind of a mess.

If you want DSL: GWI is OK, but slow, and not very price competitive, and I had pretty bad customer service from them. I used another DSL provider once who were terrible, but I can't remember their name now.

When I had it on one of the higher speed tiers I could basically stream one HD video at a time, if it was feeling cooperative. We're now on Time Warner and multiple Youtubes/Netflix streams at once, no problem, and download speeds are much better.

If you want Cable: Time Warner. Sorry, that's the only option.
posted by selfnoise at 1:58 PM on July 15, 2014

My parents live in Portland, and I grew up there. There is no competition for internet, really. You have TIme Warner for cable internet and that's it, and if you want DSL, you got Verizon and AT&T (probably somewhat depending on your exact location).

FWIW, we have Verizon DSL on the North Shore of MA, and I notice no difference between that and my parents' Time Warner cable internet in Portland. And it's significantly cheaper.
posted by zizzle at 4:27 PM on July 15, 2014

Interesting to see that you consider Portland to be south. We are up the road to the north as well, 165 miles, and don't have any choice – to avoid the big companies –except GWI, who bought out the company that bought out the company that started in this area. Like Marie, we have had no problems with them (now using their phone service as well). They don't seem slow to me, and customer service has been fine, but they do seem expensive.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:46 AM on July 16, 2014