TDS Fiber

[Merrymeeting]

TDS Telecom is enabling fiber-based services in the Alton/New Durham areas sometime in the next 2 months. The trucks have been splicing in the lines on the poles near my house for the past week. https://www.tdsfiber.com/

Has anyone been contacted directly by TDS yet? Can folks post their experiences here once the roll-out begins?

[Cindido]

Family members already have TDS on Route 11D in Alton Bay. Seem to be very pleased so far.

[Whimsey]

I had it installed a couple of months ago. In many respects better than Metrocast, particularly cost, internet speed and reliability, and HD DVR capability and capacity.

A couple of things I'm not crazy about:
- Their voicemail and phone management system is antiquated. Still the same as the old Union Telephone company. Can't management it online, forward calls on no answer, or get an email or text when there is a message.

- My second line is fairly expensive to maintain even with a ridiculously limited LD package.

- The Weather Channel is only available in low Definition.

- The DVR organization and controls are not as good as the Metrocast DVR, although it is better on conflicts and on channels that run a little late.

- To get the NFL Network, you need to upgrade to the third tier of packages.

On the positive side, I have the 100 megabyte speed and it smokes compared to the Metrocast service and i never have trouble with Netflix HD.

One other you should know. It doesn't use the coaxial cable that you may already have installed. Instead they run the fiber to the house, where it gets converted, and they run a CAT 5 or 6 networking wire to the spot you want the primary unit, so you'll have another wire running around the outside of your house to the point of entry.

Any additional units connect wirelessly to the master. Which means you can program/view DVR from any TV. But it also means that you have to have a full box at each additional TV where I used to be able to get the basic channels at other TV's with a digital converter.

In all, I'm glad I switched. Happy to answer any other questions you may have.

[Merrymeeting]

Originally Posted by Whimsey

>>Their voicemail and phone management system is antiquated. Still the same as the old Union Telephone company. Can't management it online, forward calls on no answer, or get an email or text when there is a message.

>>One other you should know. It doesn't use the coaxial cable that you may already have installed. Instead they run the fiber to the house, where it gets converted, and they run a CAT 5 or 6 networking wire to the spot you want the primary unit, so you'll have another wire running around the outside of your house to the point of entry.

On phone/message management - this is a minor concern as I consider the Metrocast phone system to be ridiculously antiquated! Can't be much worse!


On co-ax - actually makes me feel good that when I built the house I also ran Cat6 to all TV locations. So I'm all set! Now just need them to jump to direct fiber as I have that here too!

Thanks for the feedback.