We were an Aloha Broadband customer for about 9 years because there was no other option. To say the product and support are awful is an understatement. We had their Plus $80/mo. plan. It is advertised to be 3-5 Mbps but our average was closer to 2-3. My last speed test was 1.88. After about 6 months of waiting for their new alleged "Ultra Plus" 10-15 Mbps plan and being BS'd and postponed month after month I became determined to find an alternative. I did and you can too.
I discovered that in 12/16 T-Mobile completed broad implementation of their new L700 (4G LTE, Band 12) transmitters on the big island. This frequency travels farther and penetrates buildings better. I dumped AB, subscribed to a T-Mobile "One Plus" plan, bought an iPhone 7 which supports band 12 and using it as a hotspot, our speeds jumped to about 14 Mbps and consistency improved significantly. Randomly testing in HOVE I seen close to 50 which is bumping up against cable speed.
Let's put Aloha Broadband cost in perspective. $80 gets you 3-5 Mbps (they could not deliver their advertised 10-15 service to us). Hawaii Telcom offers 10 Mbps in Kona/Hilo for $10, or $1 per Mbps. Assuming 4 Mbps average, AB's cost is therefore $20 per Mbps, best case.
It's tricky to calculate our actual T-Mobile internet cost since it's part of the phone plan, but to get 4G LTE and 'unlimited' data costs $80/mo. So, for the price of AB's 3-5 Mbps plan, I get a mobile phone with unlimited talk, text, data, and internet for the same price and internet is significantly superior in all respects (video streaming, VoIP, etc.). If I use the cost difference between phone and the unlimited 4G LTE data plan, $30, I pay $2/mbps, or 1/10th the cost of Aloha Broadband.
There is a catch with mobile plans... "Unlimited" data isn't unlimited according to Webster. Depending on the carrier, they reserve the right to throttle you at some point and depending on your plan. As I write this, it's 30 GB with the "One Plus" plan. We routinely use more than 100 GB/mo. but have seen no evidence of throttling because, T-Mobile tells us, Hawaii is an uncongested area. Also, note that 30 GB is the top 3% of internet users so unless you are streaming a lot of video, it's unlikely you will exceed the average data throttle threshold.
It will get even better. By the end of 2017 you can expect to see 5G appearing. 5G is potentially a hundred + times faster than 4G LTE. All mobile phone companies have announced adoption of 5G.
If you are fed up with Aloha Broadband, talk to your mobile phone provider and don't be surprised to find you can probably get a significantly better ISP at a much lower cost with a 4G LTE hotspot or 4G LTE modem. read more