Exwire

This is the worst service ever. I’m referring to an address on Donner Summit right next to Sugar Bowl. Connections timeout constantly. Connections are not available. Their tech support is hideous. They file a trouble ticket and never respond. Too bad. We need some decent service on Donner Summit.

It’s so unfortunate their service is so poor. I would put up with poor internet service if the company actually treated me like a human. I’ll send emails from their website and they never respond. I’ve used them for five years but think it’s time to try Hughes or someone else.

disgusting service and no reimbursement

Exwire service in Tahoe is not exactly a fair business proposition. You pay a consistent monthly fee. In exchange, they give you inconsistent access to the internet. You may get 5 mbps for a few hours, you may get 100 kbps for a few hours, you may get no service at all for a few hours… or a few days. If you have an hour of free time to wait on hold, customer care will eventually answer the phone and they are usually pleasant. They offer a «chat» option, but it’s generally offline. Whichever contact method you choose, temper your expectations, because prompt problem solving isn’t their strong suit.

Service has gone out repeatedly with no resolution in sight. At the end of February 2015, their equipment went down and repeated calls have not resolved anything (even after 2 months)! They stated that the issue would be resolved in a couple of weeks and during this time they are still charging us. Called multiple times and spoke to many representatives who cannot do anything except tell you that they’re working on it and are trying to resolve the issue. All they do is tell you to reset the router which is definitely not the issue since everyone in alpine is having this issue. We have had repeated times when the internet has not worked at all for days. Cannot even send or receive a text message. We have had to use our 4g data which has cost us tremendously since we work from home. I have had to go to friends or anywhere with free internet to get my work done. I am beyond frustrated with this company. Just this week we had absolutely no internet for a whole week! Nothing! Even their call center people cannot get a hold of them since they seem to be ignoring complaints! If I can give them negative stars I will do so gladly in a heartbeat.

We use the Sugar Bowl/​Mt. Lincoln radio repeater. Speeds of about .9Mbps, outages during most storms, and customer service that has never returned a phone call (whoever answers can’t do anything, leaving a message has had no effect). The company won’t answer the question of what speed we should see (we have no trees, direct view of the mountain). Status updates during outages are… minimal.

We live in a fairly remote area about 10 miles outside Truckee (Juniper Hills). The internet options are slim. We previously had Hughesnet which was expensive and horrible. Exwire, when it works is okay, slow for larger downloads and computer updates. However the service can be erratic with outages that last for days — 7 days over New Years and presently 4 days and counting. Even worse, it is hard to contact anyone in the office. When you are finally able to speak with someone, it is extremely doubtful that they will be able to let you know when service will be restored. I have a Mifi backup from work which is used by multiple people. This is okay as long as we don’t exceed the data plan. If you have any other viable options, I would definitely use them.

In Alpine Meadows, you’re pretty much stuck with Exwire or cellular. Cellular has challenges in some locations in the valley. A repeater might help if you choose the cellular route. But cellular is also very expensive if you use more than a small amount of data.
That leaves Exwire. Exwire is essentially long-​distance wifi. Your router is connected to their base station, in my case across the valley. I had to have a lower-​frequency connection installed due to the large number of trees and the snow load blocking their normal radios. With this setup, weather has not been a problem.
The service is not the most robust. I have periodic slowdowns or complete disconnects occasionally. But it does work, and the slowdowns and outages tend to be short-​lived. Bandwidth is adequate but not great. Downloads are usually acceptable — I get about 1.9Mbps but I haven’t revised my plan for many years. Theoretically there are faster plans available, but unless the «drops» are fixed, I don’t necessarily see the point. Uploads for me can be problematic. It often takes many tries to upload large photographs to print or publishing services, and even then I have had times that were completely unsuccessful.
Customer and technical service has been excellent though. Except for limited working hours (not surprising here in the mountains), they have always been responsive and helpful. This winter they attempted to do an upgrade of the Alpine Meadows service, but unfortunately I can’t say that things have improved dramatically. Especially during times when many people are here, the network can get very slow.
I can understand their issues. It is extremely difficult to size the service for peak loads on weekends and holidays, but have only a small customer base the rest of the time. Hopefully they’ll eventually figure out some good solution. In the meantime, the service is mostly reliable with very few long outages.