Fairpoint ISP Service around Concord, NH

[JBro]

Is anybody using Fairpoint for their ISP around Concord, NH?

We are sick of paying a small fortune to Comcast each month for cable and internet service and are considering switching to Fairpoint for the internet, getting an antennae for the network channels, a Roku box, and then a subscription to Amazon Prime and/or NetFlix. I would miss ESPN and NESN but I should probably stop sitting on my butt so much anyway.

This change would save us close to $100/month but I really need to make sure Fairpoint has fast internet so that my animated GIF posting career doesn't get hampered. Apparently the speeds vary quite a bit depending on location. I'm just south of Concord in Pembroke.

[darwined]

I was considering leaving comcast recently.  I called and talked with a couple different reps before I finally reached someone helpful.  Long story short, we switched to their bundle which added a landline phone to our account(we don't even own a phone we could hook to the jack).  It saved us sixty bucks a month.  Don't ask me why, it just did.

[JBro]

I was considering leaving comcast recently.  I called and talked with a couple different reps before I finally reached someone helpful.  Long story short, we switched to their bundle which added a landline phone to our account(we don't even own a phone we could hook to the jack).  It saved us sixty bucks a month.  Don't ask me why, it just did.

Yeah I already did that even though we don't use the landline, but it still costs too much imo. Plus (at least for us) the good rate only lasts for 6 months then they jack it back up by about $30 and you have to call and argue with them to get it lowered again. Rinse and repeat every six months for the last 2 or 3 years and it's getting old. 

[sneoh]

I've been playing one ISP off against another for years.  We have three majors in our area; VZ, Comcast, and RCN.  I use RCN.  About once a year, I would call them up and ask to speak to someone in their "Customer Retention Dept".  I would say "Hey, VZ just came by and is offering us a bundle for $100/mo before tax and fees, I want you to match it or I will leave RCN".  They won't match the introductory offer from VZ but they will drop the price some and bump my connection speed up a notch, etc.  Heck, this trick has resulted in me paying the same amount (still highway robbery of you ask me) every month for the past 6 years.  On the phone for 30 minutes usually gets me a saving of about $150/year.  I know not everyone has the patience for this and it will only work if you have more than one major serving your area (which I suspect is the case for Pembroke).
Good luck.  And sorry I do not know anything about Fairpoint.

Edit: just read your post.  Perhaps the above is useful info for someone else.

[danf]

My only experience with Fairpoint was while I was still living in Ossipee. As much as I don't like Time Warner now, FP was worse. Every time the wind would kick up the dsl would go out. Which for us really sucked since it was our only means of communication with the outside world- cell service was non-existant and we used a Magic Jack for phone.  Took several calls before they believed me enough to send a tech out to look. Turned out it was a bad connection in a hub somewhere up the line....

I would ask around with people that live around you and see if any of them have FP and what they think.