-
January 2024 by Jon Petersen
If you don't need reliable internet, then Access Montana is the internet company for you. We lose our internet regulary (often each day), and the download speeds are pathetic. It is common for download speeds to be well below 10 Mbps, and sometimes below 1 Mbps at my house. Unfortunately, we don't have many choices in the Mission Valley, so they have very little incentive to improve their product or service.
-
January 2024 by Brenda Stapley
Used their internet service since 2011. Great staff and always helpful
-
December 2023 by Danielle Frevola
High discourage anyone from using Access Montana. I used Access Montana for about 14 months while I lived in the valley and did not have one positive experience. For about the first 6 months, my internet service was awful and way below the bandwidth that was promised. Throughout the 14 months, the internet stopped working intermediately several times, but my worst experience was trying to drop the service when I moved. I was told 3 different times by 3 different people that the equipment (router, modem) would be picked up by a technician. Three months later, I was charged nearly $300 for not returning the equipment. Fast forward another month (4.5 months after moving out), I was charged another fee for having a $1 outstanding balance that I was never notified about. I was extremely disappointed with my entire experience with Access and when I move back to the valley, I will most definitely not be using the services again. I encourage everyone to avoid the headache of the poor communication by avoiding this company
-
October 2023 by flathead warrior
My Internet cuts out constantly. The unfortunate part is this is all I can get in my area. Download and upload speeds are way behind the curve... Again for my area. Can only get their bronze package. It just seems super outdated, like this isn't a problem with spectrum in polson or blackfeet telecommunications in Saint ignatius. Very unimpressed as it stands. Would like to know how to get something better.
-
October 2023 by Taylor Bolin
The Preston's are such wonderful people, they support the local 4-H and FFA program and the Ronan Community. I am happy to continue supporting their business. We have used Access Montana for an internet provider for the last 3 years and have had no issues! It's a great company.
-
September 2023 by Kimberley Poor
The staff is very kind and helpful. The service has been consistent, good speeds, and reliable. Very glad to not be on satellite.
-
August 2023 by Samantha Jensen
I love my internet! It has only went out once in the 6 months I've had it and it runs all my devices perfect. Tavis came out to install it and even went the extra mile to place it where it would work best for my family. I'm a very happy customer.
-
April 2023 by Carol Olson
Access Mt. internet goes out all the time. There is no watching TV at night or using any computers. It's expensive and they just don't have what they are charging for. They blame ROKU but, it's Access Mt..
-
February 2023 by Joseph Plumage
Good service friendly staff
-
February 2023 by Bill Houck
Ive been a customer for 30 years ill bet and always have had the best service and love the folks who work there!!! Even the owners will address a problem should one arise! Wouldnt have any other internet provider. I get more than expected from these folks every day!!!
-
February 2023 by Al Knutson
Very helpful!
-
February 2023 by lwhalen42
The good: their actual fiber internet service is excellent. Once we had my circuit's capacity dialed in, it consistently met or exceeded the provisioned line-rate. Their technical support is sublime: I needed to open a ticket about an inconsistency I was seeing in the connection. This was resolved in 3 days and I received a personal call from their NOC manager afterwards to verify everything was fixed. It was representative of everything I love about working with small, local ISPs.Why the overall negative review? The sales/billing department. tl;dr - we agreed on one price, and they unapologetically charged me another.Relevant background: Professionally, I have dealt with every shady network provider on both coasts, and been through the ringer with each of them (Level 3, Comcast, MegaPath, HughesNet - etc). Due to this, I keep detailed notes of every call I have with a network provider, from the initial "Hey I'd like to provision this line", onwards. This includes number called, person spoke with, what was talked about, what conclusions were reached and why, etc.This pattern continued with Access Montana. Their website states "straight forward pricing with no gimmicks...", but there is not a single price listed anywhere. All of their services involve a call or webform to receive an individual quote per customer. As I intended to run several servers for my business on this connection, I was referred to the 'business department' several times throughout the provisioning process, being told variations of "we can negotiate you a special business rate for your connection". So far, so good.We initially started with a 500mbit connection for $299/mo, with a block of 5 static IPs for $5/mo/ea - $324/mo total. After several week of monitoring, it was clear the line was struggling to meet that throughput. I reached out to Access Montana, and we discovered that particular circuit could not support that level of service. We could do a private connection for $1500/mo, or we could price out a slower but more stable connection. As this 'business connection' was initially a negotiation, I tried negotiating: what happens to pricing when we make the line symmetric, a better price for the IPs, or a better Service Level Agreement, etc etc. This didn’t seem to sit well with my contact in the 'business billing department', but we came to an agreement that seemed fair. As I was paying $299/mo for 500mbit, but the line can be provisioned at 250mbit for half that cost - $150. The IPs would remain at $5/mo/ea, so $175/mo total. "$175 All inclusive" is the phrase in my notes.Fast forward, and I receive a bill for $199. I email my contact, and we begin a back-and-forth discussion. I have my notes, the agent claims she has hers, and they differ. Requests for documentation are ignored, and my last request to please go back to the customer service recording was also ignored. I tried escalating to a general manager over a week ago, and that was also ignored. Their conduct, in my opinion, has been petty and unprofessional. They have been unable (or unwilling) to produce standard customer service records around this matter, and I am absolutely not going to do business with a company that promises one price for something and charges another.What does this mean for the average consumer who wants a fast internet connection? I wouldn't do business with this company if there was any other alternative. Fortunately, Starlink has prioritized Lake County, Montana for connectivity due to the Reservation and its rural status. It is easy to sign up with them, they have a public price list, and their download is comparable to Access Montana's 250mbit line speed. Starlink's upload could be better, but that improves every quarter as more satellites are added to the constellation.If you don't have any other choice for internet connectivity, proceed with extreme caution. Demand emailed documentation - don't "wait for the invoice" as I did, which proved to be
-
March 2022 by Lee W.
The good: their actual fiber internet service is excellent. Once we had my circuit's capacity dialed in, it consistently met or exceeded the provisioned line-rate. Their technical support is sublime: I needed to open a ticket about an inconsistency I was seeing in the connection. This was resolved in 3 days and I received a personal call from their NOC manager afterwards to verify everything was fixed. It was representative of everything I love about working with small, local ISPs. Why the overall negative review? The sales/billing department. tl;dr - we agreed on one price, and they unapologetically charged me another. Relevant background: Professionally, I have dealt with every shady network provider on both coasts, and been through the ringer with each of them (Level 3, Comcast, MegaPath, HughesNet - etc). Due to this, I keep detailed notes of every call I have with a network provider, from the initial "Hey I'd like to provision this line", onwards. This includes number called, person spoke with, what was talked about, what conclusions were reached and why, etc. This pattern continued with Access Montana. Their website states "straight forward pricing with no gimmicks...", but there is not a single price listed anywhere. All of their services involve a call or webform to receive an individual quote per customer. As I intended to run several servers for my business on this connection, I was referred to the 'business department' several times throughout the provisioning process, being told variations of "we can negotiate you a special business rate for your connection". So far, so good. We initially started with a 500mbit connection for $299/mo, with a block of 5 static IPs for $5/mo/ea - $324/mo total. After several weeks of monitoring, it was clear the line was struggling to meet that throughput. I reached out to Access Montana, and we discovered that particular circuit could not support that level of service. We could do a private connection for $1500/mo, or we could price out a slower but more stable connection. As this 'business connection' was initially a negotiation, I tried negotiating: what happens to pricing when we make the line symmetric, a better price for the IPs, or a better Service Level Agreement, etc etc. This didn't seem to sit well with my contact in the 'business billing department', but we came to an agreement that seemed fair. As I was paying $299/mo for 500mbit, but the line can be provisioned at 250mbit for half that cost - $150. The IPs would remain at $5/mo/ea, so $175/mo total. "$175 All inclusive" is the phrase in my notes. Fast forward, and I receive a bill for $199. I email my contact, and we begin a back-and-forth discussion. I have my notes, the agent claims she has hers, and they differ. Requests for documentation are ignored, and my last request to please go back to the customer service recording was also ignored. I tried escalating to a general manager over a week ago, and that was also ignored. Their conduct, in my opinion, has been petty and unprofessional. They have been unable (or unwilling) to produce standard customer service records around this matter, and I am absolutely not going to do business with a company that promises one price for something and charges another. What does this mean for the average consumer who wants a fast internet connection? I wouldn't do business with this company if there was any other alternative. Fortunately, Starlink has prioritized Lake County, Montana for connectivity due to the Reservation and its rural status. It is easy to sign up with them, they have a public price list, and their download is comparable to Access Montana's 250mbit line speed. Starlink's upload could be better, but that improves every quarter as more satellites are added to the constellation. If you don't have any other choice for internet connectivity, proceed with extreme caution. Demand emailed documentation - don't "wait for the invoice" as I did, which
-
February 2022 by Victoria Templer
Staff is great it’s not their fault the internet NEVER WORKS for the past 3 months I’ve paid for service I have 20 minutes out of the day and that’s NOT 20 minutes that’s consecutive either. I have no choice at moment because of where I live but leaning towards Elon Musk and his star link
-
February 2022 by Jim Clairmont
They said they would call me back about information on my location for hooking up to wifi. They never did call and still haven't called. So I went to a different company and was treated like a customer and was not ignored
