Breezeline Internet Review – Hands on – With Unbiased Data

Breezeline is the trade name in the United States for Cogeco Communications. Breezeline is considered the 8th largest cable operator in the United States. Breezeline is a multi service operator which currently offers TV, Internet and phone services using a modern coax fiber hybrid network architecture.

Breezeline is estimated to have approximately 700,000 broadband customers located in twelve different states: Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, Florida, and South Carolina.

Breezeline was originally branded as Atlantic Broadband. With the acquisition of WOW based in Ohio, Atlantic Broadband now offered services beyond just the east coast. It was then decided that they wanted a name that better fit their needs. In January 2022, Atlantic Broadband announced it would be rebranding as Breezeline.

As with most internet service providers (ISPs), Breezeline has both its fair share of loyal customers and harsh critics. This is not unlike Comcast, Spectrum, Verizon, AT&T, and most other providers. Breezeline is especially facing harsh criticism in markets that they have recently acquired such as in Ohio.

Breezeline Hands On Review

As a resident of the lakes region area of New Hampshire, I have been using Breezeline (formerly Atlantic Broadband) internet for a number of years. I have witnessed the changes in technology from DOCSIS 2.0, to DOCSIS 3.0, and then to DOCSIS 3.1, As of 2022 DOCSIS 4.0 is still a few years from entering service.

There have certainly been some hiccups in service a few times, including a lengthy outage lasting over 24 hours. This was due to a major winter storm and not to be completely unexpected. All internet services can go down due to damaged infrastructure.

Otherwise the service has been quite reliable and consistent. Overall reliability is on par with or better than other internet service providers such as Comcast (Xfinity) or Spectrum.

Breezeline Internet Speeds

Breezeline offers several internet plans in 2022 ranging from 100 Mbps up to 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps). I have personally used both their 200 Mbps plan and their gigabit plan. Both plans delivered the advertised bandwidth the vast majority of the time.

Of course a gigabit internet plan really mazes out at about 945 Mbps of usable throughput. This is the same as with any provider. This is a limitation of the gigabit ethernet standard itself, and not unique to Breezeline.

With the current gigabit plan, I consistently see speeds of between 920 and 945 Mbps. This includes during peak hours when many people are all online. Breezeline has done a decent job of limiting the number of connections per cable node, This is essential to getting the best performance out of any cable (DOCSIS) based internet connection.

Upload speeds are advertised as up to 50 Mbps on their gigabit plan. This is higher than what is currently offered by Comcast (Xfinity) or Spectrum. They both max out at 35 Mbps.

Of course Breezeline is a DOCSIS based service and does not deliver as much upload bandwidth as a fiber to the home service such as Verizon Fios or AT&T Fiber. Actual upload speeds (tested using speedtest.net) generally hover around 53 Mbps. This is actually slightly higher than what they are advertising.

Breezeline Latency (Ping) Performance

Latency is not an issue whatsoever with Breezeline internet, at least in the Belmont / Rochester, NH service areas. I routinely see pings to Google (8.8.8.8) or to Cloudflare’s public DNS servers (1.1.1.1) of under 10 milliseconds. This is very similar to what you can expect with a fiber based internet connection, it is also a fair bit lower than what is typically seen with Comcast, Spectrum, or Cox DOCSIS based connections.

If you are a gamer the stable low latency offered by Breezeline Internet is ideal. Generally connections to popular game servers are 30 ms or less in latency. This is really good for lag free gaming.

Breezeline is also ideal for gaming because they do not use carrier grade NAT (CGNAT) and instead give every customer a proper publicly routable IP address. This means no double NAT issues for gaming, and port forwarding is a breeze to setup.

Breezeline Pricing

Pricing is what you would expect. During the promotional period usually of 6 or 12 months the pricing is excellent. Pricing ranges from about $19 per month on up to $60 per month during the promotional period. This is on par with the promotional pricing offered by most other internet service providers.

After the promo rate expires, you can expect to see a substantial increase in monthly cost. The pricing generally ranges from $59 – $109 per month after the promotions run out. This is slightly above average pricing for each speed tier. You can get similar speeds from other providers often for slightly less monthly cost.

That said the pricing, is up from and honest and there is no surprise charges. You are also able to call and ask for current promotions. While this is unlikely to get you back to the new customer rate, it is likely to lower your month bill by a fair amount.

If you choose to rent their modem router combo unit it will cost you an additional $14.99 per month. Honestly I would just pass on this anyways. It is generally preferable to purchase your own modem and router rather than renting. Not only can it save you money in the long run, it also generally offer better performance.

When you buy, you know what you are getting and that it is new. When you rent a modem you do not know what you are getting. ISPs have been known to take modems from one house to another without even testing them out thoroughly.

Breezeline Customer Support

Customer support is a common criticism of virtually every internet service provider. Breezeline is no exception. While I would not say their support is outstanding, I would not say it is horrible either. It is honestly middle of the pack, and quite comparable to Comcast, AT&T, or Verizon.

Generally the wait times for technical support are longest during the evening hours. If you are able to call off hours, you will generally get through to a support agent much faster. You also have to option of using the live chat support feature on their website. The technical support appears to be outsourced to a foreign country much of them time. This is not highly unusual, but also doesn’t always make for easy communication.

Billing and account support appear to be handled more regionally. Generally the wait time to get through to an account representative is minimal. Once again the support is about average. Nothing to write home about, but good enough to get the job done.

The best thing about the support, not needing them very often. Generally everything works as it is supposed to, bills can be paid online, and generally there is no need to reach out to customer service. If you do need to be prepared for a lengthy wait, especially for technical issues during peak hours.

Tips For Saving Money With Breezeline

1. Use your own modem and router.
2. Ask about any promotions for existing customers.
3. Bundle any Breezeline service together.
4. Consider your phone options, do you really need a landline?

Saving money on internet, phone, and TV service is defiantly something that interests most people. Rates seemingly go up every year and the level of customer support seemingly goes down every year. There are however a few techniques that can save you a substantial amount on your Breezeline bill each month.

Do not rent their modem router combo unit. The rental fee is almost $15 per month as of 2022. Over the course of a year you will pay close to $200 for what is really a relatively low end piece of hardware. You can do much better by purchasing your own. If you want a modem router combo unit you can get a really good one for about $180.

If you want a separate modem and router (highly recommended) you can expect to spend a little bit more. Just make sure the modem you buy supports the DOCSIS 3.1 standard. The DOCSIS 3.0 standard will likely be dead long before your modem.

Either way, in 12 month you will already have made back the cost of buying the equipment. You can easily get 4 – 5 years out of a decent modem and router. Each additional year will save you about $200 over the rental. Do this for 4 years and save almost $800, and get better performance / reliability.

If you see your price suddenly increase, call customer support. Ask them about any available promotions for existing customers. In many cases you will be able to lower your month bill by 20% or more this way. It really pays to give it a try.

This is especially a good idea at the end of your new customer promo period. At the end of the promo period you rates will roughly double overnight. This can be a great time to ask for any discounts / promotions. You will likely still end up paying more than during the promo, but not nearly as much as if you did not call and ask.

If you currently have a combination of services such as TV, Internet, and Phone with Breezeline, you need to bundle them to get the best pricing. Do not expect that they will automatically do that for you. You need to call and ask them to bundle your services in order to get the best pricing. This is also a great time to ask about any current promotions available for new customers.

Another way to save money with Breezeline is to drop services you no longer really need. For example if you have Breezeline phone service, ask yourself the question. Do I really need a landline? You may just have one out of habit and find that you do not really use it very much at all. Many people prefer to use their cell phone for everything. By canceling your landline service you could easily save $20 per month or more, even with bundle pricing.

Still want to keep your landline? You could also consider moving your landline over to an over the top VoIP service such as Ooma Telo. This could save you some money on your monthly Breezeline bill.

Other Peoples Feedback Regarding Breezeline

Review on websites such as Yelp, BBB, and Consumer Affairs are a mixed bag. Of course many of the reviews are largely negative. This is not surprising when you think about customer motives. You are much less likely to take the time to write a review when things are good. You are much more likely to write a review when you need to vent your frustration.

Breezeline averages about 1.5 stars on most websites. This is roughly on par with Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, and many others.

It also doesn’t take into account all the people that falsely believe their Breezeline internet is not working when the issue is really with their device or the website they are visiting

Alternatives to Breezeline Internet

Depending on where you live, you may have several alternatives available to you for internet service in addition to Breezeline. Comcast / Spectrum / Cox are big players in the cable internet space. Generally most Breezeline areas are not served by one of these other cable giants. However that is not always the case.

Fiber internet may be available to you depending on your location. These are often services such as Verizon Fios or AT&T Fiber, additional local option may be available. Consolidated Communications now offers fiber internet in 8 states sold under the Fidium Fiber brand. Check out our review of Fidium Fiber. If fiber internet is available to you, it is worth a consideration, especially for the ultra fast upload speeds and low latency.

5G home internet from companies such as T-Mobile and Verizon are also expanding in footprint. At this time I would hesitate to recommend 5G home internet if you have access to anything better. Breezeline is definitely a superior option to 5G home internet at this time. Starlink, similar to 5G is also an option in many places but lags behind cable and fiber internet both in terms of speed and stability.

Check out some of our internet service comparisons to learn more about other options.

Comcast vs Starlink

Spectrum vs T-Mobile 5G Home Internet

AT&T vs T-Mobile Home Internet

Fios vs Starlink

Verizon 5G Home Internet vs AT&T Internet

Conclusion

Breezeline is estimated to have over 700,000 broadband customers located in twelve different states: Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, Florida, and South Carolina.

They have recently added more customers with the purchase of WOW in the state of Ohio. As with most internet service providers, some people are happy with the service, some people would like to drop them in a heartbeat, and most people fall somewhere in between.

It is difficult to speak for all of their service regions, but Breezeline internet service in the lakes region area of New Hampshire performs very well overall. Pricing is on the higher side relative to other similar providers , but not totally out of line. This is especially true when you use your own modem and router, avoiding the $14.99 per month rental fee.

My overall rating of Breezeline internet is 4/5 stars. This compares favorably with most other internet service options available.

FAQ