New to Outer Reach? Wondering what to expect when you sign up for internet service with us?
Step 1
Check Availability
Step 2
Sign Up
Step 3
Field Test
Step 4
Installation
Use our “View Availability’ form on the homepage to see if we are currently in your area. If we are, you will be taken to the service area landing page where you can select your plan and learn more about our service in your area.
If not, leave your contact details and we will notify you is we make it over to your neck of the woods.
Select ‘Sign up’ and fill out the form to notify our team that you are interested in becoming an Outer Reach customer.
Once we receive your request we will plot your address on our service map to ensure we can deliver high quality wireless internet signal to your home from one of our towers.
We’ll get back to you within 24 hours to walk you through the next steps.
When one of our team members reaches out to you, they will assist with scheduling your field technician appointment.
Within a week, an Outer Reach technician will be at your house to run signal test. Outer Reach promises to only sign on new customers who have a strong service signal from one of our towers. This step guarantees that we are delivering on that promise.
Our customer service email is linked below if you would like to reach out with any questions regarding this step.
Once a strong signal is confirmed, your Outer Reach technician will install the receiver to the side or roof of your home. The technician will then run the fiber-optic cabling from the receiver into your home to connect it to your router or modem.
Installation can be done directly after your field test so you only need one appointment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our support team will initially contact you ahead of time and schedule an installation appointment at a mutually convenient time. Depending on the service, fiber to the home or fixed wireless, installations typically take 2-3 hours. It is important to note that we will require an adult who can make decisions about the installation and authorize any work that may occur to be present for the installation.
For fiber you should expect a two part installation process. First a technician will need to install a drop cable to the side of your home from the closest utility pole. This will typically follow the same path as the power line which feeds your home. The cable will be managed similar to your other utility lines and will be housed in a small enclosure box on the outside of your home. This first stage can be installed without anyone present unless you prefer to be home during this part.
The second stage will require an adult who can accept our service contract to be home. In this stage we will extend the connection inside your home. In some cases we can repurpose an existing point of entry to manage the cable into a device so you can hardwire or connect all of your devices to wirelessly.
For fixed wireless service, upon arrival our technicians will begin surveying your property to discover the best and most reliable options for securing the wireless signal. Since our technology does not require a clear line of sight to the signal’s point of origin, in most cases we will be able to present you with multiple mount options for our small 10″ square outdoor unit. Once the final location has been determined, our technician will review the scope of work and options with you including the installation of a wirepath between the outdoor unit and an indoor unit that we will either hardwire or connect your devices to wirelessly. Once agreed upon the technician will install the necessary hardware and get your family connected.
Check our availability to see if we service your area.
For more details on the installation process, view our Customer Experience page.
All of our networks operate with fiber which is the most efficient and effective way to transfer data. In some areas we offer a fiber to the home product which connects your home directly to the fiber hanging from the telephone poles on your street. This will always be the most effective way to deliver the highest speeds.
Our fixed wireless networks also rely on fiber to provide the essential connection for our radios and antennas which we place on towers to serve your home. While fixed wireless will also provide reliable connectivity and higher speeds than many other technologies, particularly DSL, which tend to be reliant on vast and antiquated infrastructure.
In the end, both delivery methods are state-of-the-art and will provide you with safe, reliable and fast connectivity.
Our servers are state-of-the-art and they are monitored 24/7 by trained professionals. We firmly believe in investing in the most reliable people and technology to ensure reliable and safe internet connectivity.
A critical part of our job is to be continually updating and modernizing our equipment and software to make sure we are on the forefront with security protocols. Furthermore, our fixed wireless connections require strict encryption software so we can provide you a secure and reliable connection.
While it is incumbent upon us as your trusted internet provider to ensure the safety and security of your connection you must also practice safe browsing and data transfer habits. We strongly encourage you to stay away from suspicious sites and to not open unknown or suspicious attachments as those both could have negative effects on both your system/hardware and ours as well.
Outer Reach connects to the internet through a high-speed fiber connection distributed via wired and wireless connections to our networks across Maine. A small radio antenna is installed onto the eave of your home for you to receive the internet connection from the Outer Reach network. This wireless transmitter/receiver creates a secure connection with one of our wireless towers. It captures an encrypted radio frequency, which then runs through your home using a fiber-optic cable, bringing internet to your location.
To learn more visit our Bridging the Digital Divide page.
Like you we are also customers of internet service providers (ISPs) in our homes and offices. Over the years we have found two trends from these ISPs: (1) they rarely produce the upload and download speeds that are advertised and (2) we are frequently told that we need higher speeds than we can actually use. Part of our goal at Outer Reach is to help educate the public on what internet speeds people actually need to live and perform their day-to-day routine from virtual school and working at home to streaming content.
We feel that ISPs have made gaining internet access more imposing and complicated than it must be. Our promise to you is to be upfront about the speeds we can deliver to your home and then deliver those speeds on a constant basis. You will notice that we do not offer lots of different speed and service tiers. This is because we want to provide all our customer, whether served by fiber to the home or fixed wireless connections, the highest throughput possible.
Calculate How Much Bandwidth Your Household Needs
Where Internet Service Meets Customer Service
We’re always here to help.
Reach out to our customer service team if you have more questions or suggestions.
