Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

[ItsGoTime!]

Aloha. I've just been offered a job in Pearl City, and the family and I are incredibly excited. Been looking to move to O'ahu for long time now, can't believe it now that it's here. Anyways, we're not moving until August (still gotta finish my degree), but I've been doing some preliminary planning. I got lots of queries, and I figure that the local folk know better than anyone.

Whos' got the best cell phone coverage, rate plans? I'm leaning towards Cingular (family plan for $60, 2 phones) as I hear that their reception is the best. Is this true?

Internet provider. I come from a world (Vancouver, BC, Canada) where almost no one has dial-up. Those that do either deny it, or admit it sheepishly. I've been reading about Clear Wave and the fact that it's mobile sounds awesome. But, how is the overall performance. Anyone have problems? What's your provider?

How about TV. Ideally I'd like digtial, HDTV with DVR/PVR/TiVo. But cable is low priority, and I'd be willing to deal with analog cable, or basic digital cable. The only thing that I found so far is DirecTV. Google keeps throwing Comcast on me, but their website says no to O'ahu.

Does anyone VOIP? How much? Quality?

Much Mahalo in advance for any replies. I will have many more questions, but I can't wait to come to the Islands and bring a bit of Canadian flavour. Hockey, anyone? Didn't have a chance to go to Ice Palace last time I was there, but it's on my hit list.

Oh, where's a good place to get cheap furniture?

[1stwahine]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Aloha and Welcome to HawaiiThreads.com!

Most of your answers can be found on our archives.

Cable: Hawaiian Telcom vs Oceanic Time Warner Cable
http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthr...t=Oceanic+Hawn
More on Hawaiian Telcom
http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthr...ght=Cell+phone

Cell Phone: What cellular provider do you use?
http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=5867

Digital T.V. Digital TV Broadcasting in Hawaii
http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=7997

The best place to purchase Furniture is at Military PX.

Auntie Lynn

[Mista Bumpy]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Yes indeed, the PX advice is good. It would be worthwhile to rent a pickup or U-Haul and head up to Mililani Town. There's a whole bunch of used furnature and pawn outfits up there, on nearly every block. In other words, it's a typical base town! LOL!! Besides that, you would get a chance to see Central Oahu, which is a really nice drive. Good luck.

Aloha!

[Mista Bumpy]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Actually, I meant Wahiawa, not Mililani Town. Sorry!

Aloha!

[tutusue]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

I have a really dumb question! Doesn't one need to be in the military or a family member to go to the PX?

[TATTRAT]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

That is exactly what I was thinking Tutusue. I know it is like that here in Hampton Roads. Heck, they won't even let civilians on a base without the proper workday pass, let alone go shopping.

The base always had great deals though, especially on liquor.

[tutusue]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Even the restaurants at the Hale Koa hotel require a military ID from one member in the dining party.

I believe there's a navy PX off of Nimitz that's not on base...near the intersection of Valkenburgh and Bougainville, iirc. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. An off base PX, if there is such a thing, would require a military ID to get in, I'd think.

Or, have I been missing some really great shopping over the span of my lengthy lifetime?

[1stwahine]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

I have a really dumb question! Doesn't one need to be in the military or a family member to go to the PX?

Yeah, you're correct Tutusue!

Lynn

[ItsGoTime!]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Thanks everyone. What does PX stand for? I did read elsewhere that only military personnel can go there.

For all the immigrants, how did you find accomodations? The advice I hear from everyone is that you definitely should see the place before you rent it. The guy at my work suggested to get a hotel first, then find a place to rent. That sounds expensive. If it takes a week to find a place, that's $1000. Another mention, and one I'm leaning towards, is getting a vacation rental for a month, and try to find a place in the meantime. What did you guys do?

[tutusue]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

[...]What did you guys do?

I moved in with my boyfriend! His place was absolutely lovely!

[1stwahine]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Thanks everyone. What does PX stand for? I did read elsewhere that only military personnel can go there.

Post Exchange. On post it is the military's department store.

Auntie Lynn

[Kelly0040]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Cable: We get digital cable tv and internet via Oceanic. Our bill is $130 a month (with hbo). They also offer digital telephone service for like $30 more. We have a DVR box from them. It's all right. We just record 2 things mainly - The Office and Lost - and altho TiVo looks really cool, I'm ok with my DVR. I wish I had more space tho. Our neighbor used the Digital Phone service from them and she didn't care for it. I'm happy with our internet connection as it rarely goes down and we've never had any issues with speed.

Cell phone: We have Verizon and they've finally put some towers way the heck down here so now we're much happier. Our coverage on O'ahu seems strong (full bars) in about 75% of the island, the other 25% is like 2 bars. I couldn't tell you if Cingular is better than Verizon now because when we were having Verizon issues (last year), we tried out Cingular and it was worse (in our area, anyway).

When we moved here, we got a place at the Executive Center in downtown Honolulu for 3 weeks. We got per diem and the gov't rate, so paying for it wasn't an issue. However, I had several places in mind by the time we actually arrived on the island. I posted a thingy on Craig's List about what I was looking for and the range I was willing to pay and I had about a half-dozen folks respond with pictures of rental homes and three folks even went so far as to take photos of the neighborhood, too, to give me an idea of the area because I had absolutely no idea what to expect. The day after we arrived, we toured four of them and the other two a few days later. By week two, we had secured a place and a week later, our stuff arrived.

Good luck!
-K

[ItsGoTime!]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Cable: We get digital cable tv and internet via Oceanic. Our bill is $130 a month (with hbo). They also offer digital telephone service for like $30 more. We have a DVR box from them. It's all right. We just record 2 things mainly - The Office and Lost - and altho TiVo looks really cool, I'm ok with my DVR. I wish I had more space tho. Our neighbor used the Digital Phone service from them and she didn't care for it. I'm happy with our internet connection as it rarely goes down and we've never had any issues with speed.

Cell phone: We have Verizon and they've finally put some towers way the heck down here so now we're much happier. Our coverage on O'ahu seems strong (full bars) in about 75% of the island, the other 25% is like 2 bars. I couldn't tell you if Cingular is better than Verizon now because when we were having Verizon issues (last year), we tried out Cingular and it was worse (in our area, anyway).

When we moved here, we got a place at the Executive Center in downtown Honolulu for 3 weeks. We got per diem and the gov't rate, so paying for it wasn't an issue. However, I had several places in mind by the time we actually arrived on the island. I posted a thingy on Craig's List about what I was looking for and the range I was willing to pay and I had about a half-dozen folks respond with pictures of rental homes and three folks even went so far as to take photos of the neighborhood, too, to give me an idea of the area because I had absolutely no idea what to expect. The day after we arrived, we toured four of them and the other two a few days later. By week two, we had secured a place and a week later, our stuff arrived.

Good luck!
-K

Thanks Kelly. Very helpful. I think we're leaning toward the vacation rental option for a week, and hope to secure a place by then. How are realtors for helping in finding a rental? I made some initial contacts but it's too early to actually do anything.

[ItsGoTime!]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

Another question. I will be working in Pearl City, and I think we'd prefer to live there as well. It would be nice to work within 15 minute walking distance to work. But we also looked at (online) Mililani Town. It looks nice. Can anyone tell me more about it? How far is it from Pearl City? It looks like it's about 15 mins by car to Pearl Ridge Center (I'll be working near there). Thanks.

Does anyone know anything about Century Park Plaza in Pearl City, on Kamehameha? We have looked into it, and it looks nice, close to work. Are there any issues we should know about? Thanks.

[dostoy]

Re: Moving to Oahu, lots of questions

One of the first things I would recommend is to get a Hawaiian bank account before you get to the island. We have a First Hawaiian account I am not sure which bank is best it was just the closest to us. There are no mainland banks on Oahu and in my experience not very many landlords or realtors will take mainland checks. We had a hard time when we first got here because we did not have a local bank account and it takes a ling time for mainland checks to clear.



We have only been here a few months and we love it! The island the weather and the people are wonderful!