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 Review by JSY 
UPDATED: 281 days ago
member for 9.6 years, 2035 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Elmhurst,Queens,NY
 Contract price not specified.
 Verizon
 "Excellent communications and technical support! Quick response to issues."
 "The unavoidable dealings with Verizon when they somehow find a way to muck things up."
 "A great ISP that doesn't treat you like a number like it is with the big boys."
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After unsuccessfuly connecting with BA Infospeed earlier this year, I decided to go for DSL with an ISP that I had been dealing with for the last few years with dial-up service. I've always been happy with their service, so actually it was a wonder why I didn't try them as a first resort. I think it was the "ease of install/use" or BA Infospeed (that never worked). Anyway, that is how I came to be with bway.net. The whole installation process wasn't totally smooth - but that was all from a result of BA bungling one thing after another.
I first ordered the service back in May after tons of technical questions to their extremely helpful staff. I was contacted by Covad within the next 10 days with a BA install date. BA showed up and went through their motions - only to tell me that there was no facilities or free pairs at the NID. The BA tech mention that he isn't sure how long it would take them to rectify the situation, but that there was nothing he could do at that point.
I contacted bway.net, and they tried to get the details from Covad. bway.net resubmitted my order when things appeared to clear up, and within 5 days, I received another e-mail from Covad with another BA install date. This was June. BA came again - and after doing their thing (the same tech, by the way), he once again told me that there were no free pairs at the NID and that there was nothing he could do. He did observe that they were in the process of installing new NIDs on my block (the box was already there, it was a job of connecting the lines to the new box) - and once they did that - he's be able to complete the install. Anyway, a day later - I received an e-mail from bway.net and Covad that my order was hereby canceled due to no facilities.
The next day, my phone line was crossed with a neighbor's and I had to contact BA for repair. A BA tech came by to fix the line - and then he remarked about how he bets that this was a result of the new NIDs that they were installing and that they would complete it by the weekend. I remembered what the last BA tech said about the new NIDs, and I promptly contacted bway.net to resubmit the order to see it it would work out. Once again, I received an e-mail from Covad with a new BA install date for July.
Lo and behold, third time was a charm. Because of the new NID, the BA tech (different person) was able to install the line and by the time he left, I had a new phone jack that was labeled for Covad - right next to the jack for my home phone. They used the unused pair of wires from my phone line to the NID.
Covad came by within 3-4 days, and all that was needed to be done was to plug the router in, with one line to the jack, and the other to my NIC - and presto, I was up and running. I mean, after BA did their job, all that was left was to plug in the router.
But that wasn't the end of my bouts with BA.
8 days after flawless operation from bway.net/Covad - my second phone line was down. I contacted BA for repair, and they were not supposed to come until the following Monday - but they made an unexpected stop on Saturday when I wasn't around. The BA tech was in the NID, and all I know is that by the time I came home - my second phone line was working, but my DSL line was down. I wasn't very happy.
I once again contacted bway.net on Monday morning, and they placed a trouble ticket with Covad. Covad came by within 2 days, confirmed that the problem was outside their jurisdiction, and inside of BA's. They suspected that the phone repair on the second phone line was the cause - and an untrained tech used my DSL pair thinking that it was an open and dead line. The trouble ticket was hightened for a BA repair date. BA was scheduled to arrive the next day - a day of heavy rain - yet no one ever showed up. However, reading Covad's log - the BA tech claimed, "no access". Uhh, it would help if they even rang my bell!
The ticket was again escalated by my ISP, and the next day, BA and Covad showed up simultaneously. I am surprised they didn't have a fistfight.  Together they confirmed the problem at the jack - that it was somewhere beyond the jack. They both left and went to the CO, and boom - Covad came back and told me that the line was fixed. This was Friday (after the Saturday that my service went down) - July 28. Since then, the service has been up and running perfectly.
What is most impressive of this whole matter was bway.net was so helpful and active in getting my service back up and running. They kept me in the loop for everything and responded to all of my questions. They were friendly and helpful when I had first signed up - with all 3 appointments made, and likewise, they were great when my service went down. They spoke to me like an adult, and didn't treat me like a technology novice, either. They were geniunely interested in having me up and running as quickly as possible. They may be a tad more expensive that some other services, but heck - for that kind of customer service, it's more than worth it for me.
Every apparent miscue in this whole process was brought about initially by BA, which doesn't come to as a surprise. bway.net and Covad has been nothing but wonderful in dealing with all of this - and as it stands now, I am very pleased with the service that I'm receiving.
I highly recommend bway.net to anyone.
UPDATE: September 5, 2000 (Original review posted on 7/30/2000)
Only the following was added. Nothing else about this review has changed (ratings, etc.). Just a minor update - my service has not suffered any downtime since it's reconnect (knock on wood). Perhaps due largely to the Verizon workers on strike with no time to fiddle with the wires?
UPDATE: January 22, 2001 (Original review posted on 7/30/2000)
The uptime for my circuit has been nothing short of outstanding and constant. There have been approximately two minor and temporary slowdowns over the last 3 months, but this line has been ol' reliable. However, not a day passes that I don't worry about Verizon coming by and having to do some work on a line at the NAT. Ever since Verizon has been out of the picture, I've not had to contact anyone for anything. Let's hope it stays that way!
UPDATE: July 6, 2001 (Original review posted on 7/30/2000)
It's about a year now and total uptime has been above 97% It's been as reliable as I could wish for, and most of all - it's basically been trouble free. Verizon has come to repair some phone lines in the interim, but luckily enough, they didn't screw things up as usual. I couldn't be happier with my DSL service. (Well, I guess I could be happier if it was free, but. . .)
UPDATE: August 14, 2001 (Original review posted on 7/30/2000)
My DSL is down! It appears that the reasoning is exactly the same reason why it was down over a year ago - and that Verizon has disconnected me at the NID while servicing a line from a neighbor (we all share the same NID). Can these geniuses ever get it right? It's not like disarming a bomb at the NID, is it? There must be more sophisticated equipment then just listening to a pair and hearing nothing (and assuming that it's free). Anyway, a service call has been put it and with the current situation with Covad, who knows how long it'll take to remedy. It took about 4-5 business days last year. Well, excuse my soapbox - but as always, Verizon seems to be the culprit once more. Until they start sending out qualified people to do their job in the field, they'll always be second rate in my eyes.
UPDATE: April 27, 2002 (Original review posted on 7/30/2000)
Once again, my DSL connection has been as reliable as can be. There has been no noticeable downtime since the last update. On the plus side since the last update is that Bway.net now employs Giganews as their usenet provider, which is a huge improvement over their previous provider, Newsfeeds (slow and unreliable). Before all this, Bway.net use to run their own news server which was actually quite good. Giganews is the best commercial news service I've used. Bway.net also now has (well, it's had for a while) nationwide dialup, which is great to use when you are out and about. The mail server continues to get top marks from me. It's coming close to two years of Bway.net DSL service, and it's been very pleasant sans Verizon intervention. In my eyes, Bway.net remains to be among the best local/regional providers in NYC.
UPDATE: January 26, 2003
Bway.net DSL has been great as usual - not having had any real downtime at all since my last update to this entry. Their switch to Giganews last year was probably amongst their best moves and Bway.net continues to be amongst the most hassle free ISPs that I've ever experienced.
UPDATE: February 2, 2009
One thing I've always liked most about bway.net is the customer service and attention. If I ever had any problems - they were on it immediately and gave you the confidence that they are doing everything they can to solve the issue. Thankfully my issues have been few and far between and usually because of something Verizon did. This time was no diferent.
Somewhere along the line - one day, my dedicated DSL line was no longer giving me access to the internet, however the indications on the modem showed that everything was connected properly. Confused, I sent an e-mail to their tech area (I think it was around 8p or so). It wasn't long before I received a response asking for voice contact after they showed that my circuit appeared to be ok.
After some brainstorming with Joe from bway.net (great person by the way) we finally determined that it looked like someone at the Central Office reconnected my dedicated DSL line to a Verizon DSL line! We discovered this when we found out that I was able to gain access to the internet again after using PPPoE and checking the IP. Verizon strikes again!!! Granted, I don't know who guffawed at the Central Office but the fact is that someone did and Verizon is at least involved in this way. (Read above and you'll see that each problem I've had over the years was because of Verizon.) So, Joe wrote up a ticket to solve this and by the next day, everything was back to it's proper self.
The reason why I am updating this review is because that is one thing that is so lacking when speaking to Verizon or even Time Warner. You will get a knowledgeable person with those places about 20% of the time the first way through. With bway.net - I've never had an instance of contacting them and being confronted with someone who had no clue what I was talking about. I haven't had to contact bway.net much, but each time I have, they have always left me with the impression that things will get done and I have never been left confused. I can't say that about the big phone/cable companies and that type of customer service is amongst the most valuable things you can hope for. That's what it comes down to when you get past all those numbers.
case in point - I contacted Time Warner Cable yesterday regarding CableCards for my TiVo and I spoke to no less than 3 persons and also 2 persons at one of their service locations - and they all had no idea what I was talking about and one insisted that he was 150% sure that they did not do that and he gets the question all the time - DESPITE their own website saying that they do. He said that the fact that I know people who have them installed is "impossible". This epitomizes it all, doesn't it?
So, yes - 5 years after my last update - I continue to overwhelmingly endorse bway.net. They understand the customer experience - and they also seem to know what the heck they're talking about!
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