 Review by MsGeek 
UPDATED: 115 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 647 visits, last login: 77 days ago
 Panorama City,Los Angeles,CA
 $20 per month (12 month contract)
 about 2 days
 Verizon
 "Aww yeah! Worked right as soon as I plugged the x-over cable in!"
 "None yet"
 "Still made of awesome after all these years...been rockin' this line since 2002!"
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(ratings match consensus)
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This was a smooth ride for sure. Back when I had DSL last time around I only got 384/128 on a 768/128 line. Now I realize the problem wasn't with Verizon (GTE then) or the stars or my antiquated phone wiring...the problem was my ISP, the late, unlamented Flashcom.
Don't be afraid of the self-install, folks, because it is smooth. Just plug the filters into your phone line and you are golden. The filters actually *improve* your telephone service, oddly enough. I wound up buying a 50' crossover cable because the modem's in the kitchen and the computers are all in the living room.
Not much else to add...it seems sweet so far. Thumbs up! Bye bye Adelphia!
*** updated 6/21/2002 ****
Summertime (Solstice was 6am today) and the DSL's easy...what is striking about all the measurements I have taken so far is how consistent they are. Here's the current measurements:
2002-06-21 11:56:39 Speed test (wc) 733/134 kbps
2002-06-20 11:42:22 Speed test (wc) 735/134 kbps
2002-06-19 10:46:17 Speed test (wc) 735/137 kbps
2002-06-19 01:27:56 Speed test (wc) 735/135 kbps
2002-06-18 16:39:25 Speed test (wc) 727/134 kbps
2002-06-18 16:07:05 Speed test (wc) 730/133 kbps
Every measurement is within a few bits of each other. Very cool. So far no outages. I am very happy now. This is how Broadband SHOULD be.
*** Update 7/9/2002 ***
Rock solid. No outages, and I'm at the 4 week mark. Almost a month of solid, always-on service. The range for downloads is between 727-735Kbps, the range for uploads is between 133-137Kbps. About a 5 bit deviation on both sides. It's very dramatic when you look at it on a graph...you have one line that almost never moves for uploads and another that almost never moves for downloads.
This is fantastic.
*** Update 3/13/2003 ***
A couple of days ago I had my first modem reset. Took me out of commission for only about 10 minutes. Remember, I have had my DSLExtreme since June 2002. Considering that in the bad old days with Adelphia Powerlink I would have to manually powercycle the modem about 4-6 times a day to maintain my connection.
For all you gamers...I have started playing Unreal Tournament on a regular basis on a friend's private server. Who has the best ping times? Me with my DSLExtreme, that's who! My gaming buddies are all either in the midst of changing over to DSLExtreme or are pondering it. I've not played on the DSLE public server as yet, but it's good to know that DSLExtreme is a gaming-friendly ISP.
I feel for the people up North...I hope things get ironed out soon. I think that for those who are having problems, considering moving up to a static IP is a good idea. Much simpler setup, less to go wrong. PPPoE is a hideous kludge. A static IP is very nice, provided you take the proper precautions about security.
I'm still getting roughly 730/128. It's lovely to be able to rely on my connection. Thank you DSLExtreme...you guys rock.
*** Update 12/13/2003 ***
Still rock solid, still 730/128.
Helped a friend get the DSL Extreme hookup...she has a Mac running OS X.3 (Panther) and she opted for PPPoE through SBC. What do you know? It was cake to set her up, and the connection is rock solid. I think it's faster than mine...I tried getting 1.5Mbps but the interior and exterior wiring in this '50s-vintage apartment building is only reliable at a 768Kbps rating. She's about two blocks from her CO too...lucky grrl...
*** Update Leap Year Day 2004 (2/29/2004) ***
DSL Extreme STILL r0x0rz my b0x0rz. It's been over one and a half years of solid service and solid speed tests at 730/128. Only one significant outage in all that time. I just tweaked my category ratings to give them a solid 5 out of 5 across the board...they deserve it. So far my friend Kara is happy too...no complaints, and I would think she would have complained to me if there had been a problem. All my buds in Santa Barbara are DSLX customers now too except for the one who's too far from the CO to get service. With almost everyone on the same system, net gaming is really, really nice. I will stay with DSLX until they either wrench the DSL modem from my cold, dead hands, or if I move and find myself too far from the CO. DSLX forever!!! w00t!!!
*** Update 5/25/2005 ***
I just got speedbumped to 1.5Mbps...my real speed is 1.3Mbps. Considering the Jurassic wiring in this building, it might or might not be stable at that speed, but we're giving it a try. One thing that hasn't changed has been the superkewl DSLX service. I have had zero complaints, in all the time I've had DSL with them, with their people. I'll update this in a week or two with how I'm doing with the speedbump. Oh yeah, last year my upstream speed was increased to 384Kbps, which is great.
***Update 6/3/2005***
Speedbump still holding strong. Average tested speed is around 1.25Mbps. I am a happy camper.
***Update 11/23/2005***
Still very comfortably at 1.25Mbps down, 384 up. No burps lately. Last month I got yet another friend to come over to DSLX. He's happy. I'm happy. We're all happy.
***Update 1/14/2006***
My Broadmax modem sang its death song at roughly 9:45 pm last night, Friday the 13th. But DSLX didn't let me jones too long. I was able to pick up a replacement modem today and now I'm back online. Haven't tested the speed yet but it feels like normal. DSLX still rules.
***Update 7/18/2006***
It's been over 4 years and I'm still a happy camper. I'm going to be downgrading to 768/128 again because of cost-of-living issues and I'll update again when that goes live. It is so great to just turn on the old computer and the connection is right there and reliable. I had a few qualms when the sale went through, but DSLX is the "same as it ever was" to quote David Byrne. Long live DSLX!!!
***Update 7/24/2006***
OK, just an update for all you happy people. I did the downgrade and as NASA says, "all systems are nominal" It required a little bit of configuration on DSLX's end, and that was done in a couple of minutes.
dslreports.com speed test result on 2006-07-24 11:55:14 EST:
631 / 132
Your download speed : 631 kbps or 78.9 KB/sec.
That is 72.5% worse than an average user on dslextreme.com
Your upload speed : 132 kbps or 16.6 KB/sec.
That is 67.1% worse than an average user on dslextreme.com
So yeah, this is what I'm supposed to have under this new plan. Kudos to everyone from dslx_gm on down for helping me through the downgrade.
**** update 6/6/2008 ****
Still as smooth as silk...I've reupped with them and did so happily. The change in ownership hasn't made DSLX jump the shark...they are still wisely avoiding such a stunt.
Take my DSLX? From my cold dead hands!!!
*** update 8/3/2009 ***
As you recall, the maximum speed I can get on this old garbage wiring is 1.25Mbps. VZ last year bumped the tier I was on to 1000Kbps/384Kbps. This of course happened AFTER I had reupped, so I had to wait a while. My contract came up, and now I am on the new speed profile. It still seems like I'm ramping up so I'm not going to judge right now but my upload speeds are already close to 384Kbps, and my down speed is almost 900Kbps.
7 years of good luck. Who can ask for anything more? I know some people have been frustrated with DSLX but I have had nothing but smooth sailing. I'll be with them for life, I think.
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