Review by jeffc42 
UPDATED: 29 days ago
member for 3 years, 13 visits, last login: 14 days ago
 Santa Clara,Santa Clara,CA
 $50 per month (12 month contract)
 about 16 days
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
It was time to renew my contract for another year. I considered switching to Comcast, due to the much higher speeds, but ultimately decided to stick with dslextreme. Only hours after renewing for another year, I started losing service intermittently. Tech support initially claimed there was nothing wrong with the line they can see, even as I had 100% packet loss. The next day I called to cancel the contract renewal, but they refused to waive the $250 cancellation fee. They now claim the loss of service is due to "congestion", and they will look into it ASAP. Obviously, if this had happened only hours sooner, I would have switched to Comcast, and I probably will do so anyway. If they cannot fix the problem but still insist on the cancellation fee, I will challenge the charge to my credit card.
Reliability has been going down over the last year in general. I've been getting outages lasting a minute or so once a week on average, not enough to bother calling in and anyway they usually occur when I'm not around. But there have been prior serious outages. While I have no delusions about Comcast -- I do get TV service from them -- the one thing they will never ever do is say the fault lies with AT&T and all they can do is file a ticket with them.
UPDATE 1: tech support got back to me and they can't find anything wrong. So much for the "congestion" theory. They want me to callback during an outage. Never mind I already did that last night, and they couldn't find anything wrong then. Also note that the first time this happened, when I called tech support I was on hold for 30 minutes before I got through, and by then the problem went away. I was luckier the second time. The next time? We'll see.
UPDATE 2: it happened again, so I called tech support. Got put on hold for 20 minutes waiting for level 2, and by the time they answered the problem went away. Not that it would have mattered, as when they answered, all I heard was a bunch of faint voices in the background, and after a minute they hung up on me. And now I'm having serious problems sending e-mail through their servers (recently outsourced to Google, BTW). To avoid having to pay for December, I have to cancel by tomorrow.
UPDATE 3: I have requested cancellation.
Reviewing the reviews over the past year, I am shocked at how negative the reviews have gotten. If they were anything like this three years ago, I would have avoided DSL EXTREME. If you are thinking of signing up with them, make sure you read them first. And pay attention to their refusal to waive the cancellation fee, even when their failure to provide a working connection reaches absurd levels. The terms of service make it very clear that they will resort to a collection agency if necessary to get that fee. Too bad they're more interested in getting that $250 than in making it unnecessary to cancel.
Followup comments:  
dslx_gm
Premium,VIP
join:2002-12-26
Winnetka, CA
1 edit | Intermittent Connection Hi Jeff,
I took a look at your line and current line readings. I am showing that you are in sync at the full rate without any indication of line issues. You indicated in your post that you are dropping packets. Are you pinging your gateway to test the connection or where are you pinging to determine that you are dropping packets?
Do you have to do anything to restore the service or does it just come back by itself? Does a power cycle of your DSL modem, router help? If so next time it happens can you try to power cycle one device at a time to see if that resolve the issue. (ie power cycle router first and not the modem)
DN STREAM ERRORS During the last measurement period of 30 minutes the line ran error free in the downstream direction.
UP STREAM ERRORS During the last measurement period of 30 minutes the line ran error free in the upstream direction.
DN STREAM SPEED The line is running at the maximum bit rate of 6016 kbps.
UP STREAM SPEED The line is running at the maximum bit rate of 768 kbps.
DN STREAM S/N The line noise margin is 13.0dB, which is above the target noise margin of 6.0dB.
UP STREAM S/N The line noise margin is 9.5dB, which is above the target noise margin of 6.0dB.
DN STREAM POWER The line power is at the maximum of 16.0dBm.
UP STREAM POWER The line power is 12.0dBm, which is below the maximum of 13.0dBm.
Thanks
--
George
General Manager
DSL Extreme
Will work for reviews.  | |
|  | jeffc42
join:2006-11-10
Santa Clara, CA
 ·DSL EXTREME
1 edit | Re: Intermittent Connection It is intermittent, occurring about 3 to 4 times a day, lasting from 5 to 30 minutes. I either have the full rated performance, or 100% packet loss and I cannot talk to anything on the Internet. It comes back all by itself, eventually. Power cycling the modem and/or router has no effect. I substituted another router and that had no effect. The lights on the modem flicker when I ping or try to initiate a connection; they just don't seem to get through.
Today I've noticed a new pattern of symptons: existing connections are unaffected and pings work, but new connections cannot be established. Again, it corrects itself automatically after a few minutes. Again, power cycling modem/router has no effect (other than to break the established connections, of course). | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of DSL EXTREME |
|
(31)
(43)