Review by CloaknDagr 
UPDATED: 1.7 years ago
member for 6.1 years, 88 visits, last login: 113 days ago
 San Pedro,Los Angeles,CA
 $19 per month
 about 2 days
 "Easy setup, good follow up, good trouble ticket response, chat support"
 "Service can be a little slow sometimes"
 "Great value for the money"
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(ratings match consensus)
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DSL Extreme hasn't disappointed me at all yet. I'm right at 10,000 feet from the CO and in a coastal area so copper can be a problem here, I'm willing to make some allowances just because these conditions aren't ideal. I installed the phone line to the service 'can' myself and all that's on this telephone line is a business phone and the DSL connection.
DSL Extreme must monitor new installs when they go active because I was surprised to get a call from them checking that all is well the day after I logged on the first time. That was nice and I've never had an ISP do that before.
As it happens, all wasn't well. I was only getting half of my advertised speed. One of the very first things I did was log onto DSL Reports and run a speed test. I told the nice AMERICAN gentleman from DSL Extreme about the problem, discussed the installation and what I had done and he said he'd check and get back to me. 20 minutes later he called to say that AT&T had a cap on the line by mistake and that he had them remove it. He asked if I would stay on the phone with him and run a couple speed tests to verify that the cap had been removed. Which I did, and it was, and all was well. I gotta say that's much better service than I'm used to, and I've been doing this computer stuff for a long time.
I run speed tests at least once a week and a couple months later I noticed that my speeds were running about 75% of what they should be and that the latency was way up, well over 100 ms on tests to all servers. I used the 'chat with tech support' feature on DSL Extreme's website and discussed the problem with 'Jason'. He was a bit short about things until he understood that I didn't just fall off the turnip wagon but he told me that they'd have to charge me for Telco services (check the port on the DSLAM at the CO, stuff like that) and such if I wanted to pursue the matter. I told him that I didn't think I should pay the Telco to get what I'm paying them for and that if the service didn't improve I would be forced to look elsewhere for my ISP. Mysteriously about two days later my service was back up to par, and has pretty much stayed there for the last few months.
Except for one brief time when I was having some connectivity issues. I logged back into chat support and this time the guy on the other end was very helpful. He helped me track down an issue that was on my end, I had a bad high speed R-11 telephone cable from the modem to the wall jack and he helped me find it. I have all kinds of that stuff laying around and sure enough when I replaced the cable everything was back up to specs.
Like I say, I've been doing this computer stuff for a long time and it's rare that I need to deal with tech support at an ISP. When I do need to talk to them, what I don't need is an Indian script reader or a snotty know-it-all. Usually I've been able to eliminate any problems on my end so when I need tech support I really need it. When it turned out that it WAS a problem on my end the techie was not only decent and listened to me but actually was able to make a suggestion that solved the problem. That's work on a professional level no matter what you're paying.
What I'm paying for is 1500 down and I'm getting speed tests in the 1200 - 1300 range, which is exactly what I should be getting with overhead. My uploads are about 320 or so and that's in the ball park too.
The supplied hardware was a D-Link DSL 23208 ADSL Modem, which is a fairly good box. I've always had good luck with D-Link appliances where they're appropriate so I'm fine with the hardware. Behind that I've got a WatchGuard Firebox firewall and they all play nice together, my perimeter tests secure on anything I've run against it.
Those are my experiences to date and as far as I'm concerned DSL Extreme is a great value at the price. If the service continues like it is the only reason I would have for switching ISP's is the speed issue, and that may happen some day. At 10,000 feet from the CO I can't get a faster package in DSL so if I ever switch it will have to be to cable and that won't be the fault of DSL Extreme.
All in all I'd have to say they're doing a great job.
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