 Review by Titus Pullo 
member for 8.9 years, 2177 visits, last login: 60 days ago
updated 337 days ago
 Charlottesville,Charlottesville City,VA
 $76 per month about 4 days CenturyTel "Still good" "Nothing" "Good to go"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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6/17/2012
Solid service @ 10 MB
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10/1/2011
Still very good, but late night downtime is on the increase, usually between midnight and 2 AM.
Speed is what I pay for and latency is OK (see latest test grab).
9/2/10
Service is as reliable as can be. No downtime to speak of and speeds on the money - no complaints.
Billing is a little rough lately, but I think I've worked it out.
BR corporate fan boys remind why i stopped visiting this site.
1/7/09
New pricing as of 1/6/09 puts the 10M package at $54.95 for landline customers. I'm adjusting my total cost based on an increase of roughly $15 (from $39.95 for 3.0 to $54.95 for 10.0). Easy as a phone call (or chat) to get the new rate.
1/3/09
I upgraded to the 10Mbps package on the 24th. of December by way of embarq_joey here on the DSLR Embarq forum.
The install date was one day off due to line conditioning and being moved to a new DSLAM (I'm 4000 ft. from the CO). So far everything is working great. You can see my speedtests here:
»/testhistory/1031267/8cbb5
I'm estimating total cost; I haven't received the first bill with the new charges. I have a land line, and with 3.0 service the total bill was $67. The 10Mbps service is $65 a month (roughly $25 more than the 3.0 service).
Connectivity so far, as always, is rock solid.
Hat tip to embarq_joey !
8/20/08
Teh system logon message for me today (aren't they cute!) told a heart warming tale of how my last update was framed and, to this day, leaves the staff in tears. After finding their hankies, I was implored to update my review.
PS: The HSI price here is $39.95 + the no-frills landline brings the total to $60 and change.
No downtime since February. At least none that I was aware of, anyway. I may have been asleep, so I can't say for certain. I'm so very sorry the previous review brought such emotional responses from the BBR staff that I'll keep this one short (-:
2/15/08
Embarq is currently rolling out 10MB plans, as well as re-structuring tier prices. I was offered 5.0 for $5 more than I'm paying now for 3.0 ($44.95 w/POTS). I called in and renegotiated my current price for 3.0 to the new price of $39.x, with the understanding that I've renewed my contract for another year rather than go month to month come April. The service has been very good; speeds are spot-on with my caps (with only one brief period of high latency -fixed fairly quickly), and with no downtime. I'm happy with the service, and the price drop was most welcomed.
12/21/07
It's been one year since I signed up with Embarq. The service, up until a week or so ago, has been excellent, with no downtime and consistent speeds. There is a promise of "new equipment" in my area by 11/23/07 to address these issues. However ...
Embarq appears to have joined in an industry trend of appallingly bad support. Everything is geared towards sales, and problems are addressed (or not) only by repeated calls because you can't get through or you get erroneous information when you do. Service interruptions always cause clogged queues and their online chat system buckles like a dollar store beach chair.
I'm downgrading my rating to reflect the poor support and lack of accurate information from Embarq. I'm also not happy with what I'm paying at this point given the quality of support. There was also confusion as to what occurs when your lease expires at one year: I've received different answers from different reps. This is not acceptable.
Bottom line after one year: very good connection reliability (much better than cable) but with near terrible support (on par with cable).
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7/10/07
There has not been a moment of downtime since my last review, and speeds are consistently spot on. The price ($50 for 3000/640) is still a bit too high, IMO, but the service -- compared with cable in this area -- is solid as a rock. Cable goes down here with half the passing storms.
Latest test to speedtest dot net's DC server was:
D: 2988
U: 637
L: 19ms (DC server)
4/3/07
I'm updating my review due to a recent experience with tech support. There's a world of difference between phone messages (management) and the people that man the lines -- both phone, email and chat. These guys are on the ball and deserve a lot of credit for the time they take in helping us out, even with matters of little concern. There is a tech here on BBR who posts in the Embarq forum that is also a valuable asset to the BBR community and Embarq. Perhaps I shouldn't mention the name, but it begins with dsl.
Kudos to all of you that work hard to make the little things possible for us!
3/19/07
My first trouble with the service and I'm totally unhappy with tech support. There has apparently been a fiber cut somewhere that occurred midday on the 17th. Phone tech support has been horrid, with messages stating everything from their business hours to 'all lines busy' to some nonsense about weekends being their busiest time and to try my call at another time.
36 hours to fix cut fiber is one thing, but their communication on the matter is worse than Adelphia - and that's saying something.
If not for Comcast being my only alternative, I'd pay the $99 and go with another provider. If customers don't talk with their wallet the companies never hear you. If this problem doesn't go away by next Saturday my next review will be for Comcast.
I dropped my TS rating to 3 and the Value for money rating to 2.
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Update: 12/8/06
I upgraded to the 3000/512 tier for ten more dollars a month, as all speed tests were right under my 1500 cap, line quality was good and latency is bearable. I notice I'm paying a bit more than some areas for my middle-tier speed. I've no idea what metric Embarq is using to determine price points per area, but income in my neighborhood certainly isn't above the national average.
I've included some links to tests run via BBR:
Speed tests from both coasts:
»/im/19732034/46256.png
»/im/19761057/86700.png
Line test:
»/linequality/nil/2142177
I'm quite happy with (A) no longer being a customer of Adelphia/Comcast and (B) the performance of Embarq so far. The connection can lag a little more than cable at times, but pages pop open and downloads generally run better than 250KBs. I've actually hit above my cap a few times, as illustrated by the image below.
The upgrade was done completely from the CO, on time and with no problems. I did have to reboot the modem in order to gain connectivity after the upgrade.
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11/21/06
I called Embarq last Friday and I'm up Tuesday (today, the 21st) on their 1500 tier. Installation was a breeze (5 minutes), and speed tests clock me nearly up to the 1500 I'm paying for (I'm within a mile of the CO).
So far so good -- I'll update after some time passes.
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