Review by CapeFish 
UPDATED: 49 days ago
member for 1.6 years, 332 visits, last login: 21 days ago
 Tallahassee,Leon,FL
 $26 per month (12 month contract)
 about 3 days
 Sprint
 "Inexpensive, Free Equipment, Faster than Dial-Up"
 "Can get sluggish at times, May need 1 year contract"
 "Cheaper than Comcast and much more reliable"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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I ordered the 1.5 MB DSL Service from EMBARQ which is $24.95+tax. The order was made along with the order for new phone service.
EMBARQ shipped the DSL modem out and it was waiting for me the day I moved into the new house. They installed the telephone line, but it got crossed with another line. However the DSL service worked correctly the entire time.
The DSL modem is the 660 Series and it works pretty well. EMBARQ is using this modem on their DHCP network now.
It can get sluggish at night, but other than that it has been excellent with no outages and a great price.
This is better than dialup and cheaper than dialup with a second line. EMBARQ gives you a $25 referral credit for anyone you tell about the service that signs up for it. You just have to fill out a form on EMBARQ.com.
MAY 26, 2007 UPDATE: With almost a year in, nothing but excellence. Service has improved with most of the sluggishness gone, the speeds are consistently as advertised, and not one outage. I placed the service on vacation for the summer and they will charge me about $15 a month to place it on hold without breaking the 1 year contract. I will likely retain the service month-to-month for my price of $24.95 once the contract is up. I may even consider upgrading it to 3.0MB. IF you go to FSU, you get a $3 FSU@Home DSL discount from EMBARQ by calling 1-800-877-1590, asking for the special, and providing them with your FSUCard ID number.
JULY 24, 2007 UPDATE: I have come down south to Cape Coral for the summer and EMBARQ let me place my DSL service on "vacation" for $15/month without affecting my contract. Down here in Cape Coral, my parents have EMBARQ's 3.0MB DSL Service and in the almost 5 years they have had it, it has been pretty good and reliable. Only 1 outage a year on average with it being fixed within 2 days usually. Rock solid the rest of the time. They pay $34.99 a month for the 3.0MB service.
AUGUST 23, 2007 UPDATE: My modem started acting oddly yesterday after 1 day on the job back from vacation. I called EMBARQ last night and they are sending a new modem out to me ASAP at no charge. I still have service, but the modem resets every so often.
AUGUST 24, 2007 UPDATE: Got the new modem via UPS today. Followed the directions and it works just fine.
AUGUST 24, 2007 UPDATE #2: After a while, the modem started restarting itself again. Not as often as the old modem, but it looks like the filters, splitters, and even the phone jack may have to be replaced too. I wonder if lightning hit the line or something.
AUGUST 25, 2007 UPDATE: Tech came out and discovered that the line had been provisioned for 8MB, but the modem was only authorized to draw 1.5MB. After about 10 minutes, he had it all fixed and the service was working just fine.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2007 UPDATE: EMBARQ had a large outage in Tallahassee yesterday and restored service around 10:15 PM EDT. Today, they lost service in the afternoon and it came back around 5 PM EDT. I called in for both disruptions and was given service credits for both disturbances. They told it me it was a networking problem in my area which was not letting my modem load the profile and provisioning.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2007 UPDATE: Had some outages this past Wednesday which were very frustrating. I also got a bill (supposedly including prorations from last month) that was $30 higher than normal. I am getting really frustrated with EMBARQ's inability to get things done correctly on time.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 UPDATE: Chatted online with an EMBARQ CSR at EMBARQ.com and she fixed my billing errors. I was credited back $25.64 bringing the bill back to the normal range. I was also given my normal credit for FSU@Home and service outage credits. I was charged $7 for a new filter to replace an older one. So now I am satisfied with both the billing and technical services correcting their errors and getting me back online both technically and financially. Also, I removed one of my bad points ("1 year Contract") because EMBARQ no longer requires it.
MARCH 2, 2008 UPDATE: Since the last update, very smooth sailing. I've been tempted to jump to Comcast as they are offering a "Double Play Bundle" for $50 which includes phone and internet, but the internet service is slower than my 1.5MB. EMBARQ really needs to get an IPTV service going! The only way I could go to Comcast is if I get rid of phone service entirely or I transfer my local 850 number to a prepaid cell phone plan to hold it since I do use it.
MARCH 18, 2008 UPDATE: I have been trying out Comcast's internet service for about 2 weeks after they offered it to me at $19.99 a month for 6 months. I have decided to keep EMBARQ DSL and tonight I ordered the upgrade to 3.0MB for $5 more a month. It should completed by Thursday Evening when I am told to reset my modem to get the new speeds. My new monthly total for EMBARQ 3.0MB DSL will be $26.95 a month due to my FSU@Home $3 discount and a discount for having Home Phone with EMBARQ. I will be able to continue using my 660 modem.
MARCH 20, 2008 UPDATE: Got home today and found 3.0 MB speeds as promised. Kudos to EMBARQ as I doubled my speed for only $5 more a month. No contract, no new equipment to buy/rent (ahem Comcast), no new expenses except the extra $5 a month.
JUNE 10, 2008 UPDATE: So far, so good on the 3.0 MB service. I may consider downsizing back to the 1.5 service though because I don't think I really need this big a pipe, but it certainly is not breaking the bank. Still no 10 MB service as an option for me, but I wouldn't need it anyways. Too bad EMBARQ doesn't have their own TV service like Fios (Verizon) or U-Verse (AT&T). They do offer Dish Network, but I do not have line of sight. Sezmi from EMBARQ would be very interesting. One note, I appreciate the EMBARQ keeps its call centers in areas that it serves. Much easier talking to someone in Central Florida than in Central India.
JULY 11, 2008 UPDATE: Internet was misbehaving a bit today and it finally gave out around 7:30 pm tonight, but it is now back. An outage of about an hour and a half, not bad. EMBARQ is to be commended for the quick response, but I wish they would bring back the complimentary backup dial-up.
Attached images and files
Followup comments:  
brdspirt
@Level3.net
| Embarq I got a sales call last Tuesday from Embarq and decided to utilize their "high speed" internet connection. When asked if I had a 'large' connection at the back of my computer... he asked if had a particular port that was larger than the regular phone jack port… I said I saw something "larger than the usual phone jack plug-in" and we thought it was the "Ethernet" port. Well I received my 660 series 'box' to set up promptly the next day... after trying to plug in the 'Ethernet' cords, I found out I do NOT have this port to utilize and as of today, now Saturday, I am unable to get on line with this system. Tried to use the on line ‘chat’ with no success and of course if you try to actually CALL them , you have a 10 to 20 min. wait on the phone. So at this point I've had to purchase the connection for my computer at an extra $29.00, which I should receive in a few days... | |
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ph03n1x
join:2003-02-15
Sanford, FL | Re: Embarq So you're computer was not properly equipped for the service. It's your responsibility to be prepared for this. The reason hold times are that long is partially because people such as yourself call for issues like this. | |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
 ·Embarq
| The uptime is the name of the game. I was an adelphia drone for years and bailed out right before the comcast takeover. The fact that my connection survives thunderstorms (so long as electric stays up) is sooo much nicer than cable going down with storms miles away. People may wallow in their powerboost all they like; I'll take the reliability of my slightly higher ($45 for 3000) dsl service. I've had 2 hours downtime in going on a year with Embarq. Two hours downtime was a weekly event with adelphia, and routing problems that took weeks to figure out, and that TS knew nothing about for the entire time, happened at least once a year near the end of my doomed romance with the whore that was adelphia cable HSI.
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A monthly desktop thread should only happen when Paris Hilton buys a computer. | |
| USSCJonU
join:2007-09-04
Bossier City, LA | the conn the connection you are talking about refers to a ethernet to usb adapter.. most computers built since yr2000 have ethernet ports. | |
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