Review by zach_lloyd 
UPDATED: 12 days ago
member for 2.1 years, 210 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Cross Hill,Laurens,SC
 $45 per month
 about 4 days
 "Extremely Fast Installation, Fast Speeds"
 "A bit pricey, latency times are a tad high without FastPath, forced to purchase basic phone service along with DSL"
 "Great speeds, a bit pricey with land line, but a decent value nevertheless"
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(ratings above consensus)
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Broadband was not offered at my home within which I recently moved from a bigger city, so I was forced to use Verizon's EVDO card for my laptop. Needless to say, I was stoked when I received a letter in the mail stating that DSL service was now available in my area. I called that same day, and was enjoying broadband once again within 4 days! Installation was pain free, simply plug and play with my existing router.
I purchased the premier data plan for $54 a month which includes 5Mbps download/768kbps upload. Surprisingly enough, I actually receive those speeds at all times of the day. Downloads range from 4500-5000 kbps, while uploads range from 450-650 kbps. Not bad! Probably due to this area just coming online and I have most of the bandwidth to myself. Latency is a little rough...anywhere along the order of 85-115 ms.
Price is a bit stiff, and since I am forced to pay for a land line that I will never use (all of my transactions occur through my cell phone), the price jumps to $74 a month. However, this is a small price to pay for the luxury of broadband...and in SC, it is truly a luxury!!!
*UPDATE 1-11-2008*
Just wanted to follow up on my review. Still, so far so good. Still attaining 5Mbps download speeds with no downtime. Another plus is the fact that I've been able to have my line switched to FastPath which has decreased my latency to 50ms or less. If you are a gamer or user of VOIP, I highly recommend contacting Embarq and asking to be changed to FastPath.
*UPDATE 1-29-2008*
After learning of the ability to have "naked" DSL from fellow Embarq forum members, I called and tried it out. Turns out naked DSL is not available in the SC area (at least according to the CSR). However, I was able to get my phone bill reduced from $29 a month to $19 a month while still retaining most features like Caller ID (I don't use the phone anyway so it doesn't really matter). More importantly, she was also able to reduce my DSL portion of the bill from $49 a month to $35 a month for the 5/768 service. In addition to the bill reductions, she gave me a $25 credit applied to my next bill. Outstanding.
*UPDATE 5-5-2008*
Had a strange problem a few days ago. I totally lost dial tone (couldn't make or receive calls), but my DSL would function. Well, I say function, it would limp along and lose sync every 10 minutes or so. I call Embarq around 6:30 PM. On the phone with a tech for about 5 minutes. He states that they will send a technician tomorrow.
The tech came the following day around lunchtime and fixed whatever was ailing my line (I was at work). Excellent job.
Embarq has been the best ISP I have had by far. From the quality of the service to the prompt, friendly support (including the amazing support we have here on the Embarq forum »Embarq ), it is difficult to ask for anything better. Keep it up Embarq!!!
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