 Review by Kambriel 
UPDATED: 286 days ago
member for 8.7 years, 1346 visits, last login: 3 days ago
 Sanford,Seminole,FL
 Contract price not specified.
 "The 15Mbps download upgrade was nice if you could actually get it."
 "Inconsistent responses and only 1 or 2 good field support techs"
 "You'll know why they call it "best effort" service."
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(ratings below consensus)
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Let's be honest... I'm bitter. I previously lived in Maitland in an apartment complex and service with BrightHouse was as it should be... no packet retransmissions, acceptable latency, speeds that are very close to the cap, good signal strength, steady signal, etc. After buying a house in Sanford (across the street from the Lake Mary border - you'll see why I mention this later) a year later, I've had nothing but problems. The underground cable was frayed and slowly corroding, amplifiers were put on by a clueless tech whose answer to every problem is installing amplifiers, a neighbor tapping off my line at the main connection, an alleged 'reverse' problem where the signal going back was too strong, missed on-site visits, and their final answer: "that's the way it is in your area". A friend that lives about a mile due West of my home in Lake Mary has almost 6Mbps down and 512kpbs up as well as crystal clear TV reception on every channel. Even with their cable TV service with the new DVR box, my picture is slightly snowy on most channels (no, it's not local broadcast interference), and I get sporadic outages lasting one to five minutes every few weeks. If BellSouth would allow my former ISP (Speakeasy) on their lines, I'd drop BrightHouse in an instant.
Update - My opinion hasn't changed 6 months later. News service is poor at best. My lines speeds have become increasingly erratic (coinciding with their push for IP phone service). I've also had to call to have a port block removed from my service because they claimed I was running a server and it was actually a site-to-site VPN I had established with my employer. They also didn't like the fact that I have a Sonicwall firewall.
Update - In the summer of 2004 we had four pretty miserable hurricanes blow through this area. Total service outage of about six days, which wasn't bad considering others had it much worse. I still have all the above issues, but what can I do? BellSouth charges premium prices for speeds that are not competitive, but then again, BrightHouse is the only competition. Truly a case of the lesser of two evils.
Update - It's early 2006 and while the Tampa BrightHouse franchise is enjoying higher speed packages (particularly the upstream speed), the Central Florida BrightHouse franchise plays dumb when you inquire about when we're going to get what our neighbors have had for months. And yes, my picture quality and inconsistent speed levels are still happening. I just waste my time by calling their support and customer service.
Update - Wow. It's been nearly three years since my last update and guess what? When it comes to Internet access, NOTHING HAS CHANGED EXCEPT AN INCREASE IN MY CABLE BILL!!!! My speeds are still inconsistent, but I will say that the quality of the TV service has improved. About a year and a half ago I got a 61" Samsung LED HDTV along with the HD-DVR and boosted my speed up to the max (allegedly 15Mbps max down, 2Mbps up). Until a few months ago I was actually getting between 7Mbps and 10Mbps down, but now if I get 7Mbps it's a good day. Tweaking the TCP settings doesn't change things and the results vary widely for the various speed test sites. BellSouth is doing a LOT of work in the area and putting in all these shiny new boxes about 100-150 yards from my home. Could they be coming out with their own FIOS? I hope so! I also hope that Obama can make the cable market as competitive as the phone market. Maybe that would light a fire under BrightHouse.
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