Review by LostInWoods 
UPDATED: 1.7 years ago
member for 4.3 years, 697 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Baldwin,Banks,GA
 $35 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
 AllTel
 "DSL finally available!"
 "No SNMP on modem"
 "Beats the squat out of dialup"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Update 30 Nov 2006: Everything works fine, but I stirred the puddin' and have a bit of a billing mess. Windstream was advertising my tier of DSL for $25, so I called them up to have it applied. They would not just switch me to the new rate, but they did give me $120 + tax credit (one year's worth of the difference) that paid my phone/DSL bill for a couple of months. Shortly after that credit was used up, I got double-billed for DSL because there was confusion about the credit being applied. Then this month I got a bill where I was credited for the previous mistake, then apparently not billed for DSL at all. The next bill may just be an adventure!
At least the CSRs are nice and helpful and intelligible. I've always thought that Alltel/Windstream have very helpful folks on the phone, but I'm glad I've not had any real problems.
Original Review:
I happened to check my number for DSL availability after last checking in July. I was amazed to see that it was available. One star for pre-sales - why was I not informed that it was available? I've been on the list over two years! This is north Banks county, about 5 miles south of Baldwin, between US441 and GA105.
The order and ISP setup went great. I really enjoyed the fact that I could understand everyone I talked to at Alltel - no offshored support! That's something I would switch ISPs over. I also appreciated that the ISP CSR knew precisely what info I needed and did not treat me like an idiot.
The modem arrived right on time, and the service was turned on right on time as well. Setup was a snap, but I knew I didn't need help. I gave 3 stars for the Services since they don't offer 3 Mbit here, at least not yet. I'm probably too far from the RT anyway, but it's nice to have the option. Value for money is 4 stars because the service in this area is $5 more than they advertise on the website. $35 for 1536/384 dynamic IP, with the modem handling the PPPOE. I get about 1200/300, which is what I expected.
The Speedstream 4200 modem does not appear to support telnet or SNMP, so my desire to map SNR, attentuation, bytes moved, etc... using MRTG will have to go unrequited unless I learn something new. Not a big deal, but still...
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Windstream |
|
Windstream
(28)
(33)
(12)