Review by wheelbarrow 
member for 3.3 years, 1329 visits, last login: 4 days ago
updated 194 days ago
 Stockton,Cedar,MO
 $45 per month "When equipment isn't overburdened, things work okay" "Oversubscription seems to be a common issue for Windstream customers" "I can't recommend the service"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Mid-November 2012
Windstream has put in place some upgrades, so now everything is working like it should - at least for now.
October 2012
The maintenance to upgrade equipment was delayed on 10/18. I will update this review again when the upgrade is in place.
Mid September 2012
Pretty awful speeds - sub 2 Mbps. No upgrade in place yet.
Late August 2012
I was told there will be an upgrade of bandwidth (or something to that effect) implemented by the end of September. Whether or not that will actually happen - I doubt even Windstream knows for sure. I sure don't.
August 2012
I'm still unimpressed by Windstream's routing and latency. 99 ms to first Windstream hop? My connection has to go through their stupid spider web of slow routers to get anywhere. It goes to New York, then Georgia, then Texas, then Arkansas - and that's just Windstream stuff. Get a router set up for the midwest or something, or at least use what you've got to make things more efficient and take load off of other pieces.
If I want to access a website that is local to MY state, like Springfield or Kansas City, then I still have to go through that mess to get there. It's funny how no other ISP in the world is that awful. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, or what website it is, you can basically add 100+ ms to anything and everything so you account for all the Windstream routers.
1 2.00 ms 192.168.1.1
2 3.00 ms 192.168.254.254
3 99.00 ms h5.8.213.151.static.ip.windstream.net (151.213.8.5)
4 101.00 ms h5.112.186.173.static.ip.windstream.net (173.186.112.5)
5 109.00 ms h44.37.185.173.static.ip.windstream.net (173.185.37.44)
6 118.00 ms h32.240.186.173.static.ip.windstream.net (173.186.240.32)
7 119.00 ms 72.14.223.113
8 117.00 ms 72.14.233.85
9 117.00 ms 216.239.43.187
10 116.00 ms dfw06s17-in-f4.1e100.net (74.125.227.132) - google.com
July 2012
The first Windstream hop outside my network is anywhere between 40ms and over 100ms. Every single Windstream hop after that, which there are at least 3-4 more, each have latency spike issues, or just latency issues in general - what other ISP goes without noticing 800ms lag storms during non-peak hours? When an ISP can't figure out how to efficiently route network traffic for all of their paying customers, then it's hard to be thankful that the company even exists. If there's huge fluctuations in latency within their OWN network equipment and lines, then perhaps it's time to UPGRADE or FIX some things? That would be brilliant, yes.
May 2012
Having latency issues once again. I'm baffled and disgusted by Windstream, as their ineptness knows no bounds.
February 2012
Speeds seem to be consistently good, even during peak hours. I've had no issues with latency.
December 2011
Speeds are back to normal for the most part, and the latency isn't as bad as it was - it actually seems to be back to normal, but some connections seem a bit slow.
When I initially contacted a technician about the issue, they claimed to have only found the issue "two days before". I find that rather hard to believe. Regardless, the issues have subsided for the time being. But, looking at past experience, I can't say for sure whether the connection will remain stable in the coming months. With that, I'm not going to change the scores for this review too much.
November 2011
Still having speed and latency problems in the evening hours. The mid to late afternoons are beginning to become slower as well. Pathetic. How difficult is it to allocate more bandwidth to an area that already has fiber running to it?
September 2011
Once again, showing high pings and lower speeds in the evening hours. Probably a utilization issue again, but I'm sure it will take me months of talking to support to push that information out of them, and to get the problem fixed - again.
A tip for anyone who suspects a utilization issue: Call in to support specifically about the issue, and call in when the problem is actually occurring. I did that at one point, and they were able to tell me what the actual percentage was. They then forwarded that information to the "upper level" technicians.
Also, if it is a utilization issue, you might as well refuse to have technicians sent to your house, as the technicians will never be there to check the line when there is actually a utilization issue showing up. That's why it's better to call in about the problem during a time when there is an issue.
March 23rd, 2011
Speeds and latency in the evenings seem to be back to normal. I'm glad to finally be receiving the kind of service I pay for.
The region I am in was oversubscribed.
I've updated the ratings for my review.
March 13th, 2011
Still having issues. Same old story: high pings and slow speeds in the evening hours. I talked to technical support on the phone, and they said that the region was using 95% of its bandwidth at peak. So, why not FIX it? That would be brilliant. The technician submitted a ticket, and I checked back on it last Friday. The ticket had been closed, and I was told that the problem was fixed. Wrong. Not fixed.
February 15th, 2011
Asked for an update on maintenance scheduling. Was told on February 16th that there was no new information on that.
February 8th, 2011
Heard back from Windstream. Was told the engineers are still working on the issue. Was told the equipment was installed, but maintenance was needed - still in the process of scheduling.
February 7th, 2011
Still had issues. Asked the rep on here if there were any updates.
January 20th, 2011
Heard from Windstream that they found a utilization issue for my area. Was told a ticket was opened to get engineers involved.
-------------------------------------------------
Update early January 2011:
Talked to Windstream today. Having high ping times in the afternoons now too. They reprovisioned the line, and said the ping time was 28 ms. Yeah, right. Tested to speedtest.windstream.net, had an average ping time of 131 ms. Did a few tracerts to Google, first three hops were fine, next three hops were Windstream - all over 100 ms. The person on the phone said everything is fine on their end.
Complete morons.
-------------------------------------------------
Late 2010:
As of late, there has been high latency in the evening - like clockwork - for the past 3 or 4 weeks. Technicians have come to the house, which doesn't do any good if the problems are at night. I've been talking with the support tech on this website about the problem, and maintenance was supposedly done a couple of days ago - didn't help. The high latency starts at around 8 PM, and lasts until the late evening hours, sometimes going into the early morning hours. The connection will also drop some during the high latency time period. The latency is to the point where some pages take multiple attempts before they will load. Playing online games or using voip is an un-enjoyable experience.
I've been reading about a lot of users with problems on the Windstream forum on this site. I don't know how many people have had their issue or issues resolved, but it's a bit ridiculous. Windstream isn't even that big of a provider, and they already are having major issues. It seems to me that they oversell their services in order to make more money. They spread around like butter by buying out small ISPs. Their coverage map for their services is hilarious.
At this point, I can't recommend Windstream.
-------------------------------------------------
I've had the 6 Mbps service for a little over a year now, and I've never REALLY had 6 Mbps. In order to get close to having 6 Mbps, I would have to stay up until the early morning hours.
During the past couple of months, I've had a lot more problems. The problems have consisted of huge drops in speed, which have mostly started during the early afternoon hours.. until who knows when. I actually just spent 30+ minutes on the phone to run speed tests with a Windstream support tech. In the end they finally set up an appointment, and said the problem was on their end. Well, I could have told them that in about 10 minutes. To be honest, I've received better support from the Windstream support techs from this website than I have while talking to a support tech on the phone. However, I've had my PMs IGNORED the last few times - one of which was to inquire whether or not my phone number was eligible for 12 Mbps (Hmm, I guess I'm not meant to get anything over 6 Mbps?).
There haven't been any "outages" that I can recall, just exceptionally slow speeds. Ping times are kind of wild. I get better ping times to Atlanta, GA, which is around 550 miles away, than I do to Kansas City, MO, which is around 100 miles away. Awesome.
If Windstream is going to offer 3, 6, or 12 Mbps connections, they need to grow a real backbone to back it up.
Comments:
  D53
@windstream.net | same exact problem in NC We've been experiencing the exact same symptoms in the Charlotte area. Windstream just says they know about it and have a ticket assigned, but the date for it supposedly being corrected ( hardware problem?) is passed without improvement. | |
|  | | | Re: same exact problem in NC I live in Wingate, which is about 30 minutes away from Charlotte and I keep getting latency/speed spikes. | |
|
| | i here ya unfortunately what windstream didn't tell you is, any ping under 200ms is considered "within tolerance". A complaint about a hop that's 100ms (even though it should be no more than 10-15ms) will get ignored. I've been having issues for YEARS about first hop being unacceptable latency during peak. first hop should never be more than 15, it's down the street for heavens sake. but as long as it's under 200, they will hold no obligation to repair it, they will check margins check speeds, if you can download a file close to expected speed, and you aren't dropping sync, they could give two damns about latency. good latency is something windstream does not deliver to customers, period. Gaming or intensive voice/video apps are things windstream does not take seriously at all. Unfortunately both are my primary reason for having internet. last night my first hop pings were 70ms. that's my ping to texas on off peak, but during peak i had a 70ms ping to Home office. that is ridiculous. I'm told they are not conjested lines and local hub is well under bandwidth limitation. but i still don't understand the latency issues with their network. Something is clearly wrong with thier equipment for latency to go up when it's not peaking in operation.
I also lately been having a problem with a later hop (an aggregator) that on top of first hop latency, has been making latency go off the charts (2000ms+). this i have gotten windstream to look at (being above 200ms and all). they have made progress with it but it's not perfect. but once they resolve that. they will close ticket and be content with me still gaming with a 200ms ping during peak and 60-70ms off peak. I have to set my Mumble to lowest possible settings so i don't sound robotic as it's designd to be low latency voice communication. Its such a shame that as an ISP, windstream has such low standards. | |
| | Reviews:
 ·Windstream
| Re: i here ya I haven't been told directly that 200ms is considered to be "within tolerance." I think they have better standards than that, but it's unfortunate that what standards they do have are not being met. What puzzles me is why it's taking so long for them to fix, what should be, a relatively easy thing to fix - latency and low bandwidth. It may not be inexpensive to fix, but that's all part of maintaining a network.
I honestly don't think any business with data needs would put up with crap from Windstream, considering all business level connections have a service level agreement. I think if Windstream ends up losing a lot of customers, then they will start paying more attention. Or, if we get lucky, Windstream will get the attention of a much larger communications company, such as Verizon or AT&T, and will get bought out in some regions, or perhaps entirely. | |
|
 tmpchaosRequiescat in pacePremium,Mod
join:2000-04-28
Hoboken, NJ |  (topic move) Poor DSL speed in New Boston Texas
Moderator Action
This topic was moved to the forum Windstream
stated reason was: better place | |
| | | Windstream Crooks These guys provided poor internet service, horrible phone call quality, and when I canceled on the 18th of Feb, they graciously charged me for the whole month. They dont prorate their service they told me. Customers supposedly didnt like it? I dint like paying for a month of service I didnt receive. They also didnt pay Dish out of the 64.00 dollars I paid them. Now I have to call them and wait on the phone for 10 minutes to have them tell me they dont know anything. I would not recommend windstream ever, EVER! If they are the only service in your area, do yourself favor and do without. If anyone knows of a class action suit against them let me know. I dont care about getting any money, would just love to put them thru the hassles they have put me thru for the last year.  | |
| Exia00
join:2012-09-18
Flemingsburg, KY | Windstream! I agree, I have had their service for a year, and have had nothing but issues, I started out with the 3mb I got anywhere from 50kb to 100kbs. They told me to upgrade which was 2 bucks more, it would fix my issue so I did, I got the 6mb connection which now does 100kbs to 500kb.. But the best part was the the bill, they charged me 25 bucks to upgrade it.. Now after 6 months they tell me my issue is peak hours, I have never heard of peak hours starting at 8am and ending at 7 am the next day.. I get 1 full hour of 5.5mbs.. I am paying $100 for this crap
OH I only live 2 miles from the stupid servers!!!!!!! | |
|
| |
|
