Review by codo8 
Posted: 9.8 years ago
member for 9.9 years, 5 visits, last login: 9.7 years ago
 Indianapolis,Marion,IN
 Business customer
 $149 per month (12 month contract)
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
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My Rhythms DSL Install has been a mixed bag of good and bad.
The install occured almost a month after I ordered service. The great thing is that the installers showed up on the day and time that I was told. Amazing! Ameritech had already been there the previous day to install the loop. The techs came in and hooked up the line (replacing my ISDN). They had me program my PC. However, they had incorrect information. They had information about a single IP address and a 255.255.255.0 subnet. I told them (and showed them the contract) that I had ordered a 6 IP subnet. When they called their customer support department this was corrected. Now that the programming was correct, we tried to get online, and then...NADA!
No service. These techs spent about two hours on the line with Rhythms customer supports, and got nowhere. They had to leave after a while. Now I had no 'Net. My ISDN line was removed, and DSL wasn't running. After a couple of hours, I decided to check on the status of my circuit, and found that I had NO TELEPHONE SERVICE! My phone was dead.... I called with my cell phone, and was assured that my DSL was being worked on and that they'd get someone out to look at my phone line. Two hours later, I called again. I was told that there was no record of my call. Yes, my DSL was being worked on (routing problem). But, due to how late it was (8pm by now) they weren't sure if they could get someone to look at my phone. I talked to a supervisor finally who assured me that if I really wanted my telephone lines working, he could get Ameritech out to look, but it might be 1am before they arrived. I said OK. At 1:30AM, I finally went to bed. No phones, no DSL. At 9AM the next morning, I went downstairs, and my DSL was WORKING! At least I had 'Net. No phones yet though. I called Rhythms again, and wound up speaking to the same supervisor, who apologized that my lines were still down. He assured me that Ameritech would be out to fix it. About 2 hours later, Ameritech did show up. He looked around and found the problem quickly. When the install tech had disconnected my ISDN line, he had simply removed the wires and shoved them back in the wall. He failed to cut the exposed copper off the lines. When he shoved them back into the wall, they crossed and shorted, taking down everything...
Well, now I had phones, and 'Net, and I was happy. The connection speeds (I ordered 256K SDSL) are great. I think sometimes I burst just over 256K. I have no complaints about the actual DSL service or connection...but...
When trying to access NNTP, I noticed that they techs had not left any kind of NNTP, SMTP, or POP server names. Another call to customer support....
My next problems occured after I got my Web Server online. I called to ask what the status of transferring one of my .com domains was. I was told they did not have a transfer order. I told them I was looking at my signed contract from 2 months ago that said they were going to transfer my domain. They said they'd get right on it. 3 weeks later, I finally got a form from InterNIC showing that they were attempting to transfer the .com name. I went ahead and denied the transfer. I'll go ahead and tell you all why....
While having them work on transferring my .com domain, I found that a number of foreign countries are cashing in on the name craze on the 'Net. A couple of registrars are more than happy to sell their countrie's name space to whomever wants it. I purched a domain from .cc (Cocos/Keeling islands www.nic.cc) and .cx (Christmas Island www.nic.cx). When I called Rhythms Customer Service to get DNS entries made to point to my web server I was told they wouldn't make those entries. I asked why. They said that they were not allowed to take control of any DNS entry that was not registered through Network Solutions. I asked why. They said that it was a restriction from their upstream provider, Epoch (www.epoch.net). I spent two hours on the phone arguing with this tech and his supervisor...To no avail. I talked to my Rhythms salesperson...no effect. I even e-mailed Epoch. No respones. I was pissed. Finally, I went ahead, bit the bullet, and bought some DNS books from Amazon. I now have 2 DNS servers huming along nicely on my network serving up my .cc, .cx, and .com domain. With no glitches. I still don't understand what the deal with Epoch/Rhythms DNS servers and not wanting to host my domain names.
My final problem now is, since I've used a couple of my IP addresses for purposes I had not intended, I needed some more. I e-mailed my salesperson, and he said he'd take care of it. 3 days later, I hadn't heard anything, so I asked again. He e-mailed back this time and said that ARIN had put them on a two week hold. I said OK. Two and a half weeks later, I've e-mailed my salesperson several times and left a couple of voice mails for him, and still have not heard a peep from him.
My summary and opinion? The connection is great. The people are not so great.
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