how-to block ads
|
Review by avaloncourt 
Posted: 321 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 240 visits, last login: 159 days ago
 Meadville,Crawford,PA
 $39 per month
 about 3 days
 "Solid, reliable connection with consistent, good speed."
 "Tech support can go off on tangents"
 "Highly recommended reliable service"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I have had Alltel DSL in this region and when I moved six years ago I decided to switch to Armstrong. Alltel was unreliable and their repair service was uncoordinated and uncommunicative.
I ordered Armstrong's cable Internet service, Zoom, and the process was smooth. I do not use Armstrong for television service so I am assessed a fee of $10 a month on top of the normal Internet service charges.
Installation was performed on-time and quickly. I have a network equipment rack and requested that the installer just install to that point, test it and I would handle things from there. He had no problem with that.
Back when I originally subscribed my service was 3Mb down and 256kb up. (Their highest residential at the time.) Over the following 18 months Armstrong kept increasing their service speeds to a final 5Mb/512kb. This was probably due to competition in another market. There was nobody competing with them in this market with anything remotely close to that speed.
I have done random speed tests over the last six years and they have also shown results very close to the advertised speed. I am a heavy user and have not encountered any issues, throttling or bandwidth shaping as many people in other markets have with their providers.
In six years I have only had two short outages and they were a result of network equipment failures. The problem was resolved quickly. Dealing with tech support was a bit frustrating though because they are using a flowchart for diagnosing problems and can't seem to independently see beyond the next block. I've had to literally stop them and explain to them where in their network the problem was occurring and, upon their testing of that point, they discovered I was correct. Had I let them continue it would have wasted a great deal of my time with them trying to assign a problem to within my own home.
The only real problem I had with them occurred approximately six months ago. They have an automated call system that is apparently to be used for customer notifications. Due to changes in the DNS assignments for static IP customers their system was to make calls about the changes. I was not one of those customers but their system kept calling me anyhow. It was calling me 10-15 times a day and hanging up when I answered for five days. (Identified as them only from their caller ID. Thank goodness they didn't block that.) I repeatedly called their support number and corporate numbers to get it to stop and nobody had any idea why their system was calling me. Finally they black-listed my home number in their system and everything came to a stop.
I consider them a good value and very reliable service. I recently had thoughts of switching to Windstream (formerly Alltel) under a promotion they were running and it turned into a fiasco. (See my review of them and that situation) I am happy I didn't switch to them.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Armstrong Zoom Internet |
|
|
Armstrong Zoom Internet
·