 Review by vliktor 
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 4.3 years, 176 visits, last login: 127 days ago
 Manchester,Hartford,CT
 $25 per month (12 month contract)
 about 1 days
 "Quick installation, surprisingly stable service"
 "Behind an NAT, speeds could be higher, can't download from FTP sites"
 "Get it if you have no other options available"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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UPDATE: 10/18/2008
It seems that they've been kind enough to finally bump me up to 512kbps up/down. I know it's a longshot but, 1 mbps may just be around the corner! Plus, the problem with FTP sites has been fixed.
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Here in the Philippines, 384k and higher is already defined as broadband (unfortunately). But it's definitely, definitely better than dialup
Highlights:
Went to the mall on a Saturday and requested information: 384kbps up and down, best effort, one year contract, and a downpayment for the first month was needed, which also served as the installation fee. Rep was helpful, and said service was available, and that installation can be done by the next day (Sunday)! I've never heard of installs on a Sunday, so this was definitely a plus.
The next day, the installers showed up.They climbed up all the way to the roof to install the Motorola Canopy antenna. They used to market it as WiFi, though technicall it's not, as it uses a 5.7 ghz signal, needing a direct line of sight with a Smart cell tower. They configured the computer with an IP address (probably for the antenna, which I didn't take note of). They played around with turning the antenna, trying to get the best signal. They got a good signal, so we went ahead and configured my account for Internet use. I was up and running in no time.
The installation took about 1.5 - 2 hours at most. I was getting some 256 kbps - 300 kbps at times. Pathetic yes, but definitely better than dialup. However, after a few days, I noticed that I couldn't download from FTP sites, and that I am actually behind an NAT/router device. There's also no way of getting into the Motorola Canopy interface, other than unwarranted third-party hacks which will void the contract and other stuff. They also promised 512 kbps, and that my account was upgraded to 512, but so far, I never noticed an improvement in speed. The connection however was very stable, and so far, I've only encountered 3-4 instances of downtime that was resolved overnight (plus a funky onboard NIC problem which has thankfully been rare).
My contract expired a few days ago, and I'm thinking of getting DSL due to the bad points I mentioned. It's already available at where I'm at, but I'm sticking to the service for the meantime while I evaluate if DSL here is better.
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