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Review by LostInWoods See Profile

  • Location: Baldwin, Banks, GA, USA
  • Cost: $55 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
  • Telco party AllTel
Better than dialup, I think
Raising prices, taxpayer subsidies, declining service, and no other option.
Sayonara
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Update Nov 2015: Glad to have moved out of Windstream territory. It's just plain sad that they do not bother to upgrade their network, but even more it pisses me off ROYALLY that US taxpayers (including me) GIVE this company money to upgrade their network. Either the network is open and we subsidize it, or it's private and we don't. Windstream is socializing the risk and privatizing the reward - the epitome of corporatism, and utterly disgusting.

Update Nov 2014: The price keeps going up and the service is worsening. I've been lucky in that my area seems not to have enough demand to be terribly oversold the way Windstream like to do, but it does bog down at night sometimes, causing Netflix to pause and such. I can't get HD video on my poor bandwidth, but it usually works. It's irritating that they started charging me the 6.50 fee for long distance interconnect when I still have a Greenstreak line that doesn't support long distance. And the DSL rate has gone up 5 bucks. So I'm shelling out about $11 more now than two years ago for service that is degrading.

I see people on here complain about Windstream vs the local cable company. I'd love to have that problem.

Update Feb 2012: I don't recall exactly when it was last year, but after upgrading to 3 Mbits I found that the service would get very flaky, particularly after it rained. A service tech eventually re-provisioned my line to cut 20% of the downstream and 50% of the upstream bandwidth to get it more solid. And it is, but I'm still paying full price. Which is about to go up a *bunch*. With no competition, what's a monopoly to do except raise the price?

Update 1 Mar 2011: I upgraded to 3 Mbit service at the end of 2009 after WS upgraded the RT and removed a bridge tap from my line. It seems fine - I almost always get the test speeds I pay for. Once again I had to find out for myself that faster speeds were available.

My only negative comment is rather touchy-feely, and I'm not sure I should include it. I seem to have to reload web pages a LOT lately; this is a behavior that I didn't really notice at first, so I'd guess it started sometime in 2010. I really noted it when our new office at work began using WS business DSL and I started seeing the same thing there. It's as if some packets get lost in the network, though I've never put Wireshark on it to verify that. Sometimes I wonder whether all the mergers and upheaval at WS have caused their network to become less stable. Overall it's nothing I can put my finger on, nor really downgrade the overall service for.

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, attenuation, bytes moved, etc... using MRTG will have to go unrequited unless I learn something new. Not a big deal, but still...

member for 19.9 years, 1974 visits, last login: 4.2 years ago
updated 8.3 years ago


Money
@windstream.net

Money

Anon

Hidden Fees

I was originally charged around $300.00 within 30 days. Then, I was given some credit. There were so many hidden fees: $20 for ROKU delivery,$40 installation, $20 connection, $100 for modem when I was told it was $70. They tried to get over (no grease). Lagging connection also. Why did I buy a modem that says Windstream on it? I had know idea that I would be scammed by an internet provider. It's internet, how lame can a company be?