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Review by ALCHEMIST1 See Profile

  • Location: College Station, Brazos, TX, USA
  • Cost: $55 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
  • Telco party Verizon
Extremely reliable connection. Less than 6 service outages lasting more than a day in 12+ years. No billing issues so far.
Had to forgo dryloop and get voice bundled to obtain more than 1Mbps down. More expensive than other providers.
Excellent connection reliability and no data caps are offset by slow speeds and cost. I'd say B-/C+ overall.
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I've been with Verizon DSL for 12+ years and started out with the basic 768Kbps/128Kbps plus home phone package. Dropped the phone line and converted to dryloop after about 5 years of having service with them. Prices increased each year I was on dryloop and went from ~$20/mo initially to ~$40/mo this year. Further, they stopped offering dryloop a couple of years ago in our area but I stayed grandfathered in. As a minus, the dryloop DSL was capped speedwise to 1Mbps/384Kbps. As a plus, the connection has been remarkably reliable. I've had perhaps a total of 6 incidences (if that) with no connectivity for more than 1 day in all the time I've been a customer with them. I recently (~1 month ago) switched back to DSL and phone bundle in order to get a speed increase to 3Mbps/768Kbps as this was the only way to get faster than 1Mbps down. I now pay ~$55/mo total for DSL+phone, which is a minus as it appears to be more expensive than other providers. On the plus side, I've never had to worry about data caps - this is a huge advantage over the other main provider in town (Suddenlink). On the minus side, 3Mbps down is imo, slow, given that the other main provider (Suddenlink) has speeds starting at 15Mbps down. They used to charge a minimal monthly rental for modems, I think ~$5 initially, but as of the past ~8years, they just stopped doing so which was a definite plus. Also another plus, they will promptly ship out a new modem or modem+wireless router for next day delivery, free, if there are any problems with the existing modem. On the plus side, I've not encountered any billing issues with them in all these years. Offshore tech support is a minus, but tech support through the Verizon Direct forums here has been good. Bottom line, the pluses and minuses almost balance out. I'd have to grade them a solid B- or a C+. If excellent connection reliability, no data caps and minimal or no billing issues are major considerations for your internet connectivity, Verizon is definitely a provider to consider.

Update 4/28/2015

Goodbye, Verizon....

Well, after being with Verizon for 12+ years, I finally canceled Verizon service yesterday. Verizon just would not provision me for anything higher than 3Mbps down despite working with the Verizon direct forum support techs here even though my line was perfectly capable of handling higher speeds. The reasons for denying my request for higher speeds kept changing - first it was "your line won't be able to handle higher speeds than 3Mbps down", then it was "your line is fine but it is a physical loop length limitation" and then finally it was "physical loop length is short but we cannot risk degrading service for other users in your area." After several days of back and forth with them I gave up and began exploring other options. I am now a DSLExtreme customer. DSLExtreme is providing HSI service to me using Verizon's DSL lines BUT the major advantages over my old Verizon HSI+phone service is that the new service is dryloop DSL and they provisioned for 7.1Mbps down and 864Kbps up and I consistently get speeds close to what I am now provisioned for. I expect service reliability to be the same as what I had with Verizon, since the infrastructure is Verizon's. Sorry, big red... it's not you, it's me. :-(

member for 9 years, 120 visits, last login: 4.8 years ago
updated 8.9 years ago