Review by barnert 
Posted: 10 years ago
member for 10 years, 6 visits, last login: 7 years ago
 Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
 Contract price not specified.
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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To get all the questions out of the way first: My name is Andrew Barnert. I ordered 768/384k SDSL (yeah, it sounds weird to me too--it's 768k SDSL limited to 384k upstream by Covad). It came with one static IP address. So now, on to my long and tragic tale:
When I first signed up with ixpres (8Sep99), I was impressed. My late-night call was answered by a tech support rep after just one ring, which seemed like a good sign. The prices were good, the service sounded good, and the rep was able to answer all of my questions.
I immediately decided to go with ixpres. I ordered 768/384k SDSL. It comes with 10 email addresses, which I could supposedly access from another machine (e.g., at work)--and they'd even have a web interface soon. It has a single static IP, but I was told that I would be allowed to use IPMasq or similar techniques to connect multiple computers, and that I could plug the supplied hardware directly into my 100Mbps Ethernet hub.
I was also told that I'd be allowed to run servers as long as they didn't continually max out my 384k upstream and weren't used for commercial purposes.
All in all, it sounded like a good deal.
I was told a bill would be mailed to my contact email address within 48 hours, and I was given a date of 29Sep99 for PacBell to come to my house and install the line.
The problems started almost immediately. The bill never arrived. I emailed the sales support address to ask where my bill was, and never got a reply. I finally called in and discovered that they were sending the bill to my ixpres account--which hadn't been set up yet. I was told that the problem would be corrected, and I'd receive my bill within 24 hours at the right address.
The next day, the bill wasn't there, but a late payment notice was. In fact, a late payment notice arrived every 24 hours. The notice told me that I could email "supportixpres.com" (note the missing '@' symbol...) or call 1-888-883-2020. Well, that number has been disconnected, and despite numerous emails to "support@ixpres.com" (in fact, I set up an autoresponder to send them an update on the situation every time I received a notice), I never received a reply.
Meanwhile, it turns out that PacBell was told to come to my house on the 28th, not the 29th. I didn't receive notice of this until the 30th--after I'd taken a day off work on the 29th to wait for PacBell, who never came.
On top of that, it turns out that PacBell received the wrong address--a "B" was left off, so they set up the drop at the house in front of mine, rather than at my house. But I didn't discover that until Covad came.
Covad, meanwhile, was scheduled to come to my house on 5Oct, between 3pm and 7pm. Well, that's what they told me. They told Covad to come between 12pm and 4pm. I found this out when I received a call at work at 12:30 from a Covad tech wanting to know where I was. I drove out to the house, only to find out that he couldn't do anything, because the drop was in the wrong place.
They left the DSL modem with me anyway--an Efficient Networks SpeedStream 5250. Which has 10Base-T connectors on it. Which means it can't plug into my 100Mbps hub as-is. In fact, I have to either drop my entire network down to 10Mbps or buy a 10/100 bridge. I'm still waiting for an answer on that one, but I don't even know what they can do to make it better (short of buying me a bridge).
On top of that, ixpres told Covad that I had Windows 95. I told ixpres that I had three computers in my house--one running linux, one running MacOS, and one that alternates between MacOS, BeOS, and linux--and they told me they'd send the MacOS kit to me. Well, they never sent anything (not that I need an old version of Netscape, etc.), and they told Covad I was a Win95 user.
Anyway, Covad put in a trouble report with PacBell. I called ixpres to yell at them. Again, the 888 number didn't work. Neither did the new 888 number on their website (888.883.2020). So I had to call them at the 619 number in San Diego.
As it turns out, ixpres cancelled Covad's trouble report by filing their own. This had the effect of making me wait two weeks rather than 48 hours for an appointment. But I wasn't told this--I again missed a day of work for an appointment that never happened, and wasn't home when the PacBell employee actually showed up.
More importantly, they left off the crucial information that PacBell must go to the back house and set up the drop at the box on the far wall, not at the side of the driveway by the front house. So when PacBell came out the second time, they simply checked the incorrect drop and left it there.
Meanwhile, nearly a month after I should have had service, I finally got someone to send me a bill. The bill arrived, and it included $225 for setup--which was supposed to be free. It took another call to get the setup fee re-waived and a new bill sent. This bill again had the $225. It also did not include any tax, which didn't seem right to me.
Finally, I someone to work out on the phone with me exactly what the total should be--$347.95. When the corrected bill arrived, it was for $349.49. I'd already written a check for $347.95, so I figured fine, they'll get the rest in small change--if they ever get me set up.
Anyway, I was told that they could not get PacBell to come out again until Covad verified that the installation was wrong. I had a few more days to wait, and then the Covad tech showed up. At least this time the scheduling was right--one out of four.... But as I expected, there was nothing she could do.
At this point, I got the Covad tech to explain to me what exactly was supposed to be hooked up where, so I was able to run a temporary cable across the lawn, through my front door, and into my DSL modem. I turned it on, and the SpeedStream sync'd at 768k. Great! But my connection still didn't work.
Why not? Well, when I finally got in touch with the people at ixpres, it seems they'd given my IP address to someone else. I'd have to wait until the next day to get a new one.
Anyway, PacBell was supposed to be at my house the next day. This time, the Covad tech and I left notes and tags all over the place explaining exactly what needed to be done.
Unfortunately, ixpres decided that I needed both PacBell and Covad to come back out, so they had Covad schedule an appointment and make a new PacBell appointment for me. This meant that, instead of the next day, I had to wait a week for PacBell.
Anyway, the next day, I got my IP address. I typed everything in, and it didn't work. Well, everything worked except name service. Why? Well, the primary DNS server was apparently unreachable from my new address. I managed to get that straightened out, and everything was working.
Except that I wasn't getting 768k. I ran every bandwidth test on the net, and with the exception of two miniscule tests (from MSN and PC World), every test page came back with speeds of around 300-380kbps.
Anyway, for some reason, PacBell got rescheduled again. I never figured out how that happened, but felicitously it turned out that PacBell and Covad showed up at the same time. The line was finally installed properly. The only problem now was the connection speed.
Around this time, I sent an email to ixpres asking them for an email address for my new roommate. I was only using two of the ten I'd paid for, and I was told that I could get another added "immediately" by just emailing them. Well, five days later, still no reply, and nobody at the company seems to know what's going on with that.
Speaking of email, I can access the POP server from work, but I apparently can't send mail through their SMTP server from outside their network. It took me a couple of tech support calls to discover that that's how their network is designed and they just can't fix the problem for me. Sending through a hacked sendmail on my linux workstation works fine most of the time, but it's aggravating. Oh, and the web mail server? No idea when it'll be up, but "probably soon."
Tonight, my connection was incredibly slow for most of the night. Connections were dropped, or just hung for anywhere from 2 to 30 seconds before picking up again. Ping tests showed packets dropping all over. When things got through, they seemed to get through quickly enough, but it was enough to make web browsing a chore, email and ICQ impossible. More importantly, connecting my X server at home to the systems at work was completely infeasible.
So I called both 888 numbers--neither worked. I called the 619 tech support number, twice--no answer after over 12 rings. I called another 619 number listed on their tech support web page--no answer. I finally called the main (sales) line and got an answer from a tired-sounding sales support tech, who told me she'd connect me, but actually just hung up on me. I called back, and she gave me a number to call--the same tech support number I'd already called. Again, no answer. I called back, and she said she'd get them to call me.
While I was waiting, the problem suddenly went away. I received a call back, but there was no one on the other end. So I called back, and finally got an answer.
The tech support rep made me wade through all of the TCP settings on my Mac and read off every number I had. Yeah, like the implicit DNS search path is going to affect my telnetting to a machine by IP address....
They tried to test my connection by having me download a file off their website. Unfortunately, the first file they sent me to is not there. There's a link to it, but the file isn't there--I just got a 404 error.
Anyway, they found one minor problem--the new secondary DNS server I'd been assigned no longer existed. They gave me a new one to enter, and it seems to work.
It turns out that the real problem was a bunch of work they've been doing on their network. Why did it take them half an hour to admit that? Why isn't that on their trouble report/news page? Oh yeah, they don't have one. They tried to refer me to one, but it gave me a 404 error.
Anyway, they finished their network work, and supposedly this is the last time it'll happen in the forseeable future. And the trouble report page will be up real soon.
So now everything appears to be ok again, except for the bandwidth and email issues. Supposedly they're working on the bandwidth thing right now and I'll hear from them tomorrow. Since they've never once emailed me or called me back when they've promised, I'm not holding my breath.
In fact, a customer support rep promised me that if I emailed all problems directly to her, she'd make sure they get taken care of. I haven't heard back on a single one yet.
I did finally get a new 888 number for them. It's still not on the website (which still lists the old two numbers), but if anyone wants it, it's 888.327.8375.
Meanwhile, I still haven't paid them a cent (I'm not paying for 768k if I'm only getting 384k, for one thing), but they've told me that if I cancel they'll hold me to the one-year agreement. They did offer me an extra month of free service because of all the problems (but how much do you want to bet they'll send me a bill for that month when it comes up?).
They're probably losing money on me, actually. According to the Covad tech, they've probably paid Covad and PacBell for three trips out here each--plus extra for filing rush service reports with PacBell that turned out to be their fault.
Of course if you add up the five missed days of work and at least 100 minutes of cell phone calls, I'm not getting rich off the deal either....
So I'm stuck with them, and trying to make the best of it (at least until I can get myself out of the contract). But I'd recommend that nobody else make the same mistake.
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