how-to block ads
|
Review by wayne8888 
UPDATED: 253 days ago
member for 2.9 years, 911 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Baltimore,Baltimore City,MD
 $40 per month
 about 13 days
 Cavalier
 "DSL Speed Getting 9mbps down and 800-900kbps up with dry-loop DSL"
 "Service was but much better in 2007 than in 2005"
 "Much faster than Verizon's pokey 2.8 mbps at 5000 feet; my dry loop dsl from Cavtel gives 7mbps/800kbps in prime time."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
This is my second tour with Cavalier. The first time I had traditional landline plus DSL. This time I have I have "naked" DSL and VOIP with Phonom. The first time I left Cavtel because the speeds suffered a Cable-like drop off during early evening hours. I decided to give them another chance and I'm glad I did at least as of today. I am getting between 5 and 6 mbps downstream (depending on speed test) and between 800 and 900 kbps upstream. I got these speeds even during early evening hours. This is a far cry from the up to 10mbps downstream that they mention but I am about 5000 feet away from the central office so I'm happy. I still have the $52.95 "8mbps" tier from Comcast but I rarely get much more than 5-7mbps from cable during peak usage time. Cavalier's upstream speeds beat Comcast's by a bit too (over 800kbps vs 680-700kbps). My Phonom (VOIP) service is slated to begin on the 5th but if it is good, I will switch over from Vonage. I will not drop Comcast just yet though. Cavalier's customer service is still as clueless as it was the first time around. The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. I will give Cavtel DSL a month to see if it stays as good as day 1. I'm not impressed with the coordination between the Phonom side and the Cavalier side
Update: My Phonom service was not up on the expected start date. After spending a lot of time with DSL Tech support (because the Phonom support team does not work on weekends) the second tech accessed information showing that my DVC (digital voice converter) was encoded with a different static IP address than my DSL had. Which prevented me from ever getting a dialtone. This was the 4th and final goof-up by Cavalier/Phonom. I asked myself, why should I eventually pay $10 (after one year) more for month for Cavalier's inferior service than I pay for Vonage. So until Verizon FIOS arrives in Baltimore MD, I will stick with Comcast for HSI and Vonage for VOIP. If Cavalier (A.K.A. the Hooterville phone company) ever gets their act together, I would consider joining them a 3rd time..
Update October 2007
Well since Comcast is offering Blast service all around us but not in Baltimore City (because FIOS is all around us in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard counties but not in Baltimore City) and FIOS maybe 2 year away inside the city limits (different local government than the county so franchise agreement in B'more county but not in B'more city). I decided to give Cavalier one more chance. This time with dry-loop (no dial tone) DSL which costs $42.00 (including $2 in fees) per month. Order went through Wednesday waiting for yet another modem (I have a modem depot at home) that they insist on sending. If they can keep a steady peak time speed of at least 5 mbps/800kbps, I will drop Comcast probably not rejoin them (when they get around to offering Blast service of 16mbps/1mbps.....since FIOS will be here by that time). My Comcast HSI of 8mbps/768 (more like 720kbps) costs me $63.72 after bundling in their cheapest TV plan ($9.66 plus fees that I don't use). Will update when service starts. Fingers are crossed!!
Wayne
It has been a bit shaky. Mainly because Cavalier mistakenly provisioned line 2 instead of line 1 in my house which is why I did not get DSL sync on line one. On the bright side the tech support team seems to be far better than in 2005 and have much more of a clue than the folks at Verizon DSL. On the super bright side, I am pulling speeds of 5.5 -7.5 mbps in prime time and up to 9mbps at the fastest. Uploads seem to be near 800 kbps. I think I will drop Comcast after all!
Wayne
Update November 19th. I was so happy with Cavalier speeds that I called to cancel Comcast HSI. I told them that I was paying $41.95 for Dry-loop DSL and the Comcast lady said that she would match that for one year. So I am now paying $41.70 for the $63.72 Comcast (it was $52.95 for speed tier of Comcast plus $9.65 for limited basic TV bundled in plus tax). What a dilemma.....I can't ignore a $22 discount for the high speed Comcast tier. But I don't want to cancel Cavalier either.
Wayne
December 1st 2007
Still happy with Cavalier standalone DSL [URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]»www.speedtest.net/result/207894480.png
»www.speedtest.net/result/207947157.png
Getting near to above 9 mbps down and 800-900kbps uploads from 5000 feet from the CO. Cavalier is willing to drop the cost by $5.00 per month to $34.95 per month. I wanted them to drop it to $25 and I would keep both Comcast and Cavtel as ISPs. I will decide at the end of the month if I will keep both or drop one. It will be hard to drop Comcast after they dropped the price so drastically and is even faster than Cavtel.
Wayne
December 16,
Still trying to decide whether to stick with Cavtel or to stick with Comcast. Still getting speeds like this from Cavalier.
»/im/41947974/32544.png But even faster from Comcast (20-29mbps down and 1700kbps up with Comcast, but may be due to Powerboost rather than Blast). I guess one more month won't hurt having both. I have one Directv HR-20 connected to Comcast network and the other connected to Cavalier. Now that I can download videos on demand to the HD DVRs (HR-20s), maybe I should go with which ever one has no download limit (not Comcast) before I even consider going near their invisible bandwidth usage caps.
Wayne
Wayne
1/25/08
Speeds have dropped suddenly. from 9-10mbps to 2 mbps and uploads speed have fallen from 850-900 kbps to 600kbps. Dropping Cavtel might be easy to do after all if this continues.
1/27/08
Finally dumped Cavalier.......will stay with Comcast. After not being able to get back to the speeds that I had continuously for nearly 3 months, even after working with a very cooperative tech support (who tweaked my settings to no avail....who knows might be fault of Verizon lines). I will stick with Cable until FIOS gets to town (by then Docsis 3.0 might keep me with Comcast....who knows).
Wayne
Followup comments:  | | wayne8888
join:2005-10-16
Baltimore, MD
 ·Cavalier Telephone
 ·ViaTalk
 ·Comcast
| Re: drop Cavtel I hear you.......I have cancelled Cavalier 2 times in 2005 alone. The first time due to slow night-time DSL (which has been remedied ...maybe due to network improvements needed for IPTV) and I cancelled the second time when they messed up my Phonom (VOIP with which I never got dialtone). Interestingly enough, I suddenly started getting Phonom bills (and collection threats) in 2007 like a year and a half after cancelling. It took 2 phone calls (using my Viatalk VOIP conection LOL) to straighten that out. You're right..... with upstream and downstream power boost now and hopefully blast service soon for less than $42 from Comcast, I can't drop them. I will have to drop Cavtel (even with 7mbps down and 800-900 kbps up) unless they give me this dry-loop DSL for like $25/month. Then I might keep both while waiting for FIOS or for Docsis 3.0 from Comcast.....hmmmmm.
Wayne | |
| 
Coreng
| Avoid Cavalier AT All Cost I had Cavalier for a little less than a month and only had a working internet connection for 4 hours the whole time and I also had problems with my phone line. It took almost 3 weeks just to get rid of them because of a freeze they put on your line and don't notify their customers of. I found this out after calling AT&T to see why I hadn't been switched yet. Continuous calls and hours on hold to customer care did nothing. Never got a straight answer from anyone or any follow ups with repair tickets. After finally switching back to AT&T it took me filing a complaint with the Michigan Public Service Commission to get them to stop billing for their shitty service and close my account. I would never use Cavalier again even if I was offered a years service for free. | |
| | wayne8888
join:2005-10-16
Baltimore, MD
·Cavalier Telephone
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
| Re: Avoid Cavalier AT All Cost I have heard about those horror stories. I'm sure that they have numerous complaints filed. I have been able to quit two times since 2005 without problems. Ironically, this time I am happy with the speed and service but may have to cancel them because Comcast matched the price.
Wayne | |
| | | wayne8888
join:2005-10-16
Baltimore, MD
·Cavalier Telephone
·ViaTalk
·Comcast
| Re: Decisions, decisions, decisions Hi......Actually, my problems with Cavalier started in in 2005 during two periods, at that time I found their peak time DSL speeds to fall off dramatically (this was early 2005). I dropped them and went to Verizon DSL (April 2005) and then to Comcast HSI in May. Later, while still with Comcast, I tried Phonom (Cavtel's VOIP ). I never even got a dial tone (amounted to standalone DSL with high off peak speeds but still relatively slow peak usage time download speeds). I dropped them again (late 2005). My ratings were very low at that time. They actually tried to charge me for undelivered Phonom service ( more than a year and a half later LOL). I increased my ratings based on my November 2007 experience with standalone DSL service. I have no doubt that others have problems with Cavalier (been there twice). My ratings are for my current experience with them. I find that their tech support is head and shoulders above the clueless folks at Verizon. I have been lucky enough not to have to deal with their less than stellar Customer Service this time around. I have not dropped them yet but I probably will in January if they don't drop my standalone DSL price to $25-$30 (mainly due to the speed, the free McAfee products and the SSL features from Comcast that allow you to use email clients like outlook, outlook express etc to send email no matter which ISP you are connected to at that moment). Cavalier is a much better value for me than Verizon DSL (being more than 3 times faster than V*) but Comcast is a better value than either for me (especially after they lowered my price to $41.70 per month for the fastest speed tier).
Wayne | |
| | | | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Cavalier Telephone |
|
|
(11)
(12)
·
