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All reviews of Sprint Broadband Direct


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read 357 reviews (146 positive) (117 negative)
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Six Month Rating

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Review by TScheisskopf See Profile
UPDATED: 196 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 1154 visits, last login: 8 days ago


Belvidere,Warren,NJ
$44 per month (12 month contract)
"Embarq is incredibly competent."
"Embarq is not in charge of policy for the entire Broadband industry."
"Taken as a whole, you cannot do better. You can do a lot worse."
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Value for money:

    10 solid and largely trouble free mbps for $44.95/mo and no cable loops and price hikes. Who can quibble?

    Followup comments:
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct






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Review by orlandvic See Profile
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 8.6 years, 98 visits, last login: 344 days ago


Orland Park,Cook,IL
$45 per month (24 month contract)
"Fast until last year"
"Speeds where slowing down"
"Well, There is no more Sprint Broadband Direct , Only Sprint PCS"

    Having this Sprint Broadband Direct since 2001, of course Contract was up. I only had three service calls June 2007 & Nov.2007. First antenna went bad after 6yrs. Sure we'll fix it for $99 each or sign up again, then we'll fix it free. 2nd replacement antenna lost signal in Nov.2007. They also chaneged modem & 3rd antenna replaced Nov 16.At No cost to me.

    Download speeds around 1400 to 2700 Upload only at 170 at most all are slowing down along with the bandwidth.

    I was told their new wireless sys. will be out 2008. monthly price for me is $45 Mo. I got them to lower the price for being a long term customer. Normal price is $59/MO.

    Good experience still fast. Bad experiences when its down its down. service dept shuts its service phones at 9 pm GMT. Your out of luck that night. Well as of June 2008 there is no more Sprint Broadband Direct, $45/Mo. Good Bye. Now its $60/mo for Sprint PCS.

    Followup comments:

    SBD Customer

    @sprintbbd.net

    Re:Sprint Broadband Direct

    What new wireless service is coming out in 2008? and How do I get prices for it?
    Thanks
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct

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Review by azwoodman See Profile
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 8.7 years, 1520 visits, last login: a few hours ago


Gilbert,Maricopa,AZ
$39 per month
"they are gone!!"
"I actualy liked them...at frist"
"I now use Cox HSI"
Pre Sales Information:
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    Next week I will have SBBD for 2 years, contract up. I'm not sure what SBBD will do to me. I would like to keep it but they need to fix the packet lost and outages. I would like to game on the net but can’t with SBBD. Cox just got to my area so I will have to make a choice soon.

    In the 2 years I have had a lot of truck rolls and they all ways made me feel like it was my fault the connection did not work. BUT on the last truck roll 4-5 weeks ago I was told I was in a " no service area"!! If that was the case why did they install the development behind me?? They installed there until the cutoff in October 2001. I can see 5 pizza boxes from me computer room's window.

    Any way, the long waits on hold, being told that the bad service was my fault because of my PC, and then begin told I was in a "no service area" (but they took my money each month with out mentioning this) has left a funny taste in my mouth.

    If they raise the price equal to COX or there is no improvement by the end of the year I guess a change is will be in order.

    Followup comments:
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct

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Review by s0121 See Profile
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 7.5 years, 147 visits, last login: 161 days ago


Coldwater,Comanche,KS
$49 per month
about 2 days
"Speeds are faster than the 700 mhz system"
"Tech support is rather iffy"
"Very good for this area"
Pre Sales Information:
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    My Other Reviews·AT&T Southwest
    United upgraded me from the 700 Mhz Airspan modem to 900 mhz modem, speeds went from 184-483 kbps download / 125-99 kbps upload to a very solid (3 months now) - 1449 kbps/652kbps... a great improvement... but as soon as the speeds went up, service suddenly on Newsgroups was throttled, (via Cox.net) to less than 33.6 kbps with average of 23.8kbps.. for 49.95 a month United Telcom service is GOOD, but affilate with Cox.net and Newsgroups being throttled is crap.. The upgrade from the AirSpan 700 mhz modem to 900 mhz modem was excellent.

    ISP UnitedWireless (United Telcom) says they do not CAP nor Throttle anything and have no idea why suddenly after almost 3 years my Newgroups speeds were throttled, they have contacted Cox.net but I have heard no reply back, this has been over 30 days ago. trace route :

    1 192.168.1.100 37.270N, 99.326W Snuffy-PC

    2 1 - 192.168.1.1 Unknown

    3 2 1 70.182.239.2 Unknown bmsb500.unitedtelcom.net

    4 3 2 70.182.239.1 Unknown ucomadm-70-182-239-1.ucom.net

    5 4 3 70.167.59.69 Unknown wsip-70-167-59-69.ks.ks.cox.net

    6 5 3 70.183.65.213 Unknown ip70-183-65-213.ks.ks.cox.net

    7 6 - 70.183.71.101 Wichita

    Followup comments:
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct

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Review by paragasn See Profile
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 235 visits, last login: 265 days ago


San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$54 per month (24 month contract)
"Initially, download speed was excellent for many years (i.e. 5+ yrs)"
"Recently, download is starting to be slower than DSL."
"Still, a very good service in the San Jose,CA market."
Pre Sales Information:
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    My Other Reviews·Comcast
    When I ordered this service over 6 years ago (11/25/2000), DSL was still not close to my location and cable modem was not yet available. So, fixed wireless from Sprint Broadband Direct was the only available service at the time. I started with a 2 year contract at $49.95 per month and after the 2 years period was over, the price went to 54.95 per month. The equipment provided was a "Hybrid" modem and the familiar rectangular dish install on our roof facing Monument Peak in Fremont. I had no major issues all these years because I was getting download speed that was better than DSL and close to cable modem speed (i.e. 1K to 5k kbps). But recently, the download speed was starting to get slower than dsl now and then. So, it might be time to look at other alternatives at a lower cost per month. As of 8/11/2007, the connection speed has started to be very slow, just slightly above dial-up speed. The connection would lock up and freeze, not good when you are doing banking transactions. As of 8/31/2007, the speed was at the high end (3Mbps to almost 5Mbps) at around 3.45AM. But eariler in the evening and during the day, the speed was below broadband speed (in the ISDN range) and sometime closer to dialup. Does anyone know what's going on with Sprint Broadband Direct? An earlier review said that Sprint Broadband Direct was terminating in their area as noted in a letter notification. We got the same letter notification on May 19, 2008 with a termination date of 7/31/2008. So we switched over to Comcast effective June 1, 2008.

    Followup comments:

    earlw

    @sprintbbd.net

    SBD going away?

    I believe SBD is managed by »www.gobility.net, which got it from »www.kitenetworks.com, which got it from Sprint. Or something along those lines. In other words, SBD is a hot potato, and no one wants to hold it very long. It keeps getting bought and sold. Thus, if I were to make a bet, SBD will either be bought back by Sprint and turned in WiMax, or will just die pretty soon. The managers of SBD don't care to invest any more money into this venture since the credit market has tighten.

    There is a press release at »www.gobility.net/gobility2007.0727.html.

    FresnoKid

    @sprintbbd.net

    Sprint Broadband

    Well, I have also gotten the cancellation notice that many people here are talking about.

    SBB used to be great when I first got it in 2006, however,since around late 2007 it turned into shit.

    It is the most inconsistent internet service I have ever seen (since 2008) because speeds range from dial up to 3-4 megabits.

    This service really makes my blood boil now. Sometimes I really thing using dial up would be better (and this is no joke). The service will randomly stop responding at times and it is guaranteed to piss you off if you actually desire to get something done. Also, one problem it has always had are random ping spikes to astronomical ping times.

    The worst thing is that no cable or DSL is available in my area. I sure as hell won't get satellite after reading all the reviews it gets.

    My only choice is maybe getting EVdo. My father has it through sprint and it seems to work ok.

    Does anyone know of other options in the Fresno, CA area?

    Right now it looks like EVdo. Can you still get ISDN or is that a thing of the past?
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct

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Review by mwvsnet See Profile
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 143 visits, last login: 30 days ago


Chicago,Cook,IL
$54 per month (12 month contract)
about 13 days
Sprint
"Allways on - works like a T1"
"Up load speed still needs to be better 175k tops just does not cut it"
"This is for a person with dialup to upgrade to if they can't get anything else"
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

    My Other Reviews·WOW Internet and C..
    Sprint Broadband Direct was ordered today 04/03/01, will be installed on
    04/17/01.

    On 4/17/01 Sprint tech arrived at 2:15pm, 3 hours later the service was up
    and running. This tech knew just what he was doing. Speed test from Linkline
    at 11:28pm was 1.086Mbps down/216Kbps up not bad for 49 bucks. We shall
    see if it remains like this for a while. Megapath speed test at 11:38pm was
    1.262Mbps down/213Kbps up. This is all good. I am not using their mail servers
    or DNS servers at all for now. All most as good as ADSL service but not even
    close to SDSL service.

    On 4/19/01 service is still running great, upload speeds and down load speeds
    are still the same. Now if they could just get the up load speed up some more
    that would be a good thing.

    7/21/01 Well 90 days later still going strong, for 50 bucks not bad at all.

    764951 29th 60617 sprintbroadband 5440/33 1500/384 21 il.sprintbbd.net
    764951 28th 60617 sprintbroadband 3980/173 1500/384 18 il.sprintbbd.net
    764951 27th 60617 sprintbroadband 3837/35 1500/384 18 il.sprintbbd.net
    764951 24th 60617 sprintbroadband 1421/121 1500/384 09 il.sprintbbd.net
    764951 23rd 60617 sprintbroadband 1283/123 1500/384 23 il.sprintbbd.net
    764951 18th 60617 sprintbroadband 1262/213 1500/384 00 il.sprintbbd.net

    7/28/2003 We now have 4 ip's so our cost has gone up but for the money
    it is worth it. The upload speed stills sucks, we have been down only
    once in 2 years for about 2 hours due to network/modem problems.

    7/16/2004 We now have three ip's & have not been down at all for all most
    a year. The max speed has topped out at 7.6MB at 2:AM & the slowest
    speed has been around 700K at 1:PM very bad day all day. For the money
    this has been the best broadband connection we have ever seen. It is still
    twice as fast as cable & 3 times faster than dsl without the distance limits.
    We are looking forward to see what Sprint Broadband Direct will replace
    this service with, I have been told the new service will have a upload speed
    of 900k. Can't wait for that.

    08/06/2004 Another bad day for Sprint Broadband speed test came in at
    800K down & 12.8K up. Will run another speed test at 9:PM today.

    08/17/2004 Micro outages have been a major problem for the last 3 hours.
    Problems started at 6:PM & is still going on at 9:32PM, this my third attempt
    to finished this review.

    08/31/2004 Modem needed adjustments up/down speeds went in the toliet &
    that lasted all day until 7:05PM.

    09/07/2004 New modem was installed, everything is back to normal.

    09/13/2004 New top speed test record, from my dish to Sears Tower was
    14.5MB that is twice as fast as the top speed test for last year was 7.2MB.

    09/14/2004 The service is running good today, but it is very bursty & all large
    downloads/uploads starts off very fast then slows down. Adverage upload
    speed is 120k & download speed is 2.5MB.

    09/21/2004 Sprint BBD service has been running great since they installed
    the new modem.

    09/27/2004 Sprint BBD service still running just fine for now.

    10/05/2004 Bad day for Sprint BBD speed test from DSL Reports is at
    96K up & 600K down, also Sprint BBD speed test from Sears Tower is
    at 919K down. Service not working to good today.

    10/05/2004 Things are getting worse, 3 hours later the numbers are slowing
    down even more. New download speed is 486K & upload speed is 144K.
    I did not check Sears Tower speed. Today's service is now the pits.

    10/27/2004 Speed test to Sears Tower did not work, had to call TS & they
    needed to reset the connection. Sears Tower test over 5MB's, things are
    back to normal.

    01/04/2005 Service is still running normal for now. When is the new wireless
    system coming out that is the question? We added AT&T VoIP service to this
    connection & so far no problems with it at all.

    04/20/05 Speed test from NAC was 2239 down & 138 Up not bad for 8:30AM.
    Speed test from Sears Tower was 2207 down, this is a bit slow.

    05/01/2005 Micro outages are becoming a small problem everyday,
    outlook express hangs up a little to often & our network monitoring
    server sends us an email at least once a day to say connection down.
    Our AT&T VoIP service has cut us off while we were on it due to the
    micro outages.

    05/30/2005 As of 7:AM to 9:PM the micro outages have keep us offline 80%
    of that time & tech support is closed for the holiday.

    07/05/2005 Sprint Broadband Direct's web site is back selling the service &
    they are taking orders now. Micro outages has not been a problem since
    05/30 but overall download speed has dropped too 1.9MB from 3.2MB.

    09/11/2005 Sprint's download speed has been sitting around 2.8MB & the upload
    speed is still at 120K.

    10/08/2005 Sprint has been having issues now for 5 hours. These micro outages
    have been a major problem today & things are so bad we can't even check our
    email accounts. We have called TS & they are working on the problem but have
    no idea when the problem will be fixed.

    10/08/2005 Sprint has now fixed the problems that has made their system
    useless for most of the day. From 10:AM to 4:PM the service was very
    unreliable & all VoIP calls have been dropping out or not connecting at all.

    10/08/2005 Here are our speed test for today. Upload speed still sucks.

    2005-10-08 18:00:00 Speed test @ ec 2288/139 kbps
    2005-10-08 17:58:27 Speed test @ dslreports.linkline.com 1659/97 kbps
    2005-10-08 17:56:46 Speed test @ dslr-west1.megapath.net 1579/97 kbps

    07/07/2006 Connections are going into the crapper everyday at peek times.
    Upload speeds are crazy I have topped out at 32k but now I am back at 97k
    that still sucks. Download speed is still around 2500k I have seen better when
    the service was first installed & one test from Sears tower to me was at 14,000k.
    Now if I could get that at peek time I really would be happy with the service.
    Where is Verizon Fios when you need them???

    07/25/06 Micro outages happen every 48 hours or so, we ran a test
    web radio stream from the connection & the connection is not stable
    too do that at all. Connection speeds are about the same down is ok
    up still sucks.

    02/03/2007 Service has gone down a bit. PBX VoIP service has problems
    with the Sprint Broadband Direct service. Conference calls can't be
    maintained for long without serious breakup in the call. With DSL & Cable
    services far faster than the 2MB's download speeds we are getting now it is
    time to think about a change.

    03/26/2007 Sprint today changed all of our ip address without notice & took
    us offline for 4 hours. We have had the service for almost 6 years & it has
    been going down for the last 3 years. Our speeds have dropped from 4.5Mb to
    1.2Mb with no word why from Sprint. The upload speed has never changed
    from the 60k to 150k of the listed speed of 256k. If their is something better
    get it but if not. Also we dropped all of our extra ip's & we still have a bit of
    a problem with our voip pbx ip phone system. This is the second time Sprint
    has changed our ip's & I guess they want to make sure that we have no type
    of servers running on our connection.

    04/03/2007 Sprint is having a bad day our speeds have been under 500k
    all day & TS is now telling us they need to send a tech out to check the
    hardware. But we have no contract so to replace anything their will be a
    $99 x 2 charge or sign up for a year with a contract & they will replace
    every thing for free.

    09/07/2007 Well Sprint is some what back to normal but the service is still all
    over the map with the speeds. We have gone from 200k one day to 3.2MB
    another day. We had to move out voip pbx service off of the Sprint service &
    back to WOW cable business class. I told myself I would not go back to WOW
    but here I am again. We will install Comcast some time in the future & then
    compair the two.

    11/23/2007 Sprint is almost back to normal with 6.2MB's download speeds & the
    normal 160k upload speeds. It is still a far cry from WOW cable with it's 8MB/1MB
    speeds that seems to do this all day long. Today's slowest speed from Sprint were
    2.8MB/154k

    05/06/2008 VoIP was put back on Sprint today wow is down for 11 hours so far.
    The speeds are still all over the place & no word on there wimax system her in Chicago.

    05/16/2008 This notice arrived today.

    Dear:

    At Sprint we truly value your business, and we are always striving to
    provide you with innovative products and services. Sometimes, however,
    it is necessary for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make
    adjustments as new technologies emerge and demand for bandwidth increases.

    As the result of a recent FCC action, Sprint will no longer have access to the
    spectrum used to operate our Sprint Broadband Direct Service in your area.
    Due to this FCC mandate, Sprint will discontinue your service by 6/30/2008.
    This discontinuance of service will also affect your EarthLink email account.
    Please contact EarthLink directly if you choose to continue with their service.

    To ensure you have continued service, we would like to offer you a replacement
    for your current service. Sprint's EV-DO wireless service would be a comparable
    replacement offering you the benefit of mobility that was not available to you
    before. You'll also enjoy faster upload speeds, and 24/7 customer support. A
    USB modem, PCMCIA card or, in some instances, a wireless/wired router is
    required when converting to this service. Additional equipment charges may
    apply.

    Once again, your existing service will terminate by 6/30/2008. You will continue
    to be billed until the service termination date unless you contact Sprint. We hope
    you choose Sprint EV-DO wireless service as the replacement for your Sprint
    Broadband Direct Service. Please contact an account service representative today
    at 1-800-569-1064 to discuss your specific options or if you wish to discontinue
    service prior to the termination date.

    We value you as a customer and look forward to continuing to service all of your
    wireless needs.

    Sincerely,

    Sprint

    05/29/2008 Sprint BBD was canceled today. After 7years & 1 month 12 days.
    I think there wi-fi project is dead & ev-do card is now a joke with a 5G cap on it.

    Followup comments:

    Toby123

    @comcast.net

    The end

    Sprint Broadband direct in shuting down.

    Truth B

    @sprintbbd.net

    Sprint Service Termination Shows Customers NO Regard

    Sprint Broadband Direct was my only option over dial up back in 2001. The speed always seemed like the T1 I used at work. Cable was not available when I bought my house in 1996 so it was just adding another Dish on my house. I am a telecom geek - 15+ years in the Industry - and this product served me well.

    Now the FCC, Sprint and EarthLink have some explaining to do!

    The FCC has allowed Sprint to begin a phase out of a service with no notice to the entire customer base. I've known about requirements for going to digital TV for close to 2 years. The FCC and Sprint have given me less than 2 months notice (that is by the post mark not the date on the letter) and it requires me to change my email address. Sprint's letter informs me of my cut off date, that they hope I'll consider the mobile broadband wireless service, additional equipment charges may apply, this will also affect my EarthLink email account (which came with this service) and to contact EarthLink directly about their service.

    Really FCC! A company can begin to shut down a service by notifying groups of clients.
    Really! Sprint was given the room to collect my payments right up until they chose to let me out of my contract. The Sprint technician who changed out my modem and dish a few months back sprung it on me that I was locked into 2 more years of service.
    Companies use these contracts like handcuffs.

    Sprint you might have kept a customer by suggesting alternate services and not changing out equipment on a service already being phasing out. How did we get to a point where a customer is locked into a service however the provider can change or discontinue at anytime?

    OH - and Sprint - one more thing…
    You offered a $25 credit to my invoice for signing a contract for 2 years, an increased price of $60 with the purchase of equipment for $50.
    Despicable!!!!

    Really EarthLink! Didn't Sprint allow your company to read this letter first? Sprint rubbed their hideous customer service right on you. I've been using an email for 7 years and it is printed on calling cards, resumes and letterhead, used to register EVERY service /product / newsletter / subscrption, etc. EarthLink offered me a service for about $4 a month to keep my address.

    FCC please make Sprint pay customers to buy out their contract. Going forward don't let a company profit by slowing notifying customers of a service termination. Sprint's letter blames it all on the FCC.
    Sprint - Good Bye!
    EarthLink please step up to giving long term faithful customers one email address for free.
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct

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Review by cconners See Profile
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 8.5 years, 39 visits, last login: 291 days ago


Vernon Hills,Lake,IL
$45 per month (12 month contract)
about 9 days
AT&T
"Can be very fast ( >6Mbps)"
"Micro-outages (very rare); ugly antenna on 10' mast."
"Mostly rocks; local alternatives will cost more and deliver less, so why change?"
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

    Update 5/25/08: Anybody reading following this website knows that Sprint is shutting down their Broadband Direct service. My letter states 6/30/2008 as the shut down date. I'd have preferred a little bit more warning, but I think I have only one choice in my area for broadband service - Comcast. (I will start looking to make sure that is true, but I'm not feeling very optimistic.) Hard to believe that after seven years, AT&T still hasn't been willing to deploy DSL in my area. I keep hearing that broadband competition is alive and well in America, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case here in Vernon Hills.

    Thanks to Sprint for seven years of decent service at a decent price. At least this makes my roofing work this year easier.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------

    Update 2/1/07: No real news, but I thought some people might want to know that I still have the service, and am still satisfied. Hard to believe that it will be six years this spring. My roof is due for a new set of shingles, and I have some moisture damaged due to a dryer vent, so what will happen to my antenna and service when I re-roof? Stay tuned...

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------

    Update 4/3/02: Price Increase?!?! Yes, I just got an email from Sprint wanting $5/month more to keep just the high speed connection or $10/month to keep the full service (connection and Earthlink ISP). Hmmmm....

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------

    Update 3/26/02: Since I last touched this review, the service has been dazzling - I downloaded MS XP RC2 (489MB) from a MS site in 14.5 minutes last year. While I still get amazing speeds, all is not well in SBBD-land. The micro-outages have gradually increased in frequency, so although I may have days that are uninterrupted, most sessions have anywhere from one to 5 sub-minute interruptions an hour. Sometimes it can even happen every other minute. More troubling are the rare occasions when I'm using it in the daytime during the week. I've experienced outages that last an hour or more. All I can say is I knew this might happen when I ordered the service (thanks to all the feedback on DSLReports), and I've gotten my money's worth out of this service over the past year. I just got a flier from AT&T warning of service interruptions and work crews accessing our easement over the next several weeks, so there may be an alternative opening up soon. But I'll miss those massive 4Mbps+ download speeds when I switch. :-(

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------

    What can I say that hasn't already been said about Sprint BBD. I read all of the reviews prior to going with the service, because my younger brother and his wife live in the Denver area and they were considering it. They still haven't made a decision, as they have other fish to fry right now, but when a friend forwarded me the Chicago Tribune article about Chicagoland availability, I was on the phone 24 hours later scheduling the installation.

    I should state right now: Yes, I did really read all of the reviews, including the many horror stories from San Jose. A large number of people have had bad experiences with the service. But I also read the good ones, and decided to take the chance. I'm a (mostly) happy Sprint long distance and PCS customer, and figured that the odds were with me. We shall see.

    *** NOTE: In Vernon Hills, you need a building permit. They are treating the antenna like a digital satellite dish. According to the 1997 ordinance, you can be fined $500 a day for installing without a permit. ***

    The installation on April 5th was less than stellar, since the tech arrived almost 1 1/2 hours after my 7a-9a window. When he announced the need for a 10' mast to achieve line of site, I consulted both my wife and the local building department. Since this was the first install in the village, the department's electrical inspector wanted to come out and see what was going to be done. The inspector said that there was a height restriction, but he never said what it was - just that my installation was OK. They (the installer and inspector) debated over grounding procedures, but otherwise the install was OK. By the time he left, it was 2:30p, and I was very late for work.

    Maybe I'm prejudiced, but I think the antenna and wiring look ugly as sin! The black coaxial cable looks ugly against the side to the house, and the beige ground wire looks lousy against the roof. And while all of the pictures show a nice white diamond shaped antenna, the back side is black (which is street-side) and is very visible day and night.

    Right now, that's the end of the bad. I plugged it into my existing Comm server running Win 98SE with ICS, reconfigured it to share the NIC instead of the modem, and tweaked it using ICS Configuration (thanks to Harley Acheson and www.practicallynetworked.com). It works, sharing the connection with three other computers on the network. I think I've experience the micro outages that I've read about here on DSLReports, but they've not been significant enough to alarm me. I've done MS NetMeeting with my folks (who are using a 56Kbps modem) and that still works but I've yet to try it with another broadband user. I don't game anymore (three children really cramp you gaming style) and with the Sprint Unlimited weekends, I still use the phone for my long distance.

    Downloaded and streaming video are awesome: I've become a real fan of NASA TV at 300Kbps, once I figured out that Win98SE ICS doesn't do high speed UDP. And the "always there, instant on" really makes it all worth while. So, generally, I'm a satisfied customer.

    My first speed test on DSLReports was 520/204, and that's been my low water mark so far. I've achieved download speeds as high as 3.5Mbps+, and speed tests of over 4Mbps. I can live with 500Kbps if things should drop down that far, but will I be happy? With a large number of sites (such as my company's) limited by a T1 and restricting bandwidth, I'm used to seeing throttled downloads in IE of between 60-70KBps, but I'm no longer surprised to see it up at the 300KBps range.

    I will always be "looking over my shoulder" waiting for the performance or reliability to drop. In the mean time, I'm livin' large and lovin' it!

    Followup comments:
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct

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Review by jimmyjob See Profile
Posted: 1.4 years ago
member for 6.9 years, 62 visits, last login: 12 days ago


Alvin,Brazoria,TX
$41 per month (24 month contract)
about 5 days
"Fast Down stream"
"Slow upstream"
"Good when other services not available"
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

    I have had them for about five years now but I got an email from them yesterday stating they had lost the radio spectrum and my service would end by 06/30/2008.
    Is this system wide or aimed at me???Time will tell.

    Followup comments:
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct






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Review by michaelmcw See Profile
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 90 visits, last login: 123 days ago


Alviso,Santa Clara,CA
$49 per month (24 month contract)
about 7 days
Sprint
"fast downloads"
"uploads can be slow but i am a patient person"
"i wouldn't trade it for dial up"
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

    Has anyone been told that SBBD is discontinuing their service as of July 31, 2008. I spoke to a tech on their 888-996-0001, pressed #4 and the guy said they are turning off cities one by one. Has anyone heard of this?



    Followup comments:

    life11234

    @bowencollins.com

    It's definately going on

    I was beginning to think I was the only SBBD customer left alive. No it's true, they are cancelling service city by city. I got my notice today, service shutoff by 7/31/08

    Anyone know what frequencies these are running on? Is the FCC Mandate really forcing them, or are they just using this as a way to justify consolidate business infrastructure behind their EV-DO offerings?

    -Nick

    Wes

    @rcn.com

    Re: It's definately going on

    I got the notice as well. I guess it's time to find a new ISP.

    Had a question though. Are we stuck with the dish being mounted on the house? Or will they remove it and take it back?
    michaelmcw

    join:2000-11-25
    Alviso, CA

    Re: It's definately going on

    you own your equipment. just remove it from the roof. that is what i did.
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct






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Review by davemc See Profile
UPDATED: 1.5 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 13 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago


Redwood City,San Mateo,CA
$70 per month
"When good, very good... but now, not bvery good"
"speed has decreased as more users join the service they blame my neighbors trees"
"May have to consider Comcast, but can't stand the company"
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

    I've had Sprint Broadband since 12/2000, during the dead period as well as the new live period. Service has been all over the map, including a period earlier this year when i researched alternatives (again).

    However, the service is reliable now, consistent and affordable. I'd like better link speeds, but can't argue that it works through all kinds of weather, or other factors.

    More and more of those ubiquitous pizza box antennas are appearing around my area.

    Update: 4/2008: performance has declined to almost unusable. Can't hold a VPN more than 10 minutes. May have to go to other options.

    davemc

    Followup comments:
    Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct


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