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Review by jshadley 
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 162 visits, last login: 1 year ago
 San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
 $49 per month (12 month contract)
 SBC
CLEC party: Covad
 "BigNet was good & fast at processing, Covad was great"
 "PacBell sucked"
 "Too bad about the telco monopoly on physical lines :-("
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BigNet did a good job of informing me of what I'd get for my money (144/144 IDSL @$49/mo with free install). I had somewhat of an edge because I did all the inside wiring and I am familiar with the terms & procedures. Anyway, PacBell really dropped the ball; missed appointments and somehow informed Covad that it was ready to go BEFORE THEY EVEN INSTALLED THE PHYSICAL LINE TO MY HOUSE! The Covad guy came out and said, "OK I'm ready to install, where does the line come in to your house?" and I had to report that it did not! 2 months later, PacBell finally got it installed & got the loading coils removed, etc. . . .
But once that got it all straightened out, it was a snap for the Covad guy to set up the Bridge (it's actually a FlowPoint Router, but it's config'ed in Bridge mode and they won't tell me the p/w; I suppose I can re-set it but I already had a LinkSys router, so I'm just going from the DSL Bridge, into the Router, into my 5-port switch, and throughout my house!). The installer was in & out in less than 1 hour, he said it was the easiest install he's ever done. All he had to do was plug it in, run a config script, check that it was getting an IP (Dynamic), did some quick surfing, and that was it. It ain't 1.5Mbps, but it's a far sight better than dialup!
I'm T + 2 days now, very happy so far . . .
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Review by Bjones2000
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 7 visits, last login: 9.1 years ago
Dayton,Montgomery,OH
$49 per month (12 month contract)
 about 20 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Had Quick Installation dates,Even Ameritech was out in less than 2 weeks"
"Covad"
"After Problems with Covad Everything was ok."
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Only had one problem with BigNet/Covad DSL, Covad. When the installation date came around they missed their 12pm-5pm window by almost a full hour. Then to boot they ending up giving me a Buisness Class DSL Router that would not supprt Dynamic IP's. So it worked for the first ip i got and won't until i would get reassigned that first ip. After many calls to BigNet's Tech Support, who just couldn't figure out why I won't be able to connect to the DHCP server, I figured the problem out. I only figured it out because I had a Co-Worker Order from them and they gave him the correct router. So a quick call to BigNet and we had the new router in less than 48 hours. So remember that for residential IDSL service you are suppose to get the White Router and not the Black one.
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Review by zwinkles
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 6 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
Grand Rapids,Kent,MI
$99 per month
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Covad is excellent at service!"
"Limitations on NAT translation and lack of service."
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After ordering DSL from BigNet we were promised full access to our servers via the internet. Knowing the business class service is an actual NAT translation I discovered that BigNet limits you to the basic mail, web, ftp, telnet service ports. I know of residential owners that do not have these limitations and have the capabilities to other port services (VPN, remote control [PCAnywhere, Reachout, etc]...). I have been calling BigNet Business support for the past four weeks and all I receive is an answering machine that states they will call me back when they can. I have not received a phone call.
I rank the service very poor with BigNet when it comes to Business customers.
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Review by melroger
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 7 visits, last login: 8.7 years ago
Aurora,Kane,IL
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 47 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"good customer service so far."
"Ameritech was slow to do there part"
"If it hadn't been for Ameritech we would have been online sooner"
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I have been trying to keep a fair report going since the day I called to sign up for Big net. My neighbor had called me when he finally got his service up and running(from another co.) and told me that the Covad installer said I should try Big Net.I called and got friendly efficient service.
Then the waiting game started...Ameritech came out the first time and just did something at the pole instead of running a new line. Then about 2 weeks later they came back out and started to do some more work, when they left that day (which was on a Thursday) They left my phone line open. This left me with NO TELEPHONE service! When I called, I had to wait on hold for about 30 mins. We were told that they were sorry, but they couldn't come back until next monday. They didn't come out until Tuesday, after I made another call in to them. That really ticked me off! About a week after that they finished all the outside line work. Covad then came to the house hooked up the router but there was still an inbalance in the line. Ameritech came out one last time and now that part was alright.
Called Big Net just about a half hour ago and they walked me through the rest of my set-up and helped me get an email account up and running. The tech was a man named Jason and he really deserves a pat on the back as he walked me through very patiently. So far, I can honestly say that Big Net has lived up to there end of the bargin.
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Review by pennstat
UPDATED: 9.2 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 17 visits, last login: 7.5 years ago
Mechanicsburg,Cumberland,PA
$69 per month (12 month contract)
Covad
CLEC party: Covad
"Decent transfer rates..."
"...except for the PATHETIC newsgroup speeds."
"If you will frequent the newsgroups, run to another provider -- FAST!!!"
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I just want to relate what I've seen so far. I currently have Hell Atlantic for DSL, but I got tired of their lack of customer support, so I decided to have a new DSL connection installed on my second phone line and then cancel Hell Atlantic ... er ... Verizon when I'm satisfied that my connection is good.
Verizon has already added DSL to the second line, and I'm scheduled to get BigNet this Tuesday (Sept. 6). But I'm very concerned that I'm getting screwed before I even have my BigNet account. Here is what an e-mail said that I will be getting ... and note the price.
08/22/2000 DSL Router Charge for home ADSL for 'xxxxxxxx@bignet.net $ 175.00
I called to find out what kind of router this will be so that I could learn how to set up the firewall rulesets and so forth. But it turns out that I am supposed to be getting a SpeedStar 5260 DSL ***MODEM***.
Excuse me??! I'm paying $175 for a DSL **MODEM** when my invoice says that I'm getting a ROUTER?? Considering that I can get a D-Link DSL router with firewall, NAT, and DHCP for $102 at TC Computers, I will **not** be happy if I get stuck with a modem.
So far, I am not pleased with what has happened and I have a feeling that American Express might be getting a formal complaint and contest of charges if I really do get a modem instead of the router for which I was billed. I still have my Verizon connection on line 1, so having to wait for someone else to replace BigNet will not be a big deal.
We'll see what happens.
UPDATE -------------------------
Well, I now have Covad/BigNet. The first night I was lucky to get more than 770 Kb download on what is supposed to be a 1,500Kb connection.
Now I've had up to 1,300 Kb of simultaneous transfers and a steady 320 Kb upload speed. I can certainly live with those numbers.
However, what I cannot live with is the absolutely PATHETIC newsgroup speed! Oh...my...God!
Keep in mind that this is a 1,500 Kb connection. I am LUCKY if I can get a 200 Kb connection. So far the steady download rate has been at 160 or 170 Kb per second. I do a lot of research and give assistance to others in technically-related newsgroups that have THOUSANDS of messages per group. The time it takes to download headers and so forth, compared to what I should be getting, is atrocious. This is completely unacceptable and (for me) is grounds for cancelling my contract and going with someone like SpeakEasy, about which I've heard many good things.
What's even worse is that BigNet doesn't even HOUSE their own newsserver!! It's stored on someone else's domain! I'm a UNIX/NT systems and network administrator, and I can tell you that it does NOT take much (relatively speaking) to have a good newsserver. A single computer with some high-powered processors and LOTS of disks are all that are necessary. It's not like you need to have a mainframe-sized computer with an administrator watching the consolve 24/7 to have a news server. The fact that BigNet refuses to even house their own news server tells me that they look at taking a cheap and easy way out, which directly takes away from their customer service value and credibility as an ISP.
So, I'll give them kudos for actually giving me a decent web/FTP download rate, but if you also like to frequent the newsgroups, then hold your nose because BigNet really stinks!
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Review by johncalexander
Posted: 9.2 years ago
member for 10.1 years, 0 visits, last login: 10.1 years ago
Lisle,Dupage,IL
$50 per month (12 month contract)
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Sales"
"Tech Support response, Followup"
"Never again with Big Net or Covad - Can't change Ameritech monopoly"
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Bignet, Covad, and Ameritech - what a despicable combination! Ordered in
July and in two days received three emails confirming my order and schedule
date for line install ...scheduled line install for 9/1. Worked from home
in case there were problems eventually decided to use the free dialup
Bignet said they provided until install was complete, but couldn't log in.
Checked everything, and then called tech support. ....45 minutes waiting for a technician (on speaker so I could do other things)...hung up, called sales number - surprise!, a real voice ....Ooops, your order was canceled on 8/14 - Ameritech had no pairs. Both Covad and Bignet had emailed me to schedule the install! - why not for the cancellation!
Bignet had already cancelled my order on 8/14 because Covad/Ameritech
couldn't deliver, but they had not cancelled the credit card charge. Irony - The Covad cancellation said to resubmit the order as if this would change the line pair situation. I contacted my credit card company, since Bignet already put through a
charge, and promised myself to not use either Bignet or Covad again. Sure, I can't do anything about Ameritech and their stupid excuses for not being able to service a request, but "Service Provider" is supposed to mean something if you want to stay in the service business!
Note that the Citizens Utility Board is after Ameritech for poor response
to standard residential telephone line installation response - it's a shame
DSL line installation isn't regulated also - for all the good it would do.
Note also that when I complained, Bignet stated they were short-staffed in
tech support because of all the people returning to college and they were
working on restaffing - how long can a service company stay in business
with this kind of business planning.
Lesson learned - do NOT allow pay in advance, do NOT trust promised
delivery dates, do NOT use Covad or Bignet!
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Review by torque2k
Posted: 9.2 years ago
member for 9.2 years, 53 visits, last login: 3.7 years ago
Lowell,Kent,MI
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 80 days
"Excellent newsfeeds, excellent upload speed (95% usage)"
"Crap support, crap reliablility, crap download speed (70% usage)"
"When it's up it's good, when it's down it's down hard. Pick another."
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From Torque2k:
Ordered: April 24, 2000
Final Install: July 12, 2000 (Ameritech took another MONTH to dig in the line)
Speed: TeleSurfer (608k/128k) ADSL @ home location, MI
Deal: 3 months @ $29.95, rest of year @ $49.95, full rebate of install/modem from Covad
Ordering was cake, the salesman told me the wait would be three weeks. No prob. After numerous calls/threats/pleas, over 10 weeks later, the line was finally installed. Mostly to blame was Ameritech, but there was ZERO communication from BigNet unless I called THEM. Promises aplenty, for sure.
Equipment consists of a SpeedStream 5260 Ethernet Modem, works flawlessly, provided by a Covad technician who was pleasant to work with. He modified my office's second line, works great. Friendly guy.
DHCP is what I use to connect, through a 3Com PCI 10/100 card on a Celeron 566 w/ 128MB RAM and 50GB online HD. Speeds prior to August 17 were awesome for the line purchased, I regularly got 595kbps download on my 608k line, with 122k the norm for upload. After Aug. 17, problems between Covad and BigNet arose (according to techs) and since, I've averaged 470-490kbps every single day, testing both east and west coast hookups.
An email to tech support on this particular issue gave me the following reply:
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Test your speed at our gateway, this will give you the most accurate test of
what your actual speed it.
Goto www.bignet.net/~dsltest
Click on the link and check your speed there.
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Of course, they have an 18.2MB test file of unknown type (test.dat), probably very compressable, and it's a local DNS hop to them!!! Of COURSE it's gonna download more quickly! Who the hell do they think they're trying to fool? Most broadband users right now are not idiots...
At the end of my year, I will so dump these guys. Swear it.
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Review by zor
Posted: 9.2 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 15 visits, last login: 5.2 years ago
Kennesaw,Cobb,GA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
"Connection is decent when working"
"Outages a go-go sometimes lasting 10 or more days, long hold times for tech rep"
"If you can get anything besides Big NUT Inc then I suggest you do so - their QoS blows"
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I ordered this for my mom's machine for simplicity (for her) but if anything it's been complex. Everything seemed to go pretty smooth from pre-sales to being in an on-state. However that was mere illusion. About a week after having service established she had her first outage. After waiting 45+ minutes for a tech and an additional 6 days she was finally back up. Since then it's just been a constant teeter totter up and down. On one outage I took a laptop and ran tcpdump (linux packet sniffer). Turns out the DHCP server was down, I had to call their tech support and tell them this fact. At that point I really began to wonder what kind of ISP can't keep tabs on their servers. Wake up Big NUT - it's time to re-evaluate your QoS.
Criticisms, replies, and other things very welcome.
Anthony
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 9.2 years ago
(review was emailed from domain spamcop.net)
Grand Rapids,Kent,MI
$50 per month (24 month contract)
"News Server, speeds, low monthly cost"
"Tech support is terrible, occasional unscheduled downtimes"
"A fair, cheap DSL provider"
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I live in Kentwood, MI, and I signed up for Bignet IDSL at the end of
May. Ameritech dropped the ball once in getting the line run to the
house, but I was quickly rescheduled and within three weeks I had DSL
installed. The installer was great, they didn't even charge the $80 an
hour charge they are supposed to for inside wiring (my computer room
didn't have a true phone jack connection). He got my DSL connection up
and running in less than an hour, with inside wiring and the works to
do. He was also nice enough to set up my PC for me (although I know
they aren't required to do this).
The connection has been at good speeds for IDSL, 16.3KB downloads. The
flowpoint 144 modem has been a dream. I have experienced some brief
downtimes related to the DHCP server, however I found spending some time
releasing and renewing my IP usually gets the connection back in a
fairly short amount of time. This has occurred less than ten times
since I started. Twice there were significant periods of no connection,
or no useful connection. In July there was a scheduled period. And
once in August the IDSL was at speeds of approximately .7KB from a
Thursday night until the next Monday morning.
True to other posts in this forum, tech support is a real hassle. I
call them up and tell them about my problem and they say "yep, not
really much you can do about it, we know about it and are working on
it". They also have a tendency to give false information. The
connection was always going to be fixed by the next morning... several
mornings went by.
Also, my bank is changing card numbers on me and I need to change the
card to which my DSL is billed to. I've called three times now, leaving
voicemails, and have yet to successfully change my card over (I am still
in my first three months prepaid, so I haven't even been billed since
the original setup bill). Also, when inquiring as to my webspace, the
guy on the phone gave it to me frankly. He was just in the backup call
center without any real ability to check on that information. _ALL_ of
my tech support messages sent through the bignet.net website which are
supposed to be always answered within 12-24 hours have not been answered
AT ALL.
Overall, service has been fair. Support stinks (I finally gave up on my
dream to get my ISP web space and am paying for a web host) and uptime
is ok overall. After going through troubles with @home, this is nothing
new.
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Review by malbiniak4
Posted: 9.2 years ago
member for 9.2 years, 3 visits, last login: 9.2 years ago
Grand Rapids,Kent,MI
$49 per month (12 month contract)
"Met installation agreement....up and running with little to no hassle."
"HORRID business practices"
"There are too many providers out there to settle for this sort of treatment."
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BigNet is unfortunately following the trend of most big businesses these days. They treat their customers like they are a "dime a dozen." That's fine and dandy until you run into service problems, which with Bignet, you will. One of their servers which dictates your connection (either the gateway or DHCP server, depending) had a bad track record of staying up. In the month I had their service, it was a weekly occurance to be offline for atleast 4 hours, and taht was only the time I was on using it and noticed. If you couldn't figure out the problem on your own and wanted someone else's help, you're flat out of luck. Assuming you even get through (no busy signal), you're likely to sit into the hold que for 2+ hours, then when you do get through, you speak with, well, morons for tech support. It's always your machine, your server, your something. It's not their problem, even though my box repeatedly told me that no DHCP server could be found, it was my problem. Interesting. After a few weeks of that runaround, consistant 40k downloads (I had the 608/128 package, should average atleast 60k), I decided it was time to cancel service. When we attempted to do that, they didn't have an official cancellation department, so we had quite the runaround here as well. They had no professional mannerisms, and in fact, as a last gesture of "we'll show you," they took my modem which COVAD sent me. Its my modem, but they wouldn't cancel my service without it. Fine Bignet, you won, I guess. Well, someother company won my business, but that matters not to you.
Bottom Line, if you don't mind middle of the road connection speeds, an incompetant tech support/customer service office, and just an all around shady operation, go with Bignet. If you expect your ISP to go above and beyond, you should go beyond settling for Bignet.
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Big Net, Inc.
