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Review by hune_money 
UPDATED: 72 days ago
member for 72 days, 0 visits, last login: 72 days ago
 Atlanta,Dekalb,GA
 $59 per month (month by month)
 about 1 days
 AT&T
 "Very Fast, and reliable connectivity for static IP"
 "Still dependent on AT&T physical lines in Georgia"
 "Not as bad as the last outage debacle would lead you to believe"
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I've had Speed Factory static IP for years. It is extremely rare to have an outage, and usually it turns out to be something that AT&T did to cause it whenever it has occurred.
The latest cash flow debacle outage was truly out of character as far as I'm concerned. And probably snowballed as a result of them not having to handle these types of situations as a regular occurrence. I don't think they had the proper communication mechanisms in place.
I can't say if the company is going downhill because of the buyout a few years back, but I can say that I know so little about it because I haven't really had to concern myself.
Although, as a result of recent events they have clearly lost their "intelligence" coefficient in their customer support staff as the phones are now answered by new hires and contract staff. I'm not sure what happened there...
Whatever their internal problems are, it's not affecting me as an end user in general.
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Review by slick1ru23
Posted: 87 days ago
member for 5.1 years, 10 visits, last login: 68 days ago
Marietta,Cobb,GA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
AT&T
"Constant Speed WHEN connected"
"Outages, non-existant communications, parent company financial woos, High Cost"
"AVOID"
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I have had Speed Factory for 5+ years. They used to be a great company, but after being bought 2 years ago things seem to be heading south. The biggest example was a recent 4 day outage and the total lack of any communications from them or their parent company Next Phase during this crisis. As a resutl they have lost a significant number of their customers. Many of us trying to either cancel or get credit for this month, as promised by the parent company CEO have yet to find a way to communicate with the billing department. Emails are going unanswered. I have waited 2 days for a callback after leaving a message with an answering service. AVOID THEM AT ALL COST!
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Review by da3dAlus
UPDATED: 94 days ago
member for 5.5 years, 337 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Duluth,Gwinnett,GA
$40 per month (12 month contract)
BellSouth
"Four years running, and I've never looked back!"
"Only use BellSouth lines."
"If BS.net is your only other choice, give these guys a ring."
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Initially I switched to SpeedFactory after DirecTV DSL went under, and I got a pretty comparable deal as what I had with DTV. Basically a static IP, standard 1.5/768 ADSL (over copper), and no port blocking. Eventually they expanded to the faster 3Mbps service offerings, and I switched immediately. However, after 3 years of fast service over copper, I moved to a home that only had IFITL, so I had to downgrade to the 1Mbps service again (though I can normally get about 1.8/824 out of this connection). I'm quite familiar with networking equipment so I never needed a pro install, but I did have questions about my IFITL setup which were answered fully, honestly, and quickly without any runaround. When it comes to getting a technical answer, these guys don't pull the usual big-telco, script-reading, overseas-phone-answering customer support crap--so that was a big plus. In fact when I had my new service turned on, BellSouth said the line was connected, but there was never a 2nd cable run to the house for IFITL! SpeedFactory techs helped me troubleshoot the problem, and we caught BS in their lie that my line was "provisioned as requested". That said, I've had ZERO problems with SpeedFactory's reliability. Every problem that has caused interrupted service was the result of a fault with BellSouth's equipment. Also I have had ZERO problems with billing or modifying my service (like adding more static IP's), and I've had no surprise charges (once you're on a plan, they just stick to it). If you're in their service area, I would highly recommend them.
[UPDATE - 4/16/2008]
As of today I have switched to another ISP, after a very unprofessional experience with SF. The company suffered a 72 hour outage for all customers without so much as a peep about why, or when service would be restored. The CEO promised a month's free service, but still never explained what happened. The lack of communication in this matter was unforgiveable. If these guys are still in business after this, I would still consider them an alternative to AT&T, but buyer beware.
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Review by lyramisu
UPDATED: 95 days ago
member for 1 year, 18 visits, last login: 44 days ago
Atlanta,Dekalb,GA
$49 per month
AT&T
"Most of the time, I could get online and do what I wanted."
"Customer service abysmal. $350+ billing error. 72+ hour outage with no updates"
"Don't expect to get any kind of communication from the company about anything important."
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Things with Speed Factory started out OK. Connection issues were minimal. It got on my nerves that there was no real 24-hour support. Until recently, they also never changed their outgoing phone message in the event of a massive outage, so reporting such outages and finding out what was going on involved long waits on hold.
In late 2006, Speed Factory had a billing server crash. They lost all of their customers' billing information, and they did nothing whatsoever to inform anyone. I had been paying through automatic payment for my entire 3+ year history with them, and I had just had a salary change at work, so I didn't realize anything was amiss. (Yes, I know this whole incident could have been avoided had I just balanced my checkbook regularly. My financial issues affect only me. Speed Factory's complete inability to safeguard billing information affects all of their customers.)
In May 2007, Speed Factory sent me a bill for more than $300, with no explanation for its amount or how to make arrangements to pay it. When I called, a representative acted as though losing customers' information and taking 7 months to recover it was the most natural thing in the world. They said that I could pay the balance in installments and that they would change me to an invoice system rather than auto pay so that I could arrange for payment each month. I sent an e-mail explaining how frustrated I was with the situation and why I could not understand how they could fail to protect customers' billing information. Speed Factory did not acknowledge it in any way.
The next month, they automatically drafted the amount I had arranged to pay from my checking account without my permission. Then they sent me account past-due notices. I called again to ask was going on, and a particularly inarticulate, unhelpful representative explained that it must have been some kind of miscommunication. She also explained that they won't simply bill customers and allow you to pay by the due date -- you have to tell them in advance when you will be calling to pay your bill. (There's no option for online payment, so it has to be done by phone.)
I sent a second e-mail describing the situation again and expressing my disgust with their complete lack of fiduciary responsibility regarding customers' financial information. I also asked why customers trying to pay huge bills caused by Speed Factory's error were being penalized by not simply being allowed to pay their bills like normal people. SpeedFactory has neither acknowledged nor responded to that e-mail, either.
Don't go with Speed Factory. A company that can't back up its customers' billing information also can't protect that information from misuse.
Edit on July 4, 2007: Speed Factory is now charging me late fees for the past-due amount, in spite of me making arrangements to pay it, and in spite of the huge past-due balance being the result of their inability to bill customers appropriately.
Edit on July 10, 2007: I spoke to the new operations manager yesterday to settle the rest of the $200+ Speed Factory was billing me for, and to say that I would not be paying their late fee since the fee was only there because of their mistake. The operations manager agreed and told me that the person who had handled the huge database failure had been replaced, as had some of the reps I talked to. I'm still wary, though.
Update on April 15, 2008: Speed Factory had a massive service outage that lasted more than 72 hours beginning on Friday, April 11 at around 10:00 a.m. Anyone trying to call to figure out what was wrong was given an "All circuits are busy" message for that entire time. The Web site offered no insight into what was going on. People began to suspect that the company had gone bankrupt or otherwise closed its doors. An apology, but no explanation, finally came on Monday, April 14, after the network was restored.
This lack of communication, including the inability to even give callers a stock outgoing message explaining the situation, is unacceptable. This is especially true considering that they already had experience with equipment failure that dramatically affected customers. I have already been provisioned with a new provider and will be canceling my Speed Factory service as soon as I have confirmed that all my e-mail addresses have been switched to my new one. I do not recommend that anyone use Speed Factory as an ISP, ever.
Followup comments:  
NP WIRE
@comcast.net
| Post for SpeedFactory CLosed??? What happened to the Press Release from NP Wireless dated April 12th regarding closing its SF operations????
It was posted on website just before outage, now I can't find it on the web.
Are they closing or open?
What was the real outage???? FIre everyone?????? Noone knew how to redirect the equipment when Paetec took the IP line down??? | |
| | lyramisu
join:2007-06-30
Atlanta, GA
 ·Atlantic Nexus
·Speed Factory
| Re: Post for SpeedFactory CLosed??? The release wasn't about Speed Factory closing its doors. If you search Google for "speedfactory closed," you can still find the press release. But it's not about shutting down a business at all. It's a press release from April 12 2006, not April 12 2008, and it announces NextPhase Wireless closing their deal to acquire Speed Factory.
They haven't made any real information public about exactly what happened, but the prevailing theories involve massive hardware failure or massive failure to pay an upstream provider. Either way...massive failure.
If they plan to cease operations, there hasn't been a formal announcement saying so. But at the same time, based on traffic on this forum, it seems that the company has lost lots of loyal customers, which might make staying in business difficult, especially considering the most recent SEC filings indicating that NextPhase Wireless is running at a loss. | |
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Review by bmacleod
UPDATED: 96 days ago
member for 3.8 years, 11 visits, last login: 96 days ago
Decatur,Dekalb,GA
$54 per month (12 month contract)
about 4 days
BellSouth
"FORMERLY: static IP & servers, fast install, fast lookups"
"Lack of communication (services and support)"
"Out with you d*mned spot!"
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I ordered SpeedFactory's 1.5/256 service at $49.95 plus $5.00 for static IP (so I can have my servers). The ordering process was a bit cumbersome, with having to print off the PDF and then fax the order form. Despite that, the service was activate within 4 days, and to be honest, 2 business days since I ordered late on a Friday night, and had service running on Tuesday. It may have been active as early as Monday night (11pm), as the BellSouth line went dead then, but I didn't play with I already possessed a DSL router (Cayman 3220H), so no equipment needed to be sent, speeding up the process. My service is provided over PPPoE, which I wasn't as happy with, especially since my bandwidth is a little less than what I had with BellSouth using PPPoA. This is made up for by the quick response of their DNS servers, and news service feels pretty snappy to me.
2008-04-14
What can I say? No connectivity for days, and nary a word from them until today, and even then, a very useless message (more or less: we're working on it). I'm sorry, but if you don't feel it is worth communicating with your customers, then they should choose to communicate using you. Goodbye SF.
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Review by gatorman
UPDATED: 154 days ago
member for 181 days, 0 visits, last login: 181 days ago
Marietta,Cobb,GA
$42 per month
about 14 days
"None"
"Downtime"
"Good provider gone bad"
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Speedfactory has gone from being a goo provider to very bad and unreliable.
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Review by TrippinEx
Posted: 170 days ago
member for 196 days, 11 visits, last login: 142 days ago
Atlanta,Fulton,GA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
"No port filtering"
"Continuous connectivity issues"
"Stay away"
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Initially switched from Bellsouth.net (now AT&T) because it appeared that Bellsouth.net enabled some sort of port filtering. Went with Speedfactory at a friend's suggestion. Reliablity was good the first year, but reliability has go down hill for the last 6 months. Don't waste your time with them.
I've already signed up with a new ISP to try my luck elsewhere. Turns out I got a cheaper rate at the same time.
Just waiting to see if Speedfactory will screw up and continue charging me even though I no longer have service with them.
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Review by cgulliver
UPDATED: 237 days ago
member for 253 days, 19 visits, last login: 70 days ago
Atlanta,Fulton,GA
$49 per month
about 5 days
BellSouth
"Once a great ISP, Smooth Install, Static IP, Run Personal Server"
"Support lacking, Some outages"
"Good when they are on thier game..."
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Well it's been 5+ years and looks like it may be time to move on from SF. For the first few years SF was amazingly reliable and fast. The support was not stellar but I didn't mind because I am tech savvy. My main concern was speed and reliability and SF delivered consistently. I also loved being able to use my own Cisco Router and host a server out of my home.
However, over the last year or so, SF has gone downhill. There have been frequent outages, poor performance and horrible customer service. On top of that, their billing system crashed and they did not notify me (I had automatic credit card pay set up) ... 5 months later I got a bill for $400+ dollars and a threat that my service would be canceled if I did not pay in full immediately. I called them and they said that I could just double my payment until I was caught up "no problem". So I paid double and am now caught up but they continuously sent me email threats that my service would be shut off and even had a collections agency send me snail mail.
Followup comments: tg3650
Premium
join:2004-07-05
Flowery Branch, GA
| Slow SF Speeds This Week FWIW, I have had slow speeds, too--out of an advertised 1.5m/256k, I was getting more like 500k/175k earlier this week. However, things are back to normal now. A friend on BellSouth was having troubles at the same time I was, which could've been completely unrelated or could mean something systemic was amiss. | |
| phaqu
join:2005-05-26
Marietta, GA | One word... (ok actually two) Atlantic Nexus..........Call them,talk to them, order their service, never look back again. | |
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Review by indianajohn
Posted: 256 days ago
member for 256 days, 0 visits, last login: 256 days ago
Newnan,Coweta,GA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
AT&T
"Free to do what I please on the web: running your own mail server is unheard of on other ISP's"
"Cannot think of any"
"Swich to Speed Factory!!"
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Frusterated with the "Big 3" (Comcast, Charter, AT&T), I decided to give a regional ISP a try. Being that I was in the market for a connection which I could run my own servers off of, access my machine from work, etc, I opted for Speed Factory. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised!!!
Time from order to install was just 2 days. When I called to place the order, the phone rang right to someone who answered right away. The longest I have ever had to wait for a rep has always beel less than 2 minutes, if even that. Speed Factory ran my phone number, and I qualififed for the 3Mbx384Kb package (they call it SpeedHome Platinum) at 49.95 per month. With the static IP I finally had a connection I could truly run my servers off of, without having to rely Dynamic DNS providers.
After install, I ran both my Charter connection, and my Speed Factory connection, side by side so I could tun comparisons before dropping my cable line altogether. The difference was surprising. Traceroutes to the first hop on my CABLE line were 40ms plus. DSL line: Less than 7ms!!! My download speeds are always consistent, 360KB plus. On my cable connection, thisvaried from slow to fast spurts every now and then. I never understaood the inconsistency with cable, but do not care now.
With ping times less than 10ms, my online gaming has drasticlly imrpoved as well. With those kinds of ping times, lag has been a non-issue, provided I choose a server within the western world. The connection is also very responsive. You click a link, and you are there before you even think about blinking.
I finally let the cable connection go after several days of testing, and have not looked back since. I look forward to even faster downloads with DSL, and enjoy the better "peace of mind" of not sharing my connection as I did with cable. The Email control Speed Factory offers also have been perfect in allowing me to ensure my kids email come from only people they (and I) know.
Followup comments: jameswade
join:2001-12-09
Hot Springs, NC | You may want to check other reviews before switching... Many of us have had significant problems in the last nine months or so with Speedfactory. You may want to check around before just trusting this review to be representative... | |
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Review by jameswade
UPDATED: 300 days ago
member for 6.6 years, 1439 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Atlanta,Fulton,GA
$59 per month (12 month contract)
about 4 days
BellSouth
"Used to be a good Internet service provider"
"Still charging me even though I've written mail to stop their service"
"Try BellSouth, they've improved while Speedfactory has gone downhill"
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Just received another bill from these guys - they don't pay attention. I notified them via mail well over a month ago that I was leaving them. I moved to another ISP weeks ago and they're still billing me!
Stay away from Speedfactory!
Well I've used these guys for several years, but they've been getting steadily worse in the last year:
Reliability - Our home and business lines (in three separate locations) intermittently stop working. These problems used to be with BellSouth (they provide the Internet acces to Speedfactory), but now there are server and NIC problems within Speedfactory.
Support - The only way that we've received any sort of decent support is that we know someone that knows someone that works at Speedfactory. IF we get an answer when we call we have to deal with rude and/or clueless people. Finally Speedfactory marked our account as "Knowledgeable Users", but that doesn't help if the "support" person cannot access our account, as was the case this morning when the "support" person insisted on walking us through resetting our DSL transceivers and PCs. (To no avail)
It's been an hour and a half now since we discovered all of this wasn't working and still don't have a call back from them.
The support page on their web site always gives you the same "temporary (sic) down" error message. It's been this way as long as I can remember.
I've had to use my cell phone to get on line, but that doesn't help the business locations...
BellSouth is now offering naked DSL, we're moving to them - we will double our bandwidth and save around $40/per month.
After dealing with Covad and different Covad-based ISPs the four days to connect is amazing. This maybe isn't Covad's fault, but the fact that Bellsouth seems to put up delays for other service providers over Bellsouth's lines.
These guys are based in the Atlanta area and provide Internet access for our small business. One of our people does a lot of business with Speedfactory so it's a little easier for us to call someone if regular support isn't handling things well enough.
I am getting what I expect for bit rates, almost 3 Mbit down and 384 up. I don't use any supplied services like email addresses, usenet, etc. I wanted the highest speed that I could get for VPN. This account came with one static IP. Two months were free if you used your own DSL transceiver, one month free if they sent you one.
I received a SpeedStream DSL transceiver with directions for connecting it, but no directions with the transceiver for configuring the PC side of things. I called and was told that the directions were emailed to me . I had to get a different connection to the Internet, bring up the email and download an attachment called 'WinXP_PPPoE' that told me how to set up a connection to my PC.
I had no intentions of doing this since I have a wireless router. This would have been very confusing for a novice, I have quite a bit of experience, but I still didn't know what kind of connection I was going to get. It was PPPoE. It would be better to have more information packed with the DSL transceiver.
I had asked for some information from Speedfactory a few months ago, but just got back canned responses. If I didn't have other methods of getting in touch with these guys I would have dropped them from consideration after that.
They have taken good care of us with our business account and I expect that my home service will be fine too, but I feel better knowing that I have other ways to get support issues taken care of than Speedfactoy's regular support. It's still early yet, maybe my experiences so far are not the norm.
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