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Review by nharlotekk 
Posted: 37 days ago
member for 37 days, 3 visits, last login: 14 days ago
 San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
 $32 per month (12 month contract)
 about 20 days
 AT&T
 "Fast when it works"
 "Goes down frequently"
 "Avoid- why pay for service that doesn't work?"
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(ratings well below consensus)
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With a roommate moving out, the decision on which internet service to get fell to me. I took the opportunity to research ISPs on DSLReports- I decided to give DSL extreme a spin based on some of the favorable reviews on this board.
The initial sign-up was painless- a quick call and I thought I was set up- oh how I was wrong....
Apparently, DSL Extreme hooked up DSL service to my old roommates line without checking the name on the line - when I called AT&T to get service switched to my name, AT&T refused because they say they can't switch bill liability with service on the line. I called DSL Extreme and they took 2 days to temporarily unhook service, AT&T took another 3 days to switch the name, and then DSL Extreme took another 2 days to hook up service.
After getting the service going, it only took 2 days to break down- I went to bed one night with the service working - next morning nothing - call DSL extreme and magically 2 hours later it's working- same thing 2 days later, and again the day after that.
Whenever I call DSL Extreme it's always the same story 'must be AT&T's fault'. I sympathize because my interactions with AT&T haven't always been positive, but at the same time, prior to getting DSL Extreme I had AT&T DSL on the same phone jack, using the same cable, the same router, etc with no interruption of service in 3 years. Frankly, if you're a 3rd party provider on AT&T's line and you have vendor issues- IT"S NOT MY PROBLEM. Blaming a 3rd party isn't acceptable.
As I continue to work towards getting my issue solved, DSL Extreme has dispatched an AT&T truck to look at the line (with possible additional charges). I was excited to go with the 'little guy' and I love the fact that DSL Extreme has nice, knowledgeable folks in the US that answer the phone, but at this point I have serious misgivings about my decision. It's the 20th of the month and I have yet to get 3 straight days of uninterrupted service. My other roommate runs a small business out of our home, so we don't really have the option of flaky internet service. As a stopgap, I've had to use a 3G data card as an internet connection and incurred overage as a result.
I'm aware of DSL Extreme's ugly cancellation fee, but at this time I'm seriously considering going for it and getting service that works.
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Review by ubelong2matt
UPDATED: 44 days ago
member for 5.1 years, 24 visits, last login: 44 days ago
Bloomington,Mclean,IL
$24 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
Verizon
"reliability, price, all american staff, easy switch from other DSL ISPs"
"flaky at times, janky phone prompts, uses Verizon's line"
"A good alternative to Verizon with better prices but it's still Verizon since it's their line; expect downtime from VZ."
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(ratings match consensus)
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I have been using DSL Extreme for about 6 months or so, now. It is average in speed to DSL and, for the most part, reliable. My speed is 3mbps down and my package is a mere $25. Not only is their sales staff 100% American, but their technical support and billing support are as well. They've been nothing but great thus far.
My only complaint comes with varying stability. Although they, DSL Extreme, are reliable, the lines in the area are owned by Verizon and work done by them can sometimes disrupt my service. There's also never a warning about this type of work when contacting their tech. support about such outages. I have to talk to someone, inform them of my problem, and eventually they come to the conclusion it is an issue with Verizon performing work in the area.
One particularly annoying event became even more frustrating when DSL Extreme's phone system was undergoing maintenance. Surprisingly, they had no prompt to inform you of this fact and thus, after navigating their phone system, the phone call would be dropped before reaching the tech. support line. I was calling around 2am CST so I suppose I can understand their need to upgrade/fix their phone system at a time with the least amount of traffic.
One great feature is their ability to switch previous DSL services to theirs without any interruption in your DSL. The problem was, however, that for whatever reason, Verizon canceled my subscription after receive notice from DSL Extreme; something they claimed could only be done from the primary account holder. Verizon has yet to claim responsibility for this mess-up. DSL Extreme, on the other hand, was ready to pick up the slack and put a rush on my service-ready date. They quoted me about three days but due to my trouble with Verizon and while using my old DSL modem, we were able to set up my DSL within 1.5 to 2 days and allowing us to keep Verizon canceled.
In conclusion, DSL Extreme is half the price for the same speed with an all American staff and extremely low downtime. I'm glad I made the switch to them as I predict it has saved me a large number of headaches.
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 Review by AtomBubble
UPDATED: 49 days ago
member for 2.3 years, 67 visits, last login: 49 days ago
Escondido,San Diego,CA
$24 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
AT&T
"Relaible connection. May not be super-fast, but it stays at that speed. never slows. Barely any downtime!"
"It's not free"
"Great DSL Choice over local Cox Comm. ( even more now)"
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DSLEx. is awesome, only pay $20 a month, unlike the local Cox I had before, they advertise 7MBps. it's $24.99 a month, and it fluctuated so much, I hardly got more than 250kbps... I may only get that now, but with DSL extreme, it's consistent. Hardly any downtime, once or twice a year! I go months with a steady fast connection thanks to DSLExtreme. About to get satellite TV, gonna dump overpriced Cox Comm.
Update: 8/11:
I've had my line upgrade to the 1500-3000 plan for about a week now, lovin' it, 1000x more speed than the other plan I had mentioned above. Nice and steady, Perfect for a person with one or two computers, and one or two lines of VoIP, (which I have) All run together, but usually one line and one comp at a time.... Much better for multiple VoIP conversations you'd be on the 1500 plan, just enough up for it, and perfect for an avid netter. Man, Only had DSL for about three years since Dial-Up, I'd never go back...... This is perfect and more for all my needs, phone lines and stuff, I'm good and close to the CO, so I have a good connection. Great pricing, wish I could get a dry line so I would pay a bit less for it.... I got a little Broadmax modem that's starting too have trouble keeping sync, losing link too the computer, spontaneously rebooting, I think I may need a new one, If any reps are around, a hand?
Love the service, I especially would like too refer you the ~$24 1500 line.
Update 5/8/08
Had a little more trouble a few weeks ago with my connection, we all agreed that it was the modem. Got a new Dlink modem a few days hater, sent the old one back and chugging along just fine on this new modem. Thanks for the great support, still going fine, had this connection for a good 3 or 4 years now, and it's perfect. Nice job, guys!
Updated 10/8/2009
DSL still works great. Wish the Fiber and ADSL2 services were availible, !(&^*'ing AT&T, I'm stuck at 6 mbit until they get their stuff together. One complaint about DSLx I do have is the modems they include (these Dlinks) are prone to overheating and failing in hot seasons, I have confirmed you can use pretty much any modem on the service, so if I have to get another modem replaced by them, I'm just going to go ahead and buy my own modem. $40 or so twords a modem I can keep forever, not that big of a deal.
Overall, I still like the service, the network is a million times better than AT&T and they dont screw around with filtering stuff like FTP and bittorrent, perfectly legitimate protocols that shouldn't be limited.
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Review by zdwiz
UPDATED: 50 days ago
member for 4.8 years, 113 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
$22 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
AT&T
"Fast Internet Speed. Reliable. Great Tech Support."
"None so far."
"Very Satisfied."
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Hello,
Here is an update of what's been happening so far. I completed my order with DSL Extreme for the 1 year subscription at $19.99/mo. I am switching from AT&T DSL 1500 Kbps / 384 Kbps over to DSL Extreme's 3000 Kbps / 512 Kbps Plan.
Overall, I am very pleased with the transition. I did have to call DSL Extreme Tech Support once to configure my DSL Modem to sync. That went very well; the tech was very helpful and was able to fix the problem in about 10-15 minutes.
Comparing the speeds:
AT&T: 1260 Kbps / 300 Kbps
DSL Extreme : 2479 Kbps / 427 Kbps
However, I think at first my down speed was at 2560 Kbps and then stabilized to around 2479 Kbps. :/
I am very happy with the switch-over to DSL Extreme. I hope that DSL Extreme continue to provide excellent service in the year to come.
Thank you very much
Update: 10/7/09
Not a major problem, but a minor annoyance.
It appears that my down speed has deteriorated to a 2250 Kbps; my up speed is still the same (~415 Kbps).
I hope this does not continue to be a problem in the future.
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Review by Yikes2000
UPDATED: 52 days ago
member for 8.2 years, 2516 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Irvine,Orange,CA
$20 per month (12 month contract)
about 12 days
AT&T
"Fast Activation. Reliable. Great Customer Support."
"Must have patience as DSL service involves another company."
"Best DSL ISP -- nobody is better."
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The SpeedStream 5360 I bought on eBay become unreliable a few months ago. It would stop working once a week - sync light is on, but no traffic can pass through, at which point I must power cycle the modem. I replaced it with the backup SpeedStream provided by DSL Extreme (see my original review).
Lately, latency has becoming a problem for certain servers. DSL Extreme is receptive to my complaints, and is trying to resolve the issue.
========== Previous Review November 2002 ==========
I ordered the service on 10/20/2002 for the 1.5mbps/256kbps plan. The modem (Arescom) arrived three days later on 10/23/2002. Plugged it in, no sync. No big deal since activation was 10/28/2002. Two days later 10/25/2002, got good sync but speed is pathetic at 50kbps down, 250kbps up. Called them up and was told to wait until activation date.
On activation date, the speed is still 50/250. Called them up and was told to call back the next day because they can't open a trouble ticket with PacBell until *AFTER* the activation date. Called back the next day to open the trouble ticket. They scheduled a truck roll with PacBell to check my line. PacBell technician came to my house on the same day and said my in-house wiring "could" be the problem. The next day I ran a dedicated CAT-5 telephone wire from the phone box outside my house to the DSL modem. Speed was unchanged, thus my in-house wiring isn't the problem. Called up DSL Extreme and they agreed to send me another modem.
New modem (BroadMax) arrived next day on 11/1/2002. Plugged it in, good sync. Speed test showed 800kbps/150kbps. Download speed improved, but upload is now 40% slower. It seemed the modem is also sending out "Span-Tree" packets (identified by a free packet-sniffing software). This added extra 50-100ms to packets at random. My guess is that the modem is misconfigured in the PPPoE mode instead of bridge mode.
No matter, at this point, I've read a lot of recommendations for SpeedStream 5360 DSL modems. So I went to eBay and bought one for $60. It works great; speed test showed 1.1mbps/250kbps. Better and cheaper than the $99 DSL Extreme modems. Packet ping is now consistent and reliable. DSL Extreme is replacing the BroadMax with a SpeedStream 5260, which I will use as backup.
Conclusion: good ISP, but buy your own modem elsewhere.
Followup comments:  felixml
join:2003-02-19
Sherman Oaks, CA | Excellent, no questions Totally agree, the best Tech Support around.
Highest recommendation | |
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Review by donvito
UPDATED: 58 days ago
member for 71 days, 3 visits, last login: 58 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$41 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
SBC
"Very reliable and solid connection, knowledgeable tech supports based in the US!"
"Not many I can think of but pricing could be better and competitive."
"If you want solid DSL connection and have tech support staff that are ready to help you."
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• What other options did you consider for broadband
After dropping DSL server with Earthlink in February 2006 (had them for 3 years), and upset with their connection reliability and riduculously priced service I decided to switch to DSL Extreme because of its high ratings shown here on BBR. Initially SBC (now AT&T yahoo) have been convincing me to go with them since they are already providing home phone service but reading reviews about their outsourced tech supports made me nervous because Earthlink also had offshore tech supports.
• What SPEED/package did you order, at what monthly price?
From 2006-2007, I was on 1500/384k plan for $25/month and then my needs for speed went up so I upgraded to the 6000/768k plan which I'm now paying $35/month ($41 w/ dial-up which I carelessly forgot to remove out of my plan). Speed tests consistently show I'm at 5.2Mbps/755k which is acceptable for me since I'm approximately 21,000 feet from the CO.
• How was the order & install process?
I ordered the service online and the installation process was very easy and self explanatory (I guess since I'm technically inclined) but I then used another modem which is a Netscreen 5GT ADSL which also works beautifully with DSL Extreme without any flaws.
• What brand/model was the supplied equipment?
I don't quite remember the brand of the modem supplied, maybe westell? I still have it boxed up in the same package that was shipped to me since I don't want to lose it because it's a leased (free) modem.
• What good or bad experiences most struck you?
No bad experiences ever, maybe just 1-2 times in a whole entire year that DSL connection was offline for a moment due to "planned" maintenances but they were done during late night. DSL Extreme is the best DSL provider I have ever used and will keep using this service and highly recommend to others.
Update 9/30/2009 ~ 12:30am:
I have been noticing my DSL connection dropping and re-connecting every 2-3 minutes. Network Status page on DSLX website only reports customers in Orange County are experiencing problems related to AT&T's network. Will contact a DSLX tech tomorrow.
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 Review by Akuma
UPDATED: 68 days ago
member for 7.2 years, 810 visits, last login: 11 days ago
Fullerton,Orange,CA
$27 per month (12 month contract)
"Reliable network, great communication, good customer service (used to be better), dirt cheap"
"1.8 Mbs is the fastest connection I'll ever have, customer service was much better in the past"
"For a cheap, relatively stable internet connection with decent support DSL Extreme is still the best."
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I've been a loyal DSL Extreme customer since 2002. After 7 years I though I'd get around to reviewing them. Here is the quick and dirty on my DSL Extreme experience:
- The network had its ups and downs in the beginning, but has been relatively stable in the past 5 years
- When there are network problems, they are reported promptly on the network status page and have always been resolved quickly
- Customer service was one of DSL Extreme's best selling points when I signed on but my recent experiences have shown me phone customer service and support is not as good as it used to be
- While they are dirt cheap I wish that higher speeds were available in my area, looks like that will never happen
Bottom line, if you want a cheap reliable connection and are not that interested in speed, DSL Extreme is the company for you.
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 Review by lnphoenix
UPDATED: 77 days ago
member for 8.8 years, 465 visits, last login: 14 days ago
West Covina,Los Angeles,CA
$44 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
"Strong & follow through customer service. The best so far."
"If it is free :)"
"Unbelievable customer service and support"
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I have used DSL before (DirectTV) and cable (Charter Communication) but I have not seen such level of commitment to customer service and support. My activation date is 10/4/04 and it's not working. No sync. Within minutes of posting on dslreports.com, dslextreme suppor personnel (dslx_tech) offered his support on line even to set up a call back because the waiting time is long. To make the story short, a service ticket is generated and Verizon personnel is on my premise the next day to fix the problem. I was not home so I have no idea what was happening and dslx personnel called back later to verify whether my internet was up and running. They have followed through very well as is in a text book case that all service supports from other companies are pale to compare. I give them an A on this.
I did 5 speed tests : 2 through my direct connected at PC and 3 speed tests through my router. They are all at 2.6Mb/650Kb. It is within lower range of my expectation but heck, it is damn better than Charter consistently at 1.6Mb while selling to me at 3Mb. Since I don't work for CBS so my statement is not fake and it is also accurate.
Update 09/09/2009: I'm still a DSL Extreme customer. The review above remains unchanged.
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 Review by houkouonchi
UPDATED: 78 days ago
member for 7.3 years, 2387 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Corona,Riverside,CA
$60 per month
about 35 days
SBC
"5400/540 sustained low pings"
"None"
"Great service for a great price"
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So far the service has been good, the Tech support is great! they are very eager to help and much better than any other company i have been with, DSLextreme has far exceeded my expectations with their willingness to help me with my problems
So far the only downside i can think of is the unstable pings to my own server, but that is a backbone issue with my server, hopefully it will be resolved soon, im getting 5300/540 speeds and 8ms ping to gateway, 9ms ping to some socal servers so it is working great, I will comment on reliabillity as soon as i have the service longer but for now ill leave it not selected, great service!
Update 5/18/04:
No longer getting bad pings to my own server, dslextreme went out of my way to help me with that even though it was the fault of my server's provider, the connection has been great, added a 5 star for connection reliability sense its only gone out about 3 times for a couple hours, all faults of SBC not dslextreme, and when dslextreme has really short outages late at night they tell u about them on their network status page.
Update 6/10.04:
So far service has been exelent just a couple short outages, speed as always has been great, soon im going to switch to a 5660 speedstream modem so i can find out my stats and do some monitoring on them. all in all dslextreme has been a great company to work with.
Update 3/02/05:
Service has countinued to be awesome with aweomse technical support, cant wait until ADSL2+ comes out and i get a 1 or 2 megabit upload =)
Update 9/21/05:
Service countinues to be good. again maybe 1 or 2 short outages (sbc's fault) in the last 6 months. Still waiting for ADSL2+ or fiber.
Update 05/12/2007:
Well it has been a while so I figured I would update my review. I still have DSL extreme and love them as much as ever. They now even give you full access to your reverse DNS (which is handy). I also have charter so i can do multi-wan and the charter is 10meg/1meg but speeds go down to 2 megabits during the peak hours (shows how much charter sucks). Also speeds are generally faster on DSL when downloading from the same server (when its not going over what is capable on the DSL) which shows superior routing. Eepecially since the charter first hop latency is lower yes latency is much higher on charter and much less stable. Anyway DSLExtreme has been great and I doubt I will ever cancel them unless I moved and they were unavailable or FIOS moved in.
Update 07/23/2007:
Well I ordered two additional DSL lines and now can get just over 16 megabits with multi-threaded downloads. DSL Extreme was *Extremely* helpful in making sure my connections were on different subnets for my multi-wan. I work for a webhosting company and your great customer/tech support reminds me of our own =)
Thanks DSL Extreme!
Update 09/09/2009:
Finally canceled DSL Extreme. The line had severely deteriorated along with 3 other DSL lines to the point I was no longer even getting sync. Because U-verse was supposed to be offering 24 meg soon I decided it was finally time for me to switch. The line issue was definitely on ATT's end too. I have a new phone line order that was for today but got bumped to the 16th which I hope I can order DSL Extreme again with the U-verse so I can have my low latency back for gaming.
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Review by Janak_Patela
UPDATED: 86 days ago
member for 86 days, 1 visits, last login: 84 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$25 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"looks cheaper than AT&T"
"needs to keep local phone company,worst annual contract, no service"
"don't get into trap of annual contract"
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Don't get DSL from this company. I switched my DSL line from AT&T to this thinking that I can later on get a better DSL VOIP telephone than my current AT&T line. I signed in for a 12-month contract. There is no warm up period to think, if you want to cancel after 2-3 days (there is early cancellation fee of $250 and it applies from day one). On very first day, their tech support guy was unable to connect to my AT&T modem for >3 hrs, they threaten me that if i cancel, i will get a bill of $250.
Also, now they tell me that they are using AT&T line for DSL so I can not cancel that. I am now stuck for a year with old AT&T telephone line and DSLExtreme after 3 days into contract. So be aware. I will appreciate if some one can show me way out.
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