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Review by qworster 
UPDATED: 109 days ago
member for 8 years, 2919 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
 $35 per month (12 month contract)
 about 11 days
 AT&T
 "It seems to work just fine."
 "Read below"
 "Great value for the $$ and they really try to help!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
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Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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UPDATE:8/9/2009.
I moved from Hollywood to Mid Wilshire this month. One of the first things I did was order phone service. The next thing I did was order DSL from DSL Extreme.
Why? Because in 19 months their service never went down. Ever.
Though I only moved about 1.6 miles, the move resulted in my being in a new phone office (Vermont Ave). It also meant that I could get 6000/768 DSL service from DSLX. Since I wanted seamless Internet, DSLX agreed to overlap my DSLs, and I took a Speedstream DSL modem I bought on ebay, configured it as a bridge and hooked it up at my new house.
My DSL due date was Tuesday-yet I found the DSL operational the Sunday evening before. Initial speed teats showed download speeds of over 5000 and uploads of 670 kbps.
After I moved, I installed the D Link DSL modem provided by DSLX at my old house over here. The next few days were spent moving, cleaning and unpacking.
Then I did another speed test-and found my download speed had dropped to 3400-not good. I posted in the DSLX forum here and then realized that the 'good' speeds were when I was using the Speedstream modem. I put it back in and back they came  .
6000/768 DSL with 5 dynamic IP addresses and full newsgroups for 35 bucks a month is a very good deal.
I recently moved to Hollywood and decided to get DSL Extreme DSL. I live exactly one mile from the AT&T phone office on Gower Street and based upon that assumed that I would qualify for the 6000/768 DSL package. I ordered online and then ran smack dab into DSL's biggest problem-inconsistency! There are two lines at my house (the old tenant had two phone lines). Apparently, one line's wires will support the 6000 speed DSL, while the other will only support the slower 3000/512 speeds.
Guess which line AT&T put my telephone on?
Now remember, BOTH lines go from point A (the phone office) to point B (my house), yet one line measures TWICE AS LONG as the other one!
THIS is the inconsistency I speak of...where you live has NOTHING to do with whether you can get the DSL speeds you want. It's a complete crap shoot!
What happens is that some phone lines have what is called "bridge tap".
This is unused wire that is connected across your line. For example, I live off of Sunset Blvd. My phone wire likely runs down Sunset far past my block, and my street is tapped across it. The extra wire that runs down Sunset is connected to nothing on its other end, and it serves to make my line electrically longer then it is physically.
Thus, the line they used measures at 10,000 feet in length, while the other line (which must be a direct run) measures exactly one mile (5300 feet). One is electrically twice as long as the other, yet they both go to the same place!
The bridge tap could be removed by cutting away the excess wire on Sunset where it passes my block, but only if the phone company (AT&T) was motivated to do so. In this case they aren't-so I'm screwed!
In fairness to DSL Extreme, this is an AT&T issue, not a DSL Extreme one....and they (DSL Extreme) did try and work things out. In fact, I believe they were as upset about how things turned out as I was.
Once I decided to go with the 3000/512 service, things went considerably smoother. The self install kit came three days later and the setup was a breeze! The self install kit with a DSL modem and filters arrived and I was online five minutes later!
I'm keeping the DSL Extreme 3000/512 line (which has decent speeds of 2680/460 on average) and 5 dynamic IP addresses. Unfortunately, I need more upload speed then 460 (I work for a streaming audio company at home), so I had considered getting dry line 6000/768 DSL from AT&T (DSL Extreme can not offer it yet).
Then Time Warner cable sent me a letter offering 10,000/1000 cable Internet for 39.95 a month-a dollar more then the DSL would have cost. I went down to the Time Warner office two miles away, picked up a cable modem and self install kit, brought it home and was online 15 minutes later. Speeds are running 9700/960.
This experience gave me the chance to do a side by side comparison of DSL and cable Internet. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
In my particular experience, cable was also a breeze. I decided that I wanted cable Internet at 2 PM and had it working before 3 PM. Of course, I had cable in my apartment already. If I hadn't, I'd have to have waited a few days. I'm getting the speeds that I wanted and they advertised, though again this is my experience-I know that others aren't as good.
DSL took a bit longer-it took a few days for them to test the line (and turn down the 6000/768 speed). Once I decided to take the 3000/512 one, it took a few days more to get the modem. I had to pay for the modem's shipping (getting the cable modem only cost me a bit of gas and time). I probably could have shaved a couple days time off the DSL by using my own DSL modem, but decided against that.
Once the DSL modem came, self installation was a breeze-and I was online literally five minutes later. I'm getting the speeds I expect (DSL typically runs 75-80% of what the advertised speeds are, due to overhead).
Both seem to have similar ping times-about 25 ms. Both work well with my Vonage VOIP. DSL Extreme offers 5 dynamic IP addresses, while cable only has one-but with a cable/DSL router this doesn't matter as much as it used to.
Which one is better? In my opinion, neither-or both! Both work as advertised. Both set up fairly easy. One is less of a crap shoot (cable), but that's a telco issue, NOT a DSL Extreme one.
I guess time will tell if one is more reliable then the other....but right now I could be happy with either one (just a bit happier with the faster DSL though).
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Review by det427
UPDATED: 114 days ago
member for 5.8 years, 1719 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Santa Rosa,Sonoma,CA
$62 per month (12 month contract)
about 16 days
AT&T
"Great service and support!"
"A little slow in getting upgraded to 6000 k/s service"
"Great ISP!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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(ratings match consensus)
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I saw the link to DSL Extreme 6000 k/s web page in a Sonic.net newsgroup (my old ISP).
The price was only $2.00 extra ($59.95 plus the Federal Universal Service Fund charge) for 4 times the speed!
The thing that convinced me to change was the "Lifetime Price Freeze".
Sonic and SBC has a price leader for one year then reverts to a higher price.
I want the price to remain the same!
I ordered on Jan. 15 and was seamlessly transferred with an ISP Change Order on Jan. 31 with no downtime!
I just put in my new static ip and was surfing the net.
The only problem was getting upgraded to the 6000 k/s service (was transferred at my original 1500 k/s).
It took a couple of calls and emails to get it going.
I figured since this was a promotion period it was pretty hectic for DSL Extreme.
I might have fallen through the cracks.
It took me three weeks to finally be upgraded.
The phone support varied from 15 - 45 minutes based on what time of day I called.
I learned about DSL Extreme having their own forum on BBR.
I learned how to use DSLX's forum to "instant message" (IM) support.
The forum is all I use now for support!
The support on DSLX's forum is excellent!
I did get upgraded to the 6000 k/s service a day earlier than what was on the Order Status Page.
I "IM"ed George, the GM of DSLX, to change my router profile from 1500 k/s to 6000k/s.
He changed it in less than 30 minutes!
Since I was at the 1500 k/s for three weeks I asked George if I could be prorated at the price of the 1500 k/s service.
He said no problem and was done in a matter of hours!
My speed is constant too!!
At Sonic my speed was all over the place (90 to 120 K/s)
Sonic thought the problem was at my end.
I just have one desktop computer, a SpeedStream 5360 DSL Bridge, and no router: nice and simple.
I did not know what the problem was until I came to DSLX.
I am on a Remote Terminal.
Toaster2K, a SBC tech, said when I transfer to a new ISP I get reprofiled and rerouted.
I found out that both the backbone provider, SBC and the ISP, DSLX, both have to profile me on their respective routers especially if I am on an RT.
Apparently, at the time, Sonic did not know to do this on their routers.
That is why my speed was all over the place.
Sonic has since corrected this.
DSLX already knew what to do.
My speed is rock solid at 5+ mbs down and ~520 k/s up!
I wanted to wait a few weeks to see if my speed would stay consistent before writing a review.
It has with no problems!
I would highly recommend DSLX to anyone and have done so myself!
Great job DSLX and thanks for solving my erratic speed problem!
det427
12-04-05
I downgraded my service to 1500/384 kbs dynamic connection a few months ago to save some money since I do not do a lot of downloading anymore.
It was a little slow for my taste.
I upgraded to 3000/512 kbs dynamic connection shortly after.
This throughput is just right for my habits.
DSLX had a problem with a Northern California router around a month ago.
On the first boot of the day my dsl bridge would not grab an IP.
I had to either reboot or do a command prompt to get a connection.
DSLX, through this forum, found out the problem in a timely manner.
I am thoroughly satisfied with the service and support.
I have recommended many people and will continue to do so.
Thanks, DSLX!
5-19-2006
I upgraded back to a static connection earlier this year. Sometimes the DHCP connection would take a while to connect. I guess I was spoiled to an instant connection! I was on the DHCP connection for less than a year. Since the price of a static connection was only a few dollars a part from the 3000 kbs to the 6000 kbs throughput I opted to go back to the 6000 kbs static connection I originally had. Just a few days ago, I upgraded my connection to the 6000/768 kbs static service. Thanks to a few outspoken DSLX forum members and DSLX's management listening to their customers the static price dropped $10.00 and the upload increased! Once again DSLX comes through again! Thanks DSLX!
6-23-2007
I was having trouble sending email through Outlook Express but could send it through web mail. I posted the problem on DSLX's Forum on a Sunday. I must have gotten "buried" under more important issues because I had to post a "what's up" a few days later. George, the GM, got involved and had it fixed it in a relatively short time. He stated it was probably the IP block wasn't properly configured in the mail server to relay mail. I appreciate the feedback. I also changed from a static ip to a dynamic ip via DHCP on a month to month basis with the same throughput (6016/768 kbs). I am trying to save a few dollars per month. So far, except for the recent Northern California outage, no problems. Thanks DSLX again!
1-04-2008
No problems, just chugging along! My only gripe is I wish AT&T would offer higher throughput to DSL Extreme. I found out I could get Uverse but with only a little higher upload it is not worth it since I get good customer support from DSLX!
5-02-2008
Still working great! AT&T Uverse has a 10 Mbps download now. I wish they would pass this along to DSLX!
8-04-2009
Everything smooth sailing! Just wish AT&T would share some Uverse bandwidth with DSLX!
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 Review by MsGeek
UPDATED: 114 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 647 visits, last login: 76 days ago
Panorama City,Los Angeles,CA
$20 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
Verizon
"Aww yeah! Worked right as soon as I plugged the x-over cable in!"
"None yet"
"Still made of awesome after all these years...been rockin' this line since 2002!"
| Pre Sales information:
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This was a smooth ride for sure. Back when I had DSL last time around I only got 384/128 on a 768/128 line. Now I realize the problem wasn't with Verizon (GTE then) or the stars or my antiquated phone wiring...the problem was my ISP, the late, unlamented Flashcom.
Don't be afraid of the self-install, folks, because it is smooth. Just plug the filters into your phone line and you are golden. The filters actually *improve* your telephone service, oddly enough. I wound up buying a 50' crossover cable because the modem's in the kitchen and the computers are all in the living room.
Not much else to add...it seems sweet so far. Thumbs up! Bye bye Adelphia!
*** updated 6/21/2002 ****
Summertime (Solstice was 6am today) and the DSL's easy...what is striking about all the measurements I have taken so far is how consistent they are. Here's the current measurements:
2002-06-21 11:56:39 Speed test (wc) 733/134 kbps
2002-06-20 11:42:22 Speed test (wc) 735/134 kbps
2002-06-19 10:46:17 Speed test (wc) 735/137 kbps
2002-06-19 01:27:56 Speed test (wc) 735/135 kbps
2002-06-18 16:39:25 Speed test (wc) 727/134 kbps
2002-06-18 16:07:05 Speed test (wc) 730/133 kbps
Every measurement is within a few bits of each other. Very cool. So far no outages. I am very happy now. This is how Broadband SHOULD be.
*** Update 7/9/2002 ***
Rock solid. No outages, and I'm at the 4 week mark. Almost a month of solid, always-on service. The range for downloads is between 727-735Kbps, the range for uploads is between 133-137Kbps. About a 5 bit deviation on both sides. It's very dramatic when you look at it on a graph...you have one line that almost never moves for uploads and another that almost never moves for downloads.
This is fantastic.
*** Update 3/13/2003 ***
A couple of days ago I had my first modem reset. Took me out of commission for only about 10 minutes. Remember, I have had my DSLExtreme since June 2002. Considering that in the bad old days with Adelphia Powerlink I would have to manually powercycle the modem about 4-6 times a day to maintain my connection.
For all you gamers...I have started playing Unreal Tournament on a regular basis on a friend's private server. Who has the best ping times? Me with my DSLExtreme, that's who! My gaming buddies are all either in the midst of changing over to DSLExtreme or are pondering it. I've not played on the DSLE public server as yet, but it's good to know that DSLExtreme is a gaming-friendly ISP.
I feel for the people up North...I hope things get ironed out soon. I think that for those who are having problems, considering moving up to a static IP is a good idea. Much simpler setup, less to go wrong. PPPoE is a hideous kludge. A static IP is very nice, provided you take the proper precautions about security.
I'm still getting roughly 730/128. It's lovely to be able to rely on my connection. Thank you DSLExtreme...you guys rock.
*** Update 12/13/2003 ***
Still rock solid, still 730/128.
Helped a friend get the DSL Extreme hookup...she has a Mac running OS X.3 (Panther) and she opted for PPPoE through SBC. What do you know? It was cake to set her up, and the connection is rock solid. I think it's faster than mine...I tried getting 1.5Mbps but the interior and exterior wiring in this '50s-vintage apartment building is only reliable at a 768Kbps rating. She's about two blocks from her CO too...lucky grrl...
*** Update Leap Year Day 2004 (2/29/2004) ***
DSL Extreme STILL r0x0rz my b0x0rz. It's been over one and a half years of solid service and solid speed tests at 730/128. Only one significant outage in all that time. I just tweaked my category ratings to give them a solid 5 out of 5 across the board...they deserve it. So far my friend Kara is happy too...no complaints, and I would think she would have complained to me if there had been a problem. All my buds in Santa Barbara are DSLX customers now too except for the one who's too far from the CO to get service. With almost everyone on the same system, net gaming is really, really nice. I will stay with DSLX until they either wrench the DSL modem from my cold, dead hands, or if I move and find myself too far from the CO. DSLX forever!!! w00t!!!
*** Update 5/25/2005 ***
I just got speedbumped to 1.5Mbps...my real speed is 1.3Mbps. Considering the Jurassic wiring in this building, it might or might not be stable at that speed, but we're giving it a try. One thing that hasn't changed has been the superkewl DSLX service. I have had zero complaints, in all the time I've had DSL with them, with their people. I'll update this in a week or two with how I'm doing with the speedbump. Oh yeah, last year my upstream speed was increased to 384Kbps, which is great.
***Update 6/3/2005***
Speedbump still holding strong. Average tested speed is around 1.25Mbps. I am a happy camper.
***Update 11/23/2005***
Still very comfortably at 1.25Mbps down, 384 up. No burps lately. Last month I got yet another friend to come over to DSLX. He's happy. I'm happy. We're all happy.
***Update 1/14/2006***
My Broadmax modem sang its death song at roughly 9:45 pm last night, Friday the 13th. But DSLX didn't let me jones too long. I was able to pick up a replacement modem today and now I'm back online. Haven't tested the speed yet but it feels like normal. DSLX still rules.
***Update 7/18/2006***
It's been over 4 years and I'm still a happy camper. I'm going to be downgrading to 768/128 again because of cost-of-living issues and I'll update again when that goes live. It is so great to just turn on the old computer and the connection is right there and reliable. I had a few qualms when the sale went through, but DSLX is the "same as it ever was" to quote David Byrne. Long live DSLX!!!
***Update 7/24/2006***
OK, just an update for all you happy people. I did the downgrade and as NASA says, "all systems are nominal" It required a little bit of configuration on DSLX's end, and that was done in a couple of minutes.
dslreports.com speed test result on 2006-07-24 11:55:14 EST:
631 / 132
Your download speed : 631 kbps or 78.9 KB/sec.
That is 72.5% worse than an average user on dslextreme.com
Your upload speed : 132 kbps or 16.6 KB/sec.
That is 67.1% worse than an average user on dslextreme.com
So yeah, this is what I'm supposed to have under this new plan. Kudos to everyone from dslx_gm on down for helping me through the downgrade.
**** update 6/6/2008 ****
Still as smooth as silk...I've reupped with them and did so happily. The change in ownership hasn't made DSLX jump the shark...they are still wisely avoiding such a stunt.
Take my DSLX? From my cold dead hands!!!
*** update 8/3/2009 ***
As you recall, the maximum speed I can get on this old garbage wiring is 1.25Mbps. VZ last year bumped the tier I was on to 1000Kbps/384Kbps. This of course happened AFTER I had reupped, so I had to wait a while. My contract came up, and now I am on the new speed profile. It still seems like I'm ramping up so I'm not going to judge right now but my upload speeds are already close to 384Kbps, and my down speed is almost 900Kbps.
7 years of good luck. Who can ask for anything more? I know some people have been frustrated with DSLX but I have had nothing but smooth sailing. I'll be with them for life, I think.
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Review by Taxman
UPDATED: 117 days ago
member for 270 days, 38 visits, last login: 2 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$34 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
AT&T
"Great service. And reliability for three years."
"...Encountered a small problem during the upgrade"
"I think just be patient and they will take care of you"
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I had a several small hiccup with dslextreme during my upgrade from 3MBPS to 6MBPS, but i would say it was taken care of pretty fast. Faster turnaround time than earthlink or at&t..and their customer service was great (including george). Seems to be 100% american and good..But I guess experience will vary.
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Review by boaterdd
Posted: 120 days ago
member for 120 days, 2 visits, last login: 73 days ago
Los Gatos,Santa Clara,CA
 Business customer
$60 per month (24 month contract)
about 7 days
Verizon
"slow they just canceled static ips and cut off service 6 days early"
"Dont use them"
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(ratings well below consensus)
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slow they just canceled static ips and cut off service 6 days early to my business I am on auto pay so the bill is up to date it really cost me a lot of money I am trying to decide if I am going to sue them.
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Review by Oedipus
UPDATED: 121 days ago
member for 4.5 years, 749 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Clovis,Fresno,CA
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
"Great pricing, killer service"
"AT&T"
"Couldn't be happier"
| Pre Sales information:
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I have two DSL lines in my home; one is from AT&T directly and is synced at 768/384, while the other is from DSLX and is synced at 6016/768. As I discussed in my AT&T review, the line is topped out at the current speed because of the bad line readings on that pair. I decided that it would be wise to get DSL for my other phone line as well, in order to spread the load out and allow myself to multi-task a little bit. 80KBps down doesn't get you very far anymore!
So, I decided to try out the folks at DSLX, whom I had wanted to use since 2005. I ordered the 1.5/384 package, knowing that it would likely be as good as I could manage with my distance from the CO (14k feet, according to David in ATT Direct). I ordered on a Friday and it was to be active the following Friday. On Wednesday, the DSL light on my 2wire went from red to green and I was flying (so to speak) at 1.5/384. I decided to look at my line readings, which on my AT&T line are just horrible. I was ecstatic to see that my DSLX readings are better than almost any other readings that I have seen on BBR, and they were more than good enough to support the 6016/768k package. In fact, my reported max rate was pushing 10000k down and 1200 up. I don't know how this is possible, since my ATT line max rates at 1200/700, but I decided to go for the upgrade to the 6016 package anyway.
Once again, I ordered on a Friday and the activation date wasn't to be for another week. That week came and went, with no change in my sync rates. I waited for several more days to no avail, so I opened a ticket with DSLX. A few days later, I got a call on my cell and home number from a clearly non-foreign tech support guy from DSLX. He informed me that ATT sprung up some kind of error when they tried to push the upgrade, which I am not surprised about because of the poor capabilities of my other line. I believe that ATT didn't want to do the upgrade because of what their database said about my address, but regardless of the reason DSLX pressed on and told me that they would give me a call with an update.
Several moons later, no call, no update to my ticket, nothing. I know that Zak and George and the rest of the crew in the DSLX forums would be able to help me, but my ticket was still open so I decided to wait. It's now Monday, December 22, and I am now synced at 6016/768 with no issues.
While their correspondence with me has been touch-and-go, they did get things done for me and I am very impressed. This is a company that I am proud to support.
Edit- Speak of the devil, just got a follow up call. Keep up the good work, guys.
Update 2-5-09: Service is proving to be bulletproof. Pings to some BF2 servers in CA are less than 10ms, which is less than a third of what my interleaved line pings the DSLAM at. Speed never wavers outside of 5000-5200 / 620-650, and it has been put through it's paces at all hours of the day with no hesitation. I'm very pleased.
Update 7-28-09: Nothing new to report. The line has been used to its potential over the past few months and there have been no hiccups or threatening letters. Speed is identical no matter what time of day and pings continue to be excellent.
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Review by Test99
UPDATED: 126 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 3881 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Los Gatos,Santa Clara,CA
$31 per month
about 7 days
Verizon
"Senior technical support is superb."
"After the initial contract period, the month-to-month price is higher."
"Reliable service with multiple IP addresses."
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There have been no known service interruptions in the year I have had DSLExtreme broadband.
I occasionally trade video files with customers, so the ten 25-megabyte web/FTP sites are much too small to be useful. I have to maintain a 250-megabyte site with another provider. The limit on the size of email attachments (10 megabytes, I think) has occasionally caused real inconvenience.
Converting to dry loop DSL was a miserable experience. See this thread for details: »Northern California Verizon Dry Loop . But that was the fault of the ILEC, not DSLExtreme.
At the end of the initial contract period, other ISPs I have used let me continue on a month-to-month basis for the same monthly rate. DSLExtreme requires either a new one-year commitment or charges a higher month-to-month rate. I will probably move within the next year, so a new one-year contract is not an option. The rate increase after one year does not seem reasonable. I compensated by downgrading to a lower speed.
Customer support is conscientious about resolving problems. First-line technical support is usually OK. Support by senior staff is superb. Support through the DSLExtreme BBR forum is a model for the industry. It would be great if more companies provided this kind of support.
Update 2008 November 29: when the underlying CLEC (Verizon) offered a speed increase at no extra charge (possibly in response to competition from Comcast), DSLExtreme promptly offered the speed increase, also at no extra charge. The upgrade was painless: service was interrupted after midnight for just a few minutes.
Update
Service has not worked from June 24, when I transitioned to PPPOE, as mandated by DSLExtreme, to the present (July 23).
After many attempts at contact with customer support, I finally learned the correct user ID to use for PPPOE on July 21.
On July 22, with cancellation pending, I finally had a productive troubleshooting session with a support person. His recommendations:
- If I want to use my Windows 2000 computer as a router, download additional software to support PPPOE.
- If I want to use my Windows 7 computer as a router (and I do), download additional software to hopefully fix problems with support of PPPOE.
- Alternatively, buy a hardware router.
I do a lot of VOIP testing. The last two routers I used actually crashed when presented with incoming IP-dialed calls. So finding a suitable router for my work is a non-trivial assignment. That's why I originally chose DSLExtreme's 5-IP service.
I did not request the transition to PPPOE. It was mandated by DSLExtreme. So I hoped DSLExtreme would be proactive in smoothing the transition. That did not happen. Customer support seemed unclear about why I had requested the change and what kind of service I had. One thought I had regular DSL, another thought I had fiber. (I have dry DSL.)
The Transition to PPPOE was basically left to me to manage. But my workload is much too heavy to take on an additional assignment, especially one that would result in reduced capabilities.
The transition to wireless broadband Internet access on the other hand, has been straightforward. And it has the advantage of not being tethered to a specific location. So I have decided to use wireless for all my Internet access.
I might have been more sympathetic if DSLExtreme had explained, in terms that a technical person could understand, why they had to mandate the transition to PPPOE. Such an explanation could at least have helped me to empathize with their situation and got me on board with the change. But in the BBR DSLExtreme forum, I got no satisfactory explanation for the change. I hate it when companies keep their information so close to the chest that the customer is left completely in the dark about what is really happening and why.
Regrettably, my business relationship with DSLExtreme has ended on an unhappy note. I am acutely aware from my own business that it takes work to keep a customer happy year in and year out. But without that work there wouldn't be a business. A business has to do whatever it takes to make things right when there is a problem. In this case, I think DSLExtreme dropped the ball.
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 Review by zbestwun2001
UPDATED: 140 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 569 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Van Nuys,Los Angeles,CA
$34 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
SBC
"Realiabily, Price and bang for the buck."
"A little long hold for support.. use DLS Reports it's faster"
"This is the best bang for the buck. Great personalized service."
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July 9, 2009
Just signed up for my 4th great year!!
__________________________________________________________
I have been with DSL Extreme going into my third year.
I have no complaints really, occasional glitches etc. but that is normal.
A great deal and much better than SBC ....I get 5 megs. consistently down and 634 up also. With that great upload speed my VOIP line works so well.
What do I have to complain about?
SBC (AT&T now) was ok when I started with them but after a while, the service started to deteriorate.
I began to be on first name basis with ASI techs they were here so much.
Then they tried to pull some shenanigans when I didn't renew my contract.
Tried and tried to talk me into signing back up.
I just couldn't put up with them any longer..
As far as DSL X:
I see no drawbacks to this ISP in anyway...They are polite, and this board is extremely helpful...
The DSL Reports forum for DLSX is extremely useful the the techs are quick to get to you.
George the GM is on the board all day long to assist.
I'd get it!!!
Steve
Followup comments:  
Cheatedby DSLX
@dslextreme.com
| DSL Extreme's dishonesty I have been a DSL Extreme customer for about 5 years. The service is adequate, but the company is rather unscrupulous. I recently found out that in the period of time I have been using them, they have significantly lowered their rates. That's a good thing. The only trouble is that they never informed me. When I called them about it, they immediately gave me the new rate, but insisted that it was okay to overcharge me before then because I did not know I was being overcharged. They therefore refused any refund. They did admit that they would have notified me if their rates had gone up! Find a provider that is less sneaky. | |
| |
Arty
@dslextreme.com | Re: DSL Extreme's dishonesty Similar experience. Annoying but I don't have time to deal with it. | |
| |
Anon Name
@dslextreme.com
| when you signed up for the service you agreed to pay the monthly payment. its your responsibility to keep up with price decreases/lower monthly deals. ive never seen a business go out of their way to make less money. same thing happened to me, but i have no negative opinion about it.
in general, lower prices are to attract new customers (i.e. when a certain plan is a low price but only for the first x amount of months). by you already being a customer means they did their job and you justified the price for the service at the time. be happy that they lower their prices and allow current subscribers to downgrade, ive seen isps that make you sign up all over again to do that. | |
|
USC_Rob
@dslextreme.com
| The exact same thing happened to me I not at all happy that I was not informed of the lower rates, but somehow the knowledge that the same thing happened to others makes it sting a little less. Otherwise I am looking forward to a faster connection, while paying roughly half what I have been paying for dsl. | |
| |
zbestwun2001
join:2005-12-08
Van Nuys, CA | Re: The exact same thing happened to me I think I am paying four or five bucks more a month for the same plan that I did on my first year.
If you pay for the whole year upfront you do get a better deal also.
zb1 | |
|
boomerich
@rr.com
| Beware! DSL Extereme got the best of me.. I payed a year in advance because I am out of town a lot and when in town need the internet,now.
I was turned off after the year with no notice,I called service to get back on line and was told that I owed two months service,because of the dependability needed I switched to cable.
Six months later I received a bill for one hundred seventy seven dollars,I called and complained to a superviser and she told me that if they didn't receive their payment they would ruin my credit.
I payed but will stear clear of this company. I hope that this will help others that may be thinking of DSL Extreme.BEWARE... | |
|
year 7 but then
@dslextreme.com
| service yea service has been fine, dsl connection & tech support wise, but service from the dsl extreme biz office is a bit murky & confusing, especially those invoices.
i've been with them for 7 years but the simple request to renew for another entire year & pay for it in advance, I couldn't get a price quote from them this time around.
So, I'm giving up and will give att a try. gosh, att they want the biz...they're quite eager to switch me over. hey they own the line anyway, so I'll give em a try & not have to deal with dsl's invoices.
not sure where george is, he is/was like the most helpful manager at dsl. | |
| | 
dslx_gm
Premium,VIP
join:2002-12-26
Winnetka, CA
| Re: service I am still here.
If you are having an issue with your invoices please let me know. We have a support forum here on BBR that I visit frequently and DSLExtreme employees provide support through. I am sure we can quickly resolve any issues you are having.
The link to our forum is: »DSL Extreme
--
George
General Manager
DSL Extreme
Will work for reviews.  | |
| Devil 2 U
join:2004-06-14
North Hollywood, CA
 ·DSL EXTREME
| Don't blame DSL Extreme if you don't manage your A/C If you dont bother to keep tabs on your account (like finding out when your contract is up for renewal), do not place the blame on DSL Extreme for charging you the same. Do you think AT&T or Verizon would automatically give your the lower pricing? I don't think so. All you had to do was login to your account and check your invoice history to see when your 1 year contact was up. Simply select a new contract to get the best deal.
That said, the person who stated that DSL Extreme turned their service off after the 1 year pre-payment deal does have a legit gribe. Did DSL Extreme send an email to your address on file before the expiration? If so, oh well, you did not act. If not, DSL Extreme needs to remey that situation with better communication.
I have been a customer for about 4 years and am very happy with the connection, technical support, service, and price.
| |
| DataPump
join:2002-02-27
Gardena, CA
1 edit | So far so good I've been with DSLextreme for quite a while, probably since around 2000 (I think they started up in 1999). So far not too many problems (knock wood). A couple outages, but that's going to happen with any ADSL, cable, T1, OC1, satellite data, etc. service (seen it happen and have had to deal with it, even $20,000/month SONET data service can get stuck). Other than that the data moves, DSLextreme sends me a bill, I pay it, they don't bug me and I don't bug them. That reliability plus the fact the two (I think) times I had to call about a problem I didn't have to speak to someone in another country reading off a script asking if my monitor was plugged in and I got to speak directly to an actual network engineer who had r/w enable on the routers.
I think that method of dealing with contracts is pretty common. Similar strategies with mobile phones, certificates of deposit, satellite radio, etc. You sign up for a contract and when that contract ends depending on what the contract said if you don't contact them they either auto-renew a contract or switch to month-to-month. If the contracts ends and they aren't contacted or paid and can't contact you, then the service is disconnected, etc. I guess it would be nice if DSLextreme had one of those auto-dialer things like XM Radio has that calls you every day when the contract is up to bug remind you to call them.
I agree that type of arrangement can be a hassle sometimes but I think that's the just the way most businesses operate these days. When a contract is up it's best to contact which ever company even if you just want to cancel (and that might mean a chat with "customer retention" at some companies) or you might be dinged one way or another.
EDIT: Clarified who the "they" I was talking about, etc. is to minimize the confusion. | |
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| Forums » comments on review of DSL EXTREME |
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Review by salewit
Posted: 144 days ago
member for 7.7 years, 104 visits, last login: 52 days ago
Oakland,Alameda,CA
$40 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
AT&T
"Faster, cheaper, more reliable"
"Install instructions a little flakey"
"EXTREMEly happy with speed, reliability and cost."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Got sick of AT&T's reliability and slow speed (about 900k). Jumped ship and got DSL Extreme at same exact cost 6000k version. Get about 5000 down, 600 up. Couldn't be happier. Reliability is A+ and really haven't had any issues whatsoever. Transfer was flawless with ZERO downtime. I'm sounding like an ad, but really it was great.
Had one question. Called in, someone picked up immediately and oddly enough they didn't sound like they were from India. Very refreshing! Question was answered in 2 seconds.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of DSL EXTREME |
| »next page (previous review)
 Review by cowboy
UPDATED: 147 days ago
member for 9.7 years, 3057 visits, last login: a few hours ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$45 per month (12 month contract)
Verizon (ex GTE)
"Quick & easy ordering, techs on dslr, static IP, no port blocks..."
"Website doesn't always play well with Mozilla/Firefox"
"Thus far, a great value for the $!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
2009-06-23 Wow, almost 5 years ... A lot has changed:
+ I moved houses and wound up in a rural Verizon area, but kept DSL Extreme
+ Wound up with 8 IPs, 3M/768 for $57.83 (inclusive)
This week, I was notified that I had until 2009-08-01 to move my service to the new plans - none of which include static IPs (on of the biggest reasons I chose them) 
After alot of searching, I wound up paying *alot* more for COVAD - using the same DSLAM that DSL Extreme wouldn't move me to for some reason (they wont say).
After the new dry-run is shaken out, I'll consider Speak Easy or other rational players (cheaper, but by alot) - but thought for initial setup, the fewer players, the better.
I've dropped DSL Extreme's rating somewhat due to this issue, it remains to be seen if it a fight with COVAD, or a harbinger of further changes to come at DSL Extreme.
I would still highly recommend them for the average user, but will no longer do that for the more technically include, or power user.
Original review:
$42.95+fee Promo deal on 1500-3000/384-416, 2 static IPs, providing my own modem (Netopia 3574W). I'm fairly far from the CO, and just hope I can actually get close to those speeds.
2004-07-02 Got home last night and while doing the final modem updates, noticed I had SYNC (and even Surf) I'm not yet sure about the profile, but I'm SYNCing at the published rate.
Side note: Its hard to see any improvement in speed when one is using traffic shaping set at the older (1.5/256) rates !!! A quick change to the script, and things are *MUCH* better
2004-07-01 Waiting ever so impatiently for SBC/PacBell to activate the line.
2004-07-01 Spent too much time reading the DSL Extreme forum to find some nice info -
* They have a good presence in the dslextreme forum
* It was trivial to add the second IP via their website
* It is as easy to remove the outbound port 25 (smtp/mail) block
* They'll do RDNS for a $25 setup fee (per order, not IP)
2004-06-30 Tried to check my order status via their website, but only received an error popup I mailed their support and was quickly notified that they were working on it and it would be fixed by the next morning (actually corrected a few hours later ). I did, however, shortly thereafter receive (via email and phone call) an install date of 2004-07-07. The mail info included everything I needed to setup my own modem in bridged mode for one of the static IPs.
2004-06-29 Ordered service via website after spending alot of time perusing DSLR and calling the local providers (including Covad - bad phone staff) and MegaPath... DSLExtreme seems to have a very nice niche betwixt the cheap and luser based ISP/ILEC and the nicer, but much more expensive CLEC.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of DSL EXTREME |
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