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Review by steelwingz 
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 127 visits, last login: 303 days ago
 Sandy,Salt Lake,UT
 $50 per month
 Qwest
CLEC party: Covad
 "Covad is on the ball"
 "Still haven't heard from Bazillion"
 "To be determined..."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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After going through a nightmare trying to get ADSL service through Earthlink/Covad, I decided to give Bazillion a try. (Seemed a good way to go because of the Bazillion rating here on DSL Reports.)
So last Wednesday I placed an order for IDSL on Bazillion's web site. The web site order confirmation page stated that I was to receive an email from Bazillion "within 24 hours" containing information on dial up access, long distance info, and that I would also receive a "welcome kit in a few days." Almost immediately, I received an email response from Covad, stating the order was in progress. But nothing from Bazillion.
So yesterday I tried to call the number I was supposed to call in the event I didn't receive an email or welcome kit. A recording answered, stating something about a "temporary inconvenience" and that, basically, no one would be able to take my call. So I sent them an email inquiring about my phone access/welcome kit. As of this morning, still no reply.
USWest is scheduled to install the DSL line today, yet I still have no information on what my IP number is, DNS info, or any other connection info from Bazillion. Hopefully I'll get this stuff before the Covad tech comes to install the IDSL to Ethernet bridge.
Last week, Covad stated in their earnings release that they were having problems collecting payments from several of their ISP partners. Now I'm starting to wonder if Bazillion is one of them; they appear to have scaled back their operations to the point that they are unreachable.
To be continued...
10/27 Update...
Events of 10/25
USWest actually arrived on the day they were supposed to. Tech comes to the house on two seperate occasions. Once in the morning, and again at around 4:30. Never does inform me how the install went, whether it was finished, etc. Just left without saying a word. Received email from Covad saying DSL line failed testing, will work with USWest to fix it. Tried several times to reach Bazillion by phone. No luck.
Events of 10/26
Tried to reach Bazillion by phone again. Of course I can't get anyone. Sent them another email, which as of today (10/27), is still unanswered. Sent an email to Covad, requesting status update, as well as informing them of my inability to contact Bazillion. They respond with what appears to be boilerplate email saying, basically, they're working on it, and that I should contact Bazillion with any questions. : / Not being able to contact Bazillion was one of the main points of the email! Guess they didn't even bother reading it before just replying with the boilerplate.
10/27
As of today, I still have never, not one time, been able to contact Bazillion, nor have I received ANY information from them. USWest has not been back out to the house, and I haven't received any additional info from Covad.
For anyone that ordered a static IP from Bazillion... How did you receive the IP number? Did you get it in the "Welcome Kit" from Bazillion, or did the Covad tech bring it with him during installation? On Bazillion's web site, they have instructions for setting up a static IP connection, and it says to "use the IP number from your Welcome Kit." If that's still how they get you this info, then I guess I need to pursue contacting them even more than I have. Don't know what else I can do besides hopping a plane to Washington and knocking on their front door.
To be continued (again)...
10/27
OK, so it looks like I'm going to have to eat some crow here... I just got off the phone with Bazillion customer service. I got through on the very first attempt, and had zero hold time. The lady who assisted me was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. She explained the whole phone support problem (they had contracted their phone support out to a company who was unable to handle the volume of calls received, brought it back in house, and are waiting for a new phone system to be installed that's capable of handling all the calls.) I then asked her about the "you will receive an email with your Bazillion Connections free long distance and your dial-up account information within 24 hours" from the order confirmation page of their web site, she stated that that promotion had expired, and they needed to update the web site. They are also experiencing some problems with a machine they use to mail out the welcome kits. They will send the information contained in the welcome kit out as an email if you call and request it. They have a large backlog of welcome kits that will be sent out as soon as the machine is fixed.
It seems like many people who work phone support seem like they are in a big hurry to get rid of you, and move on to the next call. That was not the case here. She took the time to explain everything. She wouldn't let the call end until I was completely satisfied with the situation. Bazillion may be hard to get ahold of, but it appears that the people they have manning the phones when you do get through are top notch.
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 Review by scatman
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 596 visits, last login: 117 days ago
Corona,Riverside,CA
$49 per month
 about 23 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"Curtious,Knowledgeable,Dependable"
"Non experienced"
"Best deal on market with excellent service and rising respect among idsl providers"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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I live in southern California in the southern part of Corona. I ordered 144/144 DCHP service for 50/month no commitment on Sept 19th. My FOC date was Oct 4th which was on a Wed. and Pacbell actually showed up on the prior Friday just incase any problems that maybe encountered would be corrected and the loop would be ready by the 4th. Pacbell delivered as promised and gave the DMRC(?) that day. Covad was finding an open end in the circuit on the loop test but was eventually corrected by the following Monday. I then recieved an email from covad stating that they would be out on the 20th of Oct. Having to wait for 10 more days seemed to long as I was eager to get my connection up and running. One phone call to covad with a short hold time and I was rescheduled for the 12th.
I had a 4 hour window in which the covad tech could arrive. He actually showed up at the begining of his window and had me up and running in an hour. Installed was an Efficient Networks speedstream bridge. I had already installed a DLink 530+TX NIC.
My initial routing was throught the national server which is located in Chicago. I was recieving almost full bandwidth for up and downloads, but being an online gamer my pings were quite high and my best guess is that many people are routed through this server and has quite a bit of traffic. I emailed/called customer support on the 13th to see if I could get rerouted to a local backhole/server. I was issued a trouble ticket over the phone and was told that it was submitted to covad. Thursday and Friday passed with no rerouting as trace routes still revealed hops still flowing in to the Chicago server. I called to get an update on Saturday and no further info could be given other then it was still pending on covad's website. Had to wait till Monday for further status at this time as no rerouting had occured yet if it could even be done.
Called on Monday and asked for an update and was told that I couldn't be rerouted to a backhole in San Diego or San Jose due to distance. I then asked since I'm being routed to Chicago which is over 2000 miles away why couldn't I be rerouted to a closer server. The cutomer support rep. told me she would have to ask a tech and get back with me. I told her that a call back this very day would speak highly of there customer service. Well, I was called back within the hour and was told that until a local backhole/server would become local that I would have to remain on the national server and again she reiterated the distance and capabilities of these local backhole/servers was the factor why I couldn't be switched. I needed to live in the actual city of San Diego or San Jose or a suburb of these cities to qualify to be put on either of these backholes. I told her the name of the engineer that submitted the request to covad to reroute me and she said that he was not in today and would call me the next morning and we could get more indepth information on a possible rerouting.
Feeling destined to still be a high pinger in the online gaming community, I arrived home from work finding my connection was down. I went through the steps of trying to power down/up the bridge and releasing and renewing the apdapter through winipcfg with no avail. I called costumer support and basically repeated the steps with them that I had just done before contacting them. They finally contacted an engineer and within a half an hour I was back up. Low and behold I was no longer being routed to the national server in Chicago and my ping times drastically improved. Almost every ip address that I traced that resided on the west coast showed no hop to the national server in Chicago. Before the switch my ping to a local game server in California was as high as 300 but now they are as low as 50! =].
The next morning I did recieve the call as promised from the same rep and stated "don't change a thing" I am purrrfectly pleased with my ping times and am even getting more consistently max bandwidth up and down. Bazillion is highly recommended!
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Review by Kartre
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 2 visits, last login: 8.8 years ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$49 per month
about 22 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"Friendly, fast, inexpensive, reliable, perfection"
"None yet"
"Bazillion did everything right"
| Pre Sales information:
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September 21st I ordered Bazillion's $50/month IDSL service on a month-to-month basis. IDSL is the 144/144 connection those of use further than three miles from our Telco CO are "stuck" with. Not the 1.5/784 connection I eventually want, but I am very happy.
Installation cost after the Covad rebate was only $50 (and this is for an expensive IDSL bridge, not an ADSL modem). Pacific Bell arrived two weeks after my order on time, first time, for their appointment. I didn't even have to be around for it. Covad arrived one week later, in the first half of their four-hour appointment window. I almost never see that happen. Very friendly installer, too, and the installation went off without a hitch (perhaps partly because I'm fairly tech-savvy and could do the easy-as-pie network config myself).
I haven't had any down-time, my e-mail works fine, I get almost twice as many newsgroups as I did with EarthLink, Flash WWW sites load in mere seconds, and I can actually rail people in Q3A, without it being just luck! 
I also get some free long-distance type deal with the Bazillion membership, but I haven't quite figured out how that works yet. Hey, all I wanted was the DSL. If I can call my folks in Maryland for free over that line, all the better...
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Review by BTM
UPDATED: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 124 visits, last login: 8 days ago
Acworth,Cobb,GA
$59 per month (12 month contract)
about 19 days
BellSouth
CLEC party: Covad
"Sales staff was well-informed and knowledgeable. Install was ALMOST trouble-free."
"Tech support can be slow to respond."
"Getting better fast!"
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All my concerns have now been addressed. It took almost 2 weeks of calling and being a pest, but they have been MUCH more responsive this week. I think the tech support transition just left them in rough shape. I'm quite pleased.
The final problem I had was my pings going back up. I called this evening and after a tier 2 tech spoke with Covad, the pings dropped back down with a few minutes.
Great service! Let's hope they keep it up...
BTM
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Review by Wyvern5
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 1692 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Mercer Island,King,WA
$79 per month (12 month contract)
about 45 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Covad
"Well, the speed was good... For a while. They told me very convincing lies before I ordered."
"USWorst is terrible, but unavoidable. Covad is clumsy. Bazillion SUCKS"
"Go with them if you like pain."
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*** Entirely New Review 12/15/00 ***
I won't list all of the things that have gone wrong with this ISP unless someone asks me to, as I'm pretty tired right now, but to cut it short, not only do their techs know less than a stillborn kitten about DSL and computers, they bill you incorrectly, they don't return calls or emails, the techs/ customer service guys are RUDE and DISCONNECT YOU if you complain about the crappy service, etc etc etc you know the rest. Line speed was good for a while, it's now slower than a 56k modem. My speed test this afternoon gave me 48down, 146 up. I should have (technically) 1500 down, 384 up, so 1300 down and 300 up would be reasonable. The mail servers have been down for over a day now. Oh yeah: I ordered a static IP when I got the service. Not only did they give me DHCP when the installer set up my line, when I was switched to a static IP (after 5 days of calling their incompetent techs) my line went dead. Totally. It took them 4 days of "Are you sure you can't ping the gateway? YES I'M SURE YOU GODDAMN FOOL (well not really)" to figure out that some temp had assigned my IP (months previously) to some other guy, so when they put my line on my IP both lines conflicted with each other, or something like that. At least when they figured it out they changed his IP and not mine. Also, despite the fact that they claim to have 400 minutes free long distance, we are being charged for the long distance calls we made through their system by both Bazillion AND AT&T, our standard long distance provider. Yes, that's right, the very same calls are billed both places. I wouldn't wish these guys on my worst enemy, not even on Bill Gates. Do not go with bazillion, no matter what! Pay more for the same speed, pay the same for less speed, whatever, but DO NOT go with Bazillion!
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Review by BoyFriday26
UPDATED: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.9 years, 109 visits, last login: 9 years ago
Kent,King,WA
$49 per month
about 14 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Covad
"400 Long Distance minutes, FAST Install!"
"Company going through growing pains"
"Periodic packet loss, but i'm a forgiving person! *Read Review*"
| Pre Sales information:
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Hello my name is Robin, I signed up for IDSL (144K) Residential service in Kent, WA on 7/20, on a month-to-month basis for $49 a month with 400 min of LD a month, a static IP, and an Efficient SpeedStream 5871 (the new FlowPoint 144). I got an e-mail the next day saying how to use your long distance and your e-mail, etc, and I also recieved my Covad Acceptance e-mail. In the meantime I used their (free) 56K dialup, I have used over 50 different ISPs in my 6 years on the net and they have the BEST connection speed I have EVER acheived (52,000 bps). Covad and Bazillion got a FOC date from USWest/Qwest in TWO business days and Qwest showed up 2 DAYS before scheduled! Covad was right on schedule as well, they were scheduled to come on August 4 from 3-7 PM but they showed up at 2:15! Very very nice Covad installer, and I didn't have one problem at all getting installed. Pretty good speeds of 138 Kbps out of 144, but figure in overhead and it's perfect! The ONLY small minus that i've experienced so far is that the news server is sometimes unavailable, but no biggie.
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UPDATED 10/02/2000
Well, my Bazillion IDSL connection is seemingly getting worse...
For the last 3 weeks i've been getting 10-30% Packet Loss, which is making my speeds sink below 3 KB/sec, YES you read right... Less than 28.8 speeds!!!
The speed decreases and packet losses only seem to really happen during the day time, there are minimum problems during the evening and night time hours.
Yesterday (10/1) there was a 14 HOUR long service outage, this was confirmed by DSLReport's Line Monitor. I spoke with a Bazillion rep and was told (at 8AM) they had just found out about the problem an hour ago! This is of course after 12 hours had already elapsed... Just exactly where are the people who should be taking customer calls and monitoring systems? I called Bazillion on the previous Friday to switch back to Dynamic DHCP service because my static IP is routed out of CHICAGO (I'm in Seattle), and guess what I found out when I called Bazillion on 10/1.... My request was never sent through! The rep just decided that he was too busy. THANKS, I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT! The only reason i'm still holding onto Bazillion are my hopes that the service will get better and the company is just experiencing growing pains, but these people need to get some people to answer phones, AND who know what customer service is. I will report any more problems I have when the time comes. Good luck to all other customers of Bazillion.
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UPDATED 10/04/2000
I spoke with Bazillion yesterday and got my problems resolved except that i'm being routed out of Chicago STILL! They told me that I would be switched to Seattle, but they lied. Today my AT&T @Home service is being installed, and since I just got billed for another month I figure i'll use the rest of my 400 minutes of LD before I cancel service. This company is an a slightly above average place to do your business with, a really fast install, and pretty stable connection, but the support isn't all that great.
Good luck to everyone as this will be my final post!
-Robin
boyfriday26@aol.com
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Review by Thorasta
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 2 visits, last login: 9.1 years ago
Redmond,King,WA
$49 per month
Covad
CLEC party: Covad
"I have not had a service hiccup since it started 2 weeks ago"
"I can only get 144/ it took them 2 months to get me hooked up"
"No real complaints."
| Pre Sales information:
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I have had Bazillion DSL for about 2 weeks now. It took them forever to get me hooked up, but I wasn't in a hurry (since I didn't have internet at home, I spent more time outside this summer =).
* I have no phone line, and this complicated things. I only use a Cell phone with no real need for a land line. Covad is the only carrier that will hook you up without a pre-existing phone line. At first Covad balked at this, but I called Bazillion, and they told me they would take care of it.
* The initial line xfer from GTE date came and went.
* I called Bazillion to see what was going on, and they assured me they were still working on it. Since I was not in a hurry to get connected, I was willing to wait it out on the chance that cable or high bandwidth DSL would become available in the interim.
* I did not hear from anyone for a long time, and then Covad emailed with a hookup date, and everything went as planned.
Except for the minor problem with covad listed above, Covad has always been prompt and professional with me. This is my second time dealing with them, and they have pretty much been on the ball 90% of the time.
Bazillion took forever to coordinate everything, but left alone they eventually did. This is why I gave them 2* instead of one on install coordination. My original order Tech was named Brendon, and he told me that if I have any problems with Bazillions tech support, to call him directly. Like a naughty user, I ended up calling him any time I needed anything, which irritated him a little, but he was professional about it.
Since hookup, I have noticed NO break in service. The speed may not be the fastest at 144, but so far it has not mattered in my online gaming.
I did not rate email/DNS/news because DNS is the only one I use through them. I go through a 3rd party for email so that I have the freedom of changing ISP's without having to change my email every year or so, and I can go to www.seattletimes.com or wherever else I want for news, so I don't use news forums.
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Review by reebel
Posted: 9.1 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 1 visits, last login: 9.1 years ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$49 per month
about 30 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Excellent coordination of Ameritech installation"
"Ameritech (not their fault); customer service swamped; intermittent speed loss"
"Too early to tell."
| Pre Sales information:
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Ordered 608/128. Am getting 400-500/90-100 speed tests.
Had a couple days of sub-dialup speeds.
Customer service was good at first, then disappeared.
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Review by communilink
UPDATED: 9.2 years ago
member for 9.2 years, 461 visits, last login: 6 years ago
Castle Rock,Douglas,CO
$49 per month
Qwest
CLEC party: Covad
"Pre-sales was pretty good"
"THIS COMPANY STINKS!! LIED TO MULTIPLE TIMES!! STAY AWAY!!"
"I finally canceled my order with them, and moved to SpeakEasy.net. More done in 24 hours then 2 weeks with Bazillion"
| Pre Sales information:
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Ordered IDSL 144/144 from Bazillion on 8/31/00. Got my confirmation e-mail in about 5 minutes. Was told I would hear from them in 24hours. Now 9/5/00 and I called them because I have heard nothing. Customer Services says I never placed an order and they have no record. Called my original salesman, and he tells me that CS is screwed up, and he will take care of it. Asks for my order number, I tell him I never got it. He goes OOPS, I will call you back. Have not heard from him in an hour. Begining to wonder if I did the right thing. There was all good reviews when I checked them out, then after i ordered, I saw the bad reviews. Got me wondering. I will keep you updated.
9-22-00 DUMP BAZILLION!!!!! I contacted SpeakEasy.net, as they are the #2 recommended for my area, and they got more done in less then 24 hours then Bazillion did in over 2 weeks. The issue about the CO being out of lines is a bunch of LIES! This company really is not worth working with. I only had one decent person provide help, and like everyone else, it was a result of complaining so loud that I got a supervisor! I would not recommend dealing with them at all!
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Review by bk3434
Posted: 9.2 years ago
member for 9.2 years, 82 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
Painesville,Lake,OH
$49 per month
about 30 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Reliable connection so far"
"Tech support could be much improved"
"So far a good value for the money"
| Pre Sales information:
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Since I am like the rest of the posters here, I also live too far from the CO for anything other than IDSL service. The salesperson answered all my questions and decided to place my order.
Later in the day on August 14th, I received an e-mail confirmation of my order. Later that night I received an e-mail from covad stating that my order was being processed. So far so good!
I received another e-mail the next day (8/15) informing me Ameritech would be installing my line on 8/21. I thought I would be up and running within two weeks of my order. Boy was I wrong! Ameritech came and left never finishing the installation to my box. Covad informed me via e-mail that my new line failed their test. I replied and copied Bazillion to inform them the line was never fully installed. I waited over a 2 weeks and finally Ameritech finished their install. I understand that some things will always happen and I tried to be patient. Covad then informed me they would be coming out 9-12 to finish the installation of my new line.
I had my retired father come to my house to wait for the Coved tech since I had to work. Approx. 11:30, the covad guy came and I left work on an early lunch. The process took about 45 minutes and the covad tech left. He left the static IP address info and left. (not like I expected him to do much else!)
I quickly entered the IP info and rebooted my computer and plugged the patch cable into my computer. What occured next was shocking. NO INTERNET CONNECTION.
Again, I tried to be patient and went back to work, only to return to the same problem as when I left. NO CONNECTION! after tinkering around I called Bazillion. Their level 1 tech asked me to ping a few sites and no response. He couldn't help me anymore and informed me he would open a level 2 call and I should receive a call from them in 2-3 days. Later I found that he left a twisted patch cable. Fortunately I had a straight patch cable and pitched the twisted. But still no connection!
I was beginning to worry! I called their tech support 3 days in a row and never got through to level 2. I was met by a few nice techs, but never could do anything for me. (However I did encounter one arrogant son of a b*****!)
I couldn't stand it! I sat for three days watching the green lights on the router but couldn't connect! I was pissed!I called their customer support only to be informed that the tech would break some rules and find out the status of my trouble ticket and call me back within 30 minutes (before his shift was over). Well the call never came! I called again and got hung up on! That was it for me. I immediately hit redial and got the same person. Apparently she hit the wrong button and disconnected me. I informed her of the situation and she said she would find out what was going on and asked if she could call me back. FAT CHANCE! I waited on hold for about 2-3 minutes when she cam back on the line and transfered me to Josh in their level 2 support. He was nice and understanded my frustration. Within two minutes he fixed my problem and I was surfing the web! (The covad guy failed to give me the DNS info.)
I am currently getting 132 down and 109 up and an avg. ping time of 72ms. I can't complain. I am going to continue to tweak and see what happens.
Overall, Installation was mediocre (Ameritech delay and Covad failing to give all info) and could have been better. I have been happy since it has been up and running. I feel for most of their level 1 people. They don't seem to get the support they need. They really need to improve on their level 2 support response times to problems!
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Bazillion
