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Review by Ionuser 
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 1 visits, last login: 8.1 years ago
 Chicago,Cook,IL
 $149 per month
 Sprint
 "Great Product!!!!!"
 "Install Not terribly smooth, great technician though"
 "Fantastic"
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I just read that Sprint Ion is pulling out of the market!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! This is the best product that I have found in terms of overall strategy. You have all read about the pricing strategies. Mine is 4 phone lines, DSL, 750 minutes of long distance all for $149/month.
Just after I get it up and running (minor hitches, but worth it) they are pulling out of this market. Anyone have any ideas? Who should I move to? I can't say that I am excited to move back to ameritech.
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Review by jkoering
UPDATED: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.4 years, 104 visits, last login: 7.2 years ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$120 per month
 about 120 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Sprint
"Good, patient salespeople and tech help. No comparison in the market for value/$."
"Coordinating install. But is this SprintIon's problem, or someone else's?"
"For the speed/price, absolutely a must have."
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I am writing this 3 days before my final install of SprintION service. From what I have read, I don't anticipate any bumps from here on in. There have been plenty of bumps until now, however.
I first placed an order for Sprint ION back in May of this year. I was intrigued by the service (offers of 8Megs down, 1Meg up), as well as the price (100-120$/mo for local, long distance and internet). The order was placed, and pre-install began.
Soon, I got a rejection email from Sprint ION saying they had tested my line, and I was over 24000 feet away from my CO. Now, I live in downtown Chicago. 24000 feet is approximately 4 1/2 miles. I was more than a little shocked at the distance. So I started asking questions.
The curious part to me was that Ameritech (my ILEC) kept offering me DSL service every time I called them. If I could get it from Ameritech, why not ION? So I began asking around about what the problem might be. Using a method suggested by a user here (RichMark), I tested my own line for distance to CO, and got 9500 feet. This distance was later confirmed by a tech who works in Chicago. So, I placed another order to ION, this time through a manager.
Another month went by, and again I got a rejection from ION. This time, the distance was 25,600 feet. Baffled, I posted questions again to this board, and again I got significant help from users here. Soon we placed another order, with a member of the SprintION alpha testing team watching its progress.
Lo and behold, I was approved less than a 1/2 month later. The problem, I guess, was that ION asks for a clean loop from the ILEC upon install, and it was likely not getting it from Ameritech. The latest hypothesis is that I had a bridge tap on my line, adding distance to the test, though I hope this is still being looked into.
So, you might be asking why on earth would I go through all this trouble? Let me break down to you my current phone situation. Ameritech provides my local service, with a charge for bells and whistles on my line (I don't know why my wife likes voicemail, but she does), and a charge for EVERY local call (depending on distance). Total cost? 60-70$/mo. Then, we have long distance. My wife's family is in Milwaukee, and mine is in Minnesota. Total long distance cost a month? 40-50$, for a minimum phone expenditure of 100$-120$ a month.
ION is a minimum for 100$ a month. But, you get free local calls, and 200 minutes of long distance for free. And, you get DSL speeds that would cost you, easily, 150$/mo to get from an alternative carrier. In my mind, I'm getting the DSL for free, and you can't beat that cost.
I do want to make a plea to all those people out there that might read this. PLEASE take every opportunity to oppose the Tauzin-Dingell Bill. I don't know much about the details of the DSL business, but I do know this: Competition breeds innovation. ION represents to me a unique product in a homogenous tech sector. Everyone is willing to deliver 786k/128k at or around the same price, and more creativity and development is needed to deliver a product people want, and to deliver it fast and on time.
I have no doubt that if there was a public agency handling the last mile of DSL, there would not have been the installation problems that I had. Having to rely on a competitor to provide you with the hardware to supply your product is ludicrous. And saying that the ILEC's own those lines when they installed the lines using the public monopoly cash-cow to do it is just as rediculous. If I had ordered my line from Ameritech, I would have had DSL within the week. Because I didn't want their product, and went with another company's product, it took 4 months. Something stinks, and it smells like a monopoly.
Ok, rant over. For those of you who read this far: Get ION. Get it if you can. There is nothing like it on the market, and your computer and wallet will both thank you.
------
Ok, install was supposed to happen. As an illustration of the installation catastrophe that is Ion install, a technician came out to my house, and promptly told me that there was no loop available. Evidently, when ION orders a line to a facility, they have a limited time to install. After that time, Ameritech can snap it back up. Well, that's what they did, and it'll be another week before the install is done now.
I could rip my hair out.
------
October 4, 2001 -- The day after my original installation went awry, I have a new install date for a week from today. Here's what happened: I guess when SprintION orders a line from Ameritech, they have a limited time to install on that line. My install date was evidently outside of the window, as Ameritech snapped the line back ASAP. They replaced the order for the line and everything seems kosher.
Still...makes you wonder why they would schedule an install AFTER this period. Anyone know anything about the time period that an ILEC must hold a digital line for a CLEC?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------
ION IS INSTALLED AND DOING JUST FINE
Well, Ion is installed. A last note on install problems, evidently there was an issue with my install such that it ALMOST didn't get done. I informed the person on the phone that there was no way I could take another day off of work, and they IMMEDIATELY found someone. The install process was fairly smooth, and very interesting (from a technological perspective that is...pretty cool.)
As for the service, I don't know how many ways to say this: GET ION. Hands down the coolest, best and most integrated service out there. I understand that there is a good chance that ION will have some funding cutbacks here, but if you can get it...get it.
Speed is great, and consistent. With my wireless router at home, I love surfing everywhere...backyard, in front of the TV, etc. Phones are great. Another cool feature? Phone calls from Sprint PCS phones include the recorded name of the caller. Very cool! The online Control Center is cool, and I can see the possibilities when it comes to complete, instantaneous control over phone features.
As for the speeds, dig this: 3.2 Megs download, 768k upload.
If you're in Chicago...think about this: I get FREE local calls. I get 400 minutes of long distance a month free. I get faster DSL service that Ameritech or anyone else out there offers, at least for under $200/month. AND I get it all for 119$/month. The way I figure it, its 70$/month for Ameritech phone, 30$/month equivalent for long distance, and $20/month for DSL. 20$!!!!
Wow. If anyone from ION reads this...feel free to send it on to the funding agencies. This is the future, regardless of the purported technological difficulties.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 8.1 years ago
(review was emailed from domain lundmark.com)
Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
$119 per month (24 month contract)
"Faster than a speeding bullet."
"Subcontracted Earthlink email and news servers are not always as swift."
"Best bang for the buck if you want local, long distance, and DSL non-stop service."
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Review of Sprint ION xt2 Install and performance:
I signed up via the Sprint ION web site in December of 2000. The install
went very smoothly in January as scheduled, and my two phone numbers worked
through the new ION system perfectly.
The Internet speed is 3 to 4mb/sec down and about 700k to 1mb/sec up speed.
This is about 1/2 of the max speed ION claims is possible, probably because
of my distance from the phone company hardware.
The two static IP Ethernet ports worked smoothly from the start.
I can't say enough about how great the ION system is I can set the options
for my phones (forwarding, etc) from the ION admin page, and the network has
not gone down once since installation compared to frequent resets for the
old Alcatel modem I had with Pacbell. So basically I am very pleased.
Dan
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Review by abella
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 26 visits, last login: 7.7 years ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$155 per month
about 48 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Sprint
"High speed DSL and excellent telephone service. Great technical support."
"Installation"
"Get ION if you can"
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I'm thrilled with ION so far. It has only been 3 days, but from what I've seen, this is a great service. I was spending nearly $200/month on DSL (telocity) combined with telephone/LD bills. With ION xt4, I now have twice the speed on the DSL line -- 1.8mbps down, and I have 4 phone lines with all the features I could want. Plus, it includes 750 minutes of long distance every month. Plus, I have 2 static IP addresses. AND free install and C100 hub. Here's the story so far.
I ordered the service on Aug. 22. They set up a tentative install date of Sept. 17. I'd read about ION installation problems here on the forums, and they proved to be true for me. The ILEC (Ameritech) actually showed up one week early and installed a loop. ION emailed me and said I may not be able to get service -- too far from the CO. After about 2 no-show line test appointments, they finally sent out someone who told me I had a good loop with OK speed. A few days later they sent someone to test the line again. They had no record of the first test...It was a big hassle throughout the month of September. I expected a certain amount of problems...I suspect they had me under two or three different accounts. I would not have minded a 60 day wait, but this was a frustrating period of contradicting emails and phone calls; and install/test appointments that were not kept. The same problems I had with telocity.
The actual installation was painless. After several install dates fell through, they came out on Oct. 9. The ION guy installed the hub, backwired to existing lines, and ran a new line to the second floor of the house. It would have taken about 2 hours, but they had a problem porting an Ameritech number so that added and extra 1.5 hours. It was quick and professional.
The customer service reps are not very knowledgeable (at least they aren't surly - like telocity...), but the tier 2 technical support is great - and - unlike telocity, your trouble ticket is dealt with quickly. I was called back 2 times (within an hour) after I reported a bad phone line, and the tech guys were really great and fixed my problem immediately while I was on the phone. I am impressed with the level of service.
I'm so happy to rid myself of Ameritech and Telocity. I hope ION stays alive. Like I said, I have only had the service for 3 days, but so far it is exceptional. The install was bad, but I expected it and now I'm going to forget about that aspect of ION and enjoy the service. The DSL is fast and reliable so far, the phone lines are crystal clear, and I'm saving money with more features and service. I highly recommend Sprint ION.
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 Review by aalmolah
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 9.9 years, 776 visits, last login: 6.5 years ago
Boulder,Boulder,CO
$100 per month
about 21 days
Sprint
CLEC party: Sprint
"Real good deal for the buck! You get a fast DSL, phone line and 200 long distance minutes included per month!"
"Customer support, Technical support, any kind of support is plain bad!"
"SprintION offers a solid and a great service and you shall enjoy it until you need to call them for support, hell will break!"
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My SprintION order and installation went faster than I expected! It took less than 21 days to get the order installed, I am not sure who caused to the installation delay which was scdueled for on the 4th of October, both SprintION and Qwest claimed that the other side was to blame, anyway Qwest fixed the un-read loop install on the 4th after the SprintION installer left and SprintION installer came back on Saturday the 6th of October to complete the installation!
The service is solid and great, although I was hoping for a better download speeds from that I am used to from Speakeasy DSL! I guess due to my distance from the CO (about 13,000 feet), I am only able to get about 1.4mbit download speed and about 900kbit upload speed! With Covad and Speakeasy I used to get somewhat a better download speed with my former 1.5/384 RADSL! But of course my upload is way better now!
I honestly thought that SprintION phone line would be bad, but I was wrong; in fact it's even close to or better than Qwest telephone, the cool thing about it, is that when you set a phone feature, and let's say you get out of town, you still have a full control over it from the web! Unlike Qwest where you have to do all the changes from you home or never!
I think that it's stupid of SprintION to choose Earthlink for their email and news ISP, because they suck period! I also think that SprintION's decision to only allow a single IP with no option to buy more IPs for extra fees is straight stupid marketing decision, if I were a SprintION official; I would fire the fool who suggested such strategy 
Overall the Service is great until you need to talk to the sweet people at the toll free customer service and support, finding a helpful help is rare and the only good outcome would be the free of charge call 
Oh yeah, their documentation to the C50 modem is non existance, it came with a white box, a power adapter and that is about all
Cheers.
Updated on 10-13-01:
It took them less than a week to fix a phone problem, it's an easy process but Sprint ION's problem is that any small issue is a big issue since you need to deal with miles and miles of different people to get it fixed! I think that SprintION is over staffed to a way that is hurting the delivery efficiency big time! But over all many of the people I have talked to get my issue resolved were very nice and at least sounded like they want to help, and showed me that they actually do care about my business!
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Review by m2johnson
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 16 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$119 per month
about 49 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Sprint
"Speed and installation went great!"
"Sales order was a nightmare getting through"
"Love it!"
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After I found out I was going to lose my Rhythms connection after only a few months (I was a Northpoint Customer and boy was that a nightmare experience!) I checked out listings here and decided to go with SWB DSL. After placing my order online with Bell, I came across a listing for Sprint ION--they had just opened up ordering in Houston and had a deal with free install, free equipment, no term and first three months free if you order before Aug. 31 (plus you get to lose SWB as your local phone provider). I thought I would be an idiot not to try it, even though I had just placed the SWB DSL order.
I went through the Sprint Ion online order, and placed the other, receiving a confirmation email (with no order number) August 17. Almost two weeks later I called back and they couldn't find my order-they said something about "online orders disappearing". It was almost August 31 so I placed a second order to make sure there was one in there--this time over the phone.
An hour after the second order was placed by phone they called me back and said I couldn't have ION because I was getting my long distance through SWB, who was actually a Sprint reseller (so I was using Sprint but paying SWB). They said I had to switch to Sprint long distance first--I said fine, do it, I don't care what ld program just get the order in!
They found both August orders in the first week of September, but it was in the pre-sales systsem. I called almost every day until around Sept. 10 they said my order had been cancelled--I couldn't have Sprint because I owed them money. This apparently went back from when I got rid of Sprint as my ld carrier because I wasn't using the home phone for ld because my cell had it free. After I switched to swb for ld Sprint kept charging me even though I wasn't using them--and sending me dunning letters--it was months to clear that up but it was over and done with.
I had to speak to a special "customer service" department to clear up that I didn't owe Sprint money. When I finally got through to them they said I didn't owe them money and they didn't know why the order had been cancelled. Apologies all around and the order was sent "back down" to be completed. Days later they still couldn't find it except in the pre-sales system. Around Sept 13 (after calling all the 800 numbers I could find) I finally got to someone who found my order in the "order completion" system and gave me my "Order ID". They told me my order was moving on to "Sales Order Management" and someone would be assigned to my order and they passed me through to that department--which told me I would have the new line on 9/18 a Tuesday and that it didn't matter who handled my order at their end--anyone could do it. Nothing like a different story at every turn!
I happend to be home Friday the 14th waiting for a UPS delivery when an swb technician rings my front doorbell and says he's here to install my Sprint ION line from the central office. Thank God I had been home--he did the install and told me that someone would do a speed test within 48 hours and that Sprint would then notify me if I could actually have ION. At this point the SWB DSL kit had been sitting on the floor of my office for almost three weeks--it was my backup DSL strategy because I have to have high-speed access to work because I'm a sysadmin for a large software firm.
Sept 19 I finally get an email announcing "Great News - Provisioning of the Sprint ION line to your home for order # ------ has been successfully completed and your installation appointment is confirmed for 03-OCT-2001." The email directed me to the "Sprint ION Pre-Installation Web site" where I went through a check of my system and did several "electronic documents" authorizing the switching of my local phone service to Sprint from SWB, etc.
Oct. 3 I called at 8 a.m. as soon as they opened in Atlanta, and they said he was coming for sure between 8 and 12 and that it would take 4-6 hours for installing. Half hour later, at 8:30, Sprint actually called me--a miracle!--it was the install tech asking for directions to the house. They were here by 9 a.m, I said they could use the old Cat5 cable from the SWB/Rhythms DSL line and they were off and running. Install was a breeze--they had it up in an hour and were gone in just over two! They install techs were very efficient--they even know about my NetGear RT311 firewall and configured it for me so that it would work with the new static IP--Roadrunner wouldn't even touch it when I had to use them for a month after Northpoint went down.
Here's the result of my speed report:
Baseline Test on Wed Oct 3 11:16:59 2001
Download: 3.428 MBits/second
Upload : 0.823 MBits/second
Latency : 150.376 milliseconds
Latest Test on Sat Oct 6 14:10:24 2001
Download: 3.736 MBits/second
Upload : 0.801 MBits/second
Latency : 73.059 milliseconds
I did have some difficulty in getting a secondary email account set up with earthlink, but the Sprint technicians over the phone were great--earthlink was having difficulty with its email servers that day.
I've called Sprint 3-4 times and the tech support has alwasy been very good---and quick. The phone support guys are knowledgeable and very helpful--a rareity these days.
Overall, getting the order through was just a nightmare. But I was willing to go through with it because I wanted a provider that would be here--I don't believe Sprint will be folding in a year.
BTW the online console (a web site that allows you to set the options on your phone lines) allows you to set up your call forwarding options (whether you want voicemail, whether you want to forward your phone somewhere else, how many rings, etc.) and that's way cool! You can even get to it when you're not using the console from your home line--so if I was in San Francisco on business and for some reason needed to have all my home phone calls forwarded to my cellphone in SF I could do it, and then turn it back to voicemail later--that's nice!
Am I happy--definately yes! Only criticism is that Sprint needs to get the order process cleaned up. But hey I'm impressed with the speed, the features and the price! My old Rhythms/Lattice line was $111 a month--plus about $110 for the SWB lines (I have two). Now I'm getting my DSL and two home phones (with caller ID and voicemail--I didn't have voicemail with SWB and that would have raised my cost about $15 for both lines) for a total price of about $119 per month with no contract (and one bill instead of three). Finally I'll be able to cut costs on my telcom expenses!
Finally--a broadband experience that actually made me happy!
--Mark Johnson, Houston, Texas
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Review by rkshull
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 3 visits, last login: 8.1 years ago
Plano,Collin,TX
$125 per month (24 month contract)
about 60 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
CLEC party: Sprint
"Smooth install, great price/performance"
"Lead up to installation was a nightmare"
"Service is great, preinstall process stinks"
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Ordered Sprint ION Xt1 service in late July after trying and giving up last fall. Install was today. Current speed is 2.8+ Mbits down/700+ Kbits up at about 11000 ft to CO. Seeing sustained downloads (real-world sites) of about 345 KB/s. Voice service has been good so far (quality is at least as good as analog line). At $99.95 per month (I estimate $125 after tax & fees), price/performance can't be beat. Installation was very smooth at about
2.5 hours. Would have taken about 1.5 hours except for some problems in porting my existing number. Not sure whether the problem was with Sprint, Verizon, or both.
That's the good. Now for the bad. The lead-in to the installation was absolutely horrid.
May not have been as bad if my demarq was accessible without my presence, but none of the techs would enter my yard because of our dog. I was never contacted in advance for a visit, despite giving my cell phone number repeatedly to the ION rep. So, process went something like this:
Visit 1 by Verizon to check loop (no advance warning). Did not enter because of dog. Left note.
Called Sprint and scheduled for visit 2. Nine hour window, weekday only.
Visit 2 by Verizon. Arrived mid-afternoon. Approximately two hours to find unused circuit and test.
Visit 1 by Sprint to qualify line (no advance warning). Did not enter because of dog. Left note.
Called Sprint and scheduled for visit 2. Nine hour window, weekday only.
Visit 2 by Sprint. Arrived mid-afternoon. Approximately 30 minutes to get line provisioned and verify speed.
Visit 3 by Sprint. Arrived 9:15 AM. Very nice job of wiring including providing wall jack connected into house phone wiring for voice. Approximately 1.5 hours to get data up and running. Another hour or so to get voice service up and existing number ported. All features appear to be working properly.
So, it took 2.5 days of vacation to actually get the service installed.
Service includes 1 static IP, ISP service provided by Earthlink. Appears to also included dial-up access to Earthlink as part of the service (nice for travel). Installation is $100 and C50 router is $100 (both waived with 2 year subscription).
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 8.1 years ago
(review was emailed from domain viasource.net)
Long Island City,Queens,NY
$149 per month (6 month contract)
Verizon
CLEC party: Sprint
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I just got Sprint ION in New York City, and it flies. This is the best
service I have had yet. I switched from Road Runner and that was good. I
had North Point DSL and it was ok. They aren't marketing it here yet,
but it's here and its incredible. I got what they call and XT2. Its 2
phone lines and one high high speed line. If you're in New York City you
have to try this service. Trust me it's the best I've seen or had.
Verizon has too many issues with getting you the service. Watch out Road
Runner the coyote didn't catch you, but this will blow you away.
Thanks Sprint!
One Happy Customer..
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Review by KingKenrod
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 7 visits, last login: 351 days ago
Bedford,Tarrant,TX
$99 per month (24 month contract)
about 34 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Sprint
"Very fast, no technical problems"
"Sprint made some errors that delayed my install date"
"Worth the install wait times - blazing fast and pretty cheap."
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I ordered the Sprint ION xt1 (1 static IP, 1 phone line) package on August 24. I had to have a basic ILEC phone line (SW Bell) before Sprint would test my line. Everything tested out OK, and my install date was set to September 27 (about 10 days later than I had hoped). The install was flawless and fairly quick, about 1 1/2 hours, I got a C100 router so I can upgrade to xt2 in the future if I want to. My line immediately tested at 3.5M down/600K up (which is about 5 times faster than my SW Bell DSL) and server pings 60-70 ms. I'm about 11,300 feet from my CO. I'm very happy with the service so far. The phone line is really cool - I can set my phone services (caller ID, caller block, voice mail) from a web interface!
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 Review by rmattix4
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 244 visits, last login: 4 years ago
Allen,Collin,TX
$132 per month (12 month contract)
about 30 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Sprint
"Great Value for the money"
"The 'all your eggs in one basket' problem - Switch problems down everything including voice (happened once in 12 months though)"
"If Sprint goes nationwide with this - RBOC's had better watch out!!"
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This is great - even at 17286 ft(!!!!!!!) I STILL get 1.7Megabits down and 500 to 900 Kbits up. Having ordered XT-2 and getting two static IP's and the C-100 Hub was wonderful. The only major problem I've had after 12 months of service was when Sprint Tech's did a switch upgrade for new features (on the voice side) and brought down the network for about 8 hrs.
I was moving and Sprint will not install without a ILEC line, ordered that from SWB and with my new number call ION and ordered to be converted. After some issues with SWB not wanting to release the line to Sprint (another long story that I had to resolve with SWB - not Sprint's fault), 40 days later I was up and running.
I still can't believe the speeds even at this distance. Kudos to Sprint and the ION teams!!!
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Sprint ION
