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September 4, 2016 Thought I might update my review of Windstream after my recent need for service. I don't really know how long I have been a Windstream customer, but every time I've called the past 2 weeks they always begin by saying, "Thanks for being a long time Windstream customer." Currently on 12mb, supposedly price for life when they sold me a few years back. I've had the occasional outages and slow speeds like others have reported. Anyway, for several years no major problems just annoyances, until 3 weeks ago. Internet would just drop. The router reported all was fine, calls to tech support said everything was fine. For 10 days they insisted it was my wiring or router not their equipment. So 200 dollars spent for my inside wiring and a new modem/router, and still the same. I know they probably have one tech covering multiple counties here but I can't understand even when I offered to pay whatever it cost, I even offered a cash bribe, they still kept insisting their equipment was fine it was on my end and did not show up even after scheduling an appointment and me taking the day off to wait for the tech. Long story short, their dslam finally stopped working which must have caused others in my area to call and complain. So 2 weeks they fixed it and my service is back to normal. But I have yet to see their service tech come to the house three weeks later, after I requested it, had them put in a ticket for a service call and agreed to pay for it. I just wanted them to come check my wiring and equipment and admit after the dozen phone calls and multiple PM's to their tech here at the forums they were either incompetent or lazy, or just plain old lying to me. No one was rude or unpleasant during this silly back and forth, but really, they need some better qualified tech people. Then again perhaps they pay low wages and can't get good people to work for them. member for 14 years, 68 visits, last login: 168 days ago updated 7.6 years ago
This is just my two cents on this horrible company. Had windstream communications for around 10 years. Back then the speeds were acceptable, internet was starting to flower out into bigger things. There were no disconnects and the speeds was what I was paying for 3 Mbps down. Problems started rising in I'd say about 2008, they oversold the DSLAM and the speed went to complete crap. Called support constantly and asked about speed upgrades. Always would get the run around "oh we have upgrades plans on the blah blah so expect it." That was in 2009, it is now 2015 and they have made no progress to upgrade our area. I keep seeing all the news articles of how they are upgrading speeds to 100 Mbps in some areas (probably because they have competition there) and it infuriates me. It seems like they would upgrade the more rural areas to have better internet than to keep upgrading areas that have WELL beyond the speed I currently have. Guess that's business though. I pay $70 a month for 3 Mbps while other ISP's charge $70 for 50 Mbps or even greater speeds, it's unacceptable for the price and the frustrations of constant disconnects and horrible speeds. The speeds are great around 1 AM to 8 AM in the morning. After that period of time though the speed just crawls to a staggering 0.30 download. THAT'S WORSE THAN DIAL UP!!! After constant complaints to the FCC I finally received a response from them saying we will likely not benefit from any scheduled upgrades in 2015, and if we find this unacceptable we may want to explore alternative service such as internet via satellite from Dish network. I signed up on this forum for help. Went to the direct forums to ask about upgrades. Got a response that I should see fiber being ran around November of this year. Basically Windstream throws out random dates about upgrades and has no coordination what so ever. It's like they want to be the worst ISP out there. This is my advice, AVOID this company if you can. If there are other ISP's in your area and Windstream is the cheapest option, go with the other ISP or be plagued with every problem in the book. Update: 11/22/15 On August 13th I went on the direct forums to ask about possible speed / equipment upgrades in my area. The representative and I talked giving the speed tests to show how bad it is in my area. The rep said they found an issue on the equipment I was on (Really? no way). Said plans were submitted to get the equipment upgraded around the end of November. Well, here it is the end of November and no upgrades in sight! It literally took me 20 minutes to load a 4 minute (yes.... 4) Youtube video in 144p quality... absolutely disgusting and ridiculous Update: 1/04/16 Yet ANOTHER F@st 1704 modem broke so I now have to originate back to the old speedstream 4200. I'm definitely surfing with power now!!! Oh and the speeds are still crap, don't fix what you can't fix I guess is their motto Update: 1/09/16 Last night the internet bottomed out, when I say that I mean the speed went from pretty average to an astonishing 0.06 Mb/s. Stayed like that for 3-5 hours before returning to normal "speeds" »/speak ··· ydD04NzA Update: 4/21/16 After asking for help in the direct forums about upgrades in the area in February I got a response saying the equipment has been hooked up but there was a delay due to rain and when it's not raining they'll be hooking it up. I replied back with thanks for the update and waited for a response. About a month later they didn't reply back to me so I asked if there were any updates for the upgrade. I got a reply back saying that they do not have a completion date for the project and they are currently trying to get power to the site. I haven't noticed any Windstream activity anywhere around me, no Windstream vans / utility trucks driving down the road repairing anything. So I asked where the upgraded DSLAM or remote terminal is located and haven't gotten and response since. I think they are blatantly lying to me and it's really pissing me off. How this company can do this is so frustrating, and going to the FCC and complaining about it does absolutely nothing. And their website says my area applies for premium speed of 100 MBPS and is 100% backed by fiber. But it's not really, I'm still sitting in the 1990's over here with internet WORSE than fucking dial-up. Update: 9/2/16 Got a response on August 16th saying the third party contract firm (Adtran) is almost ready to start moving customers over in about 2-3 week's to the new COT. I replied with thanks for the update and was waiting for good results. WELL on August 31st I got another reply stating the completion date has been moved back to December 2016 and they'll update me in October. I really do not understand how this HORRIBLE company functions on a day to day basis. How can you overshoot a completion date like that? member for 8.6 years, 2166 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 7.6 years ago
Package basically consists of DSL high speed internet plus 2 phone lines. It was upgraded about 2 months ago from 6 to 12 download speed and 720 upload which is all they offer To residential. originally the price for the service was 85.00. I am a long time customer that was a GTE customer over 25 years ago. Windstream took over about 6 to 10 years ago. They consider me an old customer. Originally GTE installed to the house and I installed all interior lines. Modem/routers and computers all have been serviced by me as I am a long time technician/programmer in which I build my computers and repair them as well as a many consumer electronics. I have never needed their tech's to help inside my home. I expect them to maintain outside my home. Windstream recently upgraded my modem/router with sagemcom 4320 it is a dual line (meaning they use 5 lines instead of the old 2 lines) modem in which the lines are bonded as they call it. This year has been the worst for me as my ISP frequently goes down. In fact every month this year I have had to have them come out to get things up and running. It has always been their equipment at fault. 2 times I had to have them come out more than once in a month. I have had latency issues all along with my gaming some latency numbers have ranged from 4894ms down to 2500ms for extended times of hours to days and weeks/months. I even went as far as checking the gaming servers for the trouble and I now know it is between my ISP and bufferbloating or in my own router and bufferbloating. Trying to talk to their techs on the phone is a nightmare and their low qualifications to tech talk. They can't answer simple questions about the new router settings in Qos in their modem/router. I was told they set them up for best results and I am not to touch their equipment. I have found if I call and hold multiple times I might get a tech that can help; but it is scattered to say the least. I have searched the internet for the sagemcon 4320 manual and found it; but it is useless. I looked for a manual with specifications and nothing came up. I tried a repair manual and nothing again. Windstream will not help and they want it that way. By the way no other carrier will service this area I am 4 miles away from a main fiber optics junction which services our small town for in-town people ; but the owners will not run any further. We rural people have only one choice which is Windstream. I should also add that all cell phones are unable to get signal stable enough to use cell phones. My children when visiting here do get upset about it. They have to go outside the house out in the yard to find a signal. I can see the tower outside my window.  Well that is my 2 cents worth. member for 7.6 years, 2 visits, last login: 7.6 years ago updated 7.6 years ago
we have had windstream for about 2 or 3 years althoe they were alltel before windstream took them over here we have had alot of problem out of our servace but they have done alot to help us out which is the only reason we have stayed with them for so long we have the light DSL package which is 19.95 a month there was no instailation other than haveing to hook up the DSL modem an haveing them open a few ports for gameing Friday, May 21st, 2010 2 years an some odd months later we now have faster internet we have 3500mbps but now there is a problem of the DSL shutting off everytime it rains there service like the last time is still good they come an check up everything and get it going again but i wish they could find why it does this every time it rains Saterday, April 23rd, 2011 we had 3500mbps as stated in my last update but for some reason it would not work so they moved us down to 1500mbps and there were no problems after that althoe there are still problems with the internet shuting down when it rains we had a tech out a few months after my last review and he replaced every wire in the house with new wires for phones and dsl that includes the box outside and placed filters in that said box the service is now alot better than what it was but for the love of god can you all fix the damn problem with it shutting down when it rains Monday, July 25th, 2016 It has been a long time since my last review of Windstream there service is hit an miss it was a lot better after I moved to a new location but recently instead of getting the 12.0Mbps I'm suppose to get I'm down to 0.30Mbps-1.40Mbps I have no idea what is going on with there service other then it is bad it is truly a shame there are no other providers in my area I still would not recommend anyone to get there internet from this company if they can keep from it member for 16.1 years, 11 visits, last login: 2.6 years ago updated 7.7 years ago
I've been with WS for five years now, and like most, its because I have no other choice. I could pay for satellite service, and fight data caps and higher monthly bills in general...or stay with WS. Its a terrible feeling to know there are no other options... Its 2016...the days of dial up and slow connections SHOULD be over. Technology is so advanced, it simply boils down to business decisions. Think about storage 10 years ago, it cost a customer $100 for a 1GB thumb drive. Now, you can get 2TB of storage for the same price...its crazy. I pay for 3mb service, which is sufficient for me as long as I'm getting advertised speeds. This company has chosen to make their money hand over fist by oversubscribing their infrastructure to the point is barely supports any traffic at all. Most days I only get 1mb down, and sometimes my pings are over 500...its very frustrating. I work in IT for a living, so dealing with ignorant customer service reps reading a teleprompter does not sit well with me. I know what I'm talking about, and I understand IT infrastructure. Somehow WS has made sure all their Ts are crossed, because they are still in business today. Its absolute fraud how they are running this company...and I hope one day they are shut down for good. I could rest easy knowing that even though I have no available ISP, at least I'm not throwing my money down the tube every month with WS. As soon as another option is available in my area, I'm gone! member for 13 years, 207 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago lodged 7.8 years ago
We have the 12mbps plan from windstream. First off the price for this service is way to high. There is other companies out there with way faster service for way less. But windstream is the only service we can get in our area. The 1704N Fast router they supply you with is garbage. Its wifi is horrible and we recently had to have ours replaced. You can not buy it from them you have to rent it. The service itself is horrible. There is constant drops and constant slow speeds. We have had techs check lines and replace routers but its still the same old story with slow speeds and drops. The customer service is one of the worst we have ever dealt with. It takes forever to talk to anyone and then they just tell you what you want to hear but once your done talking to them its back to the same horrible service. We are very frustrated with Windstream but like I said before we are stuck with them for the time being. If you have any choice stay away from this company and its service. All you will get is a service that isn't even close to what you pay for and horrible customer service. UPDATE: It has been about a month since I posted my review. We are still getting speeds way below what we pay for. I would say on average our speeds are in the 1mbps to 2mbps area. Earlier today it was .3mbps and yesterday it was .4mbps. We are still get constant drops and see no signs of relief. While rest of the country seems to be getting faster and faster our service seems to be getting slower and slower. Debating on even calling and trying to open a ticket since our last time was 2 weeks of frustration only to get a new router and have the same exact problems. Seems like the only thing about Windstream that is going up is there prices. member for 13.1 years, 1025 visits, last login: 5.1 years ago updated 7.8 years ago
Service is never up to the limit they post. Call support and they give a canned response "we provide up to ###Mbps, this is not a guaranteed speed." So when they say up to ###Mbps and only you get ##Kbps you still get charged the same amount. So why then would anyone pay for more to get the same exact speed and poor quality as a lower package. Tech support doesn't even know when their own network is down. POOR POOR Windstream. Don't they get government funding to run? Maybe it is time to stop throwing tax payer money at low performing companies till they hold up their end. It is a HUGE waste. Let the bad companies fall and fail. Let the good companies rise to the top and support them. member for 7.8 years, 68 visits, last login: 6.8 years ago updated 7.8 years ago
UPDATE: 05/11/2016 -- They have finally replaced my copper-fed, analog-boosted DSLAM with a fiber-fed one (I think). It has been "in-progress" since July of 2015. I have seen a handful of techs at the DSLAM over course of a few days and my connection has been stellar since. So I imagine they have finally migrated the neighborhood. I was told the reason it took so long is that they have a handful of fiber techs performing hundreds of these migrations. And they kept getting sent the wrong equipment for this install which kept stacking turn-around time. UPDATE: 6/10/2015 -- Things have slowly gone downhill as they have over-subscribed the area and more and more people ween themselves off cable and satellite and stream more and more content. I am not usually getting only 3Mbs of my 12 in all but the most off of hours (read 3AM). Bandwidth aside, the stability of the connection is suffering due to a stressed infrastructure. And they have said on many occasions that they have no intentions of improving things. Sure they are rolling out gigabit service in some markets, but that is only in completely new neighborhoods where they can roll fiber rather than rely on old copper. Thing is, on a technical side my 'connection' is solid (most of that is elaborated below). It is what gets fed to me over that connection that is the problem. And on top of this...my bill has ballooned to over $70 from the ~$50 it was a few years ago for worsening service. Boy if I had another realistic option I would take it. Unfortunately, the local cable company will not roll into my neighborhood and satellite is not practical for my high demand on the net. UPDATE: 8/2012 -- Speedstream 4200 finally died. Replaced with new Sagemcom 1704 and connection has been rock solid. Speeds are give and take, but I know they are in desperate need of upgrading local hardware and are supposed to be doing that before too long. They are having issues getting the newly available 12Mbps out with their OLD hardware. Went through a few headaches over speed upgrade process, but got everything worked out. I think I avoid alot of headaches with Windstream as I have dealt with them so much and overall DSL problems. I usually end up knowing more that the techs they send out about the situation. I have had to baby step multiple techs through a few situations. I don't just walk away and assume its gonna get done right. And some have even had to use MY laptop to configure modems for our businesses. I also have informed multiple techs that there is a firmware update for the 1704 that makes bridging & staticIP easier (which gets uploaded when they call in to configure the modem). I mean is there no briefing or training? Do they just get any schmuck that can twist a wire in theses jobs. I have dealt with a few that obviously knew more than I and I bled them of every detail concerning the technology and the status of the local issues. **UPDATE: 2011 I am now posting regular speeds of 6.5Mbps and peaks of 8Mbps with my custom made Smoothwall router. Subscription: Greenstreak 6 Mbps/ 768 Kbps The Windstream of today is head and shoulders above the Windstream I dealt with just 2 years ago. They still have a big problem passing information from one department to the next, but it has improved. The service is solid and even beyond my subscription at times. I'd say it is up 99.9 percent of the time (we have it at work and same there). Sure there is an outage from time to time and those couple hours can seem like an eternity, but things happen and they have to maintain equipment. If you can get through the initial stress of getting connected and stable, it should be peaches and cream from there. I would say get a techie person to help, but odds are you are already pretty savvy if you are on this site. I have helped countless family and friends over the hump with Windstream and have only had to pay return visits when they switched everyone over to PPPOE and passwords had to be re-entered. I do have the choice of cable in my area, but I am so familiar with DSL and navigating Windstream support and the cable speeds are no faster around here. member for 15.7 years, 176 visits, last login: 2.7 years ago updated 7.9 years ago
Paying monthly for 3MB, but rarely see over 1 MB. They say that this is not a guaranteed 3MB.. read fine print in contract. They refuse to upgrade their lines. I have written letters to all 3 of my Congressman. All I receive back from Windstream is "no upgrades planned for this year" and these types of plans can take years to process. Overall they do not care about their customers. They are the only service available in my area otherwise I would have already dropped them. member for 8 years, driveby review (so far) lodged 8 years ago
I've had Windstream DSL service at 10Mbps for $90/mo for over 2 years without a single problem until recently. It took them months before they could install the service, but once it was up it worked as expected until now. This past winter, I was sent an offer to upgrade to 16Mbps. I took the offer, but then was told it would take 6 months or more for the new speed to come in. That didn't stop them from charging me the higher rate in the meantime. I had to call them to get the bill adjusted to the proper amount for the service I'm currently receiving. Then, a few weeks ago, my home phone started receiving a lot of telemarketing calls, and we found out it had been switched with a neighbor's number. When they came to fix this, they disconnected our DSL and reconnected it at 6Mbps. When I told the tech that the speed wasn't right, he mumbled something about rated distance and left. Phone support wouldn't correct it. However, I contacted online chat support and they restored it to 10Mbps. My DSL service went out this week. I reported it and was given a resolution estimation of a day. They were upgrading the switch box in my vicinity and my service should be restored soon. Two days later, no change, and the ticket status hasn't changed. Phone support says that the Dispatch team has made zero updates on the ticket. My biggest frustration with Windstream is the lack of clarity and professionalism. They can say whatever scripted lines they want, but their technical staff do haphazard work and run off on unsatisfied customers. My area is quickly transforming from a rural area to a more suburban one, but Windstream treats their customers in dense neighborhoods like last-mile rural customers who they can ignore. member for 8.3 years, 7 visits, last login: 8 years ago updated 8 years ago
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