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The Company needs to invest some money to upgrade/modernize their old equipment at the DSLAM. Latency issues abound and speeds drop to near nothing at times. When a tech comes they just shake their heads and say it is out of their hands. This is ridiculous!! member for 8.3 years, 68 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago lodged 8 years ago
02/29/2016 Since my last review, I've lost my internet 6 times before (this is the 7th). Each time I call "customer service", most of the time, I get a "brain dead" person, who seems to have to ask me the same simple questions 4 times (at least it was in today's call). Seems that Laura (doubtful that's a real name since her accent is SOOOOOO damn thick, I almost couldn't communicate with her), can't seem to grasp the concept of when you pay $110/month (I have a static IP with my connection), and when you're told its going to be TWO DAYS to get it fixed, you're going to be a LITTLE upset. But I'm quite sure her attitude, is like the rest of the company....they just don't give a damn. But I wonder when the DSL connection of Mr. Anthony Thomas goes down (the CEO of the company), I'll bet they'll make sure to drop what they're doing, and that HIS will be fixed within just a few minutes (or maybe a couple of hours). Common folk like me, has to wait TWO DAYS. Even "Laura" said that individual customers are treated differently than business customers, but I'd be willing to bet that I pay MORE for my connection, than some of those business customers, since I have to depend on my internet connection to do business (apparently they don't understand that I AM a business customers), but I still wait two days to even THINK about getting it fixed. Things were bad under former CEO Jeff Gardner, but Windstream has gotten WORSE under the current CEO (Anthony Thomas). I just can't understand that Windstream replaced the cable feeding my area (I can hit the remote-equipped DSL with a 2-iron from my house), but they have so many problems with my (and other) connections. Last year, I had to go 3 days without DSL because of a "fiber cut", which I knew was a lie, since my daughter, who lives 25 feet from me, kept working and we're on the same feeder cable. And for the record, I'm a retired CenturyTel (now CenturyLink) employee. So, I'm not the every day telephone idiot here. I do realize the local techs are a good bunch of guys and they try hard, but I also realize they can only go so far when people above them (area supervisor, etc) won't help them do their jobs. I've also noticed, they USED to have people from Windstream on this forum to "help" customers with their problems. After many scathing reviews, I've noticed they've disappeared, since they finally got exposed for their constant lies they kept telling customers. Because I've been told MANY TIMES, that my DSL is fixed and I shouldn't have any more problems...until the next month it goes down. So, like all the other times before, I'm sure SOMETHING in the remote, has failed (again), and since they don't care to upgrade their CO (or remote) equipment, what they seem to be running, is just fine and won't replace it unless they have to. IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE IN YOUR AREA, STAY AWAY FROM WINDSTREAM ! Fortunately, I DO have a choice....they'll be on Wednesday, and I KNOW their connection is a lot more stable than Windstream.Once my new connection is up, I'll LITERALLY tell Windstream to "stick it", and a few other things too. Anthony Thomas, your predecessor sucked. You suck worse ! And you wonder why you can't seem to keep customers. I never had a problem like this with AT&T ! 06/25/2015 True to Windstream form, they can't seem to get anything right. On 06/24 around 3:30pm, as I'm preparing a few things to transmit to Dallas, my internet suddenly goes down. A call to Windstream, and it seems to be the same problem, that its been over a dozen times before, something in the CO has failed...again. Time to repair, 6p, 06/24. As 10pm comes & goes, no internet. Another call to Windstream, and the same run around, now the time to repair is 9am 06/25. As 9am 06/25 comes & goes, another call to Windstream, and this time, they blatantly lie to me. They say it was something in the CO (probably was) AND a fiber cut. As a retired CenturyTel (now CenturyLink) employee, I knew this not to be true. This review is being written on my daughter's DSL... right next door to me. So I know its not a fiber cut, as their "engineers" are claiming. So its quite obvious now that Windstream DOES lie just to get you off the phone, and this is the proof of it. So I have a suggestion... When you have an outage, keep on Windstream until they give a straight answer. Its doubtful you'll get one, but in my case, I'll be going much further than the "technical support" part of the operation. I'll be contacting the CEO DIRECT, to let him know what's about to happen. He can either ignore it, and cost his company money in the long run, or he can lose a little money quietly. If I know these idiots, they'll ignore it. DO NOT TAKE WHAT WINDSTREAM TELLS YOU AT FACE VALUE ! This is absolute proof they are the most dishonest company in the world. If you need help contacting their corporate office in Little Rock, just let me know. ---EDIT--- A follow up call to Windstream just a few minutes ago, confirmed AGAIN, they just lied. The next person who talked to me, kept telling me (over & over) that a "fiber cut" has occurred. While EVERYONE in my area is without DSL, there are about 10-12 who still have it, including my daughter who lives just 25 feet away from me. It ain't a fiber cut folks. Be very careful when you deal with the lying scum bags. 09/27/2013 Well, the truck roll is complete and most everything is working again. However, when they changed my speed, they knocked me down to a dynamic IP. I can't work that way, but I was able to get someone in the business office (that was competent) and they are going to change it back to static. Local grunts (field techs) are very good, and know their equipment and their network. Can't say that about the tier 1 support. They are very incompetent and need MUCH more training on their product and how they deal with the public. I won't bump up their review until Windstream can show me they can handle simple orders. 09/26/2013 Like I've said before, if you need support, God help you. Wanted to upgrade my speed (from 3 to 12). Placed the order on Friday 09/20. The upgrade was going to take place on 09/26. Fine with me. 09/26 comes and at 2:15pm, I lose my sync and the service goes down. Being a retired telephone employee, I know the circuit has got to come down for the re-provisioning of the circuit. A job that should only take no more than 15 minutes. After 2 hours down, the circuit is still down. So I call tech support (ugh). The lady that answers is completely clueless (where do they get these people ?) So they transfer me to Tier 2 support. OK with me, that's what I wanted in the first place. Darren answers the phone and sees where the work was completed at 3pm and sees that everything is "normal". Except my DSL is still down. Gotta have a truck roll to fix the damn thing. That's supposed to happen sometime between 1-5 on Friday 09/27. Since I work from home nowdays, most of my work is at night and now I lose money because of their incompetence. A simple upgrade in the soft switch is all they have to do, and Windstream screws that up. I'll update Friday after the "truck roll". If they don't fix it, I'll tell them to leave it down and I'm done with Windstream. I do have a choice with the cable company for internet. If you have a choice for internet, DON'T GET WINDSTREAM ! They can't even get a simple service order right, just imagine if you need them for support what a hassle you're going to have. Its become quite obvious to me that Windstream is an incompetent company who can screw up a wet dream ! UPDATE 07/26/2013 - 7:39PM (CT) As I suspected, my static IP is STILL not working as was told to me earlier that it would be (basically lied to). Called tech support (what a joke), since I cannot find the WS people who hang out here and TS says that it would be 5-7 days before it would be working (their automated system says that my order is completed...lie #2). Victor in retention placed the order on Wednesday (07/24) and he ASSURED me that it would be worked by the 26th. Aaron (a "specialist") reached out to me and told me that I should "reach out to him should I have problems". Well I tried to reach out to Victor & Aaron, both apparently do not want to help me with my "problem". Whatever you do, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH WINDSTREAM !!! The Windstream trolls (that hang out here on BBR) who are supposed to work for them do not want to help, only to look like they want to help, so they can avoid the bad press they seem to be receiving (and they're about to get more bad press, thanks to my friends in the media in Little Rock). Their only job is to lie to customers and not provide the service they "offer". Do not put ANY trust in ANYONE (from Windstream) on this forum who says they will be willing to help (Aaron, Victor...are you listening? I'm referring to YOU, but I doubt you care since your attitude is just a reflection of what management wants). UPDATE 07/26/2013 - 1:45PM (CT) Decided to downgrade Windstream. As far as the connection is concerned, it has been flawless, but that's where it ends. Placed an order for a simple static IP for my business. WS told me that it would be done on Friday (07/26), but as of this writing, that ship has sailed and I still do not have a static IP, as I was told I would have. Further indication by Windstream's automated system says that my static IP order has been completed, but I know that's a lie as my IP is still changing. WS says that it should be enabled by 7:00pm Friday (07/26), which I believe is also a lie. Two WS employees indicated that if I needed further help, just let them know. Been trying to reach out to both of them all afternoon, neither of them can be found (like they fell off the earth) Since my business is time-critical (sensitive), I thought I could depend on Windstream to provide me with simple services. Since they can't (or won't), I'll call the cable company ASAP. At least they have assured me that they can provide me with simple services without the run around or the lies. member for 16.5 years, 2807 visits, last login: 6.9 years ago updated 8 years ago
I started with 1.5 MB download and .512 MB upload..I had my dsl bundled with a phone package..It served the purpose at the time..I upgraded to 3.0 MB download and .384 upload as they would not offer the .512 upload anymore..I also did away with phone service and went to their greenstreak which is just dsl no phone plan..I liked that I still kept the same home phone number and could still receive calls at no cost..I bought a magic jack for outgoing calls and it has worked out well for me..I noticed here within the last few months that my upload speed has increased to .670 upload..I assume they upgraded everyone in my area to .768 upload who has the 3MB download..The only reason I upgraded to 3MB download was that I got netflix service and started streaming movies on my xbox..With the 3 MB download I can stream movies in HD..Sometimes my connection will slow a little and the movie will not stream in HD but 3MB download service is as fast as Windstream offers in my area right now..I have speedstream 4200 router running into LInksys WRT160N ver.2 wireless router..I started with Linksys WRT 54G and then went to a Belkin Model F5D7230-4 wireless G but both seemed to freeze and need to be rebooted to often, especially the Belkin..My WRT 160N is MUCH more stable and dependable.. When I first got windstream DSL it was when they first offered it in my area..Great at first but after about a year and a half they had over sold the available band width and service was very slow at peak times of the day..IE: after school let out until about 10 PM at night..They finally ran fiber cable to my DSLAM and it made a world of difference..That is also when they started offering the 3MB download.. Over all I've been happy with Windstream since they got through the growing pains.. Not happy any more!! Started experiencing the same problem as before but this time MUCH worse..Got no help from calling customer support..I will not deal with this crap for another year and a half as last time because now I have a choice!! Still waiting for WS to do something..Have wireless service available but will cost $350 or more to get it in my house as I will need a pole or tower to be able to receive the signal..That also would include a 2 year contract.. I would not be so upset with WS if they would just admit the problem they have created by over selling.. It started when they started offering 12Mb service..They should move all customers back to 3Mb or less AND NOT SELL NEW SERVICE until they can upgrade their equipment to provide the service they sell..That is the most irritating part of all is that they continue to sell service that they know they can NOT provide!! What if other utility companies, water electric etc., ran their business this way? Oh we will have your lights back working full time maybe sometime next year if your lucky..But in the mean time keep paying your bill as you have no other choice of providers! Well I was on the verge of spending over $300 to get Nextlink Wireless when WS got my connection back to normal.. I think it was helped along by techs on WS forum.. I now get 15ms pings and full 6mb down almost all day.. The speeds will fall some and pings rise some at peak but mostly when we have many connections here in the house running at the same time.. Would love to have more speed but can not justify spending the extra money to get more speed.. They offer 12mb here but I'm to far from the dslam to get it.. I noticed some cable guys working in the area and wonder if that might have pushed WS to do something.. There used to be cable close to my area years ago but they went out of business because of not enough customers but the cable is still there.. Some time has passed now and I now have moved from my 10mb/768kb service to bonded service at 20mb/1.5mb.. My 10mb service worked great but I needed more upload..Just got the 20mb service about 3 weeks ago.. So far I do not like it.. Speeds start to vary wildly after about 5pm.. This never happened with my 10 mb service.. Also I lost a $20 discount i had for years because I had a second line of service.. In order to get the bonded dsl I had to cancel second line so they could use it for my bonding dsl therefore losing my discount.. I did this as there were not any pins left at my dslam to bond with my main phone line..They will not use an active line, even though I was not using it other than for discount on bill, to bond.. member for 17.3 years, 245 visits, last login: 112 days ago updated 8.1 years ago
Excellent Speeds! Actually get more than I pay for! member for 11.6 years, 326 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago updated 8.2 years ago
Ordered 3 Mbps package and have 1.5 Mbps reliable speeds. But in end line will only handle 1.5 Mbps. Called for tech support 3 times till I got a internet tech who cared enough to not just transfer me away to someone who really could not handle my issue. Once I got someone who took the ball I was fixed within minutes. Field techs are great and would not give up till i had a clean line and went out of their way to make sure I was satisfied with my service. 1/10/2-16: Stay away from this company. Phones are marginal and internet the worse. Will not fix lines that are bad even if they know exactly where issue is. Only have stayed with this company because I need a landline phone and the DSL comes with it. Otherwise I would drop them in a heart beat. I do have cable internet which is so much better but at the moment is down till someone resets the connection at the plant or I would not be able to check emails or read the news. But hate to say this but even satellite is better than Windstream. They love tio sell you the moon but they can't deliver what they promise. 09/12/2013: Well here we are after a few months of service and use the downstream has now dropped to best 1023 kbps and upstream of 380 kbps. Complained about noisy phone when on calls and since they attempted to repair this the speed dropped from 1506 kbps. Am paying for 3 Mbps down for DSL and so far they have refused to allow a discount for the reduced speeds. Field techs did rewire my line from the central office using never used lines and found that a pedestal about 1800 feet from me had 3 meg down. The next pedestal had 1023 kbps and mine has 1023 kbps. From what I can find out they may be not going to fix the line. Still have bad phone service with noise even when talking to my mother who also lives in same town. I vote to stay away if you have another choice. Even satellite would be better than this. 10/10/2012. Finally done with this company. As soon as cable gets installed I am bailing. Internet connect speeds are lower and lower after each time tech comes to fix a problem they claim nothing is wrong and can't verify issue even though it is in black and while modem logs. Stay away. Even Satellite is better than this company. member for 20 years, 2270 visits, last login: 3.3 years ago updated 8.2 years ago
This is with a 16 year old "internet & phone for life" deal with 3mb down internet. Never had download speeds exceed 10% of what I was paying for. Customer service was horrible - would call at 6 after work and be forwarded around till 7 when they closed. People were pleasant but didn't know what they were doing. Connection is consistent. ~50kb/s average. Ping is nearly always > 600ms. Never under 250ms. Ever. After taxes and fees most recent monthly bill was **~$79.** After about a month of tri-weekly phone calls to complain, download speed went from ~20kb/s to ~200kb/s, ping remained >1000ms(generally games would stop calculating ping after 1000ms) though I think it improved slightly. Every time a service tech was sent out, it would be unannounced and during my day at work. Happened 2 or 3 times, and got some hypocritically annoyed sounding voice messages about it. After an additional month of bi-weekly harassment, I was told that they had "6 lanes of traffic on a 4 lane highway." and that it would be another 6-9 months before they could even THINK about servicing my area. This is reference to the fact that they are on a copper cable on most of their service area, and the switch to fiber-optic has been a painfully slow process for them. Didn't really have a problem installing around 16 years ago or so. TL;DR High price for pee water at best. member for 8.2 years, driveby review (so far) updated 8.2 years ago
I was sold a 3.5 package. I receive 14% of that. The tech that performed the install was swift. The brand and model is substandard to be honest a Fast 170n i believe. The overall company service was rude. The people who answer the phone are incompetent, unhelpful, and completely lacking in any type of customer service training. There have been no good experiences since having wind stream. The internet often goes out or runs so slow that even google wont load. My pings reach 1800 so often it is the norm. The reps on the phone will not compensate the bill against the horrible service they do not provide, and yet they still determine pricing based on whats in the area that they have a monopoly. They are by far the worst internet service provider I have ever encountered. Comcast may have bad customer service but at least the internet works good at least it did when I had them. My only hope is some foul laced karma can one day ruin everything they hold dear. member for 8.2 years, 11 visits, last login: 7.1 years ago lodged 8.2 years ago
This is my second go with Windtream as I switched to Excede then back to Windstream last summer as Excede had no technicians in my area to fulfill my repair ticket in the time I needed for work purposes, the expected wait was in excess of a week so I had to dump the satellite provider for local DSL. Windstream let me keep my old modem, as I purchased it, so I didn't have much trouble with reconnecting and it was up within a couple of days, 4 days quicker than if I had waited for Excede to get a tech to me (and I was sitting on a $1500 project near completion at the time). It help me out of a bind, kinda, but teleconferencing and uploading was a bit of a pain regardless. Technical support is just ok but the knowledge and helpfulness of the Field Techs, in my experience, are what shine the most. They are very honest and hard working. They actually seem to care about the infrastructure of the network where as the phone operators don't have any clue as it really isn't their job. They mostly just tell you, "Try turning it off then on again." My personal experience with the service is very bad. It's a rural copper based and consistently oversold so my speeds have dropped in reliability and speed over the last months of using it. It is even worse than when I had them 3 years ago. I understand that the copper lines are holding the area back. I also understand that the fiber has been 6 miles away for sometime now. I'm testing around 800kbps near midnight (sometimes) but peak hours are generally between 100-300 kbps. At times (mostly in November) I have a couple of days a week where it's worse than dialup, at around 10kbps and tech support doesn't really explain the cause. The techs will tell you what you probably already know if you are savvy, that it's oversold. Or too much bandwidth is being spread too thinly to cover everyone in the area successfully. They usually just say the equipment can't handle it when you call the support line, pestering for some kinda clue as to why the service isn't working. The other really nasty part is that they say they actually have no support for this rural setup and they aren't obligated to fix the problems even if I'm not getting service. I wasn't informed of that when ordering either time but had the broadband department explain that one for me... though I have heard other people complaining about this situation, I didn't believe them. This sort of business practice seems wrong as I'm paying as much as their 3mbps fiber customers. I suppose I can go back to where I came from. I'm sure I'm not making anyone enough profit to matter and I can't seem to make enough noise or a case even if this is the core of the work I do. Given it's my job on the line, it isn't a matter of it being too expensive (it is) but just not being much of a service at all. It's like paying for a ride to work that never picks you up on time and only shows up a few days out of the week. member for 8.9 years, 34 visits, last login: 7 years ago lodged 8.2 years ago
Update Nov 1 2014 I signed up with Windstream because they were offering a discount to the residents of the apartment complex I moved into at the time. I started with their 12 Mbps option and eventually upgraded to 24 Mbps. I no longer have service with Windstream because I got tired of outages. In the 2 years of service, I had a total outage time of a little over a month. Totally unacceptable for someone who uses their Internet connection as much as me. I was willing to tolerate not always getting the advertised speed. Getting no service was a deal breaker. The only reason I give tech support 4 stars is because of the great support I received from this forum. member for 11.5 years, 3146 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 8.3 years ago
Started having trouble in early September 2012, it's now January 4th 2013. Connectivity and latency issues have still not been resolved, even after contacting BBB and FCC 3 months ago. I would advise anyone considering Windstream to find any other option, seriously, it can't get any worse. However, I am pretty sure their business model is to go into rural areas where they are the only show in town, set up cheap and then ignore people when they start to complain due to overselling. I put in 7 calls between September and October, every time I was told that someone from their Tech unit would call me back to find a solution. I have still not received a call back from anyone at Windstream. The only help I found was from someone on this site, who after several weeks told me that they were going to change out a card at our d slam on the 31st of December. Obviously that did not happen because I still have crappy speeds. Feel free to check out the speedtest reports I've kept since it all started (I'm currently paying for 12 meg down by the way): »www.speedtest.net/result ··· 96&ria=0 UPDATE: It's almost the end of 2015, still having trouble out of Windstream. If you have a choice, avoid at all costs. These guys do not value customer service at all. The past two weeks I have been lied to multiple times, customer service center said they have dispatched a technician on two separate occasions, I have yet to meet a technician at my house. The first technician simply closed the ticket stating that he resolved the issue, yet customer service could see on their terminal that he never visited our property. Even after speaking with a manager I couldn't get anyone to come out and fix my connection dropping issue. Absolutely absurd. I just got off the phone with customer service and he said he could see that I have called over 40 times in the past few years. All of these calls were prompted by repeated disconnections, slow speeds are the least of my worries. member for 11.4 years, 48 visits, last login: 6.7 years ago updated 8.3 years ago
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