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Review by Allough See Profile

  • Location: Utica, Venango, PA, USA
  • Cost: $72 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Surprisingly good direct support on dslreports
Lower population density means lower speeds.
Very good for being rural
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

EDIT 2/12/2016: As promised, they upgraded me to 12mbps in February. Things are looking up!

EDIT 1/14/2016: Windstream has actually done a good job upgrading my area. I now get a solid 6mbps even during peak times. Customer support seems to have much improved as well.

First of all, this is completely subject to geographical location. Windstream is actually pretty great in some areas.

Unfortunately, my area was not picked to be one of those great ones because of population density.

Tech support by phone wasn't very helpful, but the direct support on these forums is very good.

The installation took about 7 months. About 5 days to get initially connected, but they left the line just laying on the ground unburied and said they would be back. Over 6 months later they came out and buried it. During that timespan it had to be repaired once because of a machine driving over it when it was covered by snow.
I was sold 3mbps, and during "peak times" (read, the times when I am home to be able to use it) I get anywhere from .3 to .8mbps. Out of curiosity I ran a speedtest remotely while I was at work one day and actually got about 3.2mbps.

Think of it this way, in my area Windstream is using a 1/2inch garden hose to try and water several hundred gardens at the same time.

I was told construction is greenlight, and that I will see improvement in the situation by Feb 2016. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt, they seem to be a changed company since Anthony Thomas. I will update my review then.

member for 9 years, 386 visits, last login: 5.9 years ago
updated 8.1 years ago


Ardis
@windstream.net

Ardis

Anon

Windstream needs to get its shit together

Can't get on line for hours in a day
Several times a week

Say people in Kerrville Texas

Review by thutchings6 See Profile

  • Location: Whitney, Hill, TX, USA
  • Cost: $82 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
  • Telco party @link
Always on very little down time
Bufferbloat rating F
I will be switching to wireless/cable if they ever get higher speeds offered at my locale.
Pre Sales information:
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Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
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Value for money:

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

totalradio
join:2007-09-15
El Dorado, AR

totalradio

Member

Don't hold your breath...

Windstream has similar plans in our area. Problem is that download speeds for me aren't important, but upload is. Their upload speeds don't change from one plan to another, so I have the 3m service. 12m doesn't help me a damn it.

Another problem with Windstream is they like to pay lip service to its customers. They'll lie as long as they can get away with it, especially when someone has no choice for internet, other than Windstream. They really can't afford to "upgrade" areas, as their balance sheet is in the toilet, so if they've promised you "upgrades", take it with a grain of salt.

They used to have their trolls on here to "help customers", but I've yet to find one person they "helped". Since people are on to their lies, you don't see them on here anymore. So, my guess is that you're stuck with them until you can some meaningful competition.
rickash
join:2014-06-06

rickash

Member

Re: Don't hold your breath...

Windstream has been the same here in NE KY for 10 years but I have no real complaints. I am getting 8.2M down and 803K up on the last test this evening. Direct TV had some servers down and the chat tech admitted it. But back up now and just fine. And I am watching/playing on a Kindle Fire....
rickash

rickash

Member

Windstream in NE KY

Outperforming what I pay for by a bit. I had 803K up about an hour ago, 8.2MB down is pretty constant. Can't get 12Meg svc as I am 7,221' from the LO...

Review by rwadeg See Profile

  • Location: 77498
  • Cost: $75 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Reliable and I get what I pay for.
Upload speeds are slow - one fifth of the download speed
I've used Windstream DSL/phone service for 10 years with no major complaints.
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I recently ordered the 50 Mbps package for $74.99 mo. with $10.00 off for the first three months. The tech came out on time and as scheduled (5 days after I placed order - soonest available). Installation went very well (tech was a very polite and "clean" older gentleman). Had everything up and running in less than 2 hours. He installed new wires from the phone jack outside to my upstairs PC and router along with a Windstream F@st 4320 wifi router/DSL modem. I disabled the wifi on their router and use my own for my in home network. I've used Windstream for 10 years but just recently upgraded to the 50 Mbps from a 12 Mbps speed. I've never had any major issues with them other than an occasional outage. By occasional I mean less than once per year (user since 2006) and only for a couple of hours at most. One time my DSL modem pooped out but it was 8 years old and running continually - they replaced it at no additional charge. I do have a maintenance/protection plan in place with my phone service (also Windstream) that covers wiring and equipment for an additional $7.99 per mo. though. My only complaint is the price but every other ISP available is priced the same or higher. So my complaint is to them as well. As far as speed... when I do speed tests it is usually at of near the 50 Mbps I pay for so I'm happy with the download speed. The upload speed it slower at only about 9.75 Mbps (don't know why but it is what they advertised - 50 down/10 up) Finally, if you draw a strait line on Google Maps from my house to the Windstream Office it's only 3750 feet. If I drive there it's a little over a mile. Which apparently matters on a DSL line. I will update if things go south.

member for 8.1 years, 1 visits, last login: 6.4 years ago
updated 8.1 years ago


Review by bstroud93 See Profile

  • Location: Sheridan, Grant, AR, USA
  • Cost: $85 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Excellent Service
Great Service! Over a year strong!
Pre Sales information:
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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







Review by iowaboy See Profile

  • Location: Fairfield, Jefferson, IA, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
Speeds marginally ok
constant disconnects and field techs can not figure out why. Speed now 840 kbps on 3Mbps line
stay on top of them. Local field techs are great and care but hands tied
Pre Sales information:
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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

totalradio
join:2007-09-15
El Dorado, AR

totalradio

Member

Windstream Problems

I feel your pain. We in South Arkansas have great field techs. They know their equipment and they know their network. I'm lucky to live about 2000 feet from the CO and we get the speed we pay for, even at peak times.

That said, if you ever have to call tier 1 tech support, they are about as dumb as a box of rocks. They have no tech knowledge, they don't know their product and just flat out refuse to help. My last problem that I had was with my static IP, so I bit the bullet and called tech support. I got lucky and the tier 1 tech support person actually transferred me to tier 2 support. The guy in tier 2 was extremely sharp and recognized my problem. About 5 minutes of work and he told me to reboot my modem. BOOM ! Static IP problem corrected. Smooth sailing since then.

The problem in most areas is that when Windstream bought the smaller telcos, the infrastructure was horrible, and whether or not they knew it, they've never corrected them. In a lot of areas, the cables are bad at best. Couple that with the DSLAMS having inadequate circuits feeding them. When the DSLAMS get full, the speeds to customers are very bad. Combine them with bad cable and the problems are worse. Windstream can't really replace the bad cable in those areas, as its expensive to do so. They can't upgrade the circuits to the DSLAMS because its expensive to do so. Windstream's balance sheet is just as bad as their DSL in most areas, so they can't afford to upgrade the equipment. Once in a great while, an area gets lucky and gets an upgrade and all is well. In our area, Georgia-Pacific is a big customer for Windstream and I think they put a little pressure on Windstream to provide good service and the area benefits from it.

In fairness, Windstream is only one of many telcos that have those problems. I've heard many problems with Fairpoint, Frontier, CenturyLink, and of course Windstream. I've heard few problems with Verizon FiOS, and their huge fiber build outs. And Verizon FiOS has incredible speeds, speeds that I can only dream of, but that's comparing apples & oranges.

Glad you got away from Windstream.
jnoneiliv1
join:2013-10-19
United State

jnoneiliv1

Member

Re: Windstream Problems

I also feel your pain. We don't have cable or FIOS support in our area and older POTS lines to use for DSL and T1. It's not an easy problem to solve, try to be patient. I often get very frustrated, but it really doesn't help and the technicians are often just as frustrated.

Review by Fishehh See Profile

  • Location: Filley, Gage, NE, USA
  • Cost: $79 per month
They are available where I live.
Everything else.
Pee water is better than no water.
Pre Sales information:
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Tech Support:
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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


Review by mikeisrelic See Profile

  • Location: Fort White, Columbia, FL, USA
  • Cost: $64 per month
  • Install: about 8 days
Nothing
Neverending
Don't
Pre Sales information:
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Value for money:

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


Review by gff1979 See Profile

  • Location: Wesley, Madison, AR, USA
  • Cost: $80 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
Tech support is decent. Generally get a tech out in a day or so.
Poor speeds, very erratic speed and pings almost as bad as satellite. Fiber ends 6 miles away...
Not worth $80 a month
Pre Sales information:
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Connection reliability:
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Value for money:

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


Review by rtmarwitz See Profile

  • Location: Rogers, Bell, TX, USA
  • Cost: $64 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
  • No Cap
windstream direct support from this forum was excellent for me
1-800 call support cue cards are terrible. I think everyone already goes through the typical modem resets
I recommend Windstream, If you have issues skip phone support and go to their direct forum.
Pre Sales information:
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Our first level or service was the 6 gig down 1 gig up. Service was good and uninterrupted for the better part of a year when we upgraded to 12 up 1 down. Service remained good at that level and we upgraded to 24 down 1.5 up. The level of service was good for the first 2 months and then went sour. The phone support is really lacking. They have their cue cards and they don't really listen to what you say. They want you to go through the typical reset of modem/router/machine. They should have a different set of cue cards for a caller that has a little more savy.

The best support i received was from their direct support forum with their higher tiered support. I kept good tabs on the level of service and when it would deteriorate and provided a few weeks worth of statistics. They agreed there was some problem and it took a month and a half, but they eventually worked through the issues. Since the issues were fixed in Oct of 2015 my service has been consistent at agreement level.

I recommend Windstream, but if you have less than nominal service bypass the phone support and go to Windstream Direct support forum. It will probably help if you get some data samples together on your connection to present in your post.



member for 8.6 years, 705 visits, last login: 18 days ago
lodged 8.2 years ago


OpTiC
Premium Member
join:2014-03-08
West Covina, CA

1 recommendation

OpTiC

Premium Member

6 gig down and 1 Gig up ????????????????????

6 gig down and 1 Gig up ????????????????????

Review by raven5768 See Profile

  • Location: Science Hill, Pulaski, KY, USA
  • Cost: $74 per month
Only highspeed provider in area
None
Has improved alot
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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Tech Support:
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So windstream has improved a lot since I first got service with them 9.5 years ago They recently upgrade to fiber and just recently started offering 50Mbps down 8 Mbps up. Install took 3 different dates first time they had to deload the pins or something. 2nd date given they called and changed the date to the following Monday. Other then that the Tech who showed up was friendly and polite. The modem they installed was the sagem fast 4320

member for 14.9 years, 96 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
updated 8.3 years ago