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Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Roseville, Placer, CA, USA
  • Cost: $62 per month (12 month contract)
  • Telco party Roseville Telephone Co. (CA)
Solid connection
Frequent price increases
Tired of paying for other people's annual 'cost of living increases'
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:



Check your tower proximity and the coverage map. I have a tower 1 mile away with no major obstructions - so it's working for me. It's not as solid as the SureWest DSL but I was glad to get rid of them. The monopoly they had in this area (Roseville, CA) went on for too long. Like many of you, I don't need a home phone anymore, SureWest wanted to charge me almost the same ($58 vs $61) for 3mbps DSL only. I'm tired of paying for other people's annual 'cost of living increases' and benefits! When I cancelled (I went to their office), they did not even ask why - not surprised considering the track record. Anyway, seems they were just purchased by another company (Consolidated Communications). If the new owners 'smell the coffee' and get competitive I may go back. For now, I'm getting exactly what I want / need, with faster Internet (6mbps), no contract, portability, decent service and I'm saving a few bucks a month.

Btw, going to 6mbps with SureWest would have cost a lot more and since i'm not wired, they would have had to run ethernet cable, which they typically just run ugly wire along the side of your house and bore a hole in your wall for an access point - no thanks!

Profile:
Casual user (1-2) household
1-2 movies a month
Music purchases
Amazon
YouTube casual
MAC & PC user

Note:
Plugged the CleaWire home modem into my wireless router, did not have to change the device logins which was fantastic. Had to call their CS once and then again to up the speed from 3-6 ($15 more and considerable diff in performance) although the 3 would have been OK and I might switch back in a few months.


(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 12.1 years ago


Review by jadebangle See Profile

  • Location: Olathe, Johnson, KS, USA
  • Cost: $70 per month
  • Install: about 10 days
FIOS is already here and its about time, both att and comcast is obsolete compared to surewest and verizon fios
only available in select area like CA and KS, 50mbps expensive, 100mbps not offered
The future broadband is already here where I am and was surprised with all the digging and advertisement
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

may 2, 2011
i now have 25mbit for 69.99
do the math!
fios is fast and is bidirectional
1/1, 15/15, 25/25, 50/50
47.00, 57.00, 79.99, 219.99
they try to charge more if you dont have tv or phone service
what up with that?
this is mess up..
this sucks
louisiana lyafette is like 25/25 at 35.00
35/35 for 45.00
50/50 for 55.00

i would love 25mbit for 35.00 or 50mbit for 55.00
that acceptable charges
but 47 buck for 1mbit to 219 dollar for 50mbit is ridiculouos!!!
outrageous!!!

that 3 time more for 50mbit
wtf? i have to pay 140 dollars more for another 25mbit
no way!!!
the speed package for 50mbps is 219 dollars???
prevously it was 192.00
we expect the price to be around 99.00 even at tis price its already a premium aka high prices... 219??!!?!??! for 50mbit no thank you
this is absurd
this company is in it to make money not provide good service and acceptable charges
------

It is now april 2 2011:
10 56 am
the speed is now 25 mbps
i get about 3125kb/sec
50 mb is now 199.99
100mb is not available
expensive speed for fios is not so good
i heard that in japan, korea, taiwan, china sweden
100mbit and 1gbps for 40 bucks to 100 bucks
50mbit for 199.99 from surewest is a bit much. is okay for fios but not great
i call tech support and billing department and they have no clue what is going on and not courteous it seem the staff are untrained and are poorly at what they do.
1mbit for 47.00???? you kidding me???
was 29.99 now 47.00 and extra charging after awhile is bad business practice
it seem their not trying to save us money and only trying to make us pay more then necessary!

poorly trained monkey in tech support and customer support i would switch to a better company if their is any.

i have better tech support and billing issues with comcast and att
so much for having better technology!!!

update march 9,2010

20mbps in both direction is not bad for 70 a month.
speed test that is most accurate to my connection
»www.everestkc.net/trailb ··· eometer/
google everestkc.net for more information
50mbps in both direction for 192.00, its 135 dollars more for an increase of 30mbps
no thanks!
hopefully the speed is here to stay lol
In the near future when i saved enough money i'm going 50mbps for at least a year
speed is fun indeed if you know how to use it properly
for many it isn't anymore useful then a 1mbit connection!
why waste 50mbps on stuff that require little bandwidth like chatting on the internet?
even dialup is sufficient for these kind of internet junkie
hopefully this review get so big that you need lot of patience to read it all
I would love 50mbps but the price are unreasonable high for this tier
If 100mbps are offered in the near future then 50mbps maybe the next best thing after 20mb. 100mb will be a luxury tier and 50mb will become the standard for most subscriber.
I just wish they get rid of 1,5,10 and go with 20,50 and 100mbps or 10,20,and 50mb if 100mb are not offered.
These price have been set for the last 2 or 3 years and it hasn't change ever since.
It is available to many because fiber is considered next generation technology and the few that can get it has to pay through the roof just like with blue-ray or blu-ray bad spelling for a useless next generation dvd format.
Until most have anything faster then me I have no reason to complain about 20mbps at 70 a month

Not everyone is going to need a 50mbps but it can make internet surfing more fun for those who loves to brag about it and able to do more with highest speed available currently

5/13/09 how did i get the date wrong? was 10/13/09, changed to 5/13/09 must be a typo
It seem that at 5mbps the provisional are decent 600kb/sec in both direction
at 10mbps its ok too... and at 20mbps or higher it get worse 2400kb/sec, 1900kb/sec
Decided to go with 10mbps again cause I couldn't stand 5mbps
I get about 1200kb/sec in both direction which is about the max you can pull off
.
These are left blank intentionally to separate event.
.
april25,2009: There is no better alternative! There isn't I would have to move to japan, sweden, netherland to have anything close to what surewest offers
The only complaint I have with surewest is the higher tier being much higher priced that any other broadband in the USA 91.99 dollars and 191.99 dollars is way above anything we have seen... if you can afford that, you can brag all you want LOL
If you bundle you will get a little discount but its usally 5 bucks... not a big deal eh?
enjoy life while you're at it. remember that the rest of the world is behind in broadband technology fiber is the future! copper, dsl, cable is yesterday's news! ENJOY
april 7,2009: i have decided to downgrade to 5mbit and the upload isn't much slower about 600kb/sec vs 1000kb/sec at 10mbit and 1900kb/sec at 20mbit
i guess the higher you go the more you lose in performance
The thing is i am not really frenzy about speed anymore as i use to be
1mbit is 29.99 and its cheaper but speed leave somedthing to be desired
i would go for it if it was 3mbit that in my opinion is a ripoff for 1mbit
for 1mbit i think 9.99 would be make more sense
2mbit for 19.99
3mbit for 29.99 their pricing are so inconsistent
I prefer 5mbit over anything faster as of right now because..
1. its a ripoff
2. it way over my budget

march 7 2009: I got some good news and bad news
Download and upload are not symmetrical! its still asymmetrical!
Its 10/8 or 20/16 or 5/4... etc... upload are only 80 percent of advertised speed
I was told download and upload the same but it was not this is where i am disappointed... bummer.
The good news is that speed are awesome
The bad news is that its quite expensive the faster you want to go
Who would be crazy to pay 91.99 or 191.99 a month for 20 and 50mbps?
Even 53.99 for 10mbps is too much for most ppl
This is where surewest fail if they were to compete with verizon fios they would not survive. They would lose all their customer to Verizon Fios.
Surewest 5/5 and 1/1 blows Verizon 20/5 and 10/2 is far better... for the same price
In America speed doesn't matter, its the money that matter the most. Company are not competing for speed but to see who can charge the most for faster speed!
Ok.. I'm tired of this silly games where we the consumer has to foot most the bill and their is no end in sight. I thought that we the consumer are the one who should choose how much to pay a month but instead company can charge whatever they can get away with and some would pay anything for faster connection. why can't we have fast connection and affordable? in usa fast affordable never existed and probably will always be slow and cheap or fast and expensive. 50mbps and 100mbps are still a dream pipe few can have or afford to even receive this kind of tier. Of course surewest will not charge less because att, comcast, roadrunner can charge more and get away with it too. Its business as usual. the more you pay the more they make? only in america where profit matter the most, satisfaction is nonexistent

Update:2/22/09 My personal thought on fios super high speed internet connection:
I will be updating daily to keep up with my service for those who are curious as to how good fios is or are. I would recommend that if you have fios avialable don't hesitate don't wait get web and enjoy true broadband that are the same down and up in both direction
many times faster then dsl or cable. it has potential to grow and pretty soon we should see 100mbps in a year or two. cable and dsl will be left behind in the dust.
Update:2/21/09 so far so good 20mbps is incredibly fast for me with 50mbps i would not be able to saturate it cause their is not enough pipeline to take advantage of this speed
Update:2/20/09 the upgrade to 20mbps was instant but its very hard to saturate this kind of bandwidth on the internet. Most website I download from are less then 20mbps so this is more of a brags rights then a necessity
I may downgrade to 10mbit in a few months cause this 20mbit is just for show and to impress others... I could have gone 50mbps but didn't want to risk paying 192.00 after my 2 months trail or free months. Majority of americans are still using asymetrical connection in my opinion symetrical does not impress them but when they have it they will realize how much easier you can breathe with it. most user worry about upload not big enough but with this kind of connection their is no worry. few have symetrical connection and thats real broadband not the 6/1, 10/1 crap asymetrical that most of us hate so much. i call it leechband or poorman's broadband owned. why the big download and small upload? so you can't share file or upload fast its being done intentionally due to lobbying and copyright law.

Update: 2/19/09 I decided to jump for 20mbps due to wanted to see if higher speed will suit my need I can alway downgrade later but only if I have problems paying 92 a month.
I just checked verizon fios for 20/20 without any package and its 77.00 dollars so it s 15.00 difference. The speedtest doesn't show 20/20 at all it show 20/9 or 20/15 which is odd hopefully this will be fixed maybe due to a lack of bandwidth?

The pricing are as follow...
50mbps 191.99 insane price!
I believe more then double the price and more then I can afford to pay a month. This is 50/50 not 50/20 like verizon most expensive tier which is 139.99 or probably 157.00 without any bundle.

20mbps 91.99 expensive, ripoff
10mbps 53.99 expensive,ripoff
5mbps 39.95 expensive,ripoff
1mbps 29.95 expensive,ripoff

I'm cancelling att 6/678 paying 45.00 a month. att blows they are a ripoff and they suck at billing too something that plagues the usa
There are no usage caps...woohoo but it is more expensive then i thought boohoo.
I am getting two months free so the price vs att is the same after 1 year
Hopefully the pricing for the 20 and 50mbps will come down in a year or so then will upgrade later if needed... What do I think is a fair price for 20, 50mbps?
I believe 39.95 and 49.95 would be fair
That will depend on market price and how many are willing to pay less
Some ppl prefer to pay more for higher speed so its a dreampipe for me to imagine paying less for higher speed
When you compare comcast 6/1, 8/2 for 42.95, 52.95
anything that is a little faster for about the same price will always be better in term of price per megabit

You see I was told 5mbit for 39.95 was plenty of fast for a symmetrical connection.
I am a speed craving maniac and 5/5 is actually still faster then att 6/768 by at least 10 times in term of upstream
That to me is impressive

Verizon Fios 15/15 for 64.95???

See the thing is surewest offer symmetrical connection while Verizon offer semi symmetrical at only one tier...
Thats right...
50mbit,20mbit,10mbit,5mbit,1mbit
symmetrical connection in a residential area
pretty impressive right? oh not really since most of the time upload will not be used but it is useful when needed but only on rare occasion ^_^

That's what I see on their website That's not fiber its coaxial cable internet.
»everestkc.com/
Trailblazer 10.0 - 1.0Mbps up to 10.0 Mbps download
Trailblazer 8.0 - 768Kbps up to 8.0 Mbps download
Trailblazer 5.0 - 512Kbps up to 5.0 Mbps download
Trailblazer 1.0 - 384Kbps up to 1.0 Mbps download
»everestkc.com/internet/i ··· ex.shtml
Update: 2/18/09
I would like 20mbps but I would have to shell out an extra 38 dollars
This is very temping lol
Should I or should I not?
The question is very confusing because is 20mbps really more useful then 10mbps
I mean i can easily max it out regardless of mbps
yes i have 2 months free so i may as well go with 20mbps for 2 months then downgrade to 10mbps
i don't know because haven't made up my mind yet but i will update this review to reflect any changes in the future.
Its a hassle to upgrade to 20mbps then downgrade 10mbps
*shakes head*
*confused*

member for 16.8 years, 147 visits, last login: 10.5 years ago
updated 12.8 years ago

hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Should be FIber

When SureWest took over your provider they said it was FTTH. You may want to recheck that.

jadebangle
Premium Member
join:2007-05-22
00000

jadebangle

Premium Member

Re: Should be FIber

said by hottboiinnc4:

When SureWest took over your provider they said it was FTTH. You may want to recheck that.
They didn't take over my provider they became my 3rd provider
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Should be FIber

interesting because you reviewed them as a company that they took over.

jadebangle
Premium Member
join:2007-05-22
00000

jadebangle

Premium Member

Re: Should be FIber

said by hottboiinnc4:

interesting because you reviewed them as a company that they took over.
I wish they did then most of us would be on fiber optic symmetrical connection by now
superior to asymmetrical that aren't design for uploading, big on download, small on upload.
Like ethernet 100/100 in both direction
Full Duplex ethernet is 200/200 in both direction
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Should be FIber

Again. the company you have reviewed: Surewest WAS actually Everest as even your links above say that. And you should read this:

Are you making enhancements in Kansas City now that SureWest has acquired the company?

On the network side in Kansas City, we plan to add 2,000 new residential homes on the hybrid fiber-coax network while creating a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network starting with a release of 8,000 FTTH homes in 2008 that will deliver enhanced bandwidth capabilities on the network to improve our data and video products.

They're HFC network in areas but also FTTH which Surewest is known for.

You're actually provider is NEVER SureWest until recently. It was a local company. SureWest just bought them.

Which does NOT make SureWest your 3rd provider/option just because they bought someone else. Also you don't count Telco's U-Crap as an "option".

jadebangle
Premium Member
join:2007-05-22
00000

jadebangle

Premium Member

Re: Should be FIber

said by hottboiinnc4:

Again. the company you have reviewed: Surewest WAS actually Everest as even your links above say that. And you should read this:

Are you making enhancements in Kansas City now that SureWest has acquired the company?

On the network side in Kansas City, we plan to add 2,000 new residential homes on the hybrid fiber-coax network while creating a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network starting with a release of 8,000 FTTH homes in 2008 that will deliver enhanced bandwidth capabilities on the network to improve our data and video products.

They're HFC network in areas but also FTTH which Surewest is known for.

You're actually provider is NEVER SureWest until recently. It was a local company. SureWest just bought them.

Which does NOT make SureWest your 3rd provider/option just because they bought someone else. Also you don't count Telco's U-Crap as an "option".
surewest is my 3rd provider that provide telephone, tv and fiber internet
They were nonexistent not long ago
I still have att and comcast
I can have all three now lol but its costly
everestkc aka everest kansas city is not my previous provider
everest was bought out or taken over by surewest due to how successful they are in california area
everest is a cable tv and copper based internet company that has never served in my location, they serve only in kansas city which is like 150 miles away

so yes I am correct I am still with ATT and Comcast
surewest is now my 3rd provider

End of story.
fredwilson12
join:2005-04-20
Sacramento, CA

fredwilson12 to jadebangle

Member

to jadebangle
Full Duplex ethernet is 200/200 in both direction

Full duplex ethernet is still 100mbps in each direction. The concept of full duplex (vs. half duplex) does not increase the amount of bandwidth available, but just allows the bandwidth to travel in each direction at the same time. Effectively, you can be transferring data @ 100Mbps between hosts in both directions (i.e. uploading and downloading) at the same time. So collectively you can get 200Mbps if you add both the uploading and downloading, but it is not 200Mbps each way.

jadebangle
Premium Member
join:2007-05-22
00000

jadebangle

Premium Member

I will stick with 10mbit for awhile unless of course I win..

The lottery... Remember that money determine speed not technology...
I can get 50mbps but I cannot shell out 191.99 a month
53.99 a month is all I can spare for now
So sorry about those speed craving maniac on DSLR

When it comes to brags rights I believe I have not that rights yet unless I can get the best speed now and have no problems paying 191.99 a month...
I consume quite a bit of bandwidth

at 3 or 6mbps on DSL I assure you that 500-750gb a month is the norm for me LOL

The reason why its harder to consume more bandwidth on DSL and Cable is because the upload are only a fraction of what your download are... say 6mbit/1mbit, 5mbit,384k, 3mbit,512k
This mean that if you upload a long time at 384k, 512k,1mbit,2mbit you would not consume any more then symmetrical connection say 384k/384k, 512k/512k, 1mbit,1mbit

Since most activity on internet is peer to peer a symmetrical connection is best used...
asymmetrical are not better or practical in a sense it is infact a gimmick
false advertisement of speed such as 6mbit/1mbit is not 6mbps! its bogus... and misleading for the average user

10mbit/1mbit or 10mbit/10mbit
definitely the latter because you can do more with symmetrical then asymetrical because if you do a lot of uploading then the 10mbit/1mbit isn't any better then 1mbit/1mbit. It is sad but true. facts proven that asymmetrical are lousy for most application and for those who just don't upload much or at all

6.0/1.0 or 6.0/6.0
I know that some folks will say that even 10/1 is better then 6/6 but let's compare similar speed rather then different one causing confusion
60/1 or 60/60 we all know that symmetrical blows asymmetrical out of the water everytime if compared statistically
25/1 or 25/25

conclusion: asymmetrical = obsolete, next to useless for peer to peer activity such as file sharing and other intensive apps

If you're one of those user called a kid you wouldn't notice anything different because all you do is watch youtube all day and nothing else. a sad sad truth but but I am just giving you the facts
ArizonaSteve
join:2004-01-31
Apache Junction, AZ

ArizonaSteve

Member

What?

I'm not sure what you are saying, did they cut the speed in half and raise the price by 400% or what?

Review by Unsurewest See Profile

  • Location: Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, USA
  • Cost: $130 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
fast internet
horrible customer service, ridiculous termination fees, limited service area
do not get service through surewest, they will charge you up to $700 for moving to an area where they do not offer service.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Connection was great... 25mbit fios, but man are their termination fees high.

I had basic cable and 25mbit internet and I don't remember being informed about large termination fees... I just moved and they do not offer service in my new area, so I literally had no choice but to cancel.

I turned in my equipment today and they told me that there was a $300 fee for terminating my internet and a $200 fee for terminating my cable tv.

No waivers... Customer service is horrible. I had to turn in the boxes to disconnect service and both of the guys at the place acted like it wasn't strange at all to charge someone $500 for moving to an area where they don't offer service. They made it seem like they were working with me by "prorating" the fees down to around $250 total, but really it is b/s. I paid them $120 a month for 18 months and i only had 3 months left on the service agreement. No love at all.

Even a bandwidth hog like me will stay away from Surewest in the future. They are underhanded and shady. I would rather have my bandwidth limited and throttled by comcast than have to ever pay them another cent.

DO NOT GET SERVICE THROUGH SUREWEST, IT IS NOT WORTH THE POTENTIAL FEES

I agreed to a 1 year verbal service agreement, but no one ever told me anything about such high termination fees and they even said it was OK if i moved before the contract was up. They lied and now I have to pay them a bunch of money so they don't mess up my credit.

I will be filing several complaints with regulatory agencies and consumer advocacy groups over the next few days... If I can't get them to waive the fees, at least I can waste their time and resources.

member for 13.9 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 13.9 years ago

cyberbeing
join:2005-02-18
Sacramento, CA

cyberbeing

Member

SureWest Rewards - Move Out Referral Program

quote:
How it works

It's easy! If you refer the new occupant of your home after you have moved out and they sign up for at least two SureWest services, Internet, Digital Phone, and/or Digital TV, you get a $250 SureWest Visa Gift Card. The new occupant will receive a $100 credit on his or her SureWest bill. Plus, if you have an early termination fee when you cancel service, we'll waive it!

Watch the mail for your $250 SureWest Visa Gift Card within 45 days after the new occupant's SureWest services are installed.
»www.surewest.com/referra ··· moveout/

If you convince the new resident to sign-up for two services, Surewest will waive your termination fee and give you an additional $250 Visa Gift Card on top.

Review by cybercris See Profile

  • Location: Citrus Heights, Sacramento, CA, USA
  • Cost: $79 per month (12 month contract)
Connection is pretty good with DSL
Bandwidth limitation on data transfers (downloads)
Go to bigger company, these guys are cheap and small.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

It's worth mentioning that SureWest is somewhat reliable with it's DSL connection, however, putting a cap or quota on monthly data transfers of 40 Gigs is SHAMEFULL!

The thing is that I'm not a "movie or music downloader", but I am interested in Internet TV (IPTV). It's a new feature of the internet, where you can actually get your TV through the internet - at much cheaper prices - with many more channels that the local cable company doesn't carry (ie. international channels).
There are many companies out there that offer IPTV services, but one must have an ISP that does not have a transfer quota or can pay per GB of use.

AT&T (SBC) has a 250 GB per month of transfer and so does Comcast, but SureWest has 40 Gigs. So be AWARE of this before you sign up for the service and think that you can "unlimited download" - as they state all over their website.

They don't even have an option for you to pay for additional GB - as the tech rep "james" explained to me.

So if you want IPTV (internet TV) or maybe, who knows, you might sign up for one of those movie websites with unlimited monthly downloads, remember 40 GB per month!!! And a movie is 2-5 GB, per 2 hour movie, well imagine how many GBs the internet TV running for 24 hours would use up?

Unlimited is actually LIMITED !

member for 14.7 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 14.7 years ago

cyberbeing
join:2005-02-18
Sacramento, CA

1 edit

cyberbeing

Member

Surewest DSL = BAD | Surewest Fiber = GOOD

So you had DSL and not Fiber from Surewest? In all seriousness, why did you signup with Surewest if you could only get DSL? The whole point of Surewest is their fiber network.

The moral of the story is don't sign-up for DSL with Surewest. A 40GB cap which is actually enforced, blah.

If you were in one of their fiber areas you wouldn't run into this problem, since they don't enforce any caps. Historically the only time people have gotten into trouble is when they fell within the top-10 heaviest users on their network (think 1TB+ downloaded per month). Yet in the 4 years I've had Surewest, I've only seen this enforcement of the top-10 heavest users happen a single time, which was back in 2007.

Something else to keep in mind is that what Surewest considers allowable bandwidth usage, increases as you upgrade to faster speed tiers. In the eyes of Surewest, moving 1TB on a $30/month 3Mbps tier is much worst than moving 1TB on a $70/month 25Mbps tier. In other words, if you expect heavy usage, don't be cheap and pay for a faster tier.

Review by Correrott See Profile

  • Location: Antelope, Sacramento, CA, USA
  • Cost: $49 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 14 days
  • Telco party Roseville Telephone Co. (CA)
Not difficult to talk to a tech support person
Speed is GARBAGE
Not worth the price anymore
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've had DSL from Surewest.net (originally known as RCSIS.com) for 2 years now and I couldn't be more pleased. While they do have a monopoly in the area and speed caps, the cost of their DSL service (384/128) was only about 5 dollars more than a second phone line and a dial up connection.

As others have stated, I too suffer from broadband envy due to the fact that I use my connection primarily for gaming, although I have never had a problem finding a fast and stable game server to play on. I have given thought to changing to ATT Broadband, but after seeing the problems that a couple of neighbors down the street have had, I'll be staying put. The speed gain just doesn't seem worth it.

In the two years that I've had their service, there has only been one service outage, and that only lasted for 2 hours after I discovered it. After a quick phone call to customer service to find out what was wrong, they discovered that they had an equipment failure in the area and had a crew on top of it. I've made other calls to customer service in the past, none of them problem related, mostly just for information, and have encountered excellent support/knowledge on their end.

While they could be a little better in the speed department, if you live in the Antelope area, Surewest is not a bad choice.

4-23-03

Surewest has introduced it's "Up to 1mb" service now. Since ordering, the slowest that I've connected is at 800 down and 150 up. According to the sales staff, I should never be below 384/128, which is now their minimum. That used to be the max that I could receive. I've even seen it above 1mb a couple of times. Looks like Surewest has finally come around and uncapped their DSL service. Oh, they also dropped the price to $45



3/26/05

What a difference 2 years make. Every couple of days, speeds are dropping below 300 down and 80 up. 4 different support tickets when speeds were around 130 downstream have resulted in nothing. Now they're offering 3 mb/sec service and was just informed that I'm too far out to receive it -15500 feet (max is 15000.) Funny thing is when I first signed up for DSL that distance was much shorter. In fact, my in-laws that live right down the street (less than 250 feet away) have already received the 3 mbs service. Was told by surewest were in the same wire center, so I'm curious where the extra footage comes from (same street.) Highly disappointed in Surewest - overpriced for lousy speeds. Time to give Comcast a try.

4/1/2005

I'm definitely giving surewest a bump up in their tech services category. The Lady that informed me that I didn't qualify for the 3mb service arranged for a technician to come out to my house and check my lines to resolve my current speed issues. (My hats off to Leslie, none of my previous calls got this far.) The technician found a couple problems in my line and fixed/replaced the cable up to the house. Now I have the new modem for the 3 mb service sitting on my desk waiting for activation (should happen on the 6th.) Once I get activated and test the connection, I'll update again, but Surewest is once again rising up in my opinion

9/25/2207

Hmmm... Guess I should have updated this a long time ago. One year to the day after upgrading to their 3mb service, (had to wait for their contract to expire,) I dumped Surewest for Comcast and have never looked back. Surewest's speeds would never get above 600kbs, usually less than 300kbs, and the final kick in the teeth was when a tech informed me that I never should have been sold the 1mb upgrade do to line length. Still to this day haven't figured out where the extra length came from, around 8000 ft seems to be the original number I was quoted when I first signed up for DSL.

Bought Comcast's 8mb/768kbs gaming tier and never been happier.

member for 22.2 years, 3398 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
updated 16.4 years ago

mwshank
join:2005-04-12
Antelope, CA

mwshank

Member

Surewest - Antelope

Been working with Surewest for the 3mps upgrade. Supposed to happend Apr 6th - only to learn they did it back Mar 21st but didn't tell me. Tech arrived today - confirmed speed at 3468 kps at the modem. Speed test from Surewest web site showing 1229 kps. Problem w/my computer setting. Adjusted RWIN and getting between 3025 to 2895 mps down and 640-642 up. Using Windows XP and having problem getting MTU set to 1500. Have spent the day looking for FAQ on how to tweak it(with no luck!) I want those 468 kps! Tech support good on phone - but Surewest not really tied into their Web page email - odd for an internet provider - your email will generate a computer msg that someone will contact you in 24hrs...they don't. You gotta call'em and then they are most helpful. Matt

Review by Scorpio8 See Profile

  • Location: Roseville, Placer, CA, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $69 per month
  • Telco party Roseville Telephone Co. (CA)
  • CLEC party: Roseville Telephone Co. (CA)
They try!
Web Host no longer provides FrontPage server. Left us hanging for any growth.
Too many newbies in the front line first responders. Everything is referred.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

We are customers for more than ten years. They host our virtual site which is Frontpage grown. Now that we need to expand they cannot accommodate us because they no longer have Frontpage servers, except for legacy service.

member for 18.8 years, 1 visits, last login: 17.1 years ago
lodged 17.1 years ago







Review by rivercrab See Profile

  • Location: Roseville, Placer, CA, USA
  • Cost: $49 per month
  • Telco party Roseville Telephone Co. (CA)
It's the only DSL in Roseville
Unknowledgable Tech Support, spotty connection, expensive
It's fast but unreliable, and when it breaks, they're in no hurry to fix it.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I'm incredibly unfortunate as to have been a Residential DSL Surewest customer for over four years, and thanks to their monopoly on the area's DSL, I had no other choice. I need high-speed for my work, and I can't run a cable connection in my house, so I'm stuck with them until something else comes to the area. I know cable in the Roseville area gets a lot of flak too, but if you're currently a cable user, there's no point in changing; the grass isn't greener on the DSL side. I've worked in networking for six years and I know the difference between user and provider-side problems and I have four years of experience with this company and in that time I've become intimately familiar with all of it's problems. Here are the reasons I would not wish this nightmare of a DSL provider on anyone else:

- Spotty Connection:

Yes, the speeds are as fast as advertised, but what's the point if the connection regularly drops, completely, as in every 20-30 mins. for anywhere from 1 to 20 minutes at a time?. In addition, speed can fluctuate greatly, even when Surewest claims that everything is working fine. I've had a serviceman look at my setup, three times now, and he found nothing wrong. The serviceman HIMSELF told me they've been having these spotty internet problems for years, and whereas they used to look at it as a problem, now it's supposed to be a way of life. So there you have it, the problem lies with the service itself, it's very unreliable and they don't care.

- Impossible to Play Online Games or Streaming Content:

Due to the unreliable connection, you will get disconnected regularly from online games, video conferences or any other type of streaming content. In particular, if you play MMOs or 1st-person shooters online, you will be frustrated out of your mind. If you take online classes, beware, your connection can drop mid-test and most professors have exams set for chance only.

- Slow, Unhelpful Tech Support:

The repair/service people are great when they come out, but getting one to come to your house is a nightmare. Phone Tech Support will do everything in their power to make you wait and delay the process in hopes that you give up. They claim that technicians will attend to your problems within 48 hours. Every time but one (my initial setup with a router problem) they have made me wait the entire 48 hours, did not call, and put me on hold for up to 20 mins. when I called, while they connected me to "2nd level techs", who spend all of 2 minutes explaining to me that something is broken (oh, really? *rolls eyes*) and that they'll send out a repair guy in about a week. During the entire time I was without internet, completely. One time they told me my modem was broken, so I picked up a new one at their store (after waiting 48 hours for them to tell me what I already knew), brought it home and found that my internet still didn't work. Turns out my modem wasn't broken, the tech support just lazily came to that conclusion, but would not refund the brand new modem, even after admitting they mis-diagnosed the problem. Tech Support that lies and cheats you into buying non-refundable equipment? Is that even legal?

- Email Slow as Snail Mail:

If you are unfortunate as I to be forced to use this company's DSL, save yourself the pain and do not use their email service. Sign up for one of the billion free ones out there. Receiving messages can literally take hours after the person has sent one and even worse, confirmation emails (those used by websites to verify your accounts) will never arrive. That's right, they don't get caught in spam filters, they aren't put in junk mail, they just don't arrive, period. Avoid their email services at all costs.

Surewest's Pre Sales information is some very light documentation and mostly one liners, such as "Super fast speeds up to 3Mbps!!!" Its accuracy varies dramatically: I have friends and family who never get close to the speeds they're promised, and I tend to get speeds at or above advertised.

Perhaps the best service Surewest gave me was in the installation, four years ago, and it's unfortunate that those customer service people aren't still around. They helped me set things up quickly...and while they did horribly misspell my requested email address (and it took 2 weeks to get it corrected) everything else went fine.

Connection reliability is terrible as I stated. You get fast speeds, but not for long. I'd rather have 1/3 of the speed for just a little more reliability. As I said, online gamers should avoid this company at all costs, and anyone using eBay to make last second bids or trying to video conference with associates will be blown away by just how much the connection will drop. Connection drops will affect your online classes as well, beware taking exams on a Surewest connection. It doesn't matter if you're running your net straight from Surewest's hardware or through a router, it's unreliable.

Tech Support I've detailed in length, email and web services are paltry and gimmicky at best. In the end the value for your money is low, and there's currently no other good DSL choice in Roseville, so they can price how they want. It's sad they hold a monopoly in such a rapidly developing area that should be encouraging competition in business.

For reference, I'm on the 3Mbps plan, have used Actiontec and Comtrend modems (purchased from Surewest) and I'm very displeased with the service. They know they've got your business whether or not you like them.

member for 17.4 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 17.4 years ago


Unhappy_one
@surewest.net

Unhappy_one

Anon

Surewest Internet terrible customer service and support

Very well put. I am basically having very similar issues. I am on the same 3 meg service. I was lucky enough to have very stable fast speed service for several months then 1 day it just degraded all of a sudden. Speed slowed way down and started getting very frequent disconnects.
Called 1st level tech support which is a complete and total joke. The guy told me that I needed to disconnect my wireless router from the system for 48 hrs so that they could run tests. I told him that I am not an idiot and that if I hadnt already removed my router from the system and confirmed 100% that it was not an issue I would not have called. He insisted I do it anyway so that they could run tests. I asked him to tell me specifically what the tests were and why they could not be run but of course he could not answer me. i told him that I disconnected it although I never did. Amazingly they were able to run their "tests" anyway. They never gave me the return phone call they promised so I called back, they said they would send a tech out. The tech replaced the modem saying that the actiontec which I had could not handle the 3 meg service. The funny thing is it had handled 3 megs with no problems for 6 months. 2 hours after the tech left my house after installing my new comtrend modem the service got even worse started cutting out every 20 mins.

I could write a book but to make a long story short, 6 visits to my house (4 service techs and 2 cable splicers), 4 days missed work, several non returned phonecalls, several conversations with unhelpful supervisors and the final tech says he found 700 feet of extra bridge tap in my circuit and will refer it to "splicing" again and they should have it fixed in a few days. in the mean time they turned my speeds down to 2.5 megs/512 in order to keep it from dropping connection completely. This worked however in reality my speed is now 1.9 megs over 420.

So 2 weeks later problem is still not resolved and I have not received any phone call. I call testboard again and they tell me they want to send a tech and a splicer to the house at the same time and that the 1st appointment they have is for 4 days from today. I say no way, totally unacceptable. Ive already missed 4 days work for them to jerk me around and show up late with no apologies and this is unacceptable. i ask to talk to whoever is in charge. A guy named Steve calls me leaves a voicemail sying he is escalating the situation and trying to get the techs to my house sooner. 2 hours after that I get a call from a guy named Mark who represents himself as the head of the technical support division. He is very friendly and states to me that he is happy. They have turned me down to 2.5 megs and now my connection is stable so he is happy and all is well. There is no need for any more visits to my house because Mark is happy!!!!!!!!!

Well i am not happy. This issue went on for 4.5 months and now basically theyre telling me that this is normal? That my service has been degraded by 40% and this is acceptable to them? There is nothing else they can do?

Well I'll tell you what I can do. I called Comcast and am signing up for service with them. They offer a 8meg/768 package in the $50 range. I would gladly pay the extra money for 4 times the bandwidth and a roll of the dice that the tech support divison may have half a clue about troubleshooting and about customer service. Beyond that I will look in to getting VOIP so that I can cancel my phone service with Surewest as well. I know that my avg bill of $130 a month isnt going to make a difference to them but i promise to make everyone aware of their terrible customer service and incompetent tech support staff on every internet site that will let me speak and hopefully eventually if everyine does the same they will finally start to feel the effects of their poor service.
thanks for reading and spread the word.

DSL user
@surewest.net

DSL user

Anon

I thought it was just my 1970s neighborhood wiring

I have SureWest's 1000k/384k service, and when it works I'm getting about 1080k/420k, which is fine. But, as others have pointed out, random disconnects are unnerving. Sometimes the connection drops 3 or 4 times a day, for as long as 20 minutes. Usually it's once or twice a day for 30 seconds to 5 minutes. It catches you off guard when you're in the middle of a banking session, etc..

Repair techs were sent out several times and replaced a few outside wires, but I think there's something downstream that's unstable. If it's at the CO and they're not admitting it, shame on them (just a theory). I got the impression that customer support wasn't being fully candid, but the field techs seemed earnest enough. It was clear they were used to multiple calls at the same residence. One tech said "we just keep trying," which implied the cause was usually a mystery.

I just wish someone would pinpoint the exact cause of the drops if they do know. Might DSL be an inherently unreliable technology and nobody's really admitting it? This is my first and only home DSL so I don't have much to compare it to. My home was built in the early 70s. I've been assuming that DSL works better in more modern homes and neighborhoods if a clean path to the CO also exists.
DSL user

DSL user

Anon

14k ft (I thought it was just my 1970s neighborhood wiring)

I forgot to mention that I'm over 14,000 feet from the CO, which surely affects reliability - more links in the chain.

Review by BlaCkEnEd2 See Profile

  • Location: Granite Bay, Placer, CA, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 15 days
The speed
Everything else (latency, reliability, etc.)
EXTREMELY UNRELIABLE ISP
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I live in the Roseville area and currently use surewest broadband (3000/768 speeds). At first, everything seemed like it would be a great and RELIABLE isp, due to the smooth installation. No...

Throughout the last 3 months, I have probably had to make about 10 calls to tech support, and half the time they didn't even know how to fix my connection (they had to bring the repair staff to my house various times). I'm not even counting the countless times they screwed up on their end (server crashes, etc.)

I am a gamer, so latency is very important to me. I would think that with 768 upload, I would ping well. No... I ping 120 to any east coast location and 60 to somewhere very close to my location (seattle).

This ISP is the most unrealiable serivce provider in the U.S. and I urge everyone not to get suckered into purchasing them like I did. I only count the days tell this damn contract is over and I can convert to starstream cable.

For the record, My line is in "perfect condition according to the 3 repairmen that visited my house"

member for 18.3 years, 3 visits, last login: 18.3 years ago
lodged 18.3 years ago


SterlingJ85
join:2000-11-19
Austin, TX

SterlingJ85

Member

Not the worst....

Those ping times are actually not too bad, not perfect, but VERY far from horrible. I know a few people who would love to have those ping times!
BlaCkEnEd2
join:2005-11-06
Granite Bay, CA

BlaCkEnEd2

Member

Re: Not the worst....

Look buddy, you obviously don't game online very much. In just about any server of any game I enter, people have a lower ping than me. Pinging 120 across the U.S. is horid, especially in any FPS game.

SterlingJ85
join:2000-11-19
Austin, TX

SterlingJ85

Member

Re: Not the worst....

Sure, there will always be people who have a lower ping to you.. But 120 ms to an EAST coast server is not that bad is what i'm saying.. A piss poor network would have you 600-1200 ms.
ChainsawFlow
join:2005-11-26
Sacramento, CA

ChainsawFlow

Member

Re: Not the worst....

Sounds like you have pretty average dsl ping rates for going cross country. Pinging up to Washington they probably bounce you down to San Fran first. Besides not everyone can have Surewest Fiber 20MB up/down and have 0-1 ms ping times yet. I hear they just installed the first of the fiber network out in the Roseville area though so the speed looks to heading your way.
m0unds
join:2003-02-17
Albuquerque, NM

m0unds to BlaCkEnEd2

Member

to BlaCkEnEd2
huh. I've got speakeasy DSL in New Mexico. My first HOP latency is 95ms. So I think that you should get your priorities in line: either A. you get what you consider "good" latency, or you B. Have hellaciously fast download and upload speeds. Frankly, 60ms for something local isn't bad at all. I play lots of games online and play matches with my ping of 120 to lots of servers with no ill effect.

Ssnake
@surewest.net

Ssnake

Anon

ping times

I think you should look at a traceroute instead of ping times, the latency may be on a router upstream of Surewest and not their problem.

I have the 10Mb fiber and have no problems with online gaming usually, but things started slowing recently. Turned out it was my cheap onboard NIC going bad, I just put in a good Netgear PCI NIC.

Review by theta9 See Profile

  • Location: Roseville, Placer, CA, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 30 days
Rarely down, 24hr (limited) support
Cost
Good sevice, but terrible pricing
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I signed up with surewest (formerly RCSIS) when it was first available(2+ years ago). At time time I was happy to move from ISDN to DSL. I started off with the 384/128 package for $50/month and I now have the 768/384 package with static IP for over $100/month. In the begining, the service was terrible as it would go up and down without notice. This was to be expected as they were just starting out. Within a few months they got all the bugs worked out and in over two years my service has only gone down three times. Once it went down on a Sunday night at around 10PM. I called and within about 1 hour they tracked the problem down and fixed it. I was impressed.

I pay twice as much, for half the speed of SBC or Comcast service. Comcast is going to be offering service soon in my area, and I can't see staying with Surewest. I would rather have the 1.5 down for $60 than 768 down for $100. Surewest needs to revamp thier pricing or they will loose customers. The service is VERY GOOD, but the price is too much for half the speeds. I wouldn't mind paying $100 for 1.5 from them, as the service is excelent, but $100 for 768 just isn't worth it.

Bottom line: Since Surewest is the only game in town, you don't have other options, but the service is very good. Once Comcast rolls out service, I can't see staying with Surewest unless they reduce their prices.

member for 23.2 years, 62 visits, last login: 20 years ago
updated 20.7 years ago


A Freind
@64.30.x.x

A Freind

Anon

Burstable is now offerred

Hey, SureWest is now offering Burstable Speeds up to 1mb. You can even upgrade online, so you don't have to wait on hold to do it!

JHJR
@219-93-216-nokia-dsl

JHJR

Anon

Re: Burstable is now offerred

Does anybody have this yet? I currently have the 768/384 package and was wondering if you always get the 1mb speed in a sustained file transfer?

J.

Spivey_1
@69-4-156-nokia-dsl.d

Spivey_1 to A Freind

Anon

to A Freind
I've recently signed up and I am getting a consistant 1 meg down and 135-140k up using a Efficient 5861 router. Hopes this helps.

Review by aaronchu See Profile

  • Location: Granite Bay, Placer, CA, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 20 days
  • Telco party Roseville Telephone Co. (CA)
  • CLEC party: Roseville Telephone Co. (CA)
Great customer support, install, service, support. Consistent speed and connection. You really do get what u sign up for.
The plans are expensive because there is no competition in this area.
Great ISP, unfortunately it's a monopoly over here.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Package was $50/month for 384K/128K access, 5GB/1GB transfer limit, 3 POP email addresses, equipment, NIC, and necessary wiring (install was extra). Dynamic IP was specified but at the time, they only had static available, so I'm on static IP now.

RCSIS is very knowledgeable and professional. Their tech support is always available quickly (low wait times, especially compared to PacBell). Installation came on the date arranged, and the technician did a very professional wiring job (had to create another wall socket, wiring through garage). The wiring looked like it was original equipment on the house. Setup was very smooth, configuration of the computer and installation of the network card were all veyr straightforward. I was up and running right away.

Now the bad part. As a student in Davis I can't live without fast internet anymore. PacBell (95616) offers a plan virtually identical to this one (dynamic IP), but download speeds range from 384k to 1.5M. This is a big plus, since I get almost all that 1.5M all the time. For internet-savvy users, an upper limit of 384K won't cut it. Neither will the download and upload limits of 5GB/1GB.

All in all RCSIS gives u what they promise you. They're an honest ISP that knows their stuff, and does things right the first time. Unfortunately they're the only ISP offering DSL in the area, and there aren't any Cable ISPs in the area either.

member for 23.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 23.2 years ago
lodged 23.2 years ago