how-to block ads
|
»next review in page
Review by Joseph_K 
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 2 years, 1 visits, last login: 2 years ago
 canada
 $43 per month
 about 15 days
 Bell Canada
 "no contract"
 "very slow during evening hours"
 "keep looking"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I switched from Rogers to Primus 5 months ago because of a speed problem and bad customer service. I was looking for a decent internet speed, say, 3-4m, not so fast but consistent. Now I have to keep looking.
The problem I had with Primus is that I usually gets a very good speed during daytime (around 4.2-4.5, latency 20ms) but gets very slow internet in the evening (500k, 200ms). I have a Linksys WRT54G router and the technical support does not support routers. To be fair, I don't want to blame Primus until I ruled out router's problem. I did a lot of things on the router, i.e. upgrade firmware, adjust MTU and disable SPI firewall etc. but still, the speed will drop terribly in the evening, sometimes only 100k down!!!
My router worked very well with Verizon DSL before. Besides, every morning the speed will become fast magically without doing anything i.e. shutdown modem and router etc. Unfortunately I mostly use internet in the evening like most of the people do. So this is really a serious problem for me. After spending countless hours trying to solve this problem, i decide to look for another ISP again. btw, i gave up on Primus's tech support the second day I got their service. i am thinking of switching to Acanac. their reviews seem to be better.
Another disappointment is I was initially attracted by the bundle price of DSL and local phone (around 40). but soon i found out that the local phone service is not available in my area (Richmond Hill). So if you are looking for a bundle, check the availability for all services first.
I am kind of frustrating that I cannot find a decent internet service in GTA. Some said Rogers is much faster. But it didn't give me very good speed.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
Review by sking
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 3.2 years, 136 visits, last login: 100 days ago
North York,ON
$43 per month
"PRICE IS PRETTY GOOD TO START OUT FOR FIRST 6 MTHS"
"UNABLE TO GET THEM TO CHANGE ME TO A REMOTE NEAR MY RESIDENCE.."
"HAPPY WITH OVERALL COST OF PHONE AND INTERNET TOGETHER."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Primus is not a bad company for DSL in the Toronto area..it would have been nice if I was closer to the C/O..but unfortunately I'm not! According to Primus I'm about 5.5 to 6.0 k/m away. The only thing I didn't like is that I requested to be moved to a remote/stinger thats just up the road from me! They said that they will not move me because of the current package I have..the only way would be to upgraded my package to the Triple bundle which is $69.99..I was not willing to do that at the time..but I'll see what happens when I do upgrade my package if they we're just blowing hot air or not!
The way I look at it I could have gone with Rogers but I know they throttle your connection when I do the occasional file swapping..Primus doesn't Throttle which is a plus.
I also use my connection for gaming over xlink kai..and notice when I host games I can hold more people..which is a plus! no complaints about lag from other users..I am very surprised in general about DSL..it turns out to be a very good deal.
Tech support in general was good..they tried to help! but I guess they need more money to pay bell to put me in one of their remotes/stinger closer to my residents..just speculating!!
I hope this review was helpiful.
Price break down with primus 19.95 for phone with 2 features for 6 months and internet 20 bucks..I'm suppose to get 5mb down but I don't because of distance..i get 1.1mbs d/l at best and 600-800kbs up !
If I went with Rogers 1mb d/l and 128up..it would have been 32 bucks plus tax and then rogers home phone is like what 19.95 right now for 4 months I think..
Do the math!! oh plus still throttle lol!!
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by danf
Posted: 3.7 years ago
member for 4 years, 559 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Abbotsford,BC
$24 per month
about 9 days
"Cheap DSL, fairly reliable"
"Abysmal tech support, insane overuse charges, requires CC, 30-day disconnection wait"
"Incompetent management - avoid at all costs!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
In April 2005 I signed up for Primus DSL as they stated unlimited downloads. They mailed out a D-Link DSL-300I modem and related cabling. The system went live about 9 days after I signed up, with advertised speeds of 1.5mbit/512kbit.
The download speed was a little under the advertised speed - I saw an average of 130KB/sec downstream.
In November 2005, I was issued an email notice that I was to be disconnected with about 10 days warning, citing abuse of the system. The CSRs informed me it was MY fault for downloading too much on a connection that was supposed to be unlimited. The disconnection date was removed on the day of disconnection until they could 'sort out' what they were doing. In December 2005 a new message was sent informing users of a 50GB transfer limit and a $3/GB charge for going over it. At this point I cancelled the service, and found out while they can disconnect you in 10 days, you have to wait 30 days before they act!
Given the confusion that their management caused handling this issue in an inappropriate manner, plus the new caps that affected users that had joined 8 months prior, I really can't recommend Primus to anyone at all - avoid them at all costs.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by kryotex1
Posted: 3.8 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 12 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
Chilliwack,BC
$24 per month (month by month)
about 10 days
"Inexpensive, reliable connection, plus airmile incentives"
"Limited to 1.5Mbps, and serious about bandwidth caps (50gb?)"
"Cheap alternative to Telus, false advertising"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Transfered to Primus after selling me on "unlimited downloads - NO download limits or caps" (still have ad from them). It's now changed, and they sent disconnection notice quickly.
Reliable connection otherwise, long tech-support wait-times. Great price.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by mshuleman
Posted: 6.7 years ago
member for 6.7 years, 0 visits, last login: 6.7 years ago
Arlington,Tarrant,TX
 Business customer
$130 per month
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Covad
"none really"
"misleading contract, terrible support and service, outages"
"one to avoid"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I had 144kb IDSL from Primus DSL via Covad and SW Bell.
Their technical support people and their customer service people both share remarkable quality: they completely refuse to listen to the customer.
Part One: my DSL service died in January. The Primus-supplied router was the obvious reason: I could not ping it and the _power_ light was blinking. It took something like 12 calls to their tech support and 8 people to explain this fact. They insisted on testing the line first, then lied to me that line was tested; they lied to me that they would call back; they lied to me that replacement router was shipped. Total outage lasted 10 days.
I used that line for business and god knows how much I lost during those days.
Part Two: In February, frequent outages began. They seem to become the worst during rainy weather. Again, support was useless. I finally called them around Feb 15th to close the account. I switched to Comcast cable and it was ok so far.
You think this is it? Part Three: I keep getting bills and then harassing letters, emails and phone calls from them demanding me to pay. Finally the lady from billing told me that I was supposed to provide them my cancelation letter in writing (they did not tell me that in February when I closed my account!) so it is still open.
Other people already mentioned their predatory contract practices.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by lynn
Posted: 6.7 years ago
(review was emailed from domain ashleys.net)
Arlington,Arlington,VA
$113 per month (12 month contract)
Verizon
CLEC party: Covad
"Tech Support"
"Sales"
"Study the contract VERY carefully - it may bite you in the ass!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Here is a description of the installation nightmare:
»a-tech.net/dsl/
Below is a copy of the text which I sent to the
Virginia State Corporation Commission and to the
Fairfax County Consumer Affairs Office to register
complaint against Primas Telecommunications, Inc of
McLean, Virginia:
On 7 October 1999, I subscribed to iDSL service from Digital Select which later become Primus
Telecommunications, Inc. of McLean, Virginia. I understand that iDSL (a variant of ISDN, also
using a dedicated line) comes under PSTN telephone tariffs.
The service was activated on 15 December 1999. The service contract was for one year. I failed
to note a provision of the contract which provided: "At the end of the service commitment this
Agreement shall be automatically renewed for successive one (1) year periods on the same terms
and conditions contained herein". I had incorrectly assumed that like all other utility
services I have ever had, it would revert to month-to-month after the first year.
At none of the three anniversary renewals did Primus ever advise me that the contract had been
renewed for an additional year. If they had notified me in the past of these renewals, I would
have been aware of the yearly, rather than month-to-month provision of the contract and could
have planned the have the service terminated on the anniversary date.
On 14 February 2003 I faxed a letter to Primus at 800-432-0520 asking that the service be
terminated on 15 March. When I heard nothing by 24 February, I sent an email asking about the
termination. I heard nothing and received a regular monthly invoice on 10 March. I contacted
Primus at by telephone at 866-615-4288 on 11 March. I was told by Irine (ID: IP3632) that I
must pay the remaining nine months ($909) of the renewed contract, even though I have had the
service for more than three years. I told Irine at that time NOT to process the service
termination.
I feel that Primus' actions are designed to deliberately mislead and are a form of fraud. That
they failed to notify me when the automatic renewals occured should nullify that provision of
our contract.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by philg00
Posted: 7.6 years ago
member for 7.7 years, 2 visits, last login: 7.7 years ago
Damascus,Montgomery,MD
$196 per month (12 month contract)
CLEC party: Covad
"Overall good connection quality; helpful tech support personnel."
"Absolutely disgraceful customer support and billing department."
"If you use their service, EXPECT to be screwed in the end - and it will hurt."
| Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Avoid Primus DSL
In 1999, we began receiving business class DSL service from a local Covad reseller (DigitalSelect). They were later purchased by Primus (primusdsl.com). Since the install was done by another company, I won't comment on the pre-sales or install details.
On February 8th, 2002 we contacted technical support and requested an ISP release form in order to change ISPs. This was done quickly and efficiently by a very helpful person in technical support. He informed us that he would not actually do the disconnect until we confirmed we were set up with our new ISP.
On March 5th, our ISP changeover was complete and I spoke with the same technical support person over the phone as well as by email. He reminded us that since our contract required 30 days notice before billing would end, that we would be liable until April 5th (30 days later).
On April 4th, we still hadn't received a final bill from Primus. I called their billing department and explained all of the above, and asked them to fax us a final bill for service through April 5th. They agreed to do so and asked me to fax them a written statement detailing all of the above. I did.
Three weeks later (April 26th) we *STILL* hadn't received a final bill. I called again, and this time billing said that we would be liable for charges through May 3rd because they were considering my courtesy fax as the "30 days notice". The billing employee was either unable or unwilling to correct the error. I eventually settled for leaving a voice mail message for her supervisor.
Her supervisor returned my call about an hour later and was absolutely unwilling to correct the problem. I (again) explained what happened and offered to forward all of the email documentation I had to her; she responded by threatening to send my account to collection.
Finally I decided that the extra $200 this pathetic company was trying to extort from me wasn't worth the hassle of dealing with a collection agency and getting my credit smeared.
I advise everybody, in the *strongest* possible terms, to avoid Primus DSL »www.primusdsl.com/ - if you are currently one of their customers, get out now.
If this is how they treat a 3 year business class DSL customer, just think of how they might treat "mere" residential customers.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by ManofAction
Posted: 8.6 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 2 visits, last login: 8.6 years ago
Mclean,Fairfax,VA
$47 per month (12 month contract)
about 65 days
Verizon
CLEC party: NorthPoint
"NONE"
"No support, don't really care about the customers they have. They let NO ONE know of the immenent disconnection of service."
"They suck, they have an incompetent core of donothings and they did nothing to help resolve the cutoff of Northpoint."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
After trying for six months to get DSL, Primus (really Northpoint) stepped in and FINALLY hooked me up after I caught the tech guy from Verizon at the 66-block and told him that that my neighbor has it. Don't be lazy and jerk me around, look in there and give me the best line you've got (as required by law). I had finally gotten DSL connectivity. Now, for the Horror Story from Primus.
I signed with Primus because our secretary's fiance worked there. Numerous people from my company signed up with Primus because we arranged with them for a special fee ($45 a month) for entry level DSL service. Well, when they got jerked around by Verizon for lines or lines that had low connectivity and finally got a good line, I was hooked up. But, the special corporate rate wasn't in my contract. So I had to battle with them for 10 months to get the rate that THEY GAVE to my company. I settled it once with the customer service manager in November, but bills coming in in Jan, and Feb, still weren't corrected. Not only that, Northpoint never gave me my credit for the install, so I had to haggle about that with Primus as well. This was a pain. The customer service reps know nothing, they don't record it in your profile, so you'd have to start over, and even with registered mail and mailing as well as telephone calls, it took me 10 months to get a straight bill. April should have been my first 'straight, correct' bill. Won't be, because Northpoint has shut off my lines the last week of March. It's been a week and do you think Primus has called me or emailed me? NO, Do they expect to get their DSL bridge back - NO. I'll tell you what's going to happen, they have never said a word to me and they just killed my service, so anyone knowing of a class action lawsuit against PRIMUS DSL, I'll be glad to join it. I want them to pay for bad customer service, bad DSL service (can't get problems with routers and DNS servers corrected), and the fact that they DID NOTHING AT ALL - NO INFO, NO NOTICE, NO LETTERS, NO CALLS about the service going down. I found it all out on my own. Lets get the C.A.L. going and let me know what's up. If I'd have quit the contract, they would have made me pay, but if they quit the contract, they do nothing - forget that, lets make them PAY!
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by elmegil
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 332 visits, last login: 13 days ago
Oak Park,Cook,IL
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 20 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"install was mostly painless (I credit Covad for this though)"
"connection has been unreliable, and tech support is the pits"
"I'm stubborn so I'm sticking with it. If I had it to do over, I'd have someone else."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
When I originally planned to move to Oak Park, DSL availability was a priority. I also wanted to support a local ISP if possible. I heard reasonably good things about 3planets.com and decided to go with them.
They did tell me that they didn't actually provide DSL, but rather resold Primus/Covad DSL. But I still wanted to support them even if indirectly, so I went ahead. My order was placed on 9/28.
The installation was fast and almost flawless; I had Covad connectivity by 10/14. I should have been concerned though, that the only glitch in the installation was that Primus had not bothered to build me out at the time Covad came to hook me up, and when the Covad Tech called to check on why, he was told that the DSL guys didn't work weekends. But they did have the build done by 10/17, so I let it slide.
The installed equipment was a SpeedStream 5260 bridge modem, 608/128 kpbs, $49.95 a month. I have a linux firewall in front of a handful of machines, running windows, linux and Solaris.
Initially, the throughput was very pokey. Nowhere near the promised 600kbps, and my first hop ping times were outrageous. I complained through 3planets, and got some improvement overall, and some excuses from Primus that there was a Covad issue. Possibly true.... But I was put on a "global" trouble ticket about the issue and have not heard one thing more about it since. Not very reassuring. But then the throughput went up to where I expected it, the ping time got better (though it still is significantly higher than I expected, it's not a major burden), so again, I let it slide.
Since then, I've been through several outages. It doesn't seem like a week has gone by without at least one outage, sometimes for several hours. I suppose that is probably an overstatement, but if I review the outages I have logged, I see:
10/19 traceroute problems
10/21 net outage
12/5 net outage (and note that there were several during the previous week or two)
12/6 still down the next day
12/24 net outage, back up next day
12/25 net outage again, back up next day
12/28 mailserver outage
1/5 net outage
1/10 mailserver outage
1/24 net outage
1/30 net outage
2/2 net outage
2/3 brief net outage
2/5 net outage that lasted until 2/7!
Since my service was actually verified as working on 10/17, that would be 17 weeks, and 14 outages. If we discard the mailserver and traceroute outages, but add a random number for the ones not logged, we end up somewhere around the same. So my estimate of one outage a week is a small bit overstated, but not much.
What makes it worse, is in the last outage, I kept getting repeated excuses about 1) "we had an atm switch outage and have to reprogram it by hand" (say WHAT? What happened to REDUNDANCY and BACKUPS?) 2) we'll have it up probably in X hours only to completely miss the target. Completely miss meaning by 12 to 24 hours miss it.
Repeatedly, I have called tech support, left a message on the machine (it won't let you stay on hold) and never gotten a call back from such messages.
I have called and spoken with a human who has said a tech would call me back, again, almost never getting a call back. I think I can remember three calls I've gotten returned from Primus tech support, and two of them were on the same ticket, after I had already called back in myself to check status and find that the problem was resolved.
Repeatedly, I have called, explained that I am a computer professional, I have my box up and trying to ping the first hop gateway and it is not getting any ARP replies from the gateway so that it can't even initiate the ping, and gotten basic "did you reboot everything" questions. When I try to patiently assure them that indeed I have, I get "we'll have a tech call you back". See previous note about rarely getting a callback from a tech. Sometimes I get "but I can ping the gateway", which is ridiculous--I don't assert that the gateway is down, usually it appears that the link BETWEEN my DSL router and the gateway is the problem. Perhaps that's Covad's responsibility, but I am not paying Covad, I'm paying Primus to deal with Covad, and besides no one has ever indicated that Covad is the problem. I eventually get ping to work and the network is back up and I never hear from Primus about closing my call or any questions about my satisfaction (except the time noted above, where I got *two* calls back *after* I had called in myself and verified that it was fixed; and those calls were saying essentially "we're not sure when it will be back up". Hello?).
I will say I've had two positive responses--during one outage (I think the only other one I got a call back on) I actually talked with a tech who worked with me despite the fact that my normal configuration is a linux firewall and linux is not supported (my own opinion is that ping and arp work the same on all OS's so it shouldn't matter at that level, and I appreciated his agreement on that point). And the other was when I accidntally discovered that I could ftp the password file with no shadowing and was upset that 1) people could presumably crack my password and 2) my phone number was in the password file for any other user on the system to see, the system administrator worked with me directly to resolve my concerns about the situation and acted very rapidly to fix the problems.
But those two positive experiences have done little to reassure me that I will have network connectivity at any given time, given the large number of outages and the typical lackluster technical support.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
| »next page (previous review)
Review by nocares
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 1 visits, last login: 8.9 years ago
undisclosed location
$58 per month (month by month)
about 45 days
CLEC party: Covad
"None"
"Terrible problems with billing and account management, rude service people"
"I would NOT recommend this ISP"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
AVOID PRIMUS!
When I moved from the MD area, I switched ISPs and I will NEVER go back to Primus. I closed my account in September and just last week (December) I received a threatening letter about how my account was closed for non-payment of services and that they were going to attack my credit rating. Previous to this letter I had cancelled my account in September and called them numerous times to resolve the bills I kept receiving. I called their collections department several times and NEVER heard back. Finally I called long distance and talked with someone there and they claim the account is closed and credited appropriately, and that they will send me a letter stating it is closed with a $0 balance. We'll see. I don't have time to deal with poorly managed businesses like Primus. Most of the people I dealt with in resolving this issue were extremely rude. The beauty of our capitalist society is that we have choice. Make yours wisely by choosing a more reliable, trustworthy ISP.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of PrimusDSL |
|
|
PrimusDSL
Re: New ISP