Review by mmphoneman Location: Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, USA Cost: $20 per month Install: about 3 days Cincinnati Bell Reliability,value none yet great speed for money

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

Great news! Cincinnati Bell has turned up their speed to 5M! in certain areas. I've got a question though, my router shows connection at 5M,but when I test it here or at other sites I don't see the full 5M download speed. Courious. I have a Westell Versalink wireless modem/router. Dynamic IP.

skutnar join:1999-08-21 Milford, OH skutnar Member 2007-May-25 11:29 pm Quoted vs. Real Speed The speed you are quoted is the max speed of the connection. There is a lot of overhead involved in network connections, so it will never be possible to get that quoted speed. 2007-May-25 11:29 pm: · hey mods ·

your comment..

Review by bltplease Location: Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, USA Cost: $20 per month Cincinnati Bell CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell good up time none well worth the price

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I have enjoyed great uptime. I also like that zoomtown screens for spam on the server side. I currently receive no spam on my zoomtown email account.
Zoomtown is rated at 3000/768 and I usually get 2500/620.

your comment..

Review by wallaby Location: Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, USA Cost: $44 per month Install: about 14 days Cincinnati Bell Very Stable, Static IP Option, Easy to Install Yourself Price: preferred pricing requires bundling services A solid alternative to cable or BPL (Yes we have BPL here)

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

We were one of the 1st to have Zoomtown DSL here in the Hyde Park area and experienced many of the early DSL evolving growing pains back when we started in 1998. The original speed was 768/384 kbps which changed to 1.5 Mbps/768 kbps and now has reached 3 Mbps/768 kbps. Somewhere around 2000 we changed to the DDSL (Direct DSL) level which gave us a static IP and a direct port on the DSLAM. Since then the service has been stable and reliable. We still use a Cisco 675 router/modem (got a backup just in case) with current firmware. Recent speed tests show around 2.7 Mps / 630 kbps actual which is quite decent. We are about 6000' from the CO and have newer phone wiring from street to house. There is no line noise. We pay $ 44.95 for DDSL and thats the bundle price! Without a static IP can get as low as $ 30 monthly. CurrentLink BPL is cheaper and RoadRunner/Earthlink cable is faster. It really depends upon have you save by bundling around here. Cincinnati Bell (Zoomtown) needs to ramp up their speeds to stay in the forefront. Also requires a phone line, no naked DSL around here!

Bottom line: a reliable alternative to cable or BPL

your comment..

Review by Spike_KK Location: Hamilton, Butler, OH, USA Cost: $45 per month Cincinnati Bell CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell Excellent Reliability - Good Support - Speed 3000K/768K (Get 85% of that) Startup was lengthy for new construction home. Billing issues never fully straightened out. Solid company with great reliability and speed. Support is above average. Billing issues were a drawback.

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

your comment..

Review by knightcrusdr Location: Falmouth, Pendleton, KY, USA Business customer Cost: $110 per month Install: about 5 days Cincinnati Bell CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell Extremely Reliable, NEVER have had a problem. Price It Can't Get Any Better Than Zoomtown

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

A Little Background On Where I am coming from....

I grew up on a farm on the outskirts of a rural town, so you can imagine the horrors from dialup that we had to deal with. The phone lines out there have to be the same ones that were there when Alexander Ghrahm Bell was still alive. The maximum connection we can get with a 56K modem is 24K.

Back in 1997, our town was flooded. Everything was devestated. To our luck, the local phone switch station was in the flood plain too, so we had to service for 3+ weeks. They had to rebuild all the circuits and they moved the station to higher land. The only good thing about the disaster is the fact that they used all new equiptment, and the technology that was emerging back then was DSL. So suffice to say, our little town, out in the middle of nowhere, got DSL really early on... I would guess most likely a decade ahead of what they planned probabally.

My uncle purchased a building downtown and the first thing that popped into my head was DSL. Well, I talked him into it, and one day in August 2002 we ordered it, and I got the appointement for installation for a week from the time I ordered it. The guy came right on time and installed everything in less than 10 minutes. He did tell me that trying to run multiple computers and servers from behind a router was impossible. (I don't think this guy knew what he was talking about, because I had all my servers running the next day.)

Ever since that day of installation, my network has never disconnected for any reason. There has never been any downtime, and the speeds have always been consitently high.

I first ordered the Small Business DSL, which had the 768k/down and 384k/up and one static ip address for $110 per month, and then a few months ago they must have dropped that service, as my speed was upgraded to 1.5M/down and 768k/up for no addiciton charge a month. I run a few websites off servers on this connection, and have never had a problem with lag or bottlenecks. The upload speeds are great, compared to other services from other DSL providers.

The price it the only downside to everything, as being a business we have to pay $50 more than a resident for the same service. I always hated the fact that the phone company did that for all of its services. It is discrimination I tell you! However, for the realibility that Zoomtown delievers, I don't think twice about paying that monthly, as long as they keep it up for years to come!

your comment..

Review by Granamear Location: Florence, Boone, KY, USA Cost: $49 per month Install: about 7 days Cincinnati Bell CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell Fast and dependable Poor Service - Must keep POTS. Works as advertised

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

The connection is fast, I routinely get 3Mbps download speeds. Uptime is good, I can recall only two outages in the 4 years I have had them.

The only real problem I have with them is whenever I need to call for support, no one has any clue what’s going on. Fortunately I don't need to call support often. When I called to have my dynamic IP switched to static IP they screwed the service up for two weeks before I found someone who could fix it, and then it was done remotely in 5 minutes.

I don't like that I have to keep my POTS line though.

The high speeds and reliability out weigh the poor service so I wouldn’t have a problem recommending Cincinnati Bell for DSL service.

zoomtownguy @adp.com zoomtownguy Anon 2004-Dec-9 11:42 am VoIP Any idea if you can keep Zoomtown if you want to go with a VoIP provider? CBell keeps giving me the run around about it. 2004-Dec-9 11:42 am: · hey mods ·

your comment..

Review by brad15058 Location: Florence, Boone, KY, USA Cost: $30 per month Install: about 2 days speed none high speed and low cost

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I had Zoomtown installed about 6 months ago and have had no problems at all. I installed it myself on the day they told me my account would be "turned on" which was 2 days after walking out of the Cincinnati Bell Store in the Florence Mall.

I decided to make the change from Insightbb when I was getting DAILY disconnects. These disconnects were for hours not minutes. I first talked with the tech on the phone, which had me on hold most of the time. I'm guessing asking someone else what to do next. Then they sent someone out three days later to check my connection. The guy who came and test my connection speed stated and I quote, "I'm surprised you can even get HBO on this connection. It's measuring at -17." What -17 means I don't know, but anything with a minus sign when it comes to a connection has got to be bad. Then he left stating it was a problem outside the house and would need to call to have another guy check that part out. Four days later, I get a note on the door stating the guy had been there and everything was ok. I read this note while sitting at my connectionless internet connection. I called the tech back and bah, bah, bah...

Speed? I downloaded the Windows XP SP2 (266MB) in less than 12 minutes. No kidding. .

Now let’s talk cost. The first 4 months of Zoomtown (3mb/768kb) only cost me $10/month and only $30/month after that. Insightbb was costing me $47/month w/ horrible connection speeds not including there reduction in speed they gave their customers.

Having my home phone, two cell phones (750 anytime minutes) and DSL included on the same bill of only $87/month, rocks!! You cannot beat it.

Having all on separate bills and with separate companies was costing me almost $200/month.

mleffler join:2004-04-28 Burlington, KY 1 edit mleffler Member 2004-Aug-30 10:15 am Good For You. The problem is Cincinnati Bell hasn't been interested in working to improve their dsl coverage from the beginning. My father was signed up to be a charter member(first 500). He lived in Taylor Mill. You still can't get dsl at that house. Not to mention a friend of mine that got dsl from Cincy Bell and immediately switched back to dial-up because the speed was the same, but dsl cost more. Though if their support for dsl is as bad as it is for their pager, cell phone, and land lines I don't think I'd get dsl from them if I could. Oh, and you can't beat that price, because their a monopoly and you can't get all those service from another single provider in this area. 2004-Aug-30 10:15 am: · hey mods ·

brad1505 @cncndc.net brad1505 Anon 2007-Apr-9 2:51 pm you misread my post..... mleffler you misread my message above. Insightbb sucks. I switched TO Zoomtown FROM Insightbb. I've been using Cinbell Zoomtown since I posted this message and have had great service. I've only been disconnected maybe twice since I started using Zoomtown. 2007-Apr-9 2:51 pm: · hey mods ·

your comment..

Review by BigGeek5 Location: Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, USA Cost: $40 per month FASTEST CONNECTION IN CINCINNATI, Always on- No Times where connection wouldn't work in 4 years. Have to have a phone installed to get service. Best deal around at this point in time (03-23-04)

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I think that this is the best service around. I have tried roadrunner and everything else in the Cincinnati area. Zoomtown from cincinnati bell is the fastest. I had more problems with downtime on roadrunner. I have my computer on 24 hours a day seven days a week- downloading things.

Plus I do hate Time Warner (anything to do with AOL) basically...
So, I do not feel bad giving Cincy Bell my money.

GO SIGN UP- You will be glad you did!

GRSBOHGR CO @one.net GRSBOHGR CO Anon 2004-Mar-25 2:03 am Not so fast... [email sent] Lately (for the past couple of weeks) I have been experiencing serious, fatal downtime, primarily in the morning, most often between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Though not strictly within that time frame, that seemed to be the most troublesome. Additionally, my download speeds have been pitifully slow, even compared to what they were before the service "upgrade." I have tried some online "speed tests" and I know they are not totally accurate and trustworthy. I would not complain if they were reporting 2Mbps or "only" 1Mbps. However, I was lucky to get over 100Kbps (frequently less) and never over 200Kbps. These tests were performed during periods where my router was *not* dropping its connection, however, my "ZoomBot" was showing packet loss (checked at 10-minute intervals) sometimes as high as 10%. I have moved my Cisco 675 from our home office area to the first connection inside the demarc to eliminate inside wiring as the cause of the trouble. I've also checked it with several different computers directly connected to the 675 to eliminate a config, nic, hub, or patch cable problem. I did this earlier today (Wednesday, 3/23), and tonight found that my router was now training to "1920 Kbps Down, 952 Kbps Up" even though it was training up at 3200/952 just earlier today. I would like a detailed explanation of the problem and steps that are being taken to resolve it. I really want to hear that it is a hardware problem at the GRSBOHGR CO and it will be repaired within the week. I have also considered that since the service upgrade, the bandwidth has become saturated, and that a soon-to-be-performed upgrade will correct the problems I've been having. Regardless, I expect that I should soon see the return of *at least* the performance that I had in the past and *hope* to realize the benefit of recent improvements. 2004-Mar-25 2:03 am: · hey mods ·
	BigGeek5 join:2002-10-09 Cincinnati, OH BigGeek5 Member 2004-Mar-28 11:01 am One small problem (Zoomtown) I did have a problem that the company said was due to a certain port (sorry so vague) being closed at their office. It caused my connection to stop working after a certain number of errors occurred regarding the aforementioned problem. Turning my modem off and on fixed it temporarily. They have since rectified that problem. I commonly train at 2600 down and 900 up. I live downtown (cincinnati) if that makes any difference.. 2004-Mar-28 11:01 am: · hey mods ·
your comment..

Review by joeynick Location: Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, USA Cost: $40 per month Install: about 10 days Cincinnati Bell New bumped up higher speeds, connection reliability, value Excellent.

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I have had DSL via Zoomtown (Cincinnati Bell) and Nuvox (formerly one net- they're my ISP) since November of 1998. I moved from my previous address last year and got connected in about 10 days (they have to ''rebuild'' the connection. What is up with that?).

I'm very pleased that suddenly a few days ago my standard 768/384 ADSL connection was suddenly bumped up (without warning) to 3000/750 or so. Going to the Zoom News page, I discovered their network was being upgraded across the board in speed. My actual results have peaked at around 2800/720 (assuming there's some overhead). I'm more than pleased with the service. I recently downloaded Open Office and got 340 kilobytes/sec download rate! Uploading generally gives me up to 90 kilobytes/sec, according to the browser (Mozilla).

The pluses:

1.) Higher speeds rivaling (and exceeding on the upslope) the cable company's.
2.) Support for up to FOUR computers (auto via DHCP) on a router connected
to a hub at no extra charge (AFAIK cable company only allows 2- more at
an extra charge).
3.) Connection is ''always on.'' No more logins required (this has been in effect
for over a year now).
4.) Reliability has been 100 % this past year. No downtime that I have seen.

The minuses:

None.

I'm very pleased and will not be changing my service.

your comment..

Review by Dersgniw Location: Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, USA Cost: $40 per month Install: about 5 days Cincinnati Bell CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell Always fast. Very few disconnects. None Teriffic all around. Fast with no problems.

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I use zoomtown and with fuse as my ISP. The service is 3000 kb/s down and 768up. I download at around 2200 kbps normally (in tests). It is not PPPoE. Pinging is very fast. Running a web server isn't a problem although I have a dynamic IP. The online users on the local fuse newsgroups are somewhat helpful, although there aren't many of them. I signed up because it was free for 3 months, and I'm hooked. Equipment (Cicso router and network card) were included. No technical problems personally. I did have to modify the registry because I had tweaked something for my dial-up which was keeping me from downloading over 100kbps/s. I had to figure that out on my own. Overall I'm very happy. Pricing is around $40.

I now have 4 computers connected to the cisco router via a hub and it works great. Both have an outide IP address and things are running fast and smooth.

You now do not have to log in manually. The service used to have 2 logins, one to zoomtown and one to fuse (or other ISP). Now, login is automatic and you get logged in as soon as you attempt to connect to the internet. This means you can use things like Xbox Live, which works great.

zoomtownsucks @rr.com zoomtownsucks Anon 2003-Feb-2 6:13 pm No logging in??? What a great feature!! That's amazing that you don't have to log in to Zoomtown anymore!! That is a great technology. I would think that would be the best thing since sliced bread for you. Of course, you have NEVER had to log in to Roadrunner since it's been in Cincinnati (July 1999). 2003-Feb-2 6:13 pm: · hey mods ·
	Dersgniw Disco Crunchin MVM join:2001-08-10 behind you Dersgniw MVM 2003-Feb-27 3:55 pm Re: No logging in??? What a great feature!! Yeah, it was really hard to install zoombot that logged you in automatically when your computer started. And, the fact that I can actually run a web server and mail server and only pay $35 sucks pretty big time too. But the worst part is that I don't get to give my money to a company that has the most annoying commercials EVER (RR and AOL) And their commercials are A, misleading and B, filled with lies. I can't spend my money on a company that deceives their customers. 2003-Feb-27 3:55 pm: · hey mods ·
jcorriher join:2004-01-04 Cincinnati, OH jcorriher Member 2004-Jan-26 1:23 pm What was the tweak? I have Zoomtown with Hyperspeed and my desktop computer running Windows XP will not download faster than 85 KBps. What was the tweak to modify that setting? I have 2 other laptops that download around 1.2 KBps, so it's not the connection or equipment, just the desktop... 2004-Jan-26 1:23 pm: · hey mods ·
your comment..