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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 8.4 years ago
(review was emailed from domain fuse.net)
 New Vienna,Clinton,OH
 $40 per month (6 month contract)
 Cincinnati Bell
 "reliable constant connection speeds"
 "In home tech setup should be avoided.Poor newsgroup coverage"
 "reliable equipment/connections but, stay away from dealing with the people if at all possible."
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I have had zoomtown/fusenet for 6 months now and after some initial
setup problems from the in home set-up techs, I believe it is a fair
service. After 2, in home setup techs could not get the service running,
I finally installed the service myself and have had no problems.
The phone tech people are slow to answer but, usually helpful after finally
reaching them.
The service, in general is reliable, although the $39.99 may be a little
high for ADSL service.
If you want reliability and are somewhat technically proficient, you
should enjoy the service.
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Review by Zoomtownuser 
Posted: 8.4 years ago
member for 8.4 years, 3 visits, last login: 8.4 years ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$39 per month (12 month contract)
 about 5 days
Cincinnati Bell
CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell
"Easy to use,better than 56k,reliable,no worry of adding a firewall,get to keep the modem and software after 12 months"
"doesn't always give true speed,have to login to use it,will log out after 5 hours of non use"
"Very good ADSL service! :-)"
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 I have had Zoomtown since last September.In all that time it's been very reliable and fast.In that time it only had a outage twice because of lightning.But it was on again within 10 minutes!
The first time I ordered they did get my order kinda confused but within a minute the date for installation was set.
Five days later on that tuesday Cincinnatibell arrived with a nice friendly tech whom had installed Zoomtown in his own home.He gave me a nice convo while installing and a few pointers.I found that refreshing that he was so nice and friendly.
He found a error with my modem though,it wouldn't linkup with the network.His that he brought was working, but the one I had gotten from Store@Cincinnatibell wasn't.So that day I had to get a whole new one which was a snap.But I was slightly disapointed because I wanted to surf the web instantly after Cincinnatibell left,a bad router can cause you to feel badly with Cincinnatibell but don't get mad at them it's Cisco's fault.
So after I got a new working modem from the folks at Store@Cincinnatibell I was off surfing,using the wonderful world of broadband and have been since!
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Review by RFOAP
Posted: 8.6 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 4 visits, last login: 7 years ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$40 per month (month by month)
about 7 days
Cincinnati Bell
CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell
"Consistantly delivers high speed access!"
"Cost for higher speed is too much...~$120 for 1.5/768"
"You can't beat the reliability and price for such a great service!"
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I ordered 768/384, and have never had a connection that strayed from these numbers. Sure there have been one or two occasions where upgrades have slowed things down, but overall, 99% of the time Zoomtown, by Cincinnati Bell, performs wonderfully. I choose self installation because they offered the first two months free if you installed it yourself. The installation was a snap. The manuals show exactly what to do, and if I neede help, it was only a phone call away. Additionally, our home has become networked, linking 3 computers to one ADSL line, thought the service allows for 4 computers. Externally the computers each have their own IPs, though they are dynamic. This service is not PPPoE. All this for ~$40 a month. Tech support is 24/7, and they have always had the right answers. None of our phones have any "hiss" sounds on the line. Overall, Zoomtown is wonderful. The contract is month to month, however, is one cancels before a year, the equipement has to be paid for, otherwise the equipement is provided at no cost.
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Review by bmueller7
Posted: 8.7 years ago
member for 8.7 years, 7 visits, last login: 8 years ago
Fairfield,Butler,OH
$39 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
Cincinnati Bell
CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell
"Very reliable. Actually get more speed than I pay for"
"I know they have had problems with Install/tech support. I used to work for the company it was contracted out to."
"Good value for my money."
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I have had Zoomtown/Fuse.net for almost 2 years now and have not had very many problems at all. Some of the initial install problems I had (and probably many others) were due to the fact that installations were contracted out. I used to work for that contractor and some of the 'techs' they hired for the jobs were very questionable. The contractor has since gone out of business. My line was not provisioned for DSL and it took an extra week for the install to complete due to a severe lack of communication between the installing tech and the Telco.
Since the install I have not had too many problems. There might be an occasional network outage that affects the whole area. Some slower than normal speeds during hardware upgrades. I pay for 768k down and 384k up. At peak usage times I get between 500k-600k down and 300k-384k up. Off peak I have been over 900k down on a fairly regular basis! I don't know if the extra speed was due to my connection to Zoomtown through my previous employer (I was a charter member and signed up through my employer before it was offered to the general public) but I'm not complaining. Even when all three PCs at home are connected the speed stays pretty constant. The news servers are slower than I expected for downloads but the posts seem to have a fairly long life span and are rarely incomplete.
All things considered I am very happy with my service. I have never had to call tech support, and sometimes get more than what I pay for.
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Review by erodenberg
Posted: 8.7 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 10 visits, last login: 8.7 years ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$39 per month (12 month contract)
Cincinnati Bell
"I looks like it works good"
"Getting my stinking computer to work with it"
"I am to stubborn to give up"
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So far for the Techsupport side there is nothing wrong with my modem however I can't find a setting in my pc to improve the RWIN but that is why I joined this site to find answers. Once I am fully up and running I will update this
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Review by NiborD
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 22 visits, last login: 6 years ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$39 per month (12 month contract)
about 8 days
Cincinnati Bell
CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell
"Good price, always full speed."
"Static external IP costs arm-and-leg (there is a workaround)"
"Great package."
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When I originally signed up for Zoomtown ADSL service in January of 1999, I wanted to do a self-install, but they weren't allowing it at the time. I signed up at the bottom tier, 384K download. Some months later they upgraded all 384K users to 768K down/384K up, and lowered the price about $5 total to $39.95 including ISP (assuming you use their ISP, Fuse). Needless to say, this made me happy. My contract was for 12 months, which have expired now.
I have four friends, my parents, and a business on Zoomtown. Most of them did a self-install, which is absolutely cake. They were able to pick up the equipment at any Cincinnati Bell store, which in one case we did within an hour. The kit is a Cisco 675 router, an Ethernet network card (ISA/PCI/PC-Card), papers, including a Quick Start guide, and an Internet Explorer CD (just in case you don't have a browser).
Recently, I moved across town and ordered a new phone line and Zoomtown. Unfortunately, they cannot place both orders (and install a phone line with Zoomtown), so they told me it would be seven days after the phone was turned on before the DSL would be active. I set an appointment for removal of the MTU, and removed it myself (appointment was on a Saturday, and the Due date was the following Monday). I installed the equipment on Saturday and it worked right away! So Zoomtown was active five days after the phone was installed.
Current pricing (for self-installation) is three months at $29.95, and $39.95/mo thereafter.
TECHNICAL INFO:
Zoomtown uses DHCP to give you 4 IP addresses, not including the router/"modem". Your ISP (I use Fuse, but a dozen ISPs are available) provides you with an external IP when you sign in using a web page.
They block incoming port 23 traffic (this may be specific to Fuse) which isn't all bad, since you should use SSH instead. As far as I know, no other ports are blocked.
You must use a web page to login in order to access the internet. There is a Windows utility called ZoomBot that does this for you, manually or automatically, and can also log into dynamic DNS. There is also a Perl script called Zippy.pl which performs the same function for Linux/Unix systems.
My only gripes so far do not apply directly to Zoomtown, but to my ISP, Cincinnati Bell's fuse.net. The news server is dreadfully slow, and I can't send mail from outside the network (using their SMTP server, even when OE logs in). They have explained the latter as a block on spam, but it makes little sense.
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Review by Dale n Georgina
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 13 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$39 per month
about 45 days
Cincinnati Bell
CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell
"Work Great"
"Installation Service Got Botched - Too many hands involved to coordinate between Zoomtown & Cincinnati Bell"
"The best ADSL in the Cincinnati market for your dollars!"
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Giving the tech support a call improved my download speed considerably.
They referred me here where I have learned vast and important system tweaks to improve my service and to keep my service as fast, secure and reliable as possible.
To begin, I called Zoomtown for installation and made an appointment. The installer came before I got home. I called to reschedule and waited for over 30 minutes to talk to a person who rescheduled me in two weeks. Despite having a conflicting visit from an out of town relative (near Christmas), I kept the appointment so as not to wait another two weeks. When the installer came he couldn't get the router to work. He said it was the line and therefore the telephone company's problem and then he left. Later when I called for some answers Zoomtown said that the line was O.K. but the installer was wrong and I should reschedule. I take a trip out of country over New Years and return and make another appointment for +1week later. Installer arrives early and leaves note for me to reschedule. Call Zoomtown says that they'll try to get installer to return to home and that his supervisor will call. Wait at house for two hours without any phone call and no installer shows up. Call Zoomtown again and they set appointment again for few days ahead. Rush home from work and wait. Installer calls to say that he doesn't have parts he needs to install and would like to come some other time. Reschedule for following day (Saturday morning) and finally success!!! Download speed was 30Kb/s on zoomtown provided test so ask and he refers me to call tech support which is helpful and hooks me up with this website as well as optimizes my connection with whatever it is that they can do. My download test speed is now +90Kbs and I am happy. I now know the difference between throughput (the advertised speed) and download speed (the slower internet use that is used for all of the pracical things brought into your computer) The END!
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Review by rdragon7
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 2 visits, last login: 8.9 years ago
Cincinnati,Clermont,OH
$39 per month
about 2 days
Cincinnati Bell
"Fast Reliable Internet Access, good value for the dollar"
"Definately the way to go"
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I've had Zoomtown now for about 6 months. Being within range of a CO was my primary criteria when searching for a place to live in Cincinnati. After years of dial-up it was time to move on. I moved into my home on a Friday and had Zoomtown service on Monday. I did the install myself, it took me all of 10 minutes to complete. I've had a lot of experience with the other DSL providers in town, and none of them get things done as quickly and efficeiently as CBT does. I've never had a service outage in the 6 months I've had the service. I rarely have to log back onto the service. I'm running it on a small network inside my home I have 5 computers hooked up without any problems in connectivity in any of them. My speeds have consistently been in the 768k range, and have experienced some download speeds in excess of 90kb/sec. Yes, that does read ninety.
As far as comparing Zoomtown to Roadrunner, in my mind there is no comparison. I set up Roadrunner for my parents in Columbus, and between the hours of 7 and 9pm it's actually faster for them to dial-up using their 56k modem. The line deteriorates that fast. I still get the same 768k around the clock using Zoomtown.
I haven't really heard any complaints myself about the service, everyone I know has had nothing but good things to say about it. I can't really think of anything more I could ask for from a DSL provider, except maybe more bandwidth, but they'll give that to me, I just have to become less cheap and pay the extra dollars for it.
But as familiar as I am with Covad and Rhythms, I would reccomend Zoomtown to anyone looking for easy-to-use, cost-effective broadband internet service. I can't say how Zoomtown responds in the business sector because I don't really use them for that purpose. As far as the Static/Dynamic IP goes, at home I'd much rather have a dynamic, as I have no desire to have an IP that stays the same and leaves my network open to outside penetration. But hey, that's just me and computer-junkie mentality.
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Review by sixers32
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 4 visits, last login: 8.6 years ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$39 per month (12 month contract)
Cincinnati Bell
CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell
"Value for money"
"Not perfect, but then what is?"
"People are so spoiled they don't realize how good this service is"
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People are so quick to criticize the cost or this or that. $39.95 for unlimited 768/408kbps. How would you like paying $1 an hour for 56k/s dial up access as well as paying a fee to the phone company each time you connect? That's how access is around most of the world. If you want to run servers or networks or rely on it to make your millions for a business, then invest in a service that is aimed at that market. For a T1 connection it costs hundreds a month. Compare that to $39.95 a month... not so bad after all. Sure there will be some bad experiences, but there are also good experiences. That will be true with anything. Zoomtown was one of the first DSL connections released to the general public and people are quick to attack that, yet others complain it's not available soon enough. Can't please everyone.
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Review by bugahhboo
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 17 visits, last login: 8 years ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$39 per month (12 month contract)
Cincinnati Bell
CLEC party: Cincinnati Bell
"tech support does try to work with you, but most that i have spoken with seem confused"
"poor support - 2 thumbs down"
"cincinnati bell probably should have worked more of the bugs out of their xdsl before bragging about it so much"
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zoomnot
ZOOM ZOOM?
The speed we ordered was the turbospeed (384up/768down)and the equipment we got was a cisco 675 dsl modem and the intel pro 100+ NIC.
Apparently Cincinnati Bell should have tried to work more bugs out of their
system before they hired a bunch of actors, who have probably never even
been to Cincinnati, to brag about it in their television commercials.
I ordered Zoomtown on December 1st 2000 and they still haven't gotten
it installed yet. Today's date is December 16th. As a matter of fact the
actual install date was set for the 8th and the install guy never showed
up. I called CB three times that day! I was sure they had originally told
me the installer was supposed to show up between 8 am and noon, but when
I called the operator told me it was set for between noon and 4 pm. Fine.
5 pm rolls around, no installer. I call back a second time and explain
the situation again. The op then puts me on hold for about 5 minutes or
more, then comes back on the line and tells me that she spoke with the
manager in the Zoomtown section and that he was going to page the tech
and that someone would call me back within a few moments. The call never
came and when I tried calling back a third time they were closed.
I waited the whole weekend and Monday I called them back. There really
was never a solid explanation of why the guy never showed up, but I decided
to go ahead with a self install. Originally I had also decided to install
it myself, but I didn't want to mess anything up. It was easier than I
thought. I get everything hooked up, checked it twice and all that, plug
the modem in and it will not connect to the network, more disappointment.
The connection between the NIC and the computer is working fine, but for
some strange unforeseen reason the modem won't train up. I called tech
support and they could not figure it out either. I heard the guy mumble
something about a tier 2 and then he put me on hold.
To make a long, disappointing, story shorter some guys from CB came
out to where we live and checked the lines and told us that the impedance
on the line was like 11,000ohms or something like that and that they were
gonna try to replace or fix the pair to see if they can get it down to
1,000ohms. That was on the 14th and it still isn't working yet. They were
saying that we are far out, but the CO is only about 2.8 miles from where
we live. My girlfriend's mother lives 4 miles from the CO and as far as
we know they aren't having any serious problems.
The tech told me that distance doesn't matter and that as long as the
impedance on the line is good a person could live 100 miles from the CO
and still get great speeds. HUH? I didn't argue the point with the guy,
by this point in time I really didn't care anymore.
CB sure as heck is charging us for it though. I am about ready to start
looking for an alternative or just give up the idea of "high speed" all
together!
The best thing that has come out of this deal so far is that they at
least let us set up our Fusenet account, although I was the one who had
to ask for it and that's a whole other story in itself.
All in all, perhaps CB should give their techs a little more training
before letting them loose on the general public.
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Cincinnati Bell
