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 Review by CableGei 
UPDATED: 84 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 1567 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
 $44 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
 Cincinnati Bell
 "FTTH 30 Mbps down / 30 Mbps up"
 "Installation can take the better part of a day (but well worth it!)"
 "Cincinnati Bell FiOptics - Best Broadband Connection in Cincinnati!"
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Update: 08/30/09
This review is for the FiOptics ZoomTown service, not ADSL ZoomTown. Cincinnati Bell provides their new broadband service over two different platforms depending on where you live -- FTTH or VDSL2. Both are able to acheive the same speeds that they offer. This internet connection is BLAZING! The latency is great, and the upload is amazing! This service blows TWC's DOCSIS 2 Road Runner away!
Original Review of ADSL Service:
I mainly got ZoomTown to compare it to Road Runner. While I found ZoomTown to be pretty reliable and decent for DSL, I didn't really find any advantages to using ZoomTown over Road Runner.
The regular price is $44.95/month. Since I was only getting about 1800/384, I can't say it's a great deal. If you're closer to the CO so you can obtain full speeds, it's not a bad deal, but some other DSL providers are lower in cost.
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 Review by Angry_Kid
UPDATED: 126 days ago
member for 6.1 years, 773 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Lebanon,Warren,OH
$109 per month (12 month contract)
about 4 days
"Very reasonably priced, fast & reliable connection"
"Not QUITE as fast as TW, but better package deal"
"It's nice to have a choice in cable internet providers."
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It's not "really" Cincy Bell -- it's the erstwhile Lebanon (OH) Telecommunications that was bought by CB. Normally, CB's broadband internet is via DSL whereas this version (i.e. the former LTC) is actually cable. D/l is ~5 MB/s vs TW's ~6, but the u/l is ~800 kB/s vs TW's 350.
CB's on-line storage/webpage offering is equally as poor (nearly pathetic) as TW's -- both charge EXTRA(!!!) to enable ftp access. For free, you get some sad, pitiful, sorry excuse for a 'webpage' **ahem** 'interface'.
The package deal (digital cable & internet) is slightly cheaper than TW, customer service is equally hideous for both. CS is via a local (former LTC) provider, NOT through CB. Amusingly, if you call the main CB customer support and tell them you're having problems with your _cable_, they "correct" you and inform you that their service is DSL. Once you explain that you live in Lebanon, they give you a local Lebanon number to call -- they can't/won't transfer your call.
All-in-all not a bad deal, despite the quirks (don't get me started about their DVR even though it's orders of magnitude better than TW's).
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Review by JLDunn
UPDATED: 279 days ago
member for 4.3 years, 955 visits, last login: 252 days ago
Moscow,Clermont,OH
$25 per month
about 1 days
Cincinnati Bell
"Good value, No usage limits"
"Too far from CO for highest speed"
"Very pleased"
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Cincinnati Bell's ZoomTown ADSL just came to my neck of the woods in the country and I am finally able to get rid of my HughesNet satellite service. Coming from satellite almost anything other than dialup would be welcome and ZoomTown is better than I expected.
I am too far from the CO to get the maximum speed of 5000kbps but I was able to get connected at 3000kbps. The installer said that at around 10db the connection would start to have problems and at 3000kbps my connection is 15db which should give me plenty of margin. My speed tests in the first few days of use are 2700kbps down and 700kbps up. I had them put in a whole house POTS rather than putting a filter on each phone connection.
I had a wireless setup with a Hughes HN7000S modem connected to a Linksys router and was able to replace both with the Cincinnati Bell furnished Westell 327W wireless modem and the wireless signal is stronger than the Hughes/Linksys setup.
Followup comments:  KingofCola
join:2007-02-07
Greer, SC | POTS Splitter JL,
Can you tell what brand of POTS splitter they used? | |
| | JLDunn
join:2005-07-26
Moscow, OH
 ·Cincinnati Bell
| Re: POTS Splitter I did not see a brand name on it but it was small enough to fit in the small telephone connection box on the side of the house. The small filters they give you to connect to each phone connection when you do not have a whole house POTS installed also do not have a brand name on them but they do say made in China.
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Cincinnati Bell Zoomtown ADSL | Westell 327W | Win XP SP3 | | |
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Review by mAlfunkti0n
UPDATED: 290 days ago
member for 5.9 years, 305 visits, last login: 54 days ago
Loveland,Clermont,OH
$30 per month
about 4 days
"Fast, stable service. Cheaper than RR, faster than RR. Upload is great."
"None so far"
"Head and shoulders above RR."
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Time Warner recently started slowing to far beyond unacceptable levels. I called their support line several times but nothing was being done. I had the 15Mbit service, which DID work really well for quite some time. Recently, even during non peak times the service had been around 2-3Mbit. I got tired of the run around, and the "retention" department calling me a liar when I tried to get their lower tier service price matched to Zoomtown. Enough was enough, I called Cincinnati Bell, had the service installed and receive great speeds and service.
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Review by SainterThom
Posted: 313 days ago
member for 4.5 years, 7 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Maineville,Warren,OH
$33 per month
about 1 days
Cincinnati Bell
"For Lebanon area, faster than Road Runner"
"Not a DSL package...in Lebanon it's cable, and all the problems cable has carries over"
"I wouldn't go back to RR for anything...if only ATT would come this far south..."
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Speed is excellent and as advertised... Was promised 8.0 mbps, expected 6.5, got 7 out of the box with no tweaking, on a wireless connection no less! Install was quick and the tech was gracious although he said that he used to be a TWC contractor; so he had experience to fall back on. Interesting that the phone company used an MTA and is using VoIP technology, but I guess it makes sense since they bought the LOCAL cable company (non-TWC).
All in all, if you live in Lebanon, you have a choice between Embarq (Blech!), TWC, and Cincinnati Bell. I don't recommend counting out CBT based on what goes on everywhere else, becuase it's different here in Lebanon. TWC gives the lowest prices in Southwest OH to Lebanon, and CBT beats it by about 10 bucks a month (for video, internet, and phone) but the cable tv service is not as professional. So that should be your factor. If you're looking for the best speed without paying a premium for business class or "Turbo" service, CBT is the way to go!
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Review by toolman90
UPDATED: 317 days ago
member for 2.2 years, 47 visits, last login: 35 days ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$73 per month
Cincinnati Bell
"has reliable connection and speed for the price"
"very bad tech support and could be faster"
"It is a good service for the price and I would recomend it"
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I recently hooked up to zoomtown had no problems setting up the equipment. It worked great when it was up and running.
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Review by cer1
UPDATED: 335 days ago
member for 8.3 years, 281 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
Milford,Clermont,OH
$43 per month
about 7 days
Cincinnati Bell
"High speeds and practically committed bandwidth"
"Not"
"Nothing else will do. Satisfied."
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Also known as FUSE.NET
*Self Install
*Turned up easily
*Tech support allways polite but not exceptionally knowledgable 2 times out of 3
Service:
I didn't get the "home" pkg, but got the lowest BUSINESS PKG that put me into a category where the IP is fixed, there are no blocked ports (except 80 incoming, which I wanted) and this makes the connection suitable for a VPN if I like. (Which I do)
I can connect to other ISP's outgoing email servers, which is great because I travel and have a dialup account on another ISP for that. With this service there is no need to change setups as I move around.
The speed is the best I've had on xDSL. I test an honest 2400k bits down, 640k up almost all the time. I have had GTE, PACBELL, COX (cable), DSLeXtreme and Cincinnati bell's FUSE.NET. I'd rate them as follows:
Most Desirable: Cincinnati Bell (Fuse)
10 Fuse - They deliver what they promised.
9 DSLeXtreme - Great ISP. A little more latency, not bad.
8 GTE - Great once I got it going. (Their problem) Speed OK, not great
5 PacBell - Barely adequate speed, Laggy, Arrogant, Inflexible
-10 COX - Worse than Dialup. Arrogant, Inconsistant performance, Socialist ( they wanted to approve EVERYTHING ) I quit them ultimately.
Least Desirable: COX
Bottom Line:
I am a rather picky customer. I can work around problems myself usually, and can help tech support enough to help myself, even when they aren't too swift. Cincinnati Bell's tech support is better than many.
Even so it's not the most important attribute to me. Speed is important, and theirs is quite high and doesn't suffer from "rush hour" syndrome.
The most important thing to me is that I can USE the service to do the things I WANT TO DO. No arbitrary restrictions. Just a simple direct internet connection with LOW latency. And it is all of that.
I am well satisfied for the 6 months I've had Cincinnati Bell's Fuse.net as an ISP.
Update: 7-13-2005
Still satisfied.... performance has not changed and the price dropped from $49 to $43 as a result of a "package" combo.
Still a great deal for superior service.
Update: 12-22-2008
How I fired Cncinnati Bell and why it all Started:
Cincinnati Bell performed some kind of remote modem upgrade over a year ago, and it started my dissatisfaction with that service. Prior to the upgrade, I was promised and received 2.5M down, 768K up. After the "upgrade" I appeared to have 4.5M down and often less than 615K up. (Sometimes a lot less) Several calls to tech support later, I was told that there was no change to upload caused by their upgrade. This was "the first straw".
Next, my land line services continued increase in cost. DSL charges + Two POTS lines + Caller ID (1 line) and Unlimited Domestic Long Distance plus taxes ~$120/mo.
I asked Cincinnati Bell if they offered DSL on lines without POTS and they declined. That was the "Last Straw".
Finally, I determined that it was just too much to pay any more and began looking at VOIP solutions...
Ended up with Time Warner Cable Business Class ISP and T-Mobile@home VOIP ~$70 per month total. Performance is 2x Download, almost 3x upload. See new ISP review for details.
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Review by flawedexiste
Posted: 1 year ago
member for 1 year, 0 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Cincinnati,Hamilton,OH
$50 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
Cincinnati Bell
"Good value. The service is as advertised."
"none"
"Well done. I've been a customer from the beginning of the service."
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I have the upgraded service which costs $10/month more. It's well worth it INMO. I got my equipment via UPS in about three days and set it up myself. Seamless process. Using the Westel 6100 router. Small footprint and works just fine. Service interruptions are essentially non-existent.
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Review by conrad_davis
Posted: 1.2 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 16 visits, last login: 56 days ago
Hamilton,Butler,OH
$45 per month
about 2 days
Cincinnati Bell
"speed never varies."
"won't increase your speed unless you complain. no naked dsl"
"good deal for the money"
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I have used zoomtown for 8 years now. I started out when the product was 768kbps download and 384kbps upload. They upgraded their network to about 5mpbs but didn't budge my speed until I complained. I hear some people talk about the supposed higher speeds from the cableco's but it always seems to bog down in the evening when everyone is on and honestly, I do not need more than 3MBPS. For $45/month I"m getting a broadband connection and a lifeline landline.
Followup comments: wharpig
join:2008-08-29
| ... speeds are normally set automatically for what the line can handle. Cinbells dsl connection now automatically adjusts the speed when it is first setup and locks you in at what you can train at and hold a connection. If you were set low chances are you have had problems with the connection in the past. If a technician adjusted your speed generally that causes issues with holding a connection. If it is holding a good connection then it could have just been a provisioning issue on Zoomtowns end that was "capping" the connection. I use to work for there tech support and have saw many people get there speed raised only to callback days later and there connection is constantly giving them problems. Thats why the techs are trained to say they cant adjust your speed. | |
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 Review by bjf123
UPDATED: 1.3 years ago
member for 9.7 years, 3896 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Hamilton,Butler,OH
$35 per month
Cincinnati Bell
"Consistent connection. Good tech support."
"Scans from other users."
"Great value for the money."
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I've had Cincinnati Bell's Zoomtown ADSL product for a number of years now. During that time, there have only been a handful of times I was unable to connect when I wanted. The claimed speeds are 768 down and 384 up. My tests have almost always been close enough, in the 680 and 340 range. The nature of the connection is everyone has a private IP. Mine is in the 10.137 range. They recently changed their service so that I no longer need to log in. As long as my computer is on, I'm connected. If I do turn off my PC, the next time I connect, I might end up with a different public IP. I do get scans from other users in the 10.137 IP range. The few times I've gotten a number of scans from the same IP, and by a number of scans, I'm talking 50+ in a short period of time, I've contacted the abuse department at Zoomtown. The scans have always stopped in a few days. Overall, I'm quite pleased with my service.
Update: I moved about five years ago. The transition to my new address took longer than it should have. After numerous phone calls over the span of 5 or 6 days, I finally got through to someone who had the knowledge to dig into the problem. Turns out the phone company had two databases of information related to the DSL service. One had been updated with my new address, while the other still had the old address, which was overriding the order to turn on service at the new location. Once the incorrect database was updated, the service was working within the hour.
Also, I was able to combine my local, long distance, wireless, and DSL services into one package. This is saving me about $20 per month over the cost the the individual services.
Update 2: I've really had no issues since the move almost five years ago. I have switched my hardware from a PC running Windows with a Linksys router to multiple Macs connecting via Airport Extreme. Everything still works fine.
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