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I hard to order twice. First time their system provisioned me as if I were not on an RT so I got disqualified. OK so they just recently started getting customers form RTs so perhaps there are some hiccups. Second time it all went quite smooth, granted I did have someone who personally made sure that my order went in properly. Hooked it up to my old Westell CPE and as soon as I saw it sync up, I requested my PPPoE username and password and had my Linksys router authenticate. I was up and surfing. I did receive the Broadxent modem a bit later. I use it mainly since it is newer and tells me more details about the connection stability, etc. Rate is 6 Mbit / 800 Kbps. Traffic is limited to what you ordered. In my case I have full rate, so I have seen my downloads at about 5000/650 area. One thing I hate is the outsource of Usenet/Newsgroups to a third-party company. They have good completion but the download rate is 17KB/sec. I am sorta used to Comcast, where typical rates are at least 75 to 150 KB/sec. Its nice to have a static IP, and honestly I have yet to check out all the other features. member for 23.2 years, 988 visits, last login: 14.1 years ago lodged 20 years ago
I have two DSL accounts for the two cities I live in so I can compare my DSL experiences when evaluating Covad. In 9/02 I signed up for Covad in Long Beach, CA with a "special offer" for $39/mo, no contract, free modem & installation. Covad was prompt, their web site kept me informed of the stages in the process, and I have had few bad experiences until now. I wish they hadn't withdrawn their speed guarantee because this DSL is slow. My connection was supposed to be 384/124, but numerous tests carried out on this website have verified that the actual speed is about 1/3 of the advertised speed. I've also had a lot of "down time", but this is probably due to my phone line (end of the circuit) and line noise (Verizon's problem). At times when download speeds are particularly slow, I wonder whether a simple dial-up would do just as well. Fast Forward to '04: An email from Covad informed me of a special offer for an upgrade to the "Telesurfer Plus" [I wish they'd change that embarassing name , but I digress.] So I jumped at the chance, particularly winch no additional equipment was necessary and involved someone pulling a switch somewhere. Any improvement from 384 -> 1500: No not so far. I haven't done speed tests yet but so far I'm seeing no change. At the same time I elected to transfer my web hosting to Covad from Earthlink. This has been a nightmare and that's when my principal gripe was born. Here, I have had to deal with 3 companies (Covad, Eartlink and Network Solutions). These three sure like to pass the buck, and I have had to spearhead the transfer myself. [It's also difficult to deal with phone help located overseas.] After nearly a month, this transfer has still not taken place. Each company apparently prefers blaming the other two, and after two complete cycles in this game of musical chairs, I'm pretty fed up. It would have been a lot easier to cancel the domain name and reapply for it. [This absurd situation reminds me of the cafe sceen in the movie 'Easy Rider' .] Covad should have taken full responsibility for this since they're the only ones that would benefit from my transferred web business. I'm also kind of surprised by Covad's passing the buck since I had good relations with them from the last couple of years. And what about the 1500 Mb speed? It's still slow and am thinking about switching companies and/or handle my domain/web site by myself. My lesson: look for guaranteed speed and don't transfer domain names if at all possible. I'll keep you posted. member for 21.6 years, 8 visits, last login: 9.9 years ago lodged 20 years ago
My previous provider was optimum online. Though I loved them I had to get rid of them because port blocking, lack of reverse dns, and poor newsgroups. So I shopped around and came down to 4 ISPs that could possibly offer me the services I needed, covad, speakeasy, acedsl, and digizip. Digizip does not provide reverse DNS, they might claim they do but after browsing the Digizip forum I was quickly under the impression you would have to go through unbearable grief just to get it. So they were quickly out. For AceDSL the prices were way too expensive for the services it offered, so I didn't take them under consideration for too long. It was down to Speakeasy & Covad. If I was to sign up with speakeasy my line would be provisioned through Covad, so it comes down to the package features I'm getting since it will be the same line. Speakeasy offers 2 static IPs + 1.5/256 for 60$/month with a cheaper promo price for your first 3 months. Covad offers 1 static IP + 1.5/384 for 65$/month. I guess you can go either way with the two. But for 5$ more and 1 less static IP, I chose to go with Covad. Speakeasy doesn't offer a 1.5/384 package anymore, but you can call in to request one. The support has been great for Covad. Called in several times speaking to customer care reps and tech support all gave me no hassles. Also the Covad forum on bbr is flooded with individuals who will offer their assitance as well. So if you ever run into trouble it isn't too hard to find help. Also Covad's smart account manager is filled with information and options to change your account around without ever calling in. Some gripes I have with Covad service is that it's PPPoE, DSL modem is free only after rebates(hate rebates), and you can't select to be billed by a letter bill.. Pings are much higher to sites I requent on DSL than when I was on cable Also... I haven't tested out their newsgroups yet... Connection reliability... gave it a 4 because it seems rock sold so far but haven't tested it long enough to give it a 5. Finally... If your in the market for static IP+DSL on the east coast you should definitely consider covad or speakeasy. member for 21.6 years, 1243 visits, last login: 16.6 years ago lodged 20 years ago
Originally set up 2 years ago with Covad and it was HORRIBLE. They said they received my rebate 2 days after deadline (unlikely) and denied a $200 rebate. Said they were looking into it but just gave the runaround. I decided to give them another chance and they did a great job. Phone support was good. The move took under a week (ahead of their anticipated hook-up). Still holding a slight grudge regarding the rebate but judging their performance today - they are stellar. member for 19.4 years, 7 visits, last login: 19.2 years ago lodged 20 years ago
My review is short and simple.... I just switched from higher price Verizon DSL and signed up for the 21.95 for the first four month deal 39.95 after that residential DSL deal with no contract. The same day I cancelled Verizon, I ordered with Covad.net..... 6 Days later VZ unprovisioned their DSL and 7 Days later Covad had the line sync'd and the Jumpstart Kit delivered via UPS.... Botton line... Saving money, same throughtput test numbers and now when I travel on business or for pleasure I can dial up from anywhere in the country for no additional charge... Cheers UPDATE!! So far so good... Not a single problem.. Over all Covad has been a pleasurable experience!!!!! UPDATE !!! (12/06/03) After not having a single problem with my Telesurfer Link (384/128) account I decided that the extra 10 bucks a month for Telesurfer Plus (1500/128) with the extra web space, email addresses and monthly dialup usage was just to good to pass up, so I upgraded using the covad.net personal manager webpage... Took just three clicks... Thanks Covad you rock!!! UPDATE !!! (2/28/04) I was notified by email that my Telesurfer Plus (1500/128) with the extra web space, email addresses and monthly dialup usage price would be reduced by $10, back to 39/month. Thanks Covad you still rock. I just wish other companies would proactively charge market rates for their products like Covad... member for 22.2 years, 670 visits, last login: 13.1 years ago updated 20 years ago
I have my Dsl through Covad.net. The service is very good here in Chicagoland....never have any downtime and ping times are good(50ms). The problem I have is that I have the 1.5/384 package and when I tried to upgrade to the 3.0/768 package...they cannot do it. I have called several times and have been told it is a server issue! They always say "someone will call you back", But no one ever does. I tried to upgrade on Feb 12, and as of today Feb 26 nothing. Does this seem ominous for the future of Covad, when they cannot upgrade exsisting customers and cannot tell you why? It does to me having gone thru Northpoint and Internetconnect woes before. Anyone else with this issue? 03-04-2003 They finally got it going and it is fast.....today I got 2545/650...smokin....way to go Covad. member for 23.3 years, 935 visits, last login: 10.9 years ago lodged 20 years ago
Have had TeleSOHO (1.5/384) for over a year. Zyxel 643 reconfigged in bridge mode to a BEFSR41. BEFSR41 handles PPPoE connection flawlessly. Install was quick and painless (self-installed without a problem). Line has been solid for over a year with only occasional dropouts which are probably router related, cycling power reestablished connectrion instantly. Covad has had news server problems on and off for as long as I've been with them. Only two connections are allowed, and DLs are capped at 16KB/sec. Eww. Overall, great to deal with. News server blows. member for 21.2 years, 1447 visits, last login: 179 days ago lodged 20.1 years ago
Good Points. 1.Covad sales rep was very knowledgeable. 2.Covad tech/support/help line was great in trying to get some problems fixed during my ordering process. 3.Lines speeds are better then they thought I would get. I have the 3008/768 package at just over 10k feet and my speeds are about 80% of that. 280-300k down 77-80k up. 4.Shipped my dsl/router fast.(broadxent 8120).Plenty of emails stating the status of my order. Bad Points 1.Ameritech/SBC and Covad need to fix their communication methods. SBC says call Covad, Covad says call SBC. Both had very polite phone support though. To bad it didnt fix my problem. Being polite and helpfull are 2 entirely different things. 2.Ameritech/SBC dragged their feet getting my data line switched to Covad. They even called me twice to see if I wanted to use their DSL. 3.Ameritech/SBC wont offer me these speeds? Why NOT? Works well from Covad. They said my line could not handle it. Obviously thats not true. And I've been using it full blast since it went live. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 weeks from now I'll make an update and see how stable the line is. So far I havent had a single problem, other then calling to get put on fast path. Update feb 13th 2004 -------------------------------- Well looks like SBC is at it again. I got my phone bill and covad bill the same day. Guess what SBC is charging me for dsl service i dont get from them. So i call to dispute the bill, and guess what, they want to turn my data line off. WTF. They claim my dsl is coming from them. I explained to them that my POTS is from them and my DSL is from covad. Then the lady transfers me to a "Specialist" ha what a joke. After 4 transfers and no answers I get transfered a 5th time. Next I'm told to call covad?????? WTF do they have to do with my phone bill??? SBC is claiming my covad order was canceled on the 27th of january???Well its working. ON a side note the service from covad is awesome. Speeds are super. I had one outage for 2 hours but it was due to maintenence being done to the DSLAM I'm on. Other then that been awesome!!!!! Big thumbs up to covad. member for 20.1 years, 93 visits, last login: 18.6 years ago lodged 20.1 years ago
---------------- UPDATE ---------------------- I've recently upgraded my package from 1500/386 to 3000/768. The price for this package is $99, however, since I have the block of 5 static IPs I pay an additional $10/mo. The transition to the upgraded service was EXTREMELY smooth.. Also, I've had to work with Covad tech support recently due to a bad line on my side. However, I dealt with at least 4 Covad techs and each time I called I was talking with a rep within a minute of calling (most less than 30 seconds). The techs I dealt with were extremely helpful and courteous. PS - I'm still saving $10-$15/mo from what I was paying for Megapath's service. ---------------- ORIGINAL REVIEW ---------------------- I switched from Megapath to Covad mainly due to price increases on megapath. I'm currently saving around $40/month. This was a lateral switch, therefore the same service package (1500/384 + 5 IPs). The only difference between the two (that I know of) is megapath assigns an actual IP address to the router where Covad uses PPPoE to assign the same IP to it. Though, so far, I've not experienced any problems with PPPoE (I'm connected 24x7). Actually, there is one more thing I forgot.. Covad allows 10 hours per month of free dial-up usage with this account (megapath didn't, to my knowledge, offer this). Great for those who are on the road and don't have a dialup account but find themselves, at times, in need of dialup access. Covad also has a "dialer" program (for windows only, I believe) which has a list of all their dialups so you can locate one local to you no matter where you may be. I have yet to use this program, but I know it's available. The roughest part of this venture was waiting to have the service switched from Megapath to Covad. Apparently, the line needed to be completely disconnected and then re-provisioned (even though Covad was the CLEC for Megapath). So, I had some Internet withdrawal while I waited for the switch (I was jonesing..). Keep in mind, the timeframe I've included (Days from order to success) only includes the connect time. I didn't add in the additional time it took for line to be completely de-provisioned since this was dependent on Verizon as well. However, you can figure in 2 weeks for de-provisioning. One thing that was nice is Covad provides free dialup service throughout the entire process (at least they did for me).. I know, ugggg.. But it was good for checking email and IM'ing. All in all, I found Covad to be extremely competent and courteous (especially since I must admit I did call quite often to find out how the disconnect process was going). The ordering process was easy and the salesperson I dealt with was extremely informative. She explained that it would take additional time since I was moving from DSL to DSL over the same phone line, etc. Once the order was actually in progress, Covad's customer support website includes all the details (and stages) of the order as it is in process. So, at that point, I could go to the website to see what stage of the connect process I was at. Also, to hurry the process along, as soon as the local telco has set up the line and is dispatched to verify the line, Covad sends out the Installation kit. The timing works out perfect for verification of the line (which takes about 2 days or so). I've been using the service for around 2 weeks now and haven't noticed any problems yet. Everything has been rock solid. I didn't rate tech support because I haven't yet been in contact with them (the installation kit and instructions were sufficient to get me up and running).. Keep in mind, price is my main consideration. I'm not made of money and where I can save money I will (and I've tried to work with Megapath on this issue, but they failed to get back in touch. Apparently, it wasn't important enough to them to warrant a response). I would imagine that the prices of high speed internet access should be going down as more people sign on. However, if it is the case they keep going up (because of greed, as usual), then, even though I am addicted to the speed, I will have to re-evaluate whether or not I really need this access. It's not really a necessity (plus, I can download what I need for home from work). I don't see Covad doing this, but I see the constant argument and price hikes by other companies (cable and DSL) and it's really starting to tick me off. One other note. This package goes for $69.95/mo I believe. The price difference for me is an additional $10 for the block of 5 IPs plus I guessed at the taxes.. member for 22 years, 3572 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago updated 20.1 years ago
I was sick of being backhauled from Richmond to Chicago by Speakeasy, so I decided to give Covad a go for a year. Due to a mix-up with their new billing system, it took a little longer than I would have expected to be switched over, but overall, it was worth it. I can actually start gaming again, as pings to my gateway are 15ms again, not the 50+ms on Speakeasy. Anyone in Richmond should definitely give Covad a look. member for 23.2 years, 856 visits, last login: 16.1 years ago lodged 20.1 years ago |