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Review by the Big E 
Posted: 2.1 years ago
member for 7.3 years, 75 visits, last login: 163 days ago
 Saint Louis,Saint Louis City,MO
 $89 per month (12 month contract)
 AT&T
 "no outages, relos, new router for free, easy upgrade. *technical* technical support (the one time I needed it.), 4 static IPs"
 "maybe not theoretical max on bandwidth throughput, could come down a bit more in price for statics, but hey they have a corner"
 "Freakin' rock solid. Bullet proof for 4 years now."
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I'm a UNIX admin. Run my own SMTP, DNS. et al. No dramas or hassles from covad. Very cluey peeps on the other end of the line.
I started w/ 1.5/768. ran it for a couple years.
When I relocated across town, I explained I wanted minimum downtime. I wanted a production datacenter style cut over. It meant they had to send me a second modem. While they obviously couldn't treat me like an enterprise customer, not only did they understand what I was after, they didn't give me any grief at all. They actually did help me execute very well.
A year later upgraded to 3.0/768.
Would like to see reasonably priced symmetric bandwidth and maybe a little cheaper pricing for no nonsense customers with statics.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 2.1 years ago
(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
Santa Fe,Santa Fe,NM
Contract price not specified. (12 month contract)
Qwest
"execellent: presales, ease of install, support, cost-effectiveness; very good: reliability of modem and connection"
"none"
"I have recommended covad to many others;"
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The best! Before purchase, I had roughly 32 hours of online chats, offering
pre-sales, courteous and competent answers to all my questions, including a
call to my home.
Installation was smooth as silk, and took but 15 minutes.
After sales support has been, again, courteous and competent. One support
problem, even, was not resolved within 48 hours: I wasn't about to gripe at the time, but, Covad thought they had responded too slowly and sent a $10 gift certificate to
Outback to apologize. On another, more serious problem, online chats have
been thorough and competent.
Connections have been reliable, with only occasional drops.Price is by far the best in our area.
I much appreciate the fact that it is the only service in our area that is just a straight connection. *OTHER ISPs WHOM I SHALL NOT NAME* have forced me to download software that took some great effort to dredge out of my system even after uninstall!
(I will say that I have seen your negative reviews, and I am scared, now...but we'll see...)
Covad is a winner!
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Review by kkinder
Posted: 2.2 years ago
member for 2.2 years, 2 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
Naperville,Dupage,IL
$65 per month (12 month contract)
 about 21 days
AT&T
"Very reliable, only one major outage in 4+ years."
"Techs unable to resolve slow speed issues."
"Service is heading downhill. Might be fine if you live close to CO."
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I had Covad ADSL for something over 4 years, about half with 768/384 and half with 1.5M/768 service. I'm ~13K feet from the CO, so I never expected or saw close to 1.5M, but for most of the last year I was getting 900-1100 download speeds. Then it started degrading to 700, 600, all the way down to 300K. I had a tech out who checked the wiring and signal inside and outside the house and found nothing wrong, but he couldn't explain why my service speed had degraded so much, and pretty much said the speed I was getting was what I was going to get. I wasn't too happy that they charged me for the tech visit when the tech didn't find anything wrong on my side, and didn't fix anything on their side.
Covad is the sole hardware vendor for all of the DSL ISP's in my area, so my DSL options are limited. I had been using DSL because I wanted a fixed IP for hosting my own servers, and the cable services in my area would not allow hosting.
The solution I arrived at was moving my server hosting to a virtual server at godaddy.com (dirt cheap too) and changing to cable modem service with WOW. I'm getting screaming speed for less money.
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 Review by e_dub
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 8.3 years, 3776 visits, last login: a few hours ago
kickin ass
Contract price not specified.
about 20 days
AT&T
"Very stable for a 144k service."
"None"
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Great service, had it for 4 years now. I can only get IDSL 144k in my area because of remote terminals. I rather slit my wrist than go with BellSouth
7-20-04 Still rock solid connection. Everything is lovely. 
9/25/07
I have moved to a new home since my last update, but I still own the house the Covad DSL is located. I couldn't get Covad DSL at my new location so I left it there. The house is now rental property and the tenants have access to the DSL. I check the service about twice a month and it's still rock solid.
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Review by FCKCOVAD
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 2.2 years, 0 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
Rockford,Kent,MI
$12121 per month (43434 month contract)
AT&T
"ann spelman 866-656-8757 x 2908 .. BS COMPANY"
"boucned my rebate check, horrible service (DOWN ALL THE TIME), tech support is in india (I CAN'T UNDERSTAND THEM), liars, F-----"
"junk company - with no cares."
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I bought the 3.0 package - TEST SPEEDS NEVER GOT OVER 2.0. BS. They said - 2.0 is good enough... i said - no.... 3.0 is not 2.0. then wireless router probs (THEY SAY YOU MUST BUY THEIR ROUTER TO GET SERVICE - BUT THEN THE ON-SITE TECH SAYS - "WE REALLY DON'T DO WIRELESS. WE USE THE NETOPIA ROUTER FOR IT CAPABILITIES AND FIRMWARE, NOT BECAUSE IT CAN DO WIRELESS." - - - OK - NOT WHAT ANN SPELMAN TOLD ME @ 866-757-8757 X 2908. OR when i lose internet all together?
THEN I'D CALL TECH SUPPORT IN INDIA (CAN'T UNDERSTAND THEM) - THEY'D ASK.. "CAN I PUT U ON HOLD FOR 2-3 MINUTES".. OK? APPARENTLY TIME IS FASTER HERE IN THE US THAN INDIA - BECAUSE 2-3 MINUTES HERE IS ONLY 120-180 SECONDS - NOT 15+ MINUTES... THEN - THEY'D DO IT SO MUCH MY BATTERY WOULD DIE.. 3 TIMES I WAS ON THE PHONE FOR MORE THAN 2.5 HOURS WITH "tech support". I love the names too "Abe Lincoln"? WTF - come on - "ABE"... im not that dumb...
then - when i called 4 months after getting service inquiring about my damn REBATE check - they said - it was sent out over 2 months ago - BUT - i never got it - so they sent me a "REPLACEMENT".. check # 02673387 for $304... BUT it BOUNCED!!!!!!! then when i called in - they said - well - we sent it to your service address not your "BILLING" address so we 'stopped the payment' for your security... ahhhhh ok? so they apparentl are UNWILLING to pay me the bank fees.. and all of the above? WTF, WTF? Can someone tell me... am i expecting too much? DSL that "WORKS" ... and if the router is bad or the line is bad, that i expect them to FIX it? or if they bounce a rebate check, that i expect them to PAY me for my fees? HELLO? MR. ATTORNEY? Really? ah ok.. btw dsl reports... there is NO PROFANITY in this "review".
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Review by mbeckman
Posted: 2.2 years ago
member for 5.2 years, 57 visits, last login: 256 days ago
Oxnard,Ventura,CA
$99 per month
about 7 days
"Fast delivery, reliable service, excellent support"
"Wireless service doesn't work for VoIP"
"Worth it"
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I've been a wireless customer of this provider since their earliest days as SkyPipeline, then NextWeb.Net, and finally Covad Wireless. The service has been pretty reliable for my residential use. I also have some clients using their business services, and they are happy with the price and performance. VoIP isn't really workable over wireless, due to latency on the multiple wireless backbone hops, which is often more than 100ms. However, if you can't get fast DSL or Cable, Covad Wireless is worth the extra money.
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Review by jellie
UPDATED: 2.3 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 8 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
$25 per month (12 month contract)
AT&T
"Rude tech support and legal departments; will retaliate against you if you file a complaint"
"STAY AWAY FROM COVAD!"
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Let me preface this by saying that we had been with Covad for over four years, and had recently renewed for another year as I was busy and did not want to deal with the hassle of switching ISPs.
Several weeks ago, the DSL service went down on a Friday night/Saturday morning. It would turn out to be an authentication issue on their end. Though we spoke to numerous technical support agents, none of them could use our user id/password to log on. It wasn't fixed for at least a week. During this period, we asked for dial-up access, at a minimum, but this failed because the authentication wasn't working!
We asked for restitution for our troubles. They offered $6.44, which they calculated as "25% of the monthly service fee." Unsatisfied, we asked for two free months of service and were denied. In fact, one of the representatives said that if it were up to her, we would not get anything and should be "lucky" to get $6.44. Later we would amend our request and asked to leave the contract with the $250 early termination fee waived. They denied it again.
After filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Covad had the gall to accuse us of being unsatisfied over EMAIL. Yes, the stupid @covad.net email. They initially claimed they fixed the DSL the following Monday, which would be one business day. They then claimed that we were angry because the email wasn't working for another week. In fact, both of these statements were LIES. The DSL was not working for at least a week; we were angry for this reason and for their incompetence at addressing their network problems.
Two weeks ago, we faxed a request to terminate the contract and waive the $250 fee. So last Monday Covad decided to "suspend" our account - that is, cut off DSL but still bill us, all while holding our line hostage. They claimed they were confused and didn't know what we wanted to do. Why suspend the account, if not in retribution to our complaint? By doing so, they gave us two options: terminate the contract OURSELVES (and thus pay the ETF), or beg to have them resume the service. This is completely unethical.
We have since switched to another ISP. The BBB complaint is still ongoing. They have backed down from the retarded email claims and even admit that the DSL problems were caused by "authentication issues". But they charged us a fee for suspending our account, and they continue to make false statements. This was also not an isolated incident; tech support acknowledged that at least one other person had a similar problem. If problems do occur, Covad is extremely unhelpful and will do everything it can to mischaracterize your complaints.
In short: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH COVAD. Thank you.
(Covad: you can figure out who I am. I welcome any comments you may have.)
Followup comments:  | | Rurne
join:2007-09-05
Chicago, IL
| Re: covad Gosh, and I thought I was the only one!
The rain issue has been a real non-starter for me with this service. Apparently, it's more of an issue with the POTS-monkeys (SBC/AT&T, in this instance) hooking up the external dropbox upside-down. 
Suffice it to say, rain come down, box fill up, DSL go bai-bai. When called on it, it's a case of pass-the-buck: AT&T says it's Covad's responsibility, and Covad says they don't handle external wiring and usually contract it out to the local provider. Funny that a "dry line" would give me so many headaches getting wet!
Usually they're pretty helpful (sometimes still have to put the fear of Jehoshaphat into em)... but this particular issue has really affected me both personally and professionally, so it kinda sticks in my craw. | |
| DSLdewd
join:2004-06-05
Denver, CO
| umm... So you payed $25/mo for DSL and you were down for a week. They offered to reimburse you for the week but that was unacceptance? Instead you want two free months? When they deny you (as they should have) you demand they waive the terms of the contract you signed and let you out early with no early termation fee?
I am no lawyer here but they offered you a fair shake. I really don't feel sorry for you. It seems like you were pretty unreasonable to me. | |
| 
Covad_fan
@covad.net
| Highly recommend Covad I've been doing business with Covad for years and highly recommend them. I can honestly say that Covad has been very easy to deal with. Especially, compared to the local telephone or cable compaies. I never had a problem with Covad's technical support. They always helped me whenever I needed them. However, I did not need them very much because their service is very reliable. Their prices are competitive with what the telcos and cable companies charge.
We've had Verizon DSL. But the service did not work very well. Comcast cable modem was excellent, but they kept raising the prices. I got tired of having to call them to lower my bill and having to sign up for bundles to get lower rates. Covad gives us great service at a reasonable price with no caps, limits or blocked ports.
I don't fall for the FiOS or cablemodem hype, either. No matter how fast your connection is, most web servers can only give you about 200K anyways. Why pay for bandwidth you aren't using? For now, our Covad 1.5M/384K DSL connection is all we need. | |
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GSan
@covad.net
| Re: Highly recommend Covad "No matter how fast your connection is, most web servers can only give you about 200K anyways. Why pay for bandwidth you aren't using? For now, our Covad 1.5M/384K DSL connection is all we need."
Can you explain? I need to decide soon what level of service to pay for. According to Speedtest, I can now download about 3500-4000 k, and up 670 but it costs more that I'd like to spend. So what do you mean by the above.
Thanks | |
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Covad_fan
@covad.net
| Re: Highly recommend Covad Most webservers that I view only push the webpage to me between 200K-400K. Those are MY observations. I am sure that some other sites push their content down to you faster. Some websites that stream video content, like »www.abc.com require a connection of at least 2M to view the HD stream. However, they also offer content in non-HD format that looks very good and requires much less bandwidth. Our Covad 1.5M DSL connection works just fine for regular video streams.
It all comes down to how much you are willing to pay and which company provides good service in your area. Covad offers 3M/768 to my home for extra money. However, the 1.5/386 connection we have now works just fine for us.
I will also mention that we have not had luck with VoIP on any service with only 128K upload speed. Otherwise, audio problems with the call result. I was told that VoIP calls require 128K all by themselves. Even though the G.711A codec is 64K, IP overhead and signaling adds another 64K. So, that saturates a 128K upload connection. If you plan on using a VoIP provider, I recommend a package with at least 386K upload speed. | |
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Review by mhaner
Posted: 2.3 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 1 visits, last login: 207 days ago
Mira Loma,Riverside,CA
$300 per month (12 month contract)
about 60 days
AT&T
"Excellent Service. Amazing price for a T-1"
"Best customer service I've ever dealt with"
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Covad was excellent. AT&T messed up the install 3 times, and covad was right on top of things, calling me up to 3 times a day to keep me informed. Service has never gone down in 7 months.
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Review by fchan65
Posted: 2.3 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 1156 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Berkeley,Alameda,CA
 Business customer
$1500 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Fast and reliable fixed based wireless carrier"
"Lose connection due interferrence due to objects (Line of Sight)"
"Great for areas due to heavy construction digging up phone or network lines."
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We have a fixed based wireless ethernet connection with 6Mb up and down. The original provider was called NextWeb which was bought out by Covad in 2006 and now this division is called Covad Wireless so that is why I put it Covad category.
I inherited this wireless network from the previous administrator but I think this a good set up. I have a business in middle of a area that is always under construction for various reasons so they tend to dig up the roads here and sometimes dig up phone and network lines so that is the reason we decided go to wireless. We had no real problems with the network until one day they put a construction crane in between us and the base station and our connection will come and go as the construction crane moved during the day. At first we didn't know what was happening so I called the tech for several days until they had sent in a tech and noticed the crane in the way. They were willing to relocate the antenna so the crane will not interfere with the signal.
Since now Covad has both wireless and wired connection we opted for a backup wired T1 connection in a BGP configuration and they were willing to install for $200 including BGP router and the bill went up another $10 per month which is not bad considering this is a T1.
I test my connection everyday and we do get 6Mb up and down and most of the time it is faster than this as you can see in the speedtest I do.
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Review by robertraburn
Posted: 2.4 years ago
member for 4.8 years, 18 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
Oakland,Alameda,CA
$25 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
AT&T
"Broadband at 11000' from CO at a reduced price"
"Must live with lower speed"
"DSL works where others fail"
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After three attempts to get ADSL failed because of extreme distance from the CO (11000'), I ordered the Telesurfer Plus (1.5/128) in 2005 @ $40/mo (reduced to $25/mo in 2007). My experience at self-installation had previously ended in shipping back the modems after lengthy installation attempts so I elected to pay for professional installation.
The tech arrived as scheduled with a Netopia 3347 wireless modem and was able to connect despite lots of line noise. However, he provided suggestions for improving the connection. He gave me a splitter designed to "split" the DSL data signal from the voice signal along with detailed installation instructions. He also suggested I run CAT 5 wire to the router. Once both of these tasks were done, I bolstered my speed a reliable 380 Kbps down. Not blazing, but adequate for VOIP.
If you live far from the CO and want the advantages of DSL, there are not a lot of options as the telcos will not literally go the extra mile to get you running. I also appreciate that I have an option to the Comcast cable evildoer who put big ugly grey boxes low on the utility poles throughout Oakland.
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Covad Communications
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sounds like......
covad
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