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Review by shatty 
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 69 visits, last login: 30 days ago
 San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
 $64 per month (24 month contract)
 about 23 days
 SBC
CLEC party: Focal
 "fast upload for good price, superior service, outstanding time to success"
 "no web page tech support, general lack of documentation, no 24h support"
 "strong recommendation for tech-savvy who wants to upgrade their upload"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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I decided to change apartments earlier this month and since I had to uninstall my old DSL company (earthlink) to move my phone number, I thought I would see what the competition was doing. I called Apex DSL on Oct. 3 and spoke with a service representative who answered all of the questions that I had, and gave me a phone number at which I could call them directly. The representative faxed me an order form. On Oct. 6, the same representative called me back to ask me if I was interested in getting service. I decided that I was and so I filled out the fax. I ordered the ADSL 1.5M down, 512K up, at $64/month. Since I ordered for a 24 month term, I had a free install. I got a dynamic IP, they use PPPoE.
I waited to place my order until the 8th, since I did not want there to be any confusion when I changed my old number to the new apartment. I faxed it in that evening and the same representative confirmed reception of the fax. On the 9th my number was switched over to the new location and my old DSL was cut off.
When I returned from my vacation on the 15th I received a letter Apex informing me that a PacBall person would come out to commission the line on the 16th. I did not have to be home during that procedure. At the same time they also installed an additional line to my CO since Apex uses different lines for voice and data outside of your residence. After Apex confirmed the commissioning of my line and the installation of the second line, they called me and we set up an appointment for an installation of my modem and checking my line by the Apex tech. (actually a Focal tech?) I set up the appointment for the afternoon on the 23rd.
The tech was a little early but called my cell phone and waited for me. The tech was very helpful. The tech checked the line and installed another termination box in my apartment for my convenience. Since I am technically minded he allowed me to install the ethernet card, drivers, and modem. (he brought a USB modem) He just guided me through the process. When we tried to get the modem to work we had a problem where the modem would not sync. He spoke several times with various people trying to resolve the problem. They eventually narrowed it down to a problem at the CO. (central office) So the tech left. He also asked them to ship me an ethernet modem since I need it for BeOS, my main operating system. There was no additional cost.
I was concerned at this point since PacBell is notoriously slow about DSL installs and especially when they are not for PacBell DSL. I spoke with an Apex technician over the phone and he said that they could determine what the problem was within 48 hours. I called back on the 25th. At this point he told me that the lines were set up for SDSL, not ADSL, and that he couldn't make an estimate on when the problem would be fixed. The tech was very thorough in explaining what they had been doing and who they had been working with and the results so far.
On the 26th I came home and noticed a UPS tag for my ethernet modem. I called UPS and had them hold my modem, which I picked up on the 29th. On the 31st, I received a call from the Apex tech (same tech this whole time!) and he said that they needed me to turn on my modem to check the line. I wasn't at home and so I said I would call when I got there. When I got home I booted into BeOS and called Apex. I spoke to the same tech again and he gave me the login information. I tried it out and it worked!
Over the past few days my download has been excellent and my upload speed has been very pleasing. My friends who download from me are also very happy. 
Overall the customer service was above excellent. I dealt with the same technician and same service representative through the whole experience. I was able to reach them either instantly or got a call back within 15 minutes on every call. The upload speed is as expected, about four times faster than my old DSL. I was very pleasantly surprised that despite the problems that occurred (not due to Apex in any way) I was still able to get up and running in four weeks from my first ever speaking to the company. (!) The install technician was also very helpful and understanding of my desire to do most of the fiddling myself. The install tech also exhibited a friendly curiousity about my alternative OS. Some larger ISPs are rather negative about anything other than windows/mac os, but that was not the case here.
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Apex Telecom Inc.
