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Review by qxzn 
Posted: 3.6 years ago
member for 3.6 years, 4 visits, last login: 2.5 years ago
 Jersey City,Hudson,NJ
 $64 per month (12 month contract)
 about 10 days
 Verizon
CLEC party: Covad
 "ridiculously good customer service, flexibility"
 "a little expensive"
 "worth the extra $5/month"
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I've had LBdsl for almost a year now. I signed a 1 year contract for dry ADSL SOHO (1.5/384) with static IP. Because of the static IP I had to go with a business account, which is $10 more than the residental version of the same deal. The installation fees were reasonable for dry dsl ($325 - $225 covad rebate = $100).
About a month ago, we moved quite suddenly. I called Brent (customer service) to tell him we needed our location changed. Even though it had been less than 11 months, he let me out of the old contract and into a new one, and gave reduced installation fees ($50 after rebate). Our move order was completed in just 10 days, and we were on the net.
Unfortunately, there was something wrong with our line, so the connection started flaking out. We would lose connectivity a few times daily for 5 to 30 minutes. I called Brent who immediately started monitoring our account. Within a couple of days, he had complained to Covad about our line and gotten a tech to come out free of charge. The tech found something wrong with the loop; Verizon came and fixed it the very next day, and now we're stable as a rock.
Throughout the whole process, I was very pleased with the customer support. So far, my experience is great: promises are always met or exceeded; someone almost always answers the phone directly, even at late hours. Emails are responded to very quickly.
When I did the initial shopping, LBdsl wasn't quite the cheapest. But prices are competitive, and the service is worth it.
Bonus: Brent sounds super geeky when he says: "Lightning Bolt technologies, Brent speaking!"
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Review by pimpdeez9
UPDATED: 3.9 years ago
member for 5.5 years, 335 visits, last login: 173 days ago
Boca Raton,Palm Beach,FL
$59 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
BellSouth
CLEC party: Covad
"The Best Tech Support, Very Stable Connection, Best Covad Reseller"
"Billpay is through Paypal"
"Great Service, Great prices for 3.0 and 6.0 services,"
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Update: 1-10-06
I am currently moving away from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach where LBDSL wont support me anymore =( I will be upgrading my speed though to 3.0 and paying 23 dollars less (59.99 with lbdsl for 1.5/37.95 with bs for 3.0) but i will miss the latency. Being a competitive gamer you need everything you can get, and covad lines did that for me. I would recommend this service for anyone that plays games in south florida that can not aquire comcast. Good luck on your DSL services =)
--------------------------
Update 12-3-04
No downtime ever that i know of as of yet. With covad i would get periodic downtime at night, but not with lbdsl. I finally got my hostmask to resolve to lbdsl.net which is nice =P Im looking to move, hopefully to a closer CO, so i can upgrade and show everyone my new speeds =P
I started out by getting some live price quotes on DSLreports which was so much easier for me then dealing with some person trying to sell you something over the phone. I first declined the service for another covad reseller but i mad a huge mistake doing that.
I started a switch away from the other ISP to LBDSL. I was first slated to get the 3.0/384 service for 69.99 with no setup fee which was great. After 2 weeks of waiting i finally got up and running with NO DOWNTIME which was wonderful. I was so pleased with the 1.5/384 service when it was connected. My MLT came back as putting me at 16k feet which means i could get 3.0 service. I will stay with this company as long as i can. =)
All that includes is a static IP, using all covad pops, which is GREAT for latency especially down here in south florida.
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Review by MM331
UPDATED: 3.9 years ago
member for 4.8 years, 163 visits, last login: 121 days ago
Miami,Miami-Dade,FL
$59 per month (12 month contract)
about 6 days
BellSouth
CLEC party: Covad
"I can not think of any."
"Uncooperative, I can not get return email to tranfer account, can't set up direct email,"
"UNSAT as ISP! Avoid. There are plenty other choices."
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I initially ordered 3.0 M down 384 up for $60 when reviewing the contract it I realized it read $70. I called B___t and he explaind that somehow I had ordered the static ip option. (I do not know how,but I did), he rectified the contract and emailed so I could fax it back. Six days later, I got the netopia router (everything needed: color coded cables, filters, CD, even a return UPS lable) set up 15 min. pppoe I was getting 2300 down and 300 up at 5000ft from CO. So I liked it and I wanted a little more and I asked LBDSL to upgrade me to the 6m down and 768 up. They commited to 24 hour turn-around and it was done in 4 hours (great). I surfed around almost at lightling speed for a day then the speed slowed down. I tried to download a large file from Microsoft and I was recieving it at 350, 400 kbs (I was hopeing for 600+ and expecting 550) I did the tweak test at this site and came out good. (no corrections necessary) So I emailed lbdsl support and advised them that the 6.0 package was not performing to my expectations and requested them to downgrade back to 3.0/384. B.b fussed a little and told me that they could not be changing the speed every time I wanted, but finnally reset the speed to 3/384. I have been connecting usally around 2250 down and 290 up from main test locations on this site. However, there has been a few less than glamorous 400 and 500 up and 50 down (not good). Of course I immidiately disconnected and tried another connection and it was back to baseline. I hope information helps as this site has helped me. thanks
Update: more like a followup. 1/27/2005 I still have 2 days left in my tryout "21" day guarantee period with them and I asked about their dryline. H_____r from Tech support gave me some honest answers, no bs, no trying to upsell the rep was strait and to the point.
on 2/2/05 I bought a laptop to try to use with the hardware supplied by LBDSL (sigh) The answerd my calls fast and they were polite, however they did not help me with the configuration of the LBDSL supplied Netopia router. B____t did note that the router was not transmitting and therefore the laptop was not receiving. (I knew this that is why I called) I fuigured out how to shut down the safety, firewall, ect, and I was able to get them in sync. Later I installed security featues one by one. Now it works.
2/4/05 or there abouts I call LBDSL with slow download speed complaint. (they answered fast, they were polite) It was suggested that I may have spyware (but I am running 3 anti spyware SPYBOT, MS BETA and TREND MICRO) about 15 minuts later the speed was back, I think they reset my ports Bell South had to do it all the time that is why I cancelled dsl with them.
2/6/05.... AGHHH.. My down loads are fair at 2200 on a 3008 capacity but my uploads
are UNSATISFACTORY 025k to 053k on a 384k {NOT AN OVERTYPE}
Downloads are ok for now I just wont be making any broadband calls as they require 90k and I'm only getting 50k yet I'm paying for 384k Sigh..
2/6/05 2030 I'm still bringing in 1700 to 2200 down on a 3.0 line and up well doing 025 to 050 on a 384. I had the option a few weeks ago to go with a cheaper competitor who also resells covad (also Member at DSL Reports.com). I made the mistake to stay here with LBDSL because I read reviews that they were excellent in the service department. My personal experience was not as sucessfull as others reviewed on this site. They are promt, fast and polite but I can not say they are anything above fair in the Service category. I'll continue to post here from time to time; as with My upload speed, I won't be using broad phone any time soon.
2/7/05 I tested 2400 down and a whopping 009 UP on 3008 and 384 (best efforts contract) I will respond to email, However, please, be patient as my download speed is good, my upload does not have much lightning, so it may take a day or so for you to get the reply.
2/8/05 I tried testing the line Agh.....But got tired of waiting for the reply. Im paying for DSL and getting local telco service with dialup up speed.
I REALLY WONDER OF 10% LOSS 24 % LOSS AND 14 % LOSS IS ALSO CAUSED BY MY SYSTEM.
»/quality/nil/1647975
I wonder I will have to call in My future reports with 2350 down and 0002 UP.
I have been working with B.B at Tech support, he has concluded that it is a local issue.
So I will go on the hunt to try to bring upload speed up. Credit must be given where credit is due, Tech Rep was Polite, Responsive and even cooperative inlight of My bad mouthing them here. Satisfactory resullts were not achived, however, conclusive troubleshooting was. (meaning the problem is on My side of the CPE). 2/8/04 1520R
2/18/05 I was able to find the cause of the upload problem 10 days later without any assistance or "service" for my ISP. Technicians at LBDSL were correct when they said it was on My side of the CPE. I still rate them below average in the SERVICE category based on my own experience with local telco as ISP and reading other detailed reviews at this site of other Covad resellers where the ISP technician did help troubleshoot on the users side of CPE. I had read reports about this ISP "LBDSL" where they were complimented for helping the user and that made me decide to go with LBDSL. Somehow I expected the same SERVICE/TECH SUPPORT which I did not recieve. LBDSL reps were always polite, and fast to respond to the letter of the contract and nothing more. (this I would expect from local telco not from a 5 Star ISP)
Bottom line if you do subscribe and you don't have a problem, good for you. However if you do have an technical issue or a challenge, I hope you do not encounter the same frustration and disapointment that I did. If you sign in you can IM with questions about my experience with LBDSL.
12/19/2005 I had a problem sending an international email. I sent a copy of the error to lb support. The tech sent me a link to lb website contaning the explanation. It was not a problem with lb it was their antispam setting where I had to check email before the server will allow me to send.
While I'm doing this update I will write about the speeds, unlike some of my neighbors I usally get 2200 down and 300 up.
01/05/2006 at 2:14pm I sent the cancellation request. it has been a LOOOOOOONG slow year here but the end is near. This last week My speeds were 1600/310 on a best effort 3008/384.
01/06/2006 at 1:10 PM Lightning bolt dsl has not yet responded to My request for release or tranfer of the line. Think twice and pay close attention to the people who have had problems with this so called ISP. To me they have been a mistake, I can not even get them to transfer My account. Don't take my word for it, Read ALL the reviews before you commit, if you select lbdsl after reading this review you are on your own.
01/06/06 1:40pm within minutes of My previous post Agent from LBDSL called My phone to inform me that they did respind to My emails.......well I will have to take their word for that as you will have to take my word that I did not recive the emails........further in the emails in question I requested lbdsl contact the new isp......this I can be certain has not taken place as of 1:10pm this date.
1/6/06 4:00 pm Somehow I did not get the email in question through the server at lbdsl. I am glad the operators at lbdsl were able to post a copy on the thread below, thus providing Me with the information needed to terminate the service. BTW I did look at the isp's requiements for cancellation nowhere does it say that I need to provide information on the new isp I may have missed that too.
1-6-06 At about 1800 I did formally initiate transfer to New isp, another covad reseller after reciving the confirmation via this site. I do not know if the isp sent it through email as I did not get it.
BOTTOM LINE: Be Smart, Keep your blood pressure low, save yourself the headackes, do not bother with this isp.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 3.9 years ago
(review was emailed from domain houg.com)
Wayne,Delaware,PA
$40 per month (12 month contract)
Verizon
CLEC party: Covad
"direct line to tech support"
"accounting, PayPal"
"partial responsiveness from accounting, personal decison to go with dial-up to to cost of moving DSL"
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Unlike most companies with a maze of touch tone menus and waiting on hold, when I called Lightning Bolt tech support, some guy would answer right away and say Lightning Bolt tech support, Brent speaking.
The big zero for the company was accounting with Heather. There is no way for me to adjust the amount being payed via the payment method they steered me to, a PayPal monthly subscription. To change the amount paid, Lightning Bolt has to create a new subscription and I have to cancel the old subscription. At 8 months I added a $9.95 per month unlimited dial-up to my DSL account. I first found out that the PayPal payments would not automatically adjust when I got the e-mail "Your LB DSL Account is past due" They had already charged a $5 late fee. I asked Heather for specific instructions on what to do to get the payments back on track. I followed her instructions. Later I wrote: Your "self explanatory" PayPal billing has overcharged me by $39.95. That e-mail, as well as several others through the year, got no response, though Brent later claimed that Heather had sent a reply about the overcharge. Well... I didn't receive it. The overcharge was refunded. The last two months I paid by check since I felt PayPal was out of control.
I only used the DSL for the first 6 months. Then I had to move for an uncertain length of time. I looked into moving the DSL service with me. That would cost $100. I almost went for it but then I asked if the timer on the one year contract would be reset to zero. It would. Most likely that's written somewhere but I thought it should have been mentioned to me when I'm asking on the phone about moving my service.
The dial-up service had an intermittent problem via the 800 number I got with the added $9.95 unlimited, but no problem by calling the local numbers. The problem was I would connect and it seemed by all the usual indicators that I was online except that no Internet access was happening. Brent said he couldn't diagnose the problem until I got my DOS prompt working, a feature in my Windows that used to work but stopped working and I am incapable of fixing it. The last time I needed a DOS prompt was for some verification thingy when setting up my Lightning Bolt DSL. At that time I took a hard drive from a second computer to temporarily get a DOS prompt. In retrospect there could have been an easier work around not requiring a DOS prompt.
The main problem while I had the DSL was occasionally not getting the DSL sync LED to light after I turned on the Netopia modem / WiFi router. This occasional problem became less annoying when I learned I didn't need to wait for hours for the LED to come on. I could just cycle the modem off-on and try again.
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Review by Snappo1
Posted: 3.9 years ago
member for 4.9 years, 13 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago
Miami,Miami-Dade,FL
$59 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
BellSouth
CLEC party: Covad
"Speed, dependability, service!"
"No bad points!"
"Happy customer!"
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UPDATE - 12/18/05: Absolutely still the best!!! Speed is consistently over 3000/384...actually closer to 3500/390. Zero downtime. Service is unbeatable.
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Review by vanderboegh
Posted: 4.1 years ago
member for 8 years, 281 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
Grand Rapids,Kent,MI
$99 per month
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Great customer service and fast speeds"
"none"
"Great if you want a professional ISP"
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I have been a LBDSL customer for over a year at my house (6.0/768) I liked LBDSL company service so much that I turned over six of our companies over to there dial-up service (no DSL available). You cannot beat a company that will go out of there way to solve or fix any problem that may arise.
I recently install the 6.0/768 dry line at my house so I could use VOIP. Once again, LBDSL came through with fast installation and great service.
Brent is truly a class act and I look forward to turning more business there way.
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Review by chuckpint
Posted: 4.2 years ago
member for 8.4 years, 703 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
Evanston,Cook,IL
$69 per month (24 month contract)
about 5 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Covad
"Uses Covad, but cheaper than Covad. Very solid"
"Email service is terrible."
"Great for connections. Other services so-so."
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I was getting quite tired of paying the prices that Speakeasy was charging, so I contacted a number of ISPs with some questions about their service. Most important question was the "true" cost, i.e. payment per month with taxes and everything. Lightning Bolt was one of two out of 15 providers that had zero hidden charges. What they tell you is the cost per month, is the cost, no added fees. Since they had the exact package I wanted, and they could switch me from my Speakeasy/Covad connection with zero down time, I went with them.
The switch was as easy as they said it would be. Woke up 5 days after giving the go-ahead, and my connection was down. I updated my router with the new values (DHCP had to be changed to PPOE), and I was up and running again. Simple as that.
Since then, I've had a few minor issues, but it's amazing that if I email, I usually get a response back in minutes. The few times I called, I talked to the right person that actually knows what to do, the first time. I wish I could give them a 6 for tech support!
I originally signed up for their web service. However, after about a month I got rid of that service. It simply did not work all the time. I had a lot of problems with accessing my own website. And customers could not access it at all. So I moved it to somewhere else, where I'm getting 10 times the service for half the cost.
The only real problem I have with them is the email system. Suddenly I stopped getting emails for about a week. I called them and found out that they had put in place a "server-wide" spam filtering service. It turns out it was blocking all my email. So I switched my email to my web service provider. There *I* can control what email is blocked and what isn't. When you have customers that you don't even know yet are customers, it's not possible to whitelist them. So that doesn't work for business packages, which is what I bought and am paying for.
Bottom line: They are a great way to connect to the internet. Just use someone else for email and web services and you'll be happy.
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Review by dtxcomm
Posted: 4.2 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 71 visits, last login: 85 days ago
Rockwall,Rockwall,TX
$89 per month (12 month contract)
about 11 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Covad
"Excellent response time, pricing, and speeds."
"hmmm. None at this point"
"Excellent dry line dsl option"
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Signed up for the dry ADSL 3.0/768 package so I could use my Vonage service without having a phone line. From order to live was about 11 days which isn't bad. Had no problems in the ordering and installation. Covad set up the equipment within about 20 min. My only issue is the installation fee. Many other companies don't charge this fee. But, I must say, the Covad guy had special equipment to test the individual phone lines for signal loss, and shorts. He actually found the line that I wanted to use, had some sort of low resistance load on it, so he used a different line. But overall I'm extremely satisfied with the customer service and quick response times as well. The tested speed that I'm getting is about 2.4Mb down and 600kb up.
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Review by grkarl
UPDATED: 4.2 years ago
member for 5.4 years, 763 visits, last login: 220 days ago
Mahwah,Bergen,NJ
$99 per month (12 month contract)
about 15 days
Verizon
CLEC party: Covad
"Great customer service, honest business practices and great overall experience"
"None within LBDSL's control"
"Great Covad reseller which will not sell you a line and is happy to have you as a customer."
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I am a current cable internet customer (Cablevision) who was just fed-up with the ups and downs of their business practices and the increased amount of ports being blocked. In came DSL, not as fast more money but open. I want to host my own servers, so this is the right way to go.
12-2004 Signed up with SE and was not happy with their service and support so I cancelled within the 30 trail period. I was quote 10K from the CO which turned into about 12.5K. 6M became safe mode of 4M, this was still OK for me.
My DSL experience was not as positive as I had though so I decided to wait to make the plunge again.
3-2005 I decided I was done with Cablevision and I hear so many good things about Brent and LBDSL that I thought I would give them a try. I already knew what speed I could get via my SE experience. I must say that my experience has been great. I have called Brent many times to ask questions and each time he has been pleasant and very professional. His company is just GREAT to work with! I am up and running with 4M/768K and so far things look stable. I am getting 3232/613 kbps via DSLreports and that is good enough to keep me running. Ping times are still good even though I am in safe mode. If I could add one thing, DSL need to be more price competitive. I do not blame this on Brent as he just passes the cost on through but in general if DSL is ever to gain marketshare they have to reduce there prices. I will keep everyone up to date if my experience changes.
Update 8-28-2005: I decided to update from 1 static to 5 IPS. Because of my line margins the Netopia that I received from Covad did not perform well. I must have called Brent 15 times as I tried different things with different router/modems and finally back to my bridge modem. Everytime he answered the phone he was friendly and always helpful, no matter what time day or night. I am happy to say that everything is working and very stable. He is the definition of customer support. I do not know any other vendor who is as helpful as he is. A++++ for great customer service.
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 Review by bent
Posted: 4.3 years ago
member for 5.1 years, 1570 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
Boulder,Boulder,CO
$79 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Covad
"Good customer service"
"It's DSL"
"Rock solid."
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I first started shoping for an alternative to Qwest DSL service after I learned what a POS PPPoA is. After reading reviews here and other places, I decided to contact LBDSL. The service was a little pricey, but it was for my business, so I was willing to pay more for better quality.
I have to honestly say that LBDSL has never tried to blow smoke up my rear like so many other ISPs have in the past. They were right up front with prices, both install and monthly.
The Covad installer knew exactly what he was doing, and the install went off without a hitch, and way quicker than I thought it would be. I did have some dificulty getting my Linksys router to handle the PPPoE for the bridged Netopia router, but that is unfortunatly not a configuration that they will support, for understandable reasons: »DSL providers and modems/routers
Every time I've had to call customer service, they have been both knowledgable and helpfull.
Given my choice, I would pick cable over DSL, but if you must get DSL, Lightning Bolt is a good choice. (Not so sure now. This DSL has been more reliable than my home cable connection.)
10-13-2005
Got the Broadxent modem and static IPs, and have had no problems at all. 100%.
3-6-2006
Not a single problem. Recomended.
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Lightning Bolt DSL
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