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Review by norman4 
UPDATED: 73 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 50 visits, last login: 73 days ago
 Grosse Pointe,Wayne,MI
 $399 per month (12 month contract)
 about 65 days
 AT&T
 "Good, reliable, solid T1 connection, low latency"
 "If you're looking for warm and fuzzy, look elsewhere; install sloooww"
 "they do their job so I can do mine"
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I'm a telecommuting attorney; office in Chicago, I live & mostly work in Michigan. After suffering for years under comcast as a provider - extraordinary latency issues, lost connections, you name it, and always at the worst possible time (mid- afternoon to early evenings particularly bad- my heaviest work hours)... Eventually it went bad at the right time for my firm to believe I need real connectivity. Imaging trying to have a conference call ... but your VIOP is suffering under bad latency and packet loss- and finally losing it halfway through- it was time to get real connectivity when the managing partner got cut off mid-sentence 
So I looked around for a T1 provider, got a local MI company- LB DSL (covad reseller), and it's been mostly good.
It took a long time till install, over 2 months, and they said that this did not qualify for refunded time (they promise 45) because it was the telco's fault, not theirs- equipment needed replacement, apparently.
I had a period of lost packets and connectivity, and little sympathy from LB. They wouldn't accept DSLR smokepings as proof of service issues and they did not/would not actively monitor the line. I had to call if/when it sporadically died- if THEY could ping me at that very instant, it must all be OK, so call-us-when-it-dies. It wasn't OK. This went on for like a month. Like I said, not warm and fuzzy. Mostly worked, occasionally lost connectivity, and had to use a backup connection (home comcast acct). But- when it finally died for real, the trucks rolled right out- a very welcome change from comcast. I was back up in less than 8 hours after the telco replaced some lines and/or switches. Smooth ever since as long as we pay. A commercial connection for a commercial price.
Going to look into UVerse as an alternative... but till then, I get the speed I pay for (1.5 up AND down) and 50-100 ms latencies- plenty good for what I do.
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Review by KSC519
UPDATED: 355 days ago
member for 7.7 years, 1036 visits, last login: 175 days ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$220 per month (12 month contract)
"Stable, reliable connection"
"A few connection glitches, line unable to support desired speed."
"Good company to work with. Understands the needs of a small business"
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I currently have 2 6.0m/768k ADSL connections through Lightning Bolt. Each with an 8-address ip subnet each line is 109.95 per month
The first was installed in October 2007, and the second was added in October 2008. Initially, I had a few issues with the connection dropping randomly, but tech support was able to correct that in short order. I never have any issue reaching someone via phone or email (no matter what day or time I call). There was a slight problem during the installation of the second line, creating a 24-hour delay in my service going live, but this was due to a mistake by the Covad installer not properly plugging in a cable in the phone closet, not due to any mistake by the LBDSL team. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the service
Modems are both Netopia 2247
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Review by adsl2rocks
Posted: 1.7 years ago
member for 1.8 years, 7 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
New York,New York,NY
$99 per month (12 month contract)
about 13 days
"great personal service"
"none"
"highly recomended"
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fast service. Great customer service and support! Speed is as advertised as is the price, no hidden fees or taxes
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Review by Wyvn
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 4.9 years, 376 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$65 per month (12 month contract)
about 16 days
AT&T
"Customer Service, No hidden charges, Dry line"
"Competitive pricing, but I guess you get what you pay for"
"Inexpensive Dry Line provider (Covad reseller)"
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I exchanged many emails with lbdsl before making my decision on what to go with. All emails were responded to within minutes. (The other 2 companies which I was also emailed didn't bother to respond to my followup questions).
I ended up on the dry adsl 1.5/384K to start with @ 64.95 with 1 static IP. There is even a Service Level Agreement!
Everything went smoothly (even Ameritech dropped by a day earlier to install the dry line), emails were sent at the various stages.
The service was turned on the day they said (Dec 23rd), and my line speed tests showed ~1300/300 which I consider acceptable. I've not had any troubles within the week. Ping times are low 30-50ms as well.
Update: 1/24/05 - Newsgroup access (for the limited amount I use it) is great. It uses the maximum bandwidth on my 1.5/384.
On billing, my first payment was considered "late" (but fee was waived) which I consider odd since I set up the payment the day after I received the invoice. Anyhow I've set up the reoccuring payment in my online banking, so I'll see how it goes next month.
Update: 4/6/05 - No complaints.
Update: 11/01/05 - Almost one year now. Had some line issues during a bad t-storm and Bret set my modem into safe mode to get me through it, checked back a few days later and it was put back to normal. Great Customer Service.
Update: 10/21/07 - Almost 3 years. I canceled because I am moving to where I do not have DSL. LBDSL had ADSL2+ trials but I was too far to participate. I had my dsl modem start to die earlier this year and customer service was helpful in diagnosing the problem. Will use them again in the future if I have the chance.
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Review by unknownone
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 1039 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Elmhurst,Queens,NY
$129 per month (12 month contract)
about 21 days
Verizon
"ASDL2+ 15/1"
"Impersonal Customer service"
"If you want ADSL2+ for a good price LBDSL is for you."
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I order the ADSL on the 10th of August (faxed sign contract) I tried calling customer service but I couldn't a good phone connection to them. Some weirdness on their phones. I could only make out every 3rd word he were saying.
The next day on the 11th, I got an email asking me to resend the fax signed contract. I did call back to see what was happening if they received the faxes or not. I get a reply " if you sent it we should have received it and it will be processed " I got an answer but it seem a bit cold but ok.
On the 13th I got an email from Lightning Bolt with a web link to Covad to check the status of my install.
Verizon was schedule for the 21th between 8am to 5pm, The guy got to my house around 2:30pm and was friendly got it done in about 45mins.
Covard was schedule for the 30th , between 8am to 12pm. I waited until 12:15pm to phone lightning bolt to find out what was happening. The person pick up and said he would check and call me back. about 10mins later the Covard guy calls to tell me on the way. The lightning guy call to ask if Covard guy called yet. Which was nice.
Covard guy came and installed the line and router for me. he was nice and friendly. I did noticed the router he gave me didn't come with any instructions or cd. which is weird. Luckily, I'm familiar with how dsl and routers work without a manual or instructions.
The connections is nice and fast upload/download so far.I got the ADSL2+ with the 5 extra ips package. 15/1
My overall thoughts about Lightning Bolt DSL, I'm happy I have the new line, but if you want to feel reassure about an isp you have never heard of outside of DSLreports calling and speaking to the customer service doesn't help.
August, 31, 2007
I was try to log into their news server and couldn't. So sent an email to the tech support via the website. I got an answer very fast.Email was sent at 1:08am and I got a responds within 15mins . wow. BTW, if you are a new user of their isp, you need to wait 24 hours before using their news server.
Followup comments:  
sonicbuddha
@sonic.net | Actual speed of ADSL2+ I'm curious about what the actual speed you are getting. I've read the service agreement and they don't guarantee anything at all, which is tough for a year contract. | |
| | unknownone
join:2007-07-21
Elmhurst, NY
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Actual speed of ADSL2+ I'm getting 12.78mbs/863kbs right now. I haven't got a chance to tweak it or anythings but it seem to be working well.
Regarding the one year commitment it not too bad, most the other dsl isps want you to give at least a year commitment too.
Plus there is that 21 day thing , I forget what the exact details was but basically you have 21 days after the service is install to try it out and see if it meet your standard. You should call lightning bolt to find out the details to be sure. | |
| | | sonicbuddha
join:2007-09-03
Oakland, CA | Re: Actual speed of ADSL2+ Thats pretty sweet. Are those numbers taking the TCP overhead into account or are they the raw download/upload speeds? Because if its the former, then you're getting pretty much all you were posted to get, which is, well, sweet. | |
| | | | unknownone
join:2007-07-21
Elmhurst, NY | Re: Actual speed of ADSL2+ It's the speedtest.com speed test from ny to ny. | |
| unknownone
join:2007-07-21
Elmhurst, NY
·RoadRunner Cable
| Sept 18, 2007 conection down Well it's been slightly less than 2 months being with Lightning bolt. Today, around 3-4pm I lost my connection; The support web site said "We are currently experiencing a service interruption due to equipment failure at the NYCQNYNW central office in ELMHURST, NY" That was in normal type and in big green bold letters "All Other Systems are reporting 100% Health" Usually you just see the big bold green letters saying 100% good and say cool but the regular type says this is down, so does the big green bold thing mean much? It seems a bit misleading.
It's now 7:40pm, I'm hoping to LBDSL fixes whatever is wrong soon or else I'll need to switch over to my backup isp which is a pain. I'll update the forum when my lightning bolt connection comes back up. | |
| | 
LBDSL
Lightning Bolt
VIP
join:2002-01-07
Auburn Hills, MI
| Re: Sept 18, 2007 conection down When you look at our network health page (»lbtech.com/support/dsl/networkhealth.html) you will see any current issues listed first. If there are no current issues you will see "All Systems are reporting 100% Health" If there are current network issues listed, then below them you will see "All Other Systems are reporting 100% Health" meaning all systems other then what is listed above are working correctly.
--
Lightning Bolt Technologies | |
| | | unknownone
join:2007-07-21
Elmhurst, NY | Re: Sept 18, 2007 conection down It's 10:07pm right now. My LBDSL connection is up and running. I'm happy, no need for me to move around Network cables to backup isp. Thanks for the fix, LBDSL. | |
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Review by maccrazy
UPDATED: 2.4 years ago
member for 2.5 years, 5 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
Phoenix,Maricopa,AZ
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 8 days
"Much better the cox"
"None"
"The best ISP I have ever had"
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I switched from Cox Cable to Lightning Bolt, and haven't looked back. Lightning Bolt was quick to install service on my phone line, they shipped us a router, and within minutes we were connected and loading web pages.
Every email, and phone calls are answered promptly and with people based in the United States, and who know what they are doing.
Update: 6/20/07
Things are great, in fact I recently upgraded my service to multiple Static IP's (/29 IP Block) to host a few servers, things are great, with zero downtime. I highly recommend Lightning Bolt!
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 2.5 years ago
(review was emailed from domain lbdsl.net)
44577
$29 per month (12 month contract)
Ameritech
"much faster then dial-up"
"I should have left dial-up a long time ago, this is great!"
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I recently took the leap from Dial-up to DSL, and I'm glad I did. I went with a
basic package for $29.95/month for a 1.5mb download, and 128kb upload. Al I can
say, I'm not sure why I waited so long. The installation was easy, the cost is
low, and support has been great, even for someone who doesn't understand much
about computers.
I would highly recommend Lightning Bolt to everyone.
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Review by bshensky
Posted: 2.5 years ago
member for 5.1 years, 34 visits, last login: 166 days ago
Auburn Hills,Oakland,MI
 Business customer
$89 per month (12 month contract)
about 12 days
AT&T
"This Covad reseller's services and speed way better than AT&T dweebs"
"May have to absorb cancellation fee as part of our office relocation. Yuck."
"An honest and credible alternative to the sheisters at AT&T"
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At 15,000 ft from the CO, AT&T claimed our old DSL circuit was maxed out at 768/128.
I called LBDSL - they offered 1.5/768 on the same twisted pair length from the same CO. Plus, they offered a satisfaction guarantee - if we didn't get the speed increase we were hoping for, we'd cancel and owe nothing.
Sure enough, we got around 1.2/768 on post installation tests.
Even better, their tech support was willing to give us what we needed to execute an (unsupported) configuration of putting the DSL router in bridge mode to let our wi-fi router do the DSL PPPoE handshake.
They offer DSL over dry pair, a rarity that shows these guys know their stuff.
I highly recommend LBDSL.
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Review by megawhizz
UPDATED: 2.6 years ago
member for 7.6 years, 130 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Detroit,Wayne,MI
$70 per month (12 month contract)
"Good service, easy to contact"
"Outages more frequent than expected. Condescending, petty approach to customers"
"LBDSL has a good product, but needs to develop some business acumen"
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I've been with LBDSL for almost 2 years now, and have have consistent, fast service. They provide a number of extras, such as dialup access and dedicated IPs. Speed is as advertised - I have the 3.0/768 line share package (static IP).
The only complaint I have is about outages. Though not quite frequent, I have noticed outages every few months that last for a couple of hours. While most of the time LBDSL has been "aware" of the outages, sometimes I have been the first person to report them. The outage is generally fixed overnight, and is apparently always the fault of entities other than LBDSL.
I am happy with my service and will stick with it. I have been thinking about upgrading my speed, and I may consider another ISP for this.
UPDATE
If you do business with LBDSL, be warned that they will nickel-and-dime you for everything they can. After over 2 years with LBDSL, I needed to move to a different address. I contacted them to provide service at the new address, which they happily agreed to - however the address change would constitute a breach of contract, requiring me to sign a contract for the new address, and pay a fine equal to the total cost of service remaining in the old contract. Effectively I would pay LBDSL double the money for the same service. This was contrary to what LBDSL said when I renewed my contract, however since that conversation happened over the phone, I had no documentation of what promises were made. Result: LBDSL loses my business, and gets an F in customer service.
In this highly competitive market, I would advise business-class DSL buyers to look for an ISP that is willing to work with them - inflexibility is a big red flag for any small business. If you buy the cheapest service, you get what you pay for.
Followup comments: bshensky
join:2004-09-20
Ann Arbor, MI
|  Solid connection; sympathetic to "nickel and dimer" post
However, I must agree with the recent post affirming that LBDSL nickel-and-dimes its base. We were 6 months into a yearlong contract with LBDSL when our company owner wanted to relocated to a new suite in our office complex. LBDSL did their due diligence to suggest that we find a way to cross-connect to the new suite from within the office complex, but geography was against us, and we clearly would have been forced to cancel the old location's service and establish new service at the new address. With this would have come office-move breach-of-contract and new-office installation fees that, honestly, approached the cost of a plain-vanilla breach-of-contract cancellation fee.
That is, it would have cost us darned near as much to move the DSL service as it would have to cancel it outright, amounting to a lack of incentive for us to continue to commit to LBDSL.
I understand that DSL business is unusually cutthroat, especially with AT&T loss-leader carpet-bombing. And I understand that companies like LBDSL have upstream relationships and contracts that they must nurse to stay afloat. And, yes, we read the fine print in the TOS that outlines the early termination penalty. Still, these are awfully bitter pills to swallow, and I'm a surprised and a bit disappointed that LBDSL seemed to lack wherewithal to "think outside the financial box" in any effort to keep its customer base. I wouldn't so much call it poor customer service as I would a disappointing customer satisfaction approach.
That said, if you read the fine print, your connection is solid, and you plan to stay put, LBDSL is actually a pretty good value, and despite the tummyache, I'd still cautiously - cautiously - recommend them. | |
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Review by JonR800
UPDATED: 3.2 years ago
member for 6.3 years, 1459 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
Farmington,Oakland,MI
$110 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Reliable, Static IP, Reverse DNS, Support that cares, Speed"
"PPPoE"
"I like it a lot so far."
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I recently moved out of a Comcast area into a Time Warner. My new place is just down the street from the CO. I read a lot of reviews on LBDSL before. The fact they were based in Michigan also gave me some confidence.
I ordered 6/768 on 4/15 and had it installed on 4/29. I did all the wiring on my own. I'm in a condo and the wiring was pretty bad. I didn't want to have to pay the Covad tech to do the wiring for me. He ended up just dropping the modem, and doing a little configuration.
It's now 5/26, and while I haven't had much time to use the connection yet it's had 100% uptime. Tech support was also very helpful. They were even understanding when I jumped the gun and called/emailed about issues that I soon figured out on my own. They were also able to set me up with reverse DNS which is very cool. I haven't had time to test their news servers or anything yet. I will in the next month or so.
Summary: So far flawless. I do wish my bill was a little lower, but I can't complain too much for what I'm getting. I also wish it was DHCP instead of PPPoE. PPPoE overhead blows.
Update 10/22: Had what I would consider my first "major" outage yesterday. Around 11am-11:30am I lost internet access. I checked my modem's status page and everything was dandy but the test for the Carrier's Connection kept failing. I decided to wait an hour or so and see if it resolved itself. An hour later I was still down. I put a call into LBDSL. Brent answered immediately and checked my modem, after which he asked me to reset the configuration to default and reconfigure it. We got part way through the process and it stopped at PPPoE authentication. After that Brent went ahead and put in a ticket for me. Probably about 5 minutes later he called to inform me that they were just declaring a major outage in my area with no ETA on restored service. He said that he would call back when service was restored. Around 4:45pm service was restored, and I was back up and running once I restored my backup configuration for my DSL modem that I had made a few weeks back. I never did hear back from Brent but it's not really a big deal. Maybe he was swamped or saw that I was already back on. Either way I'm very happy with how the situation was handled.
Side note: earlier that day in the wee hours there was a Level 3 outage. Which was annoying, but that's L3's fault.. not Covad, SBC, or LBDSL.
Update 6/24/06: Service has been rock solid. Really nothing to report. Our Lightning Bolt mug did break, I might try to con Brent out of another one. 
Update 8/31/06: Been using the news server some.. it seems to have MUCH better retention than any of the pay providers I've used (Easynews, Giganews, and Newshosting). Also, speeds are great. On a side note, Brent sent us another Lightning Bolt mug! I didn't even have to contact him! The wife was thoroughly impressed.
Update 4/4/07: BBR asked for an update.. Things continue to work well. No issues to report. A price break might not hurt, but I'm happy for what I get.
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Lightning Bolt DSL
