how-to block ads
|
next review in page
Review by pj4peace 
member for 176 days, 0 visits, last login: 176 days ago
updated 176 days ago
 Terre Haute,Vigo,IN
 $32 per month about 3 days Verizon (ex GTE) "price fair" "liars & thieves" "avoid at all cost"
| |
I subscribed to Terre Haute Joink for around a couple years at thirty dollars a month with no installation fee. Joink rents telephone line from Verizon. Other than occasionally losing service due to "storm-related" issues (sometimes hundreds of miles away) and experiencing intermittent connection when Joink allowed my neighbors (apartment complex) to work on their own connection, I was satisfied with Joink service. I visited the Joink office in March 2010 and informed them that I would be moving to my own home and was told it would be a couple days to transfer service. I said no problem and paid my bill for two months (as usual). After several weeks passed (I have little free time) with no service, I visited the Joink office and complained; they said service had been activated. I inspected the phone line and found it to be broken in numerous places, of which I informed Joink. Several days passed and no-one came to fix the broken line. I visited the Joink office and re-complained and was told that they would not fix the broken line until I paid another sixty dollars. When I advised them that I had just paid in advance and not received service, I was told that the sixty dollars now being demanded was a transfer fee since I moved. When I replied that said "transfer fee" had never before been mentioned, I was told that I had been told and agreed to it. Since this was a lie, I told them to immediately terminate service and refund my money. Instead, they have sent a collection agency to harass me all hours of the day at home and work.
Comments:
 | next review in page (previous review)
Review by wd9eka
member for 5.4 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.4 years ago
lodged 5.4 years ago
- Marshall,Clark,IL
- $49 per month
- "runs at rated speed or better most of the time."
- "sometimes semi-regular throughput issues"
- "Still better than my experiences with Starband"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I switched to joink's 900 mhz wireless in Jan 03. I live 3 miles out from Marshall. Yes I have had occassional problems. Prior to that I had starband and before that dialup with a service out of Paris. I had Starband for about 13 months and the trasmitter for the sat link died, out of contract and I was pretty sure it was going to cost more to get it working than switching.
When I signed up in 03 they were swamped and I think it took 2 or 3 weeks before they were able to come out. I am a ham radio operator and have several 45 to 50 foot towers. It took a 13 el 900mhz antenna at the thrust plate of my taller tower but signal was acceptable. Only change that had to be made about year ago I started having more intermittent service. Had the tech out and he was the same guy who had installed it 2 years earlier. The original installation only had LMR400 coming down in the premade up length and stopped about 15-20 feet from the transceiver, with very small diameter(dont remember if it was rg58 or something else) from that point in.
Being a ham I had a spool of lmr 400 of my own and had him use some of my 400 to bring it the rest of the way into the shack. That bumped my signal up several units and have had very little problem since.
I think when I have throughput problems I am guessing that its a result of other customers that are intown. Not sure why folks in town in marshall go with the wireless and not dsl but I know a number of folks that have. Price is higher than DSL I have the 512k service at 49 but starband was more expensive than that and I was only getting 128k+compression at the time.
Yes customer service gets swamped sometimes, but I have very rarely been able to call my cell phone provider, sat tv provider or any other service I have and not have to wait some period of time. I'm an IT guy and RF so I dontnormally take any baloney, but I have always been treated reasonably fair.
Only problem that I ever had with them occurred last winter when they shut us off for what they had misidentified as a possible virus. Still dont know what happened there but think my wife was ftp'ng a large file up in the evening and they were having problems and a tech was checking the tower and id'd our node asexcessive usage. Only time I have ever came close to losing my cool with them. They turned us back on, biggest hassle with that occurance was it happened on a weekend so it was monday before I got ahold of a live person.
Yep, I have contemplated trying wildblue as a replacement but even at 3 milews out storms usually dont take the signal down unless the tower looses power or takes a hit. I have more backup power than the joink end does.
I am satisfied, it could be better, but it is much better than my experiences I had with starband and I would recommend it as a first choice outside of DSL range. I try not to talk anyone into it if they have DSL range though. Need to conserve the RF towers for folks that really need it.
This is a little longer than I had intended hope I didnt ramble, but laying in bed after a hernia repair yesterday. I think most of the drugs are out of my system 
Bob in the cornfields of illinois.(dont believe me: »webcam.evinger.com cameras are at the house pointing over the corn)
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by asti
member for 5.7 years, 118 visits, last login: 206 days ago
lodged 5.7 years ago
- Casey,Clark,IL
- $40 per month
- about 3 days
- "When the service is going, its good"
- "Within the past month, the entire service has been GONE in total, 4 days"
- "Should there be another horse in town, we will leave Joink"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Initial install was 128 or so, then upgraded to 256......one time charge for the upgrade, no hassel there.
MULTIPLE surfing issues, or service availablity. Calling tech support does get a response within a day, unless of course its Sunday.
Their response to our troubles with service or speed issues always started in our house, first it was the cordless phones, then the router, then the PC's
All have been put aside, seems they use two "different towers" - if they move us from the big tower to the small one, our service takes a CRAP
On several occassions, our complaints were met with reality the next day to find out techs were working on the towers, and the phone support techs knew nothing about it, yet had us disconnecting, reconnecting, repowering and almost reformating the XP PC!
Waverider modem, dynamic
last good speed test was on 5/15/06 - 151 up / 166 down
this morning (5/16/06) crippled again at 23/106
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by bugsyex
member for 8.1 years, 248 visits, last login: 38 days ago
lodged 6.2 years ago
- Casey,Clark,IL
- $29 per month
- (month by month)
- about 2 days
- "For Rural USA they are great, one of the few to install in min return markets PERIOD!"
- "TEch support gets overloaded, when it rains it pours!"
- "Nobody around here or in the BIG cities are perfect, keep reality in mind, can you do better?"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
As a Joink dealer since they first started in 2000, they have come a long way as any company that has succeeded to any level. Most of the comments that are negative here are by folks that have some other motive verses open honesty as any humanoid with common sense can tell by reading the context of their posted message. SHAME ON THEM! OK neggies, let see YOU try to start this JOINK service up on YOUR OWN!! Remember the guy that was going to "put Joink out of biz"? Well he does not exist today.Walk over to his location in Paris and see! Maybe you will last a year or so after the clients RUN away from that kind of pathetic attitude!! Anyhow, ever since the bite of the Apple by whats her name, it has gone down hill EVER SINCE and will continue so. How many ISP'S have like 80% of the rated speeds the customers pay for BOTH DIRECTIONS?? WELL??? Not the cable co's, not the DSL co's, certainly NOT THE BLUE MOLD SATELLITE DISH co's, etc.
Joink has and is still the best "bang for the buck" around here and I know that is just what the MAJORITY of people want, just like me, and probably you too. sorry for ranting, but this opinion is useless. Bugs Yexley Joink dealer and not perfect at 100% of anything.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by NetViper
member for 6.3 years, 1 visits, last login: 6.2 years ago
lodged 6.3 years ago
- Terre Haute,Vigo,IN
- $29 per month
- "An option in case DSL and Cable are unavailable"
- "Service, value, and credibility all terrible"
- "It's better than Dial-Up, if you don't mind getting screwed"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Joink LLC, formerly Joink Inc., bought out by a company called Gillead out of St. Louis. The current GM, who I shall further refer to as "Mr. X", a moron promoted from salesperson from lack of options when the founder fled the sinking ship. This is an excellent product, with piss poor service and follow-through. The installation process tends to go smoothly IF AND ONLY IF your lucky enough to get one of Joink's only two competent installers.
I think most of Joink's problems are result of poor leadership. Basically, Mr. X has no business managing a ham sandwich, let alone an ISP. To explain my knowledge of the bowels of this company and what goes on, I will merely say that I was associated with the machine, at one time. I know everything that goes on there. Phone calls from customers are ignored and not returned. The customer service department consists of individuals who appear to try to help, and then place you on hold, ridiculing you for your ignorance. If you live in Terre Haute, you realize just how bad Joink's word of mouth is. And there attitude toward customer service, worse. I once heard Mr. X speak the words, in a company meeting, "Once they drive it off the lot, it's there problem" refering to his attitude toward rectifying mistakes made by his company. Not surprising, considering he was once a salesman for the company, and before that, a used car salesman, I believe. And we all know how we feel about used car salesmen.
I had Joink for months, unfortunately, due to lack of options. I payed 30 bucks a month for an 128k connection that ran at 98k, at best, and suffered from packet losses of, at times, 64%!! If you know anything about wireless internet quality, that's worse than dialup.
What Joink doesn't tell you, is that due to any kind of trees or obstructions to the line of sight of the antenna, you may or may not get service, at times. What they also don't tell you until the installer gets there, is that they will be drilling a hole in your home, possibly multiple holes! All details the sales department fails to mention. Why? Commissions of course. Anything that is installed, puts money in there pocket. Even more shocking, are you aware that if a poor installation is made, and Joink has to make a couple service calls, they will come out and DISCONNECT you, recovering there equipment, and keep your installation fee?!
Little known fact about their DSL service. The procedure for deciding if you meet the requirements for DSL in your area involves putting you on hold, calling Verizon, and asking if they can give it to you. If so, Verizon installs it, charges Joink their rate for service (AVAILABLE RATE FOR EVERYONE) and them Joink upcharges you, collecting a middle-man fee. To make things worse, it's HELL trying to get a problem fixed because Verizon won't deal with you, only Joink, making if a game of 'monkey in the middle' just to get any service.
If you decide to go with Joink please remember one thing, "Once you drive it off the lot, it's your problem."
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by graywolf26
member for 8 years, 2 visits, last login: 8 years ago
lodged 8 years ago
- Crawfordsville,Montgomery,IN
- $49 per month
- about 6 days
- "The install went smoothly, the tech. seemed to know what he was doing."
- "n/a"
- "I'm happy with it, no problems yet."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I ordered the 512/512 broadband package from joink back in (I think) late November. I switched from direcpc which was dismal as it was only 1-way service(downstream only), and prior to that i had dialup
for serveral years. The tech arrived a few days after the order, and the install went as well as I could have hoped. I havent lost connection since, I download various things from software places to test, download.com, zdnet.com/hotfiles etc and to spite the TOS I was worried about when I signed up I have yet to have any problems at all with them. The equipment for me at least consists of an outside dish, and an internal(as in inside the house) receiver, along with some network cable. I am, to this point a very satisfied customer and have yet to need to call thier customer service line.
I did contact their tech support by email when they were upgrading thier email system(adding a spam filter I believe) and got a reply from thier people the next day. Which was far better then some of my past ISP's. I'm not the kind to butter someone elses bread but if theres a downside to joink's services, I havent seen it yet.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by mike2507
member for 9.1 years, 46 visits, last login: 1 year ago
lodged 8.1 years ago
- Jasonville,Greene,IN
- $39 per month
- (month by month)
- about 3 days
- "Great help and service. Help call backs are allways gave the same day if given during reg hours. Has great hours for service"
- "None to report"
- "Best buy, tech service was Fair to good but now responds FASTER then I thought possible. BEST ISP in the 3 state area by far!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I ordered a 512k band width wirless, Aprox. 1 year ago. After Joink got the 900 Mg Hz set up there installation has been more susesfull and reliable but when I first started a year ago only the 2.4 Gig Hz and dial up was avlabile and wirless could'nt be used in my location so Joink gave me dial up for free untill I got wireless set up installed.aprox 45 days later. It is now my understanding that joink offers the 2.4 Gig Hz wirless+ 900Mg Hz wirless as well as dial up 56k. The wirless serices are price for the consumer strting with 128k for $29.00 256k for $39.00 512k for 49.00.I am not sure but the dial up is $19.00 at 56kbps.
Intallation once 900 Mg Hz was used went smoth and was in and out in under 1 hour. I have down graded to 256k for personal Finace reasons and have notice only a slight slow down in acual usage. The switch to 256k cost me $29.00 Up load and down load speeds are exceptnaily good. Connection is very reliable. If the wirless is taken out by lightning or other acts of God Joink gives you 24/7 use of dial up at no charge and dial up can be used at any time. My acual speeds for up and down load when loading files and 180k-260k Band width speed with a average around 230Kbps. My dial up runs at 36k to 56k depending on phone line connection.
Home instalation equipment was a ethernet card that was my responsability to buy and install. Joink provides the wirless "Wave Rider" modem ( small and reliable) and out door antena and cables supplied by Joink as part of the 1 time set up fee of $100.00. All labor was included in installation . There was a 1 time charge of $29.00 when I changed to 256k from 512k.. Joink provides dial up back up in the event of outage of wirless regaurdless if its there equipment or theres that went down ,and at no extra charge. Joink now uses ( for me, But I use a router , Not sure what others have ) Static IP in the wirless,
Joinks service/help dept has improved dramaticaly from fair to Excelent in the past 1 year. Now has email help and phone help that calls back in under 24 hours if called durring off hours and ussaly calls back with in 30 min to 2 hours durring regular hours.
Service and sales has great hours
The few BAD experiences would inclued the Anti Virus service provided by joink free of charge for all email to ISP addresse has failed to catch the same repetive virus for months but is know stopping EVERY virus that comes in via Email. A year ago The Service Dept was there only MAJOR problem and it was poor to fair but now and for the last 4-6 months goes the extra mile and then some, Very fast response times. Never charged extra for tech help.Very helpfull and knolagible Computer Techs.
Bottom Line> Joink had growing pains that made there help/service dept. average at the start.Yet the rest of there services were fast and mostly reliable. It has now become unbelivable in every aspect. Compared to all other ISPs I have used in the past 10-12 years, ( Used 3 other ISPs befor joink with in a short time) Joink has by far become out standing in every aspect. Joink has kept inproving its over all service to what seems like all most on a daily bases. They have recongnise there help/service dept was faulty at the start but has gone in to all most over kill to correct it and now has 24/7 phone service, 24/7 hour Email service. and a Tech Forum page that gets reviewed and is answered daily. I dont see were else they can inprove but if the stay true to forum they will incresse there performance again soon.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by Radeon2006
member for 11.7 years, 1056 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
lodged 9.4 years ago
- Terre Haute,Vigo,IN
- $150 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 3 days
- Verizon (ex GTE)
- CLEC party: Verizon (ex GTE)
- "Extremely FAST Connection"
- "None"
- "Great connection with a great ISP!!!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Signed up for the 7.1/768 package on September 7th. Service was active on the 10th. Love the westell modem. It looks so much better than the old fujitsu modem I used to have. Connection has been rock solid since I've had it. GREAT speeds. Most speed tests are around 6mb/s down and 650 up. My ping times are great also. Usually in the mid 30's. Overall, Joink is a great ISP. I would recommend them to anyone living in west central Indiana and east central Illinois.
Comments:
|
|
