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I've been with them for a couple of yrs now. BAD)When i joined they had connection with Peer, now they run through congentco which is proving to be problematic, as there always seems to be HUGE latency on that network (usually starting @ 9pm EST). GOOD)Static ip's, knowledgable service, allows servers, no port blocking, affordable. Also residential can sign for VPN service if need be. Update, signed on to dedicated service, and now am synch'd at 4032/800. Very nice. *Edit*July 10th 2005 Dumped about 5 months ago in favor of Electronicbox.net due to outages, and terrible cogentco network. Cheap? Sure, but terrible, left a bad taste in my mouth. Electronicbox.net is SUPER! More $$$/mth, but I will pay a premium to get 18ms to NY. They are peered with Peer1 among others, and I am in love. They also allow servers, /29 subnet or more if you want (even for residential). I would write a review for them, but they are not listed here. So I'll give them accolades instead of that other ISP I used to use. $50/mth (taxes in), 3meg down/800k up, 8 ip's (6 usable). No port throttling/blocking, unlimited transfer. Thanks Electronicbox.net! member for 21.5 years, 6683 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 18.7 years ago
Using an Alcatel Speed Touch Home moden + a Linksys BEFSR41 router Their tech-support is actually tech-people, not script-readers like Sympatico !!! Speed results: 320kB/s - 80kB/s Update - feb. 2004 - : After the last big fiasco, ISTOP has been fast & reliable. They changed their cap policy by offering unlimited uploads. The 30GB peak-time cap remains, but only for download traffic. They seems to have ditched NAC for residential customers since all trafic now seems to go through Cogent or Torix. member for 22.5 years, 1418 visits, last login: 43 days ago updated 19.1 years ago
I've used istop.com for a couple years now. They're not the best out there but they're not the worst either, and what do you expect for $29.95/month with generous bandwidth cap at peak hours and unlimited off-peak? Cons: Speed isn't the greatest, I rarely get more than 1.7MB/s on my 3Mb/s line. Frequent outages at night, even a few outages during the day. Tech support isn't an 800 line. And during a system-wide outage the phone number is busy. Pros: Cheap. Friendly, knowledgable, helpful service when I spoke to anyone. Static IPs (starting to be more common now, but was hard to find when I first signed up). Did I mention cheap? Unfortunately their network has been through a few too many outages and failures for me to stick with them. They were out for several *days* after the north-east power failure. That's unacceptable. I worked for an ISP during the Montreal ice storm and we never went down at all, even after a losing power for days and having downtown streets closed. They never offered a credit either. Now they've had this billing dispute with Bell that cut me off for two days again. I do believe their story about it all being Bell's errors and that Bell cutting them off violated their contract. But it doesn't really matter to me. Other ISPs just don't let things like this happen. So I'm going to be upgrading to a more expensive but more reliable service (electronicbox.net). Or check out igs.net if you want something more reliable than istop.com. But they're more expensive too. Or there's teksavvy for the same price but with a 20GB cap. member for 24.5 years, 104 visits, last login: 18.5 years ago lodged 19.3 years ago
Had ISTOP for ISP for almost 2 years. At first, I was a direct customer, now through one of their resellers (which I work for). My experience with them was good. Sometimes my service drops, but that happens on average 3-4 times a year and gets fixed without any intervention on my side, so I consider that satisfactory for a home user. Several people at the office have DSL through ISTOP, all of them are happy except for 1 (he complains about service drop very often), but I don't think it's not ISTOP's fault. Either bad line from the central office or (most likely) stupid user. member for 19.3 years, 2 visits, last login: 19.3 years ago lodged 19.3 years ago
I was charged recently for extra traffic having 25,215MB. When asked them how big is ISTOP's 1 GB got reply: ISTOP's 1GB=1000MB. So, be aware it is not 1024x25=25,600, it is 1000x25, so amount of traffic included in the account is actually 25,000MB not 25GB. Too bad they've done something to their network recently and my Linksys router even with the latest firware update CANNOT connect anymore (getting LCP authentication error). member for 19.6 years, driveby review (so far) lodged 19.6 years ago
awesome ISP... hands down member for 21.2 years, 578 visits, last login: 17.5 years ago lodged 20.1 years ago
Have been with istop for about a year now without complaint.Using the 1.7 residential self-serve and have routinely clocked 1.5+ continually.(Helps to have the CO two blocks away.) Like all other services there are small connectivity issues. Most average users I have surveyed have experienced outages of varying scales over a number of providers,so far, istop has been relatively stable with an unannounced 5-10 disconnects infrequently over 80hrs or so of monthly connectivity. (Barring huge power-grid failures.) Advantage in buying speedstream 5260 and filters and the installation was a snap. Static IP available, dial-up is free 20hrs/month. 25GIG monthly with unlimited off-peak.(2am-10am) Only $20 for activation of self-serve. 2004 will see speed increased to 3.0/800 for the same cost. (or less) If you want a no-nonsense, stable ISP with good support, check out istop. member for 20.1 years, 147 visits, last login: 17.9 years ago lodged 20.1 years ago
Service was installed, and running within 24 hours of committed date, speeds were as advertised, and network support has been very knowledgeable. They allow servers. I have a 1.7mbit/384 kbit connection with a reserved IP address over PPPoE. member for 21.4 years, 26 visits, last login: 19.5 years ago lodged 20.1 years ago
I've been a subscriber at iStop for about 2 years, and I pay on a yearly basis. I find the service to be reliable and efficient. While the tech support staff are quite helpful and friendly, they don't have a large number of staff to service 'novice' users. So I would suggest that only those who can set up their own modem and PPPoE settings sign up for the 'no frills' package. If you need assistance with your setup, then you should get the package that includes additional tech support for an extra $5 a month. Otherwise, you would really only need to contact them if your service was down. The only complaints some people have are that the USENET servers are not as reliable as some other ISPs, but that tends to be interpretive. Many people don't even use USENET, and if you don't then you have nothing to worry about. As with everything, things can change, so check the forums and ask around about iStop's newsgroups if they are important to you. I chose the 1.2M/160K self-serve package, which is now 1728K/384K with the new Bell speed increases. (I'm getting 1450K/350K, I used to get 950K/128K) I'm happy that I can own my own modem and I do not have to pay rental fees. Connection is PPPoE with a dynamic IP, or you can pay an extra $4 a month for a static IP. They have no objection to you running servers on your connection, but keep in mind they do have bandwidth caps of 15GIG a month during peak periods, and 80GIG during off peak. (2am to 8am) Mail services include built-in spam blacklists, although you can opt-out by using an alternate istop email address for incoming mail. Up to 5 free email accounts, 10 MEG of web space, and limited free dial-up access (20 hours/month) are also included in the package price. While based in Ottawa, they service Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and the surrounding areas. They have a solid backbone connection to Manhattan from Toronto (OC-3), as well as a 100M connection from Ottawa to Toronto. (with further expansion plans pending) As they only have a couple thousand customers, there is always plenty of bandwidth to go around, and I ping well to most sites. Overall I have no complaints, and I am quite happy with the service. member for 22.6 years, 5806 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago lodged 20.8 years ago
I'd been looking for a way to run a server for a reasonable price, and istop.com had the best price AND the most confidence inspiring staff. Pretty bare bones, no-bullshit website at www.istop.com. You can get a self-setup package for $30, a 3.5mdown/600K up PPOE connection + static like I've got for $60 -- and something like 15G a month bandwidth with $3 per gig after that. I've had it for three months, it's been great. member for 21.5 years, 6 visits, last login: 20.6 years ago lodged 21.5 years ago |