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Review by Saucer 
member for 1.2 years, 9 visits, last login: 78 days ago
lodged 1.2 years ago
 China Spring,Mclennan,TX
 $39 per month "no good" "very bad" "sucks"
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Skybeam bought out Central Texas WiFi in China Spring, Texas (near Waco) on September 2, 2010. Since then the service has gone down hill fast. Negative reviews of the company can be found all over the internet.
Skybeam claims they are installing new equipment on their tower here and it is conflicting with the old equipment which is still running. They claim this will all be fixed in a week or two, then a month or two, and who knows what the next claim will be. Each time I call tech support I get a different answer.
Some customers such as my next door neighbor got fairly good service once the new equipment is installed on November 17, 2010. My setup is using the same Canopy radio as my neighbor. The tech claimed that both of us should have the same service but couldn’t get mine to work correctly while he was here. He claimed that it would be corrected by the “main office”. Later that day it did start working fine giving pings below or at 100, jitter of 3-5, download at 1.5 mbps and upload of 0.4 mbps on speedtest.net. Then it went out completely. Now it works for an hour or two, and then goes out completely or with Limited Service. Calls to tech support do no good because they can’t fix anything and won’t connect me to anyone who can. They say that the fault is with the tower and it will be 2 weeks to 2 months or longer before it is fixed, yet my neighbor gets good service.
I noticed that on the website Broadband dslreports.com that some people got good service once their antenna was moved slightly. How can I get someone to fix this mess? My next steps are to contact the BBB, FCC, Texas Attorney General, and perhaps small claims court.
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Review by ejtewsjr
member for 1.3 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
updated 1.3 years ago
- Midlothian,Ellis,TX
- $59 per month
- "Consistent network speed prior to May 2010"
- "After May 2010 poor quality bandwidth QOS <20% of Package Details"
- "Skybeam Customer Service is poor at best with no follow up"
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I had been a customer of Aircanopy/Skybeam for 5 years. had great service with them for a long time. In May I started having issues with the quality of Service, in July I found out that Skybeam had changed to a new network managing tool back in May.
I had a Bundled Power User package with included VOIP and data. In May I started having issues with VOIP service, VOIP calls were very choppy to unusable. My usual connection speed was .8 meg download and .4 upload while I was paying for up to 5 meg down and 2 meg up. There were times that I did see 4.5 meg down, at 2:00 am in the morning. Never did see better than a .75 upload speed.
So in May I dropped the VOIP Service and began calling Customer Service weekly (Sometimes twice a week) to open a ticket of my data connection.
1st level support was very helpful, one I got past the 45 - 60 minute hold time or if they called me back (only called me back 1 time and I left 7 messages for call backs). The problem was, 1st level would escalate the issue and never heard back from anyone. Would call later and ask about the open ticket and no one even looked at the ticket after I called.
I have found a new WISP in my area and look forward to better service.
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 Reviews:
 ·AirCanopy Intern..
| Skybeam China Spring, Texas Skybeam bought out Central Texas WiFi in China Spring, Texas (near Waco) on September 2, 2010. Since then the service has gone down hill fast. Negative reviews of the company can be found all over the internet.
Skybeam claims they are installing new equipment on their tower here and it is conflicting with the old equipment which is still running. They claim this will all be fixed in a week or two, then a month or two, and who knows what the next claim will be. Each time I call tech support I get a different answer.
Some customers such as my next door neighbor got fairly good service once the new equipment is installed on November 17, 2010. My setup is using the same Canopy radio as my neighbor. The tech claimed that both of us should have the same service but couldn’t get mine to work correctly while he was here. He claimed that it would be corrected by the “main office”. Later that day it did start working fine giving pings below or at 100, jitter of 3-5, download at 1.5 mbps and upload of 0.4 mbps on speedtest.net. Then it went out completely. Now it works for an hour or two, and then goes out completely or with Limited Service. Calls to tech support do no good because they can’t fix anything and won’t connect me to anyone who can. They say that the fault is with the tower and it will be 2 weeks to 2 months or longer before it is fixed, yet my neighbor gets good service.
I noticed that on the website Broadband dslreports.com that some people got good service once their antenna was moved slightly. How can I get someone to fix this mess? My next steps are to contact the BBB, FCC, Texas Attorney General, and perhaps small claims court. | |
| | Reviews:
·AirCanopy Intern..
| Re: Skybeam China Spring, Texas I take it all back. Well, most of it anyway. It took a while but Skybeam finally got everything working. It took many calls to tech line, and several visits from a tech, and finally the engineer figured out what was going on. He fixed it and the service has never been better.
I'll recommend Skybeam now and am pleased with the service. | |
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Review by synappz
member for 6.1 years, 8 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
lodged 1.5 years ago
- Alvarado,Johnson,TX
- Contract price not specified.
- "decently fast, low latency, competitive price"
- "random dropouts, not hitting plan speed, I have to pay for it? :P"
- "Good enough if your only other option is satellite..."
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But if you live in an area where DSL or cable is an option, get one of those instead. I was with direcway/hughesnet for years and dealt with horrid service, horrid tech support, horrid everything because it was faster than dialup. As soon as I learned aircanopy was available to me finally, I jumped on it. It's never been as fast as they claim it would be, but it is faster than the sat connection. And the pings, my god, the pings. I was doing good to get 500 on a good clear night at 3am to any server, but with aircanopy/skybeam I regularly see pings of 25-75.
Bottom line, if you can get it instead of satellite, do so!
If you can get cable or dsl, jump on one of those instead.
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Review by cissycatt
member for 2.3 years, 0 visits, last login: 2.3 years ago
lodged 2.3 years ago
- Midlothian,Ellis,TX
- $49 per month
- "Always up and fast"
- "Not available where I'm moving to"
- "Not only available in a rural area, but good quality and speed for low price!"
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I am getting ready to move to an area west of Austin and am finding out how good I have had it. It researching my options at the new house, I have found that no one provides the speeds that I have been getting and at the price that I have been paying.
I've had this service for years now. I recall the set up was a breeze and that the techs were friendly, knowledgeable, and competent. More importantly, in all of these years, I haven't had any trouble. I've only made two calls to talk to staff...one was because I forgot the password to my account and the other was to find out if there was any chance that they would expand to where I was moving (which of course is too far). Both times I called, the staff was friendly and professional.
I read some of the notes below and was shocked that anyone would have something nasty to say. Because I have been so grateful, I had to counter what was said. I don't discount what was written, but suppose that there are folks in some areas that are going to have some problems with interference. This is a wireless technology and subject to the environment. Having said that, I haven't had any problems at all.
In what has probably been four or five years, I think that there have only been two outages that affected me. Neither lasted an entire day, as I recall.
I work from home and rely on the Internet for a VPN connection to my company. So, reliability is essential. Seeing the options where I'm going is depressing. I am not finished with my research yet and hope to find something similar to the service that I have had with AirCanopy. So far, it isn't looking too great.
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Review by jonigirl
member for 7.5 years, 10 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
updated 3.4 years ago
- Red Oak,Ellis,TX
- $62 per month
- (12 month contract)
 about 14 days- "Fast connection speed, no downtime"
- "Requires a contract, expensive to set up"
- "Faster than DSL, and available everywhere"
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Update - August 26, 2008:
I am still using Air Canopy, and I am still VERY satisfied with the service. I have been with them just over 4 years now, and there have only been 2 instances of downtime. Both times, the system was back up and running within a day. When I called customer service on those occasions, they were very informative and friendly. I even got a call back later that same day to tell me that the problem had been corrected, and to be sure I was up and running! My download speed is: 3449 kbps and my upload speed is: 1224 kbps. I am still on the Power User plan, and my rate has not increased from $59.99 ($62.83 after taxes) which is what it was 4 years ago when I signed up. I highly recommend Air Canopy to anyone who cannot get DSL, or finds DSL too slow for their tastes.
Original Review:
My first phone call to Air Canopy was for information gathering, and to set up a site test, which was scheduled for the following week. The site test itself took about three minutes, and involved a tech climbing on my roof. Next step, schedule the install. It is going to be another week, but they assure me that I am eligible for the service. I ordered the Power User package for $59.95 a month.
On the day of the install, I cleared my entire afternoon, thinking this was going to be a long process. The two techs Air Canopy sent to my house were not only very polite and professional, but they took the time to answer all my questions. Within 45 minutes, my connection was up and running! The first thing I did was download a big file, and I was very impressed with the connection speed.
A few days later I installed VoIP (from a provider other than Air Canopy) and found out that my connection was dropping packets. I called Air Canopy on the Friday before a holiday weekend, and got voice mail. Assuming they had closed early for the holiday weekend, I left a message. About an hour later, an Air Canopy tech called me back, and he had already tested my connection and knew exactly what the problem was. He scheduled a realignment which went off without a hitch. My VoIP is now working properly, and my connection is better than ever!
Air Canopy may require a contract, which I don't care for, but they seem to genuinely care about their customers. The service itself is great, the speed is amazing, and there has been no downtime to date. All in all - I am very impressed!
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 Review by zcd
member for 10.3 years, 434 visits, last login: 142 days ago
lodged 4.6 years ago
- Midlothian,Ellis,TX
- $52 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 20 days
- "Fast, been rather reliable, freakin fast"
- "Line of sight, been kinda flaky, communication with employees..."
- "I like it. No wires (sorta)"
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Had this service for 2 months now and its been for the most part, pretty good. At first, 2 weeks into first having the service installed, I lost the signal sporadically with the dish. It would come in and go when it wanted for a moment at a time, making using the service impossible. 3 tech visits, 2 new dishes and some misunderstandings later, I got the service fixed and a week prorated back to me ($10). I like the service overall, but I do not care too much for the techs (cept a few) nor do I like the service just "going away" then coming back miraculously for no apparent reason...it doesn't happen often, but it does. Also, when I first signed up for service, no where on their website did it state a 1 year contract was required by all services, I found this out on the install date, pretty lame.
Using the Web Surfer/900 Club package (2mb/512k)
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Review by Peanutsdad
member for 5.1 years, 17 visits, last login: 226 days ago
updated 4.6 years ago
- Ferris,Ellis,TX
- $89 per month
- about 7 days
- "Available when dsl isn't"
- "They seem to have corrected the bad here in Ferris"
- "Only game in town for BB"
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I have been a customer of AC since they came into Ferris Texas. At first, the service was great, customer service was spot on! Over the last year, it's excuse after excuse for spotty connections. I haven't moved, the cables haven't moved, they claim the signal from my antenna is solid from "their end", another of my fav excuses is, "Oh, there's someone on your tower with a virus". Seeing a trend here?
I pay for 3mb d/l and 1.5 up. What I get on a GOOD day is half that, on a bad day, close to dial up. When it takes twenty minutes to upload 5mb in pics for an insurance claim, that ludicrous.
Bottom line is, they are really the only option in our town for broadband, so it's put up with the nonsense or go back to dial up....but they fail to realize, they won't always be the only real option.
In closing, if you live in Ferris, and need BB, you really don't have many options.
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02-23-2007
Aircanopy has finally admitted they have a problem in Ferris and offered a two month credit on my bill. They state they will keep me appraised of when the issues will be corrected. Should that actually occur- I'll be more than happy to report those results here.
06/04/2007
As promised, aircanopy has a new tower for Ferris and surrounding area. My speeds have picked up considerably and I would like to thank Mr. Z for keeping me in the loop during this ordeal. They are still working the kinks out of the new tower but I can honestly say I'm much happier now.
Download Speed: 3863 kbps (482.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1117 kbps (139.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
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Review by wirelessrush
member for 7.6 years, 13 visits, last login: 5 years ago
lodged 5 years ago
- Lancaster,Dallas,TX
- $59 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 13 days
- "Great speed, reliable connection, good value"
- "install time took about 2 weeks"
- "Very satisfied"
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I've had service for about 3 years and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I ordered the Power User plan which is 2-3Mbps download and 768kbps-1Mbps upload. The service is rarely down and when it has been down its only been for a couple of hours. I've had good luck with Tech Support although I sometimes have to leave voicemails - they do seem to return my calls fairly quickly (within a couple of hours -sometimes next-day over the weekend). I know I'm talking with local people (not somebody overseas) so I'm OK with them calling me back. My speed is almost always at or above the advertised estimates. Sometimes on the upload it drops down lower than I'd like but it usually bounces back.
It took about 2 weeks to get installed when I first signed up and from what I've heard from others it still takes that long - they seem to be booked-out with new people signing-up.
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 Review by angled15
member for 11.8 years, 465 visits, last login: 1.7 years ago
lodged 5.1 years ago
- Red Oak,Ellis,TX
- $50 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 14 days
- "good when it works"
- "never works"
- "avoid 900 Mhz"
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I have had service with them for a year and 4 month. Out of this time, the first 6 months was great. Now, my speeds range anywhere from 25k to 1500k usually in the 200 range on a good day. When I call support I get empty promises and excuses about viruses on someone elses connection draining bandwidth. Or, my favorite, 900 Mhz is getting noisy in your area. I can't even get them to return emails. They will return calls and tell you that everything looks good now. Bull!!! Get DSL or cable if at all possible. Thank goodness AT&T has it now.
P.S. My neighbor has line of sight and says it's good. I'm going to talk him into changing and everyone else I know just for their lack of real support.
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Review by wax97xxx
member for 11.4 years, 103 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
lodged 5.4 years ago
- Waxahachie,Ellis,TX
- $66 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 8 days
- "Very Fast!"
- "not worth mentioning."
- "For me it's a good value."
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»www.speedtest.net/result/40725601.png
Speed test showed over 4mb down and 1.4mb up. I have had service for over 2yrs. and have lost my connection less than a dozen times. Most outage's lasting a few hours. Before AC I used dial up (18kbps) ISDN, DirecPC and then Direcway. If, like me your in a rural area with no DSL, AirCanopy is worth a look.
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