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Review by stx 
UPDATED: 91 days ago
member for 1.7 years, 250 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Corpus Christi,Nueces,TX
 $97 per month
 about 7 days
 "Reliable Internet Connection...no down time"
 "Inconsistent speed,high pings,poor performance"
 "Avoid Grande, slow internet,high pings...I DO NOT recomment Grande."
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Review by dallas_tx
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 1.2 years, 6 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Allen,Collin,TX
$30 per month
"Very high latency during peak hours. Sub-par d/l speeds"
"Stay away"
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I've been with grandecommunications for about two years now. They used to be okay, but have recently gone downhill. I live outside the Dallas area, and there are EXTREMELY high latencies most evenings. A simple ping to grande's default router will average between 40 and 120ms, with peaks above that. If you play online games, forget it.
You may pay for the 6 or 8 Mbps bundle, but will usually get significantly less, especially in the evenings.
I have called their tech support numerous times, but so far have been unable to make any progress on the latency issues. Latencies are generally lower and speeds faster in the mornings, which tends to point to "not enough bandwidth for our subscriber base".
Here is an example of HOW BAD IT IS: (this is a ping test from my cable modem to a router internal to grande):
Fri Nov 21 19:00:39 CST 2008
PING 24.155.121.224 (24.155.121.224) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=1 ttl=61 time=207 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=2 ttl=61 time=178 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=3 ttl=61 time=129 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=4 ttl=61 time=108 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=5 ttl=61 time=131 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=6 ttl=61 time=146 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=7 ttl=61 time=112 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=8 ttl=61 time=157 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=9 ttl=61 time=111 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=10 ttl=61 time=132 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=11 ttl=61 time=155 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=12 ttl=61 time=107 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=13 ttl=61 time=133 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=14 ttl=61 time=86.7 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=15 ttl=61 time=177 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=16 ttl=61 time=195 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=17 ttl=61 time=143 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=18 ttl=61 time=112 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=19 ttl=61 time=105 ms
64 bytes from 24.155.121.224: icmp_seq=20 ttl=61 time=139 ms
--- 24.155.121.224 ping statistics ---
20 packets transmitted, 20 received, 0% packet loss, time 18998ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 86.755/138.720/207.909/31.463 ms
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Review by fattycakes
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.1 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Arlington,Tarrant,TX
$78 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
"when i first signed up it was worth what i was paying"
"they jacked the price up 2 times on me"
"they suck and the cumtomer service is terrible. i will never use them again"
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i used grande for 3 years. in that time i had service problems constantly, even thought it was basic cable that plugged into a wall, whenever it would rain the "satellite" would lose signal. well we didn't have a satellite. along with multiple times of having to spend anywhere from 1/2 an hour to an hour and a half on the phone to have someone check the lines so the internet would work. this generally lead to a tech having to come out and the problem would not get fixed for 5-7 days.
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Review by Aleck79
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 2177 visits, last login: a few hours ago
San Marcos,Hays,TX
$39 per month
about 7 days
"Decent price, straightforward billing, easy install on a Saturday morning"
"Speed fluctuates wildly, no self-install option, regularly loses connection until the modem is reset"
"mediocre at best"
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Called up Grande Communications and asked for the details on getting their 7.0mbit internet installed. I had their Basic TV service that came standard with my apartment, so they let me just add on the internet service for $39.95 plus sales tax. Unfortunately there was no "self-install" option and they charged me $25 for an installer to come out and give me the cable modem and call into the office to get it working. This took 10 minutes tops.
Initially it was running pretty decent, was getting about 8.0mbit downstream and 430kbit upstream which i thought was awesome but knew it wouldn't last. The speed is not reliable at all, it would randomly reduce to 2mbit in the "prime-time" hours. Although it is a reduction in speed it didn't really bother me because it was still usable until the modem started going out.
It seems like every night about 4AM to 6AM the modem would go out and would not let me back online until I reset the cable modem. This is very frustrating. It seems like almost every night it is doing this and since I like to idle on IRC I know exactly when this happens.
Overall, I guess its decent for its price, if your willing to live with the shortcomings. Since this was my only choice, Time Warner is available locally, but since I live in an apartment that is wired for Grande I can't get it. Definitely do not order this if you need a reliable connection.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 2.4 years ago
(review was emailed from domain mizera.org)
Austin,Travis,TX
$24 per month
"Good download performance"
"Misreprestend price - sales rep lied"
"A good service with a deceptive sales force"
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Hello,
Three months ago, I switched to Grande Communications 6mbps cable
Internet access. Various speed tests indicate that the actual download speeds
are 5mbps on average. The promised upload speed of 512mbps is actually very
close at about 415mbps. Accounting for TCP overhead, these are quite
good. Overall latency is low, and web browsing seems quite zippy.
So where's the problem? Well, I signed up for a package that included
phone, expanded cable, and Internet access for $65 plus taxes. Sounds
too good to be true, right? Turns out, it was. When billed over $78 plus
taxes, I called in to see what the problem was. Not only was I told
that nothing could be done about this, I was also told that the rates could
go up anytime. They said I was already getting a good deal, and to just
remove services if I wanted a lower price. To add insult to injury, they said
if I was charged the price that I was promised, they would be paying me to be
a client.
They'll soon not have to worry about that.
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Review by mobbo
UPDATED: 2.6 years ago
member for 4.6 years, 1006 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Frisco,Denton,TX
$90 per month
about 3 days
"Solid connection"
"TV selection is terrible. Minimal HD, no push to add more"
"Good internet. Bad TV."
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****UPDATE (4/142007):****
Connection is still good. I am going to have to complain about their TV though. HD selection is awful, and I am getting the feeling Grande has NO ROOM (bandwidth wise) to expand when more HD national channels are released later this year.
They are also very stingy with MLB Extra Innings. I can see the games on my guide, but when you call to order, they say they are going to add the ability for us to order it within 30 days... that's almost 1/3 of the season OVER. The service rep told me they will offer it in our area (Dallas/Frisco) because they have a sponsorship of our minor league team here. WTF? Uh, minor league teams have nothing to do with MLB EI. So it's quite obvious they are dancing around the issue... something I'm noticing more and more. It seems like other cable providers and especially satellite providers are adding new channels left and right, but when Grande customers request a new channel, we get a form letter saying our request will be forwarded to the marketing group for further consideration (aka... No, we are too cheap to add new channels).
Internet is still great, but Grande will need to step it up NOW in the TV department if they plan on keeping up everyone else this year. National HD channels are about to skyrocket, and I feel that as a Grande customer, I will be left behind.
****UPDATE (1/25/2007):****
Internet is doing great still. No downtime or slow-downs to report. Still could use more upstream (currently at about 440Kbps). They offer a boost for $12/month to 768Kbps but that's not worth it at all.
My girlfriend just HAD to get HBO to watch this season of Rome... and Grande kicked in all the other premium channels for free for the next 3 months. This is BAD because I now never leave the house  ... I have WAY too many channels, LOL! Someone on here asked me about the DVR quality and I have to say, it's good (not great). It has a feature just like TIVO to record an entire season, though sometimes it will record re-runs (like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report... it records every one of them, not just the new ones) even if you tell it to record only first-run shows. I also wish Grande had a way to schedule recordings remotely over the internet for traveling people like me.
They also just added National Geographic HD and some music video channel in HD so I may consider getting that HD tier for $10/month if they add a few more like Fox Sports HD, Fox Soccer HD, NFL Channel HD, etc. Basically as many HD channels as possible would be great. Right now it's not worth $10/month, but good effort.
****UPDATE (12/6/2006):****
Grande came the day before yesterday to upgrade my DSL to Cable internet and to swap out my HD box for a DVR-HD box. The tech was on time, called in advance to confirm what was going to happen, very smart and a nice guy. He got everything installed quickly and even took the time to use my apartment's central unit to feed internet connectivity to all the wall ports. If anyone from Grande is reading this, the tech's name was Craig... give that guy a raise.
Immediately the 6Mbps internet was showing over 7Mbps downstream from the Dallas Speakeasy speed test location with about 450Kbps upstream. The NYC speed test was around 6Mbps. I've noticed that the farther away a location, the cap is about 4-5Mbps, but that is clearly not Grande's fault. I also saw a decrease in ping times to most Dallas game servers. I now ping about 16 - 22ms to CS:Source servers located at ThePlanet.com and LayeredTech.com. Videos buffer MUCH faster now as well... almost immediately.
The High Def DVR is a great service. I can record 2 HD/SD shows at once as well as choose to record an entire series (very TiVO-like). As I stated before, the price actually WENT DOWN after this upgrade to around $81/month for digital cable, cable internet, phone service, DVR, and HD.
So far it's all stable but if there are any changes I will be sure to update.
****UPDATE (11/16/2006):****
I was about to cancel my Grande phone service in favor of a 2nd line from Vonage (for fax purposes), but instead I got an INSANE deal. The guy on the phone told me that he could give me a bundle discount that took my services down to just $70/month! PLUS they are coming out here to swap my DSL for Cable internet which will bump my speed from 3000/256 up to 6000/512!!! With those savings I decided to get HD-DVR as well for another $10/month. So after all is said and done I have the following services for $81/month:
-Digital Cable
-DVR
-HD (not the HD package but the box, which gives me all broadcast HD channels at no extra cost. I'm still protesting their lack of good HD channels!)
-Cable Internet (6mbps down, 512kbps upstream)
-Phone line for my home office fax
IF YOU LIVE IN FRISCO... GET GRANDE COMMUNICATIONS TODAY! I love these guys. The internet is fast, the cable TV is clear, and BEST OF ALL the customer service is THE BEST. It's the best feeling in the world when you call and a HUMAN from TEXAS answers the phone. Grande's customer support is the greatest! And if any Grande execs or managers are reading this, give Jose at the Dallas office a huge raise.
***Original Review***:
I was mad at first because my apartment signed a contract to allow Grande exclusive rights to provide service to my building. I didn't like this because I'd heard bad things from friends in the same boat, plus the top speed for "high-speed" DSL they offered was 1.5Mbps down 384Kbps up. I realized after I had it installed... 1.5Mbps is really all you need. I had Charter before this with 3Mbps and I really can't tell too much of a difference.
Price:
I pay around $29/month for the internet portion. Since I got the bundle of digital cable, telephone, and internet it comes with 20% off each service. In total I pay $84/month ($98 with taxes) for everything which I think is a great deal compared to other services in the area. Plus there is no contract like satellite.
Install:
The tech came out to install everything the next day after ordering. My apartment has a central control box that feeds coax cable and CAT5 to 6 outlets in my apartment... but the cable guy didn't use it for some reason. It was very easy to figure out so I just re-did the install after the tech left. I just put the DSL modem in there and fed it into a 6 port D-Link router, then into each node that fed CAT5 out to each wall outlet. Overall it was a smooth install and I entertained myself afterwards with some extra tinkering. A good time was had by all.
Tech Support:
This is the shining star of Grande. They do not outsource their 24/7 tech support. It is a real American, sometimes even a Texan on the phone. They also don't REQUIRE you to powercycle everything expecting that to fix the problems. They know that by the time you bother to pick up the phone you've already powercycled the hardware... unlike Charter/Time Warner's tech support (Step 1: unplug, Step 2: wait 30 seconds, Step 3: plug it back in, Step 4: wait while I pretend to type something and sound like I'm actually fixing something). It also isn't hard to get a human on the phone... it isn't a hidden feature in their phone bank.
Connection:
The internet is fine. 1.5Mbps is hardly "high-speed" these days but I really just browse the web, post on forums, send emails, IM, game, and other typical stuff. I really don't need to download files at 2MB/sec so 1.5Mbps is fine for now. I would like to see their upstream raised along with their soon-to-be raise downstreams. I lag often when using a VoIP (ventrilo or teamspeak) while gaming. I also want a Slingbox which needs a good upstream speed. I ping a solid 20 to most Dallas game servers for CS.
Other services:
I have digital cable which is a great service. The 20% discount puts it around $45/month INCLUDING an HD set-top box. The HD tier is an extra $10/month but I cancelled it after a month. The channels really suck (Universal HD... Knight Rider in HD... YAY and TNT HD should be renamed the Law & Order HD channel) but I've checked out the competition and they don't offer much more. I like ESPN HD but that was the only one worth watching. They've recently added ESPN2 HD but I am waiting for National Geographic HD before I shell out $10/month again. The regular broadcast channels come in HD free on the HD set-top box anyways.
One other thing I think is so under-rated that Grande does well is the on-screen guide. It doesn't look like a DOS program... it's nice and fast and looks like a program made this decade. With Charter, the on-screen guide was HIDEOUS and looked like my first Nintendo.
UPDATE... kind of:
While writing this review I did a speed test and my speed was bumped to 3.3Mbps down and 550Kbps up. I was told weeks ago there would be a speed increase so this must be it. I checked the website and I see that they are now offering 1.5/6/8Mbps options for internet and changing from DSL to cable internet in Frisco. They also have new bundles out for Frisco that (I'm told) go live Tuesday involving HD-DVR. Neat. I called and they are calling me back next Tuesday to schedule a new install of cable internet. I will update the review then!
Followup comments:  salisalaam
join:2007-08-08
Richardson, TX
| Do not be fooled. Don't be fooled by the apparent download increase. Try other speed test sites. Mine reports 10MB/s and 3MB/s down and they are both rediculously incorrect. There was no increase. Other sites other than DSL Reports were pretty much consistent. For some reason when I go on DSL Reports via my Grande connection I get these bogus speed result.
If i'm wrong then Imma go slap my mama... then their mama. | |
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Review by brentpick
Posted: 2.9 years ago
member for 2.9 years, 4 visits, last login: 2.9 years ago
Hewitt,Mclennan,TX
Contract price not specified.
"none"
"unreliable internet, lack of services available"
"poorly built company"
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Why does Grande Communications not have Video on Demand? When a service guy came to my home he said it was because Grande did not want to spend the money on the service. What is all of the money going to that we spend every month. Your company has over 2000 customers in each area and the average monthly charge for each customer is around $100. That is alot of money that should go back into the company to make it better for the customers. Business 101 should have taught Bill Morrow how to build a new business. Wait, that's right he had no intention of keeping the company that is why he stepped down as the CEO. Grande is a fly by night cable company, and it is just a matter of time before it gets bought out by another company. That will be a blessed day!
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Review by jjx
Posted: 3.7 years ago
member for 3.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 3.7 years ago
Plano,Collin,TX
$35 per month
"reliable connection"
"speed does not live up"
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I signed up for Grande Communication DSL 3 weeks ago. The signup process is easy and the installation is prompt. However...
I signed up for a different internet package then what they installed for me, according to the monthly statement. I am yet to contact their service department for that.
2nd of all, if the speed really live up to the description -- up to 1500 kbps down and 364kbps Up--, I wouldn't mind paying more for it. But so far, the fastest speed I get out of this DSL connection is 520kbps, only 1/3 of what the max they claim to be. Even though it only claim UP TO, I would never imagine the speed could be this slow.
I used to have comcast cable, and the speed easily goes over 1500kpbs even though I just had the basic package. But this apartment I moved to does not support comcast cable, only Grande Communication. I felt like I am being forced into this.
The only good thing is its realibility. For the 3 weeks that I have been having it, it has never died on me.
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Review by Jeff75028
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 4 years, 4 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago
Flower Mound,Denton,TX
$54 per month
"None yet"
"Techinal support"
"Not too good so far"
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I bought the deluxe DSL package which is supposed to be guaranteed rates of 1.5Mb down and 700K up (the sales lady guaranteed those rates, I asked her twice). But I do know in the fine print the rates are guaranteed "up to". At any rate, I've never seen results that reached these advertised rates from the tests I've done in the 1.5 months since I signed on with Grande.
My apartment complex in Flower Mound TX has an exclusive contract with Grande so I'm forced to use their service. Every night around 8:00pm until about 11:30 the DSL perfomance gets REALLY poor. The tests I run at the various sites (including DSL reports) indicate rates from 300-700K down and 250-500 up during this time. Isn't this more common with cable connections, people "fighting" for bandwith?
I called, they created a ticket, and the same guy who took my initial call called me the next night to troubleshoot. He was coordinating with the second-level support guys while I ran Grande's speed test (their internal speed test) which always seems to show acceptable rates, even during my "down time" between 8-11. Of course the results were close to my advertised rates so they pretty much said "we see your rates are acceptable, there's not much we can do, except advise you to bypass your router while online". It should be noted the performance issue is the same with or without the router.
At this point If I had a choice I would go with a more reputable provider.
Note: I have opened another ticket and will update my review once it's addressed.
Followup comments: craj123
join:2006-10-06
Dallas, TX
| Night time speeds very Low I stay in Dallas and am forced to take Grande because they have a monoly. Night-time speeds are very slow - for the last 1 week - getting just 250/260 kbps as against 1.5 MBps. Called tech support and they told they will send someone but no one came. Day time speeds are not bad. | |
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Review by dcoates2
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 4 years, 1 visits, last login: 4 years ago
San Antonio,Bexar,TX
$145 per month (12 month contract)
about 1 days
"The guy was on-site at the apartment complex so I got installation right away"
"BILL PAY BILL PAY"
"Connection is mediocre, they install guy was NOT Smart, I knew more about his job. NOT WORTH IT"
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Look this bill pay, The sales guy on the property said "If you set up ACH through your card, you won't have to pay a deposit..." Well, two months later, I PAID THE DEPOSIT, not that I wanted to, but Grande needed some money until Friday. Today, I just had grande pull $172 out of my account for a $145 bill that I haven't received yet because I get it on the 15th. WHAT? you say, YES WHAT? Oh yes, and because I just got out of the Army after 8 years for MEDICAL reasons, I live on a fixed income, so my rent check bounced today. Tomorrow, Mr j4yj4y, I am going to Grande and getting my RENT + the LATE fees AND better service from TIME WARNER because you suck. By the way, thier email account system is horrible, the connection is mediocre, up/down I have never got higher than 1Mbps and I have to recycle power to the modem because I its a POS, thier tech support I haven't used because like I said earlier, the install tech was not good. And I can fix my own computer thank you. BOTTOM BOTTOM Line: You get what you pay for. You pay for crap, you get crap. Thanks Grande for making me a sell-out by going to Time Warner - Da Man. But Da Man, is reliable as hell, has great tech support, and doesn't treat me like I am an idiot when I call with a question about my bill. As I side note, I do believe that there is some extreme packet loss from Grande, perhaps its just my area, perhaps not. But I am going away from them ASAP.
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