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Review by kalanic00 
UPDATED: 43 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 312 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Eagle River,Anchorage,AK
 $29 per month
 "Easy Self-install, instant provisioning, in-store face-to-face ordering"
 "Long hold times for tech/cust support, monthly caps with no bundle, over-priced in relation to comparable markets elsewhere."
 "Better value over local telco."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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Being a telecom guy, I'm biased about using cable. But the value, compared to the other services available in the area, is better. The face-to-face ordering in the GCI store is wonderful and something companies down in the "lower-48" can learn from. There were no upfront costs, and equipment was given without a deposit.
Once I got home, I was up and running in minutes.
There seems to be times where I have to click the re-fresh button, or re-submit a form to kick the internet back on...almost like it freezes for a moment.
Over-all, a wonderful and seamless set-up, but not quite used to 2m/548k for $29.99 (soon to be $49.99) - seems like price gouging, being that there is no competition up here at all.
***Update
I forgot to mention ISPs in Alaska have monthly allowance caps on usage! How far behind the rest of the U.S. is this state?
I turned in my modem, and cancelled the service because I was charged for overage - I surpassed my 10Gig monthly cap. I was charged $0.005 per Meg.
I tested the meter they provide on GCI.net by physically unplugging the modem from power from 7pm 9/13 to 7pm 9/15. However, once they ever so slow meter caught up about a week later, it indicated 500+ Meg of usage for 9/14. How can this be?
I called customer support once I got my bill to dispute the accuracy of the method they use to track usage, and I got the same thing from everyone, "Your wireless router opens your connection, and if it isn't secure, someone else could be using it." Or, "Even though you unplugged the modem, your router is still on, and that explains the additional usage." Did they not hear what I was saying to them? Again, the modulator/demodulator (modem) was unplugged from power!! I was so surprised by the lack of comprehension from everyone I spoke to, I just closed the account.
After over an hour on hold, I was given a "courtesy" credit, but they insisted the additional usage was valid. What idiots!
Bottom line, if you don't get a bundle, be very very weary on extra usage charges. Chances are the usage is inaccurate.
Followup comments:  
anon
@gci.net
| Better than MTA in Valley I got enough MTA BS and switced to GCI couple years ago. Very happy to get 12Mbps (really tested) download speed and no limits. If they could go down about $20/ month I would be 100% happy with service. I pay now Internet portion of package $99 per month. Also GCI doesn't have latency issues like MTA had, at least here in Wasilla where I live. | |
| | noname10
join:2009-10-14
| Re: Better than MTA in Valley said by anon :
I got enough MTA BS and switced to GCI couple years ago. Very happy to get 12Mbps (really tested) download speed and no limits. If they could go down about $20/ month I would be 100% happy with service. I pay now Internet portion of package $99 per month. Also GCI doesn't have latency issues like MTA had, at least here in Wasilla where I live.
Latency issues? Are you kidding, or ignorant? The latency across GCI's network is about as low as the laws of physics allow. Did you forget you are in Alaska? the latency between Wasilla and Seattle VIA GCI is superb.
You need to read up on the speed of light and the laws of propagation. there is nothing that can be done to improve latency from Alaska. NOTHING. Unless you know how to break the laws of physics and make light travel faster than the speed of light. Do you? | |
| bmialone
Premium
join:2009-08-15
Anchorage, AK
 ·Clearwire Wireless
3 edits | "Its Alaska" excuse for high pricing" I've been told "Its Alaska" as an excuse for the high pricing of everything, and lousy service for just about everything. One would think Alaskans were not living in the 21st century, given even backwater places in third world countries are getting better internet speeds and service, as well as a myriad other services the rest of the country manages to get better for less money. Alaskans are paying more for less - not more for the same, but more for less, for Everything. Low standards.
We had GCI but were really unhappy with how slow our supposed high speeds were, and disgusted by the price gouging, including extra charging for unlimited. In two other states, we were never charged like that. Plus GCI charges more for cable television, and provides fewer included without an extra charge cable boxes than did our past cable companies.
When we bought a home and moved, we went to Clearwire as our ISP, but its speeds are even worse.
It took GCI over a month just to get a working dial tone for our landline telephone line! In addition to their other techs, one very unprofessional tech was here twice (his buddies showed up just to hang around my house while he worked, twice!). The company is ridiculous about installing only so many phone and cable lines per appointment and refusing to install cable outlets on interior walls (Never ran into either of those things in other states!). Then the company pressured us, harassed us with phone calls, and even lied about why we Had to switch to their digital phone service (we didn't).
Can't stand GCI but may go back to them for internet in the end because Clearwire is slower than our old dial-up 15 years ago. | |
| |
BrockWilliam
@bresnan.net
| Re: "Its Alaska" excuse for high pricing" I work for a Communication company in the "lower 48" and we only install 4 active outlets per initial installation. That means you have 4 locations within your home that are currently wired activated. Anything more requires an additional appointment. Also, we do not wire internal walls. We don't have the equipment or time to fish walls. | |
| | noname10
join:2009-10-14
| said by bmialone :I've been told "Its Alaska" as an excuse for the high pricing of everything, and lousy service for just about everything. One would think Alaskans were not living in the 21st century, given even backwater places in third world countries are getting better internet speeds and service, as well as a myriad other services the rest of the country manages to get better for less money. Alaskans are paying more for less - not more for the same, but more for less, for Everything. Low standards. We had GCI but were really unhappy with how slow our supposed high speeds were, and disgusted by the price gouging, including extra charging for unlimited. In two other states, we were never charged like that. Plus GCI charges more for cable television, and provides fewer included without an extra charge cable boxes than did our past cable companies. When we bought a home and moved, we went to Clearwire as our ISP, but its speeds are even worse. It took GCI over a month just to get a working dial tone for our landline telephone line! In addition to their other techs, one very unprofessional tech was here twice (his buddies showed up just to hang around my house while he worked, twice!). The company is ridiculous about installing only so many phone and cable lines per appointment and refusing to install cable outlets on interior walls (Never ran into either of those things in other states!). Then the company pressured us, harassed us with phone calls, and even lied about why we Had to switch to their digital phone service (we didn't). Can't stand GCI but may go back to them for internet in the end because Clearwire is slower than our old dial-up 15 years ago. Alaska is an excuse for higher prices. Only a child could think otherwise. You truly show your ignorance here. You obviously know nothing about telecommunications. I've only been in Alaska for 3 years and I am totally impressed at what GCI has done with so little. This isn't the lower 48, I don't know how GCI can provide what they can without charging more for it. They have they own undersea fiber optic cables that carry everything down to Seattle and then they have to pay other people to take if from there. That is a hell of a different business model than say Comcast service in San jose. People like you make me sick. | |
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Review by andyd
Posted: 51 days ago
member for 51 days, 0 visits, last login: 51 days ago
Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
$114 per month
"only effective coverage of Anchorage"
"over charge, hidden fees, POOR customer service"
"the grab you by the balls and squeeze if you try to make a fuss"
| |
I've had GCI off and on since I was about 16 and my parents first got internet. I'm now 22 and I have not seen a noticeable change in the manner in which they treat their customers, the service the provide, or the amount of BS they spew.
For about a year and a half I was using MTA's DSL service at my apartment on Spenard and I had unlimited internet access at about 1Mbp/s, which was not good but it only cost 83$ a month and splitting that 3 ways worked out nicely. Unfortunately when I moved to the west side of town MTA could no longer provide the same service and I had to switch to GCI.
When I originally switched I read the online site that boasted "69.99 a month for unlimited internet" but that actually meant 69.99+99.99 for the Cable tv, phone line, and other unnecessary features. I ended up going for the only "internet only" package available that came with a bandwidth cap at 20gb's. I work with large raw image files that I must transfer a lot of data. Luckily they had a deal going on for the 4Mbp/s 30gb cap. I setup an installation date for 8/05. They had to reschedule after showing up and not finding the cable. It was a new apartment and I ended up finding it under the couch coming out of the carpet, not out of the wall. I found the cable WHILE THE TECH WAS IN THE HOUSE, but he still canceled the order. Finally they came back on 08/15 and installed.
internet worked fine and bill came for 09/12. On the bill they attached SO MANY EXTRA CHARGES. 10$ access fee for 08/05-08/20 + 19.99 PRORATE for 08/15-08/20 + 69.99 internet charge + 15$ access fee for 08/21-09/12.
I called GCI to find out why they were charging me so much for the 4.5 days that I had the internet before the new cycle and waited 20 minutes before talking to someone despite the fact that I had called 2 minutes after opening. The girl said "well that's just how we setup billing" when I asked her to explain she hung up on me.
WTF?!
Angered I called back, and of course was put on hold for another 20 minutes, before getting the same girl, I asked to speak to a manager and I waited 25 more minutes before getting the "lead" who agreed to remove the overage charges I had accrued. I didn't realize I had accrued them, but apparently the 30gb bandwidth cap extended from 08/05-09/12 even though that was technically 2 billing cycles. I know what you're thinking "don't use so much bandwidth" but I don't see why I should be charged for 2 billing cycles but only recieve the service of one.
Regardless the "lead" said she would take off the charges.
this was 09/10, I ended up having to pay the full 115$ and the overage charge, but they said I would be reimbursed next cycle. It is 09/18 and I have not recieved the new billing cycle, and I'm apparently STILL accruing internet bandwidth usage for the last 2 cycles.
I HATE THIS SERVICE
but because we live in alaska everything EVERYTHING about GCI's service has to be jacked up.
I think if you own all the cable lines coming in and out of the state you should have a little control over pricing. Not to mention everyone I know uses GCI, which only feeds their greedy coffers even more and makes them think people love their service even more.
HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE service, if Alaska ever gets another cable company that can match their speed and availability and offer a modicum of better customer service GCI will have a rush of users leaving them.
But the likelihood of that is slim to none
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Review by zenbyte
Posted: 224 days ago
member for 3.6 years, 2 visits, last login: 224 days ago
Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
$100 per month
 about 5 days
"High speeds, few outages, great customer service."
"The highest speeds are only available if bundled with local phone AND cable tv. Service calls take a couple of days."
"If you want high peed its your only choice. It's not bad"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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GCI delivers consistent high speeds for streaming. Netflix streams at 4-6 mb/s. Downloads appear to be capping at 700 kb/second. Speed test reads accurately.
Unfortunately GCI is the only option for truly high speeds in Alaska. The only way to get the highest speeds from GCI is if you bundle with local phone and cable television. It's a monopoly that seems to work...for them! Customer service is average due to long service call times. They are always quick to sell you something though. Overall, not a disspointing experience, but not outstanding either. 4/5 Stars!
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Review by cobalt01
UPDATED: 345 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 130 visits, last login: 21 days ago
Tucson,Pima,AZ
$19 per month (month by month)
about 2 days
"Knowledgable friendly staff."
"None"
"I am extremely pleased"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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I am in no way affiliated with Gain Communications other than a happy customer.
Just and update, 11/29/08;
Gain Communications has been taken over by Dakota. I still am extremely pleased with all aspects of the service.
I have been back in Tucson for 8 years after having lived here before in the 80's. Gain is the third ISP that I have had in that time and now for about a 5 year period. My son referred me to them after hearing me complain about the other ISP's that I had used. I have been pleased with their service and plan to continue with them for services. Rarely have I needed to call for technical support. When I have, my questions or problems have been resolved in a timely manner. They have not off-shored their support services and yet have remained very competitive in the market place. My internet speed has always been very acceptable and the reliability very high. I have used the telephone as well as their web site to report a problem or ask a question and the response time is great. Unlike other services I have had in the past, several times they have called back at a later date to make sure that everything was performing as it should. I highly recommend them to anyone that has need of a highly reliable ISP.
Services provided and equipment used
Broadband/DSL at 1.5mb
Qwest line provider
Actiontec R1524SU Modem/Router
Ethernet and Wireles
Extremely pleased customer,
John in Tucson
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 Review by McLovin
UPDATED: 358 days ago
member for 4.4 years, 1089 visits, last login: 31 days ago
Fairbanks,Fairbanks North Star,AK
$215 per month
"Stable, fast connection, fastest in Alaska."
"The few outages that have occurred have happened right when I needed to use the internet..."
"The fastest, and most stable internet connection in Alaska."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
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Ordered the "Ultimate Package Plus" on 5/2/08, which includes the digital cable package (151 channels), VoIP phone (local and 500 long distance minutes), and 320Kbps/128Kbps internet. for $89.99
Upgraded the cable service to get the preferred service to add an additional 80 channels, plus the HD package and HBO premium HD package. Also added an HD DVR, which is required to add any HD package. Also upgraded internet connectivity to 10Mbps/1Mbps. Total in upgrades is roughly $105.00/mo.
I may scale the bandwidth back to 7Mbps/768Kbps later to save some money, but I have got some catching up to do on the internet!
They had to delay the install because they were out of stock on HD DVRs, and they wanted to wait to roll me on a new cable modem they are going to start using (DOCSIS 3?!? *crosses fingers*). Anyway, the install date is set up for Monday, 5/19/08. Customer service has been great. They offered me one free bill, and $20 off the following two bills for the inconvenience.
I will update on 5/19 after the install to advise of status and installation procedures. Along with pictures, potentially.
UPDATE 5/20/2008
Install went OK. They were still missing the DVR, however they did get into the store that day, the tech just didn't have one with him as they had gotten in about an hour before the truck roll.
The only real thing I have against anything that went wrong, was that the installer was 2 hours late. Thus delaying the account creation until the next business day, sticking me at the lowest possible cable modem provision at 128Kbps/64Kbps. Needless to say I just went to bed early and didn't even bother.
Now that I have my nice HD DVR and the cable modem at 10Mbps/1Mbps. Speedtests show accurately...
Download #1
------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 14.65 MB (15360000 bytes)
Total time taken : 12.27 seconds (12265 milliseconds)
Throughput : 1252.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
= 1.25 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
= 10016.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
= 10.02 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]
Upload #1
------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 14.65 MB (15360000 bytes)
Total time taken : 128.14 seconds (128141 milliseconds)
Throughput : 119.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
= 0.12 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
= 952.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
= 0.95 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]
The plan is nice. Cable TV picture is actually outstanding. I also ordered the HD package and the display is phenomonal. 1080i over CATV is great, and will be worth its weight in gold once football season starts!
UPDATE 11/16/08:
So service is great. Internet has been quite solid (had some instability, found out it was the routers fault), couple of outages, but none lasting more than an hour or two. Only complaint I have is that they are adding more HD channels, which is good. The bad part is that they nearly doubled the price of the HD package without telling me... Bill comes in the mail that's $20 more than usual... They raised the price of the HD package from $15/mo. to $25/mo. But they STILL don't have the local channels in HD, which SUCKS... GCI told me however that it faults to the local stations not being capable of HD, which I have a hard time believing... Customer service did a stunning job, crediting me for my frustration. But I still elected to keep the HD package...
As far as internet connection goes, its great for the New Xbox Experience. 10Mbps streaming HD Netflix rocks, video loads in ~20 seconds, plays without hiccups, as long as your roommate doesn't start trying to download stuff against you... Upload appears to be slacking, going at about 820Kbps consistantly. Several modem and router reboots does not improve anything...
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Review by Hemeguy
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 7.7 years, 82 visits, last login: 266 days ago
Wasilla,Matanuska Susitna,AK
$85 per month
about 3 days
"Fast speed"
"Somewhat unreliable. Lack of support."
"Looking for just speed, GCI might be your solution."
| |
I moved in my house in May 07. I called GCI and scheduled installation for both cable TV and cable internet. The service was up and running in a few days without problems. I came to find out that the cable line was actually connected to my neighbor's utility pole and the line was run through their property. The connection speed was quite good. I subscribed for 7Mbps download/375 Kbps upload and got about 5-6 Mbps download and 300+ Kbps upload. Rarely, there were brief interruptions of the service but it was still exceptable.
A few months later, there were long periods of connection drop. Some lasted for a few days. I found out that the cable line (that runs through the neighbor's) was jeopardized. I started calling the customer service and they eventually sent some tech out to fix the line. I requested the the line be connected to my utility pole but I was told that my utility pole did not have cable service. FYI, my house is located in the cul-de-sac and the utility pole is the last pole deep in the subdivision. For some reason the cable line does not go through my pole. Anyway, I was told that someone would be connecting the line to this pole and for that my connection speed would also be improved. I was very hopeful.
The connection drop recurred every 1-2 months. They had to send a tech out here to fix it. Everytime I related to the tech about the problem with the utility pole and I was told that someone would be working on it.
Six or seven times later, which was last week. I requested another tech come out to look at the line. Again, the line was splayed. I suspected that the neighbor must be the culprit but I don't want to blame them on this. This last tech told me that there was no plan on running the cable line to my utility pole. I related to him my concerns and the recurring issue. He told me that if he was the tech who came out here the first time, he would have told me that I could not have the service. Nevertheless, he promised to go talk to his boss about my problem and would get back to me. Again -- I never got any follow-up calls (same as 4-5 promises in the past by previous techs).
Now, the connection speed is very variable. Some minutes you can browse the internet at 4 Mbps but later it may drop to 0 (disconnected).
I am done with GCI. I just requested DSL setup from MTA today. They will be here next week. I will keep you updated.
Followup comments: 
Owlbet
Ignite the Ice
Premium,MVM
join:2002-09-24
Palmer, AK
clubs:
 ·MTA Online
| Good Product; Stifling Up/Down Cap MTA offers a really decent product. I dumped "customer no service" GCI as my cable television provider over a year ago. I took the highest DTV package possible with MTA because I wanted the higher internet speed of 8/512 only offered at the higher priced DTV plans. I also selected a phone plan. For approximately $200.00 per month I get the top DTV package with HBO ($130.00 which includes 3 set-top boxes), local phone ($25.00), 6¢ a minute long distance calling, and internet access ($45.00). Best of all, it's all on one monthly bill.
I run speed tests all the time. I can test to Anchorage and get half my advertised speed and then turn around and run a speed test to New York and exceed my speed. See my speed test history here:
»/testhistory/693202/5641c
I have DSLReports.com monitor my internet connection as well. I can see when there is trouble or latency on the line. The latency on my line, while not troublesome for me but may be for a gamer, hovers around 150-155ms day in and day out. See my line monitor here:
»/testhistory?v···n=ec&p=2
Be warned though, that MTA has an ironclad monthly cap of 10GB and they do charge $15.00 for every gigabyte you exceed their restrictive cap. The stifling cap is my only beef with MTA; otherwise, MTA's product far exceeds that offered by GCI.
--
Team Discovery
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 Review by koolman2
UPDATED: 1.6 years ago
member for 7.1 years, 3948 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
Contract price not specified.
about 3 days
"good ping, good throughput (10 Mbps) , reliable"
"upload is slower than I'd like, but I'm not complaining"
"GCI is worth it."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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We ordered on Feb. 1, 2005, and were installed during the afternoon of Feb. 3, so I guess it was actually two days. We originally ordered the Ultimate Broadband Package, but have since upgraded services. We currently have:
10 Mbps / 1Mbps with unlimited transfer
Basic cable (channels 2-17, CSPAN 1,2)
Phone service with up to 13 features
Cell phone service, 1400 Nationwide minutes and three partner lines
Long distance w/ 150 free out-of-state minutes, 10¢/min after 150
The cost of the internet on top of everything else is $99.99 (unbundled). I'm going to leave it at that due to the difficulty of unbundling the prices.
The install went great- the person that came to setup the cable (we haven't had CATV installed in this house for about seven years) went out to connect the cable to the house, while I connected the cable modem. After the cable internet was activated, I was surfing 8-10 times faster than with my old DSL with ACS (now about 40 times due to recent upgrades, as we were originally at 2 Mbps, then 5, then 7, and now 10 with unlimited transfer, while ACS was 320 kbps [256 after overhead, whereas cable modem doesn't have overhead because the modem syncs at the maximum rate and caps the bandwidth, unlike DSL which has a physical limit due to sync rate of the line]).
The company says that I have 8 dynamic IP addresses to use, but in my experience they tend to be static. I can keep an address for months at a time. Needless to say, I really don't mind at all! The addresses are DHCP-assigned.
Overall, I was a bit nervous switching from all-ACS to all-GCI, but am now happy I did so. We now have basic cable, 40x the speed of our old internet, and the same phone features as we did on ACS.
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Review by ColdSmoke
UPDATED: 1.8 years ago
member for 2.9 years, 6 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago
Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
Contract price not specified.
"No traffic shaping-Consistent speed"
"Pricey but you can get better deals with a package"
"If you use P2P applications get GCI"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
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3mbs/256kbbs here. I've had service with GCI for over 6 years. I have IP, telco and cable TV in one package. I am a heavy BT P2P user and GCI does not throttle or shape BT traffic. I am able to get 700K+ download speeds on GCI while being able to surf the web and run other applications at normal speeds. The Ultimate package permits unlimited download cap. I've had a couple bad experiences with the other IP provider here in Anchorage. The company I was with at Ft. Richardson was using ACS DSL. For about 2 months their service became shaky with a lot of outages. ACS never addressed the problem (even after 2 months) and provided us with a spotty IP connection. I suggested we change our IP provider to GCI and they came out and installed us in 2 days. Man, what a difference. Also, we needed an additional phone line installed from ACS. ACS assigns an account representative to business. You can't get an upgrade unless you talk to your account representative. The problem was we couldn't get in touch with him for over 6 WEEKS. He was either sick, on vacation or they moved in another guy and he would not get in touch with us. ACS is the only telco provider on Ft. Rich.
GCI QOS is getting better. A year ago they had maybe a 98% uptime. They had a lot of outages but I cut them some slack as they were upgrading their network. In 2007 I had ONE outage that lasted 4 hours. Tech support is great even the low level tech's know what they are doing and offer great support. Also like other cable companies that package internet with cable TV be sure to check for new deals and promotions as you can save a few bucks. I can't comment on ACS DSL as it was never an option for me but a friend has it and uses it for surfing and email. He is not a heavy internet user but he likes it OK.
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Review by cluth
UPDATED: 1.9 years ago
member for 5.8 years, 302 visits, last login: 9 days ago
Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
$49 per month
about 1 days
"Extremely reliable service, FAR better download speeds than ACS, pseudo-static dynamic IP addresses"
"Slow upload speeds, high price"
"Much better than the competition in Alaska"
| |
I also have the Ultimate Package. I've added some upgrades to the basic package. I've detailed what I'm getting and what I'm paying for below:
$79.99: Ultimate Package
>LiteSpeed cable internet service (64k/32k)--upgraded below
>Digital cable TV (115 channels)
>Analog phone service with 13 features (caller ID, call waiting, etc.) and 150 minutes of out-of-state long distance--upgraded below (to be upgraded to PacketCable-based digital phone service when available)
$49.99: 5mbps/256kbps cable internet service upgrade (includes unlimited data transfer and unlimited dynamic IP addresses)
$10.00: Additional 350 minutes of out-of-state long distance (total of 500 minutes)
$4.99: 1GB email storage
-----
Total monthly price: $144.97, plus taxes--around $160 per month
While it sounds fairly expensive to folks from the Lower 48, it's not bad for the quality and breadth of services I'm receiving. An additional deal is available if you use GCI's GSM cellular service.
I also got 10,000 bonus miles for upgrading to the Ultimate Package. Previously, I had been a GCI subscriber to an older package--it's nice that they offered the bonus miles to both old and new customers.
A couple of comments on the services:
*I have dynamic IPs, but in practice (due to GCI's three-day DHCP lease) these change on average about once per year--long enough for me to register a domain and host my own mail server on my connection. Static IPs are available for $10 per month (a bit steep) but come with business accounts.
*The upload speed has been a bone of contention among a lot of GCI subscribers. 256kbps is slow compared to the 1mbps uploads offered on similar (and cheaper) services down south. Truthfully, though, it's not the end of the world--for now, when I have a large file to send to upload or I want to use Amazon's S3 service to back up my hard drive, I take my laptop over to the university and use their OC3.
*I consistently receive the rated download speed from GCI's local network. When I run the speed test at »speedtest.gci.net at the largest setting (97.66 MB), I get a consistent 650+ KB/sec in Mac OS X's Activity Viewer and a final rating of 5.0+mbps from the speed test tool. GCI does good at making sure the last mile isn't congested. However, downloads and especially speed tests from the Lower 48 can be a bit slow (I haven't gotten more than about 100-150 KB/sec on the standard DSLR speed tests from Megapath or LinkLine or the like)--which is strange, considering GCI's fat pipes to Seattle (I think they're running dual OC-192s, but I'm not sure). Maybe it's the latency of going through 1500 miles of fiber. Downloading multiple files at once or using a program that splits downloads into multiple connections at once usually results in me getting the full 5mbps rating.
A few other tidbits:
*The Ultimate Package plus $99 gets you 10mbps/384kbps with priority technical support and a static IP address.
*It's hard to put an accurate price for just the Internet service, as GCI is so heavy into bundling that they only offer my service plan to people who subscribe to the Ultimate Package. The $49.99 is an upgrade to the basic free cable modem service, so the true monthly cost of *just* the Internet portion is more like $74.98 ($24.99 for LiteSpeed and $49.99 for the speed upgrade), although I'm sure GCI would charge more if it weren't bundled with the other items. In fact, if you're just looking for cable Internet and want to skip TV and phone service, you can spend $99 for 4mbps/384kbps (the highest stand-alone service offered)--so packaging things together really gets you an, er, good deal (well, comparatively). Regardless, I chose to put $49.99 in the Monthly Cost field above, as most people getting Internet in Alaska are going to go with a bundle, whether it's from ACS or GCI.
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Update 10/30/07
I took an out-of-town job in the summer of 2006 and then spent the winter traveling, so while I was away, I downgraded my Internet connection to the free one included with my Ultimate Package (320k/128k--just fast enough to keep my email server usable). When I returned, I opted to upgrade to the 3m/256k plan for $10 cheaper than the 5m/256k plan. $10 per month isn't much, but I've found that 3mbps is more than fine for most of my usage (though I wouldn't go much slower).
However, there have been some rumors around DSLR that GCI is going to be upgrading their systems/offering a new tier with 15mpbs down and 3mbps up. (Perhaps their old analog cable platform is gone and those frequencies are available now or something.) There has been no official word from GCI on this, nor has there been any pricing information, but if it's available for the same price as their current top-of-the-line plan (10m/384k for the Ultimate Package plus $99), I'll be the first in line to upgrade (mostly for the upload; until more high-quality media offerings, such as good, HD streaming media or HD movie rentals/purchases, are widely available online, I doubt I'll find the extra download to be useful, though it would be fun). If it's much more than than an extra $99 on top of the Ultimate Package, I don't think I could justify the upgrade. We'll see what GCI comes out with.
I've now had the digital phone service (mentioned in the comment attached to this review) for almost exactly one year, and quality has been to POTS standards or better. I think it might have gone down for a short time once, but it was back up and running in hours (or less--I can't remember), and it's worked when the cable modem platform has gone down (though my cable modem service has only gone down two or three times in the year, at least that I've been aware of).
Oh, and I just noticed that at the beginning of October, I got 500 Alaska Airlines miles as an anniversary bonus from GCI. Can't complain about that!
Still happy with GCI and still [probably too] happy to fork over a large chunk of change every month...ah, the digital lifestyle...
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Update 11/21/07
I just got home and tried to use the phone and found that there was no dialtone. I played with a couple of the other extensions in the house before I finally looked at the EMTA and saw that half of the lights were unlit and one of the lights that doesn't normally blink was blinking. I opened up my laptop to look for the support number from the website (to call from my cell, since I obviously couldn't dial 611 from the landline). I pulled up the number and just as I was about to call it, I thought I'd test the landline again. Sure enough, I got a dialtone.
Supposedly, the digital phone service is continuously monitored by the GCI NOC, which enables them to begin repairs immediately rather than waiting for the customer to call and complain. Worked in my case: I don't know how long it had been down before I found out, but it was fixed within 10 minutes of me discovering it. Certainly better than the two days my old copper landline was down before ACS finally got around to coming out to fix it!
I do find it interesting that the cable modem platform remained up while the voice platform was down, so I'm guessing it wasn't something physical with the cable itself (e.g. a backhoe ripping it out of the ground, etc.). I will admit that my faith in its 100% reliability is a tad bit shaken, but I'm not too concerned, since I have my cell as a backup (and Cellular One recently improved the cell signal in my area, so my cell is [mostly] usable at home, now).
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 Review by Gork
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 8 years, 1321 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Juneau,Juneau,AK
$80 per month
"Reliable speed, few outages, QoS, great customer service, network problems fixed during a specified time frame"
"Limits throughput, a little expensive, slower uploads"
"GREAT ISP. Of the two broadband ISPs available in Juneau, GCI gets a 9 & ACS gets a 1."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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Regarding GCI's cable modem service... GCI offers static IP addressing for a relatively small monthly fee and will also host domains for a one-time fee. They also do not block customers from running any type of service from their connections. GCI has great domain names for customers to use for email (alaksa.com, ak.net) and webmail is offered with email accounts so the customer can access their email through an Internet browser if so desired. GCI seems to do a great job of monitoring the traffic and upgrading where necessary to ensure customers are receiving the connection speeds they are paying for. I have never not been able to reach the speed I pay for. They also allow you to connect up to 8 computers through your cable modem and obtain real Internet IP address for each. Though bandwidth usage is monitored and limits are in place, the limits seem to be more than generous. 24 hour tech support is available, and the support staff is knowledgeable and helpful. GCI also offers a tech support forum where customers may obtain service and/or help each other out. GCI even assists customers with problems regarding a set list of outside vendors' products that GCI's customers use through GCI's ISP service (such as email clients, web browsers, FTP clients etc). In addition, GCI offers self install or they will roll a truck, currently at no extra cost to the customer. I used self install. Everything went smoothly but after a month or so I had a truck rolled to "turn up the juice" to the particular cable connection the modem was attached to. The occurred after I had two other cable boxes installed in my residence. Apparently the cable modem connection needs more Hz (or something like that) than what is required for cable TV alone. The truck roll was scheduled quickly and the situation was rectified within a day.
The ONLY real problem I've had with GCI has to do with intercommunication between various "departments" inside the company. For instance, GCI is also the cable TV service provider in my area and when the GCI Cable TV people take down the entire cable system, GCI Internet seems to know nothing about it at times. There is the issue of their email server(s) having problems for the past year or so, too. But, these servers were basically new and GCI was having a problem with their functionality. GCI seems to be working very diligently this issue, and it seems to have been a really big one that the vendor of their web server(s) hasn't been very helpful to assist in resolving.
GCI only offers cable modem and dialup service in my area (Juneau). I have used the only other cabled broadband service available in this area and the difference is night and day. The other service is DSL and it attracted me initially because I prefer the technology of DSL, the ISP offered higher upload speeds and did not monitor usage. After having innumerable problems with their staff and connection service I switched to GCI and have been happy as a clam ever since. I pay for their highest service level and am happy to fork out my $180 per month for 2.4 Mbps download and 256Kbps upload speeds, 30 GB of throughput per month (I normally use 2-3 GB of throughput and have never gone over 5) and a static IP address. I also receive two email accounts, 5MB of personal web hosting space, 24/7 tech support & usage of a cable modem, all of which are included in all normal cable Internet service packages offered. The slowest cable modem service currently (12/02) starts at 256/64K at about $50/ mo.
UPDATE (8/13/03):
GCI seems to have fixed the problems they were having with their email server(s) - I haven't had any type of a problem in the past few months. I also cut my service from 2.4Mbps/256Kbps to 1Mbps/256Kbps and now pay $80 per month including the $10 fee for my static IP address. I still receive the speed I pay for at all times. I have not had any roll-outs to my residence for problems since the one mentioned above and have had no problems with unscheduled service outages.
GCI has a service window during early morning hours when it completes any upgrades or changes to the equipment which might be necessary. Personnel have become quite adept at indicating on their web site in advance when service will be performed. Additionally, GCI now quickly updates their electronic answering system with a recording describing any current problems or outages (planned or unplanned). When calling 24x7 tech support the customer no longer has to wait on hold for xx mins just to be told that staff is aware of a problem and is already looking into it.
UPDATE (9/15/07):
I'm a bit behind here, but wanted to make mention of an issue that occurred about 3 years ago with GCI.
My cable modem started going out every night for several hours, sometimes intermittently. Over a period of a few months I spent a lot of time on the phone with GCI and had many truck rolls, none of which fixed anything. The techs visiting my house never found a problem and, indeed, the problem only occurred at night. It was extremely frustrating.
I finally had it and stormed into the GCI office one morning, slammed the cable modem down and hollered at the poor customer service agent that I was at the end of my rope. She was extremely understanding and helpful, and before the end of the day I had another truck roll, this time from an actual GCI employee (not the contracted folks) who drove up in one of the big trucks with the boom.
I showed him lists of reports I had obtained from BroadbandReports showing how often and for how long my connection went down. Instead of acting like I was an idiot who didn't know what I was talking about because everything was working fine, he checked the line at night during his time off. He spent the next few weeks working with a crew (of two) replacing all the connectors and wiring from my residence, the condo building and all the way to the street. It didn't solve the problem.
He finally found the problem, in a main connector about 3 miles from my residence! As it turns out, the connection was bad enough that when the temperature got colder the connection would slowly start to cut out until it completely disconnected. During the day, when the temperature increased, the connection would connect again. Though I find it odd nobody else complained, I was living in an underpopulated area and these disconnections occurred during the wee morning hours.
I moved from the area about a year later and ran into the GCI tech in the local grocery store. He asked me how the connection was working out and when I told him I moved from that location he said, jokingly, "After all that work you up and move?"
It's too bad it took me throwing a temper tantrum to resolve the issue, but when I had enough and finally made a big stink they did fix the problem, well enough that I never had another similar problem.
I have since, at my new residence, had a few problems with the service going out. But these have been area wide disconnections which were later addressed. I do get tired of calling tech support during these planned outages and they don't know anything about the problem. They want me to "unplug the modem" and go through that bologna because the local cable network folks aren't talking to the ISP tech support folks in Anchorage. I get all bent out of shape about these issues, and I really think a little inter-company correspondence would go a long way. I understand that there will be problems, and service needs to be adjusted from time to time. However, when I call I expect answers, not crap such as, "We can't call the techs to see if there is service being performed in your area until we've had at least five complaints about a service interruption." Please!
Other than these issues, service has been continuing as normal and I've been happy with the network service I'm receiving. The price is a bit high, I'm currently paying $80 per month for a static IP address with 7Mbps/320Kbps service. I have heard rumors that their upload speeds may soon be increased, but I have seen nothing written on the wall yet.
Followup comments:
Zarembo
@gci.net
| GCI - many outages and no credits for lack of service I switched to ACS Internet after putting up with almost a year of outages while GCI reconstructed their entire physical plant in Juneau. I had both business and residential service and suffered countless outages while purchasing their information services. Not once did they give me a credit on my lack of service, unless I asked for it - which didn't always get me credit.
ACS, while more expensive, (they don't provide cable or satellite TV services in Southeast Alaska), has provided me exemplary service for the period I've been with them. I've talked to a friend of mine, who is thriftier than me. He's been using GCI and has put up with numerous issues with reliability of service.
Again, ACS cost a little more, but to me reliability of service is number one. GCI as of yet, hasn't been able to ensure a high level of consistent, quality service.
I wish nothing but the best for GCI, they were the company that forced telecommunications competition into Alaska. Still, I'm glad to have ACS and ATT Alascom as competitors - it's communications is still expensive in Alaska, but having competition makes a big difference. | |
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