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Review by notsobroad 
UPDATED: 1 days ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
 Alameda,Alameda,CA
 $37 per month (12 month contract)
 about 12 days
 "Local community company, not Comcast"
 "Having some really bad latency, reduced bandwidth lately, support seems to have been outsourced."
 "Was good for a while."
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Maybe there's just a bad neighbor on my line all of a sudden, but I'm getting 250Kb down and up on my 4Mb/256K connection. I would really hate to have to go back to the Dark Side, but if it isn't reliable, I can't use it.
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 Review by sashwa
UPDATED: 192 days ago
member for 7.5 years, 4374 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$37 per month
about 1 days
"Fast install, excellent Tech Support, and excellent Customer Service"
"I'd rather give back to my community than to Comcast or AT&T."
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I have been with AlamedaNet since 5/2004.
Whenever I have had to call Tech support with questions, they have provided excellent customer service on a personal level.
I upgraded to the 3.0/256 speeds 7/24/04. I called around 10:00 and by the time I got home from work I had the new speeds. I'm averaging about 2800+/230+.
On 9 August 2005, I was automatically updated to 4000/256 speeds. I'm averaging 3800+/238+. AlamedaNet has also lowered their prices. Now I am paying $37.50 rather than $42.99 per month.
One nice thing is that they send out emails when planned maintenance is scheduled.
4/15/06 - The bandwidth problem that began sometime in December was finally fixed the end of March. My speeds and latency seem to be back to normal for the most part.
5/19/07 - Service has been good as well as stable since my last update. Also no problems with latency this past year. Price is still the same - $37.50 for 4000/256.
Flash Speed test: 3919 / 239
Sun Java Speed test: 4028 / 246
2/19/08 - Service is still stable and no latency this past year. Price remains the same. They still don't offer any speed higher than 4000 up.
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Review by intermod
Posted: 239 days ago
member for 5 years, 77 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$42 per month
"Cheap..."
"Bad packet loss & latency; refuses to fix"
"AVOID"
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Had been getting slower service. I started running packet loss tests hourly for over a month and found packet loss figures up to 55% at times on a daily basis.
Replaced my cable modem twice just to rule this out.
Called APT at least four times but they effectively called this performance "normal" and finally refused to repair it. I have no problem with 1-2% packet loss, but anything more than that is bad. Cannot use any VoIP services (they get unuseable at about 8% packet loss), and web access an be intermittant. Sometimes works just great.
APT seems to be going downhill; maybe they are ready to close up shop? Sell? Avoid these losers...
intermod
Followup comments:  israndy
join:2004-04-18
Alameda, CA
| Same problem I love the cheap internet, all my friends pay much more than $40/mo for much slower service, but I am completely unable to run iChat to my friends. Most of those that have already tried to chat with me have already moved to Comcast. I will wait until we find out who is going to buy AlamedaNet from the city and if they suck too I'll find a new provider. I guess I'll check out Uverse, just wish the service was cleaner, I hate to go DSL, but I can't be spending $65/mo, that's crazy. Heck, for that I could just add DSL to my AlamedaNet. Route all iChat traffic thru it...
-Randy | |
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Review by russbutton
Posted: 305 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 25 visits, last login: 198 days ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$42 per month
"cheap, cheap, cheap"
"lousy bandwidth, inconsistant as well, many drops"
"bad news"
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It all comes down to the fact that I have had intermittant quality from Day 1, with frequent drop-outs. My VoIP line is virtually unusable as well. Repeated calls to Tech Support have never yielded anything useful. I should have stayed with Speakeasy instead of trying to save a few bucks. I shoulda known...
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 Review by KayakinMike
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 2.5 years, 643 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$40 per month
"Speed is consistent"
"No more than 4Mbps Down offered"
"Great for the price"
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City owned and operated. I'd rather give my money to the City of Alameda than to Comcast...
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Review by sbuttgereit
Posted: 2.7 years ago
member for 4.6 years, 18 visits, last login: 138 days ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$19 per month
"Service types available, overall circuit availability, price for cable service."
"High latency at Alameda Net/SBC hand off, customer service, packet loss"
"Have latency sensitive apps like games and some business apps? Don't bother."
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A few months ago I ordered a cheapy line from Alameda Net for my 'week day' home (my permanent residence is in a different city from where I work). For a 1Mbps line the deal is not bad at all.
Overall, the circuit has been up and available while I've been around and when things are running smoothly, the service is definitely a value for the money. However, this is only about 55%-60% of the time. The rest of the time may be problematic depending on your individual circumstances.
The standard pre-sales information was available on their website; their site is pretty simple so getting information isn't that hard. Making installation arrangements was problematic however. Apparently, Alameda Net (ultimately a city government run organization) contracts to private call centers during certain calling hours or volume conditions. The third party phone operator that set up my installation appointment evidently didn't record the order in the Alameda Net system, only their own.... so appointment day came and went. To resolve I had to replace the order. Turn around for the 'second' order was only about a week though and they even had the tech call me just before he was onsite to install. Everything else about the installation went well.
After a few days I noticed latency problems. These things happen so I wrote it off. But then again, and again. After a while I started to test it here on BroadbandReports.com and with other tools. What is happening is where Alameda Net's internet connection comes in from SBC, I see latencies that average 500ms over long periods of time at the Alameda Net internet edge router (based on my testing from inside Alameda Net and Broadband Reports tests from outside). At the worst (like tonight) it can be as bad as averages of 1.5 seconds. In layman's terms latency is a kind of slowness in the network with a little bit different meaning than 'bandwidth'. Games are particularly vulnerable to high latency (same as having a 'high ping'), but so are certain business apps like AS/400 5250 terminal sessions which some people do use from home.
High latencies will happen from time to time (nature of the internet), but my experience with Alameda Net is truly excessive. I am experiencing 500ms latencies over 40% of the time I'm using the circuit; I would expect 70ms-120ms to be acceptable for this type of connection. Yes, I game with it, but I also work with this line as well and both my games and my work simply don't function. So if all you intend on doing is web browsing and email... go for it, it won't bother you too much, but games and business apps... try the other, private cable providers that service the island.
For their customer support. Don't count on their email support or leave a call back number... I did both and never received a response from either (email >30 days and counting, callback number >24 hours and counting). Once I did get to a tech support guy, he was very professional and had information about the extremely high latencies tonight (SBC is testing the circuit). He didn't challenge my intelligence or ask me to do something silly like power cycle my cable modem (in this case would have done nothing).
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Review by apgodshall
Posted: 2.8 years ago
member for 6.1 years, 10 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$37 per month (month by month)
about 2 days
"consistently great downlink speed"
"could be cheaper, I guess"
"great"
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I signed up as soon as they laid cable in my area and my apartment building reached an agreement with AP+T (essentially just permitting them to install without exclusivity).
I paid a little extra for the Preimum package with 3Mbps downlink and static IP and it's just great. Purchase with cable TV service saved about $5. Looks like they've upped it to 4Mbps behind my back.
Haven't had any need for tech support or "services" from Alameda Power & Telecom yet (it just works and I don't want any friggin add-on serviced; I just want a great pipe to the net, so take my ratings in that regard with a grain of salt).
Good job, AP+T!
(Oh, and the company listing for this topic should be updated- alamedanet.com is certainly the domain for subscriber service, but the company goes primarily by Alameda Power + Telecom, and they sell the service through alamedapt.com)
Followup comments: apgodshall
Premium
join:2002-07-10
Alameda, CA
| was great till I moved Was great till I moved. Within Alameda.
Then it seemed to work find, though with a different IP. I assumed that was my new static IP, and it worked fine. For a while. After a few days I noticed that my IP address had changed. Turns out they were charging me for the package with the static ip but not giving me one.
So I called they "fixed" it and I lost my connection entirely. Of course when I called it was the weekend and nobody was available to troubleshoot such things on weekends. A few days later they "fixed" it again and my connection worked only well but only with any mac addr *except* the one assigned to the static ip.
when I called on weekends it turned out that the only people who reconfigure things only work M-F.
In the end they told me the problem was on my side(!?) have a technician come out with a laptop. I told them if I had to stay home from work it would not be to have them fix their service- it would be to have someone else's service installed.
A week later they called and asked if the service was any good. I told them it still wasn't fixed. They offered to send someone out on a Saturday. | |
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Review by djtronic
Posted: 2.8 years ago
member for 4.2 years, 410 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$38 per month
about 2 days
"Very fast setup, Quick Customer Service"
"Speeds slow at times, very long tech support times"
"Good value, slower speeds at peak times"
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I was really impressed by how fast I was setup, customer service was very impressive and very helpful. There was some confusion to how my home was to be setup, but was resolved in less than 10 minutes.
Now that service is setup, I'm using one of my older modems and getting about 2800down/210up during non-peak hours. When I switched up to my Motorola SB5100.. I was gettng horrible speeds - 900down/75up.
At night between 7pm-10pm, it gets pretty slow, and can be a little frustrating at times. Hopefully this won't be a long term problem.. if it is I can see myself switching over to Comcast.
Overall, I am very impressed by customer service, and I'm hoping the speed problems start getting a little better.
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Review by mredison
Posted: 3.3 years ago
member for 4.1 years, 82 visits, last login: 24 days ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$32 per month (month by month)
about 1 days
"Support the people's internet!"
"1.5 Max download"
"Good service, typical price"
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I have basic cable and 1.5Mbps cable modem service from the City of Alameda (Alameda Power and Telecom). They set everything up quickly and the techs and support are city employees, I think. Support is very responsive. I provided my own DOCSIS cable modem (initially a crappy 3COM that crashed all the time, but now a fine DLink). AlamedaNet also ran a second cable last month back to the office and did not charge anything to do it. Even though it is not as cheap as it could be, as a city service, I like that the money goes back into the city coffers to pay for Alameda's many fine parks and other services.
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Review by baraqiyal
Posted: 3.9 years ago
member for 3.9 years, 28 visits, last login: 2 years ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$32 per month
about 2 days
"Local tech support (not outsourced), free install, price."
"5 Gig allowance per month. Upstream speed not too exciting."
"Good value overall."
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Switched over from Comcast for the lower price. No problems so far. Technician arrived within the four hour window (Not sure why cable companies can't narrow that window down by a couple of hours). Speed is as advertised (1500 down 128 up). Hope I don't go over the 5 gig monthly limit.
They offer a $25.99 plan for the ultra price Conscious. 384 down, 128 up.
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