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Review by intermod 
Posted: 1.9 years ago
member for 6.3 years, 98 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Alameda,Alameda,CA
 $42 per month
 "Cheap..."
 "Bad packet loss & latency; refuses to fix"
 "AVOID"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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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: 2.1 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 31 visits, last login: 262 days ago
Alameda,Alameda,CA
$42 per month
"cheap, cheap, cheap"
"lousy bandwidth, inconsistant as well, many drops"
"bad news"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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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...
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Alameda Power & Telecom |
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Review by sbuttgereit
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 5.8 years, 19 visits, last login: 235 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."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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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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Alameda Power & Telecom
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