dslreports logo

Review by praetorian46 See Profile

  • Location: Yuma, Yuma, AZ, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $1500 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 2 days
No monthly Contract. Same day response on support calls. Helpful phone support. Fair price.
The connection has gone down, but no more often than the cable we had before.
This is an ISP that will work for you. A service provider is only as good as there tech support and theirs is top notch.
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Our company has moved to multiple ISPs trying to find one that will work for what we need. Our needs are: Hi-Speeds both upload and download, Same day tech support, No port blocking, and a connection that is on over 99% of the time. Beamspeed has stepped up to this challenge. For only $1500.00 a month Beamspeed provided two dedicated links to each of our locations. We get both 5Mbps up and down to both locations. They also went outside of there normal service and helped with our VPN setup for no extra charge where any other ISP would just simply state that that has nothing to do with there service. They were also very quick with there installation. I made the call on Monday morning. A price and service plan tailored fit to our needs was e-mailed to me before lunch. I placed the order that afternoon and I was up and running in both locations on Wednesday. If you’re looking for an ISP that you can rely on these are your guys.

-Cody

member for 16 years, 1 visits, last login: 16 years ago
lodged 16 years ago


Review by lewellyn See Profile

  • Location: El Centro, Imperial, CA, USA
  • Cost: $69 per month
  • Install: about 11 days
Flexible company with a better deal than TWC or ATT.
Unacceptable packet loss, supposedly will be fixed in 2 days.
If you're looking for an alternative to AT&T or Time Warner, and satellite just doesn't appeal, this is THE way to go!
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I recently moved to the Imperial Valley. Having lived in urban areas previously, I was expecting to see more competition for internet service out here. (Well, till the realities of living in a desert kicked in, anyhow...) The only 2 games in town are cable and DSL, as far as anyone I asked was concerned. I was about to relegate myself to dialup after having seen the speeds of what passes for "high-speed" out here... Why pay that much extra for not that much extra value?

I came across BeamSpeed by accident, looking for service for someone outside Imperial. I noted that they had a provider listed that I didn't: BeamSpeed... As I read over their (simple, but information-packed) site, I realized that they had to be using a MMDS or LMDS modem. (AKA "Wireless DSL" for city-folk.) Sure enough, when I called and spoke to Mike (he's a great asset to the company, and certainly knows his stuff!), he confirmed that they use NextNet stuff with many mile range. That ruled out millimeter-wave LMDS. Having been familiar with Sprint Broadband's MMDS offerings in the San Francisco Bay Area, I knew that MMDS would be even better in the desert. So, I signed up and asked for an install on the next weekday I'd be available for a 4 hour window. (They don't do weekend installs...)

So, I sat with bated breath for a couple weeks... Install day came today. The guy was within his window, which pleased me. Also, I don't generally allow techs to install my equipment. But, since I'm in a new development, they didn't know whether I'd be able to have the RSU (modem) indoors or if outdoors mounting would be necessary. And, sure enough, I couldn't get a lock on the signal even with the NextNet Expedience RSU in a window, facing the direction of the access point. So, we mounted it not far from one of my windows (with full strength showing on the LEDs) and ran Cat5 with 2 lines of power through the window. (Tight seal on the window, but it's better than drilling a hole!)

We hooked it up and waited for the DHCP lease (they even provide IPv6 addressing, it appears!) Since we had a good link, good speed, and an IP, I sent the installer on his way (he had other installs to do, and it certainly doesn't appear that my problem is install-related...). My only complaint was packet loss...

It's currently about 2 hours after install. I'm surfing with about 10-20% packet loss with a solid 768+ up and about 150 down. As for the packet loss, I called tech support and they claim that they're doing some maintenance on their back-end and that if it's not resolved in the next 2 days, to give them a call back. The pattern does appear to be such that it's simply congestion. In which case, I'll be fine once Wedsnesday rolls around. Even with unacceptable packet loss, my speeds are still quite acceptable. And, for those of you who fear the ping-monster, here is a ping-test I did against Google (with no other traffic):

Ping statistics for 64.233.167.99:

Packets: Sent = 724, Received = 643, Lost = 81 (11% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 73ms, Maximum = 527ms, Average = 191ms

So far, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on the packet loss, which is apparently the cause of the well-above-average ping times. Most of the ones I actually saw while watching were in the 100-200ms range. The outliers seem to have taken the average up. Even at 200ms, that's more than acceptable ping for me, especially considering that it's wireless.

I hope to update this once I actually have a better feel for BeamSpeed. But, I would solidly recommend it to anyone who's upset with the craptastic speeds of TWC and ATT.

And, I'm about to take note of a couple MAC addresses to see how hard it is to get a static IP (apparently just a DHCP reservation...), which sounds like it's a very reasonable price.

member for 21.1 years, 159 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
lodged 16.6 years ago


Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Yuma, Yuma, AZ, USA
  • Cost: $39 per month
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I am a snowbird who was looking for a wireless service provider in the
Foothills area east of Yuma. I contacted Beamspeed. They informed me,
in a very courteous manner of their various plans and options. They
came out and in a most professional manner installed their NextNet
wireless equipment in my 5th wheel, and got me set up with an email
address. This had a reasonable one time installation fee. Their Tech
was neat, pleasant, and answered all my questions. I pay $39.95 per
month, and when I return north, I simply return their equipment prior to
my departure. Next year, when I hope to return, I simply pick up their
equipment from their office and simply pick up where I left off, with no
repeated installation charge, and I pay for only the months I use their
equipment/service.

In reading local newspapers, Beamspeed recently hooked up with a
Nation-wide wireless company, and this may well have improved their
service. The review I read on your site from one irate fellow back in
2005 I feel is misleading today, and may well sour many who are looking
for a wireless provider in the Yuma area. On only one occasion did I
loose service. I called Beamspeed, and a recorded message indicated
they were experiencing a problem which they hoped to have fixed shortly,
which it was. My personal experience with this company has
been excellent, and I won't hesitate to hook up with them again next
winter.

Norm

(review was emailed from domain beamspeed.net)
lodged 17.1 years ago


guhuna
5149.5
Premium Member
join:2001-03-31
Benicia, CA

1 edit

guhuna

Premium Member

Wow.

Who designed the website? a 12 year old?

ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium Member
join:2001-08-02
La Porte, IN

ztmike

Premium Member

Plans..

Taken from their site..

Service Downstream Upstream Activation Fee* Monthly Service

TIER A 128 Kbps 128 Kbps $49.95 $39.95

TIER B 512 Kbps 128 Kbps $49.95 $49.95

TIER C 512 Kbps 256 Kbps $49.95 $59.95

TIER D 756 Kbps 256 Kbps $49.95 $69.95

70/month for 756kbps?? lol makes me glad i have comcast
Renthal
join:2005-10-16
West Lafayette, IN

Renthal

Member

Re: Plans..

ZTMIKE....

Do you remember having dial-up? Let's do a little study...you go back to dial-up for one month and then let us know if you'll pay $50 or even $70 when no other high-speed options are available. The vast majority of individuals have no idea the costs involved in running and maintaining a small ISP/WISP.

ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium Member
join:2001-08-02
La Porte, IN

ztmike

Premium Member

small isp's

Local ISP'S to me are csinet.net and netnitco.net, csi does not charge that much for that small of a speed..and yes i live in a small town

tomsawyer
@rr.com

tomsawyer

Anon

Good Up and Down

Compared to other local services, beamspeed has the best up and down I've seen. The times you're getting your paid bandwidth is much better than with Time Warner Cable or Qwest’s DSL. I’ve seen the local cable, DSL, and beamspeed all in action and beamspeed seems to perform better than either alternative. For instance, with DSL, my download speed always came below 800 kbps, even though I was paying for 1.6 Mbps. That’s less than half the bandwidth. With cable, my download speed was usually consistent but my upload speed was constantly falling under 300 kbps (paid for 768 kbps up). Only a third of what I paid for. I’d say Beamspeed is definitely the ISP to go with if you live in Yuma. Good customer service, easy setup, reliable Internet, and you get what you pay for!

jimoj
@racudanetworks.com

jimoj

Anon

Beamspeed is a really good option if...

... you live out in the rural areas where DSL and Cable aren't available.

However, as the previous gentleman mentioned, they are very consistent with their speed. If they tell you that you're getting 500K/s speed, that's what you get.

I have a friend who lives in Somerton and she's paying Qwest the ridiculous $79 per month fee for 7Mb/s download. That's supposed to be over 7,000Kb/s, but when I ran a bandwidth test over at PCPitstop.com, it consistently downloaded at only 1,250Kb/s !

That's ridiculous if you ask me. She's only getting one-fifth of what she's paying for!

Then, my sister, who also lives in Somerton, also has Qwest DSL and is paying for the 1Mb/s service. She hardly every downloads faster than 500Kb/s, which is half of what she's paying.

Not to mention, her service is down more offen then up, so she's really frustrated with it already.

I'm sorry to say that Qwest DSL seems to be very poor quality. I've been using BeamSpeed for the past 2 years and couldn't be happier with it. It's always up and you get what you pay for... simple as that.

Jim

Review by wiltat2 See Profile

  • Location: Yuma, Yuma, AZ, USA
  • Cost: $59 per month
When it is working good it is ok.
Most of the time it is not working worth a darn.
Better than dial up but to expensive.
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

They were the only thing available where I live other than dial up or Satellite until recently.

Service has degraded as they have added users and now It really stinks.

I'm paying 59.95 for Burstable at 756K/128K a month.

But most of the time I'm below 300K download.

I'm looking to go to QWEST DSL soon.

member for 17.2 years, 7 visits, last login: 16.2 years ago
lodged 17.2 years ago







Review by mdman71 See Profile

  • Location: Yuma, Yuma, AZ, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
No good points here, terrible service and down 1/2 the time
Terrible customer service, poor quality, often goes out. Lots of downtime, service guys never show up to fix the unit
Terrible. I would never use Beamspeed again!
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:



Looking for Service? Good Broadband Internet Service? Well, don't use Beamspeed! These guys are Rip off Artists.

We got nothing but poor performance and absolutely the most terrible customer service I have ever experienced in my life! The owner also owns Gila Electronics in Yuma Arizona. so I guess Beamspeed.net is just a hobby for them. We will never use Beamspeed Broadband Internet service or DigiPAX ever again and I recommend that nobody else does. Any company that does not back up their service should not have any customers.

We had nothing but trouble with Beamspeed. The worst part was the people we had to deal with!

I was a Beamspeed Customer, and I got to the point that I had to ask Why am I paying them $59 a month when they sure don't care about the service they give!

We would call for service when our system would go out. (which was often) The phone would ring off the hook with no answering machine, 20 rings no answer. After trying this for a few times during the day we finally get a person on the line who says

" you called here? I was here the whole time, you must have been dialing the wrong number"

Plus, when they installed it, they drilled 3 holes in our roof, Then, for some reason moved the dish, and did not fill the holes they drilled in the roof the first time!

So, We have holes in the roof that I don't know about until the next time it rained! so this caused damage to our place, and 3 other units in my complex! This was horrible! Not only did they not take responsibility for this damage, myself and the other tenants had to pay for the repairs.

After this, we really started to discover what Beamspeed Customer Service was all about.

While we have had Beamspeed Broad Band Internet Service these last few years (2000 to 2005) we have had nothing but Down time. and constant outages on a daily basis, but, when we called to ask about why our modem goes off line many times a day, they don't even seem to care! , below at the bottom of this statement you can see what kind of service we received from Beamspeed! I have copied the entire email of this just one time we complained. one of many! each time the response was similar. This email below is totally unedited except for my email address

One day Carter Hendrek owner of Beamspeed broadband internet service called us and accused us of running a game server! When we did not even have a computer at the IP address he was claiming we were using!, Plus, anytime after this phone call, when we reported any problems with their equipment they would not even come check it out. Never, Not once for the last 2 years would they come out when we pleaded with them to come replace the modem as they promised.

"We are not having problems" "If you knew the internet better maybe you would not have these problems" was the only answer we would get from Carter or his staff.

That's it! That's the customer service you will get with Beamspeed if your hardware goes out they will not even bother to look at it, and blame it on you, the paying customer. I expect to have a tech come out and at least look at the system if the modem is not working.

I have had internet service through many companies over the years, and was customer service manager for a large computer firm, and I have never seen customer service like this in my life. Not only is this company irresponsible, they are flat out stealing from their customers by charging for services not provided!

Here is the last correspondence we had with BeamSpeed broad band internet service..

Just so you know the company : BeamSpeed LLC. BeamSpeed LLC - USA - Arizona. Headquartered in Yuma AZ ... MMDS/ITFS channels in numerous U.S. markets, and provides wireless ISP services under the brand BeamSpeed.net

-
From:XXXX
To: info@beamspeed.net
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 1:57 PM
Subject: Daily Outages


We are having daily outages for the last week or so.
Please credit us and let me know when you will have our service running normally.

Sincerely
xxxxxx

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------



--
From: CARTER HENDRICK
To:XXXX
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 2:05 PM
Subject: Re: Daily Outages


WE ARE HAVING NO PROBLEMS THERE WILL BE NO CREDIT.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------


Really?,
we have been having daily outages since you contacted us and accused us of running a game server.
What happened to your customer service?
You dont even want to know what the problems are?

Sincerely
XXXX





-
From: CARTER HENDRICK
To:XXXX
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 5:40 PM
Subject: Re: Daily Outages


WE DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------



-
From:XXXX
To: CARTER HENDRICK
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: Daily Outages


So, I guess you dont provide customer service anymore by the tone of your emails Carter.

Do you run both of your business this way?

Your the worst customer service person I have heard of? you would think the owner would have a little more common sense.

You sure do not give me the impression that you want our business anymore.





--

From: CARTER HENDRICK
To:XXXX
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 6:02 PM
Subject: Re: Daily Outages



Do you run both of your business this way?
IF I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM.
HOW CAN I FIX SOMETHING THAT'S NO BROKE.
IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE INTERNET IT IS NOT MY FAULT.
MAYBE MORE COMMON SENSE WOULD HELP YOU UNDERSTAND ME.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
From: XXXX
To: CARTER HENDRICK
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 6:14 PM
Subject: Re: Daily Outages


Well, how do you know my hardware is working properly your modem has had problems before...

even if you are looking at it now and its working, does not mean its been working all day.. as it has not.

If this is the service I am paying for, then I am paying way too much.

You are supposed to have support, why don't you act like it.
You don't appear to know networks as much as you think you do or you would not have some of the problems you are having.

also, your customer service skills can use some work.

With all the money I have paid for your service so far, you don't give me much excuse to stay with you. or say anything good to any of my customers about either company of yours.



From: CARTER HENDRICK
To:XXXX
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: Daily Outages
IF YOUR SO SURE IT'S OUR PROBLEM YOU SHOULD GET A SERVICE YOU LIKE.

So, if you want service like this! Beamspeed is the one for you!



member for 18.4 years, 2 visits, last login: 18.3 years ago
lodged 18.4 years ago


jimmygyuma
@beamspeed.net

jimmygyuma

Anon

BeamSpeed Service

I signed up for their 39.95 service on Monday.
Since then I've downloaded a 370MB and a 260MB
file with nary a glitch - although sloooow.

This morning, Friday, I called and boosted it up
to 49.95 and immediately, he said ten minutes, but
it was almost immediate, noticed the difference.
I've since downloaded a 45MB file, again without a
glitch and in ten minutes, seemed pretty zippy to
me.

As for their service, compared to the norm nowadays,
they rated a 10.

Of course, who knows, next week I may be singing
a different tune.

Jim
georgenjop
join:2005-06-09
Wellton, AZ

georgenjop

Member

The above could have been written by me

Except that there is one more thing to add. I worked for them in Wellton. They removed my flyers from the town office and from Coyote Wash office and both that all referrals should come directly to the Beamspeed office. In 6 months of employment, I received no pay. Excuses, excuses, excuses. Finally, 6 months after quiting I received a check for 5 sales. I was on commission and was paid $50.00 for each customer I signed up. Then, after many emails and phone calls, they paid me for 6 more sales. There have been three other agents succeed me: The Hardware Store, The Ciropractor, and the Beauty Parlor; all have quit representing Beamspeed in Wellton. I wonder why?
georgenjop

georgenjop

Member

Re: The above could have been written by me

OOPS I meant to reflect the comments by mdman. All Negative. Carter does have a beautiful watch though.

XR1
@rr.com

XR1

Anon

Broadband VS Beam Speed

Okay lets see... Time Warner Cable has spend a lot of money upgrading there system since I know that when Adelphia was running the system they did not upgrade there system Time Warner Cable is taking care of all that problem they have placed signal boosters and remapping there system so all you Time warner customers and non customers for the price of Road Runner High Speed Internet at 45.95 a month + tax for a 5M connection this would be the price I would pay... Beam Speed is just like dial up but in wireless version of dial up..