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Review by TheBastage 
member for 203 days, 0 visits, last login: 203 days ago
lodged 203 days ago
 Alameda,Alameda,CA
 $50 per month about 5 days "Service Reliability, Customer Support, Customer notifications" "Lose a bit of bandwidth in heavy rain. Need LOS to towers (They have many)" "Excellent value through reliability, speed and service."
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Next Gen Residential Plan - Internet Standard Plan
6MB Down / 3MB Up (Says Burstable, but I regularly get 6/3)
5 Static IPs (used for servers)
3 Mail Accounts (not used)
$49.95 Monthly (Recurring)
$311.49 Setup Fees (Dish, Clamps, Radio/POE@$162, Professional installation @ $150)(Non-Recurring)
Using service since July 2011. High reliability, very satisfied.
***Must have Line of Sight to one of their towers*** (Map available at »unwiredltd.com/map4.php )
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I'd worked with comcast and at&t when I first came to the bay area in 2000. Disappointed by their prices and customer service, I moved to Speakeasy who I had been with from about 2003-2011 (Excellent service by the way 3Mb/750Kb for $89 3 static IPs and no caps). Mid 2011 I moved back to Alameda from Oakland and remembering my issues with comcast and at&t I was looking for an alternative.
The DSL situation in Alameda can be tricky. You don't know which line you'll get, so your route to the CO might not be good quality, or the line length can be longer than the map estimates.
Cable is usually pretty good for speed. But having to deal with comcast, their over charging, their bundling, and their deceptive marketing (like at&t which doesn't even tell you how high your rate will go after the intro period) I decided to go with a small provider.
I chose unwired ltd because I had LOS to their towers in the Oakland hills from Alameda (I have a 2 story house) and that the speeds 6/3 were acceptable for the price $50(49.95). Also, reading a few of the other reviews online, it looked like they were a small shop interested in customer retention.
Customer premises equipment consists of a Dish, Radio (in the antenna in the dish), mast, clamps, mounting hardware (all like Satellite if you're familiar) but also a Power over Ethernet brick that gives regulated power as well as one ethernet port (to be hooked up to your router/firewall).
Intallation on our roof (difficult to access and steep grade) made it a bit dangerous to be on top of, however the installer brought a ladder that allowed him to get to a safe spot on a more level part of the upper floor. The installation took about an hour with the installer attaching the dish to the roof and then routing the cable nicely so it was out of the way of weather and out of the eye-line of passers-by. He drilled a hole in the side of the house under an awning and then put weatherproofed gaskets on the inside and outside of the wall. Did several speed, packet loss, noise, and reliability tests. Hooked up my firewall/router and continued the tests from behind. Got 6/3 no problem. Tested with Netflix, Hulu, WoW, Counter Strike, Q3, and security camera software. Decided that the install was a success.
After installation, tested connectivity through T-Mobile 4g to verify that servers in my DMZ were accessible and had good bandwidth. Everything looked good.
So far, I'm very satisfied with the service.
The reason I'm writing is that while I was downloading another game to try out (SWTOR), I noticed that I was getting a bit of a drop in bandwidth on the download (3.7Mbit vs 6Mbit) while there was rain outside. So I decided to shop a bit here on BBR and DSLR to see if there were any good deals on broadband for Alameda. I game online (only a bit now) but I also work from home and have to do video and audio conferencing over the internet. It requires low latency but also can require reliable upload bandwidth. I was spooked a bit because the rain could bring down the bandwidth a bit. So I was shopping.
Looking at comcast and at&t I found that they allowed for higher bandwidth, but people were still complaining about their customer service, getting overcharged, deceptive marketing, faulty equipment, and bad ticket resolution time. Also, after the "promotional" period ends, you get almost similar bandwidth to unwired (though comcast has a faster 20Mbit burst @ $48/month (non-promotional)) for the dollar. Also, once you're a customer, it seems that customer service doesn't care that much about you. They only care before you become a customer. There are no incentives to stay a customer, only penalties (promo period ends).
After having shopped online, reading forums, looking at praise and complaints, I've decided to stick with unwired. I just wanted people in Alameda to know there are alternatives other than comcast and at&t if you have LOS to the Oakland Hills. Usually means a two story-house.
All in all, great value. The techs are awesome, knowledgeable and nice. Sales people don't pester you at all and are very fast to process provisioning requests. Service people (I have only talked to one once) was able to help me debug an issue within about 5 minutes. Service is mostly 5.9Mbit/2.8Mbit actual (sometimes more than 6/3 on occasion). Light rain has no effect, but heavy rain does disrupt the service quite a bit (ping isn't bad, but bandwidth is reduced).
Would be happier if the 12Mbit service came down in price, or that rain didn't disrupt the service a bit.
Mostly satisfied.
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Review by unwired0
member for 1.7 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.7 years ago
lodged 1.7 years ago
- Oakland,Alameda,CA
- $49 per month
- "In my case, not much at all."
- "Extremely lower speeds than what promised."
- "I have been taken. I am paying for a service I am not getting."
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I was attracted to this company by the reviews from people bragging about their customer service. And I thought I was agreeing with those reviews myself, during the initial days. Customer service was always readily available and friendly and seemingly very eager to help.
And I still thought that way even just after a few days that my service was running when I had to contact them because the speeds I was getting were far from the speeds I was promised I would get, far from the speeds I signed up for and I was paying for. Even then, though, I still thought good customer service. They convinced me that the issue would be resolved promptly.
Well, I know better now, nine months later. Nine months later, I am still getting ridiculous speeds. While I am paying for 6down/3up, my latest test clocked at 2down/1.12up. (And if you think that is bad, try the previous test: 0.26 Mb/s / 0.79 Mb/s). Speeds between 1.5 and 2.5 are common. Speeds higher than 4 or 5 are very rare. Of 6, which is what I am paying for, never happen.
That to me is unwired stealing from me. Charging me for something that I am not getting.
Besides the $49.95 I am paying a month, I paid $400 at beginning of service to pay for the dish antenna and the activation fee.
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 | | No Guarantees The website clearly states it is a burstable connection. They aren't guaranteeing you anything and clearing aren't "stealing" | |
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Review by stephthegeek
member for 6.9 years, 13 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
updated 2.9 years ago
- Oakland,Alameda,CA
- $90 per month
- about 7 days
- "Fast, personal attention, great price for the service, upload speed, sane usage policies"
- "Limited availibility, setup cost, potentially long installation/tweaking period, more expensive than Comcrap"
- "The best and cheapest option for synchronous connectivity, very reliable and smart company"
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Fantastic service so far. The installer was here for several hours on the first day, trying to get a clear shot of the tower over BART and through power lines. He also came back the next day for some more adjustments, but it's working fantastically now. Speed tests range in the 3500-5000 range, for both upload and download.
One odd thing to note, they used my last name as the default for the hostname. I didn't exactly want my last name being broadcast to everyone on IRC  I pointed it out and had it changed, but I don't know if they will continue to use that as their standard.
And here is some information from our pre-sales email exchange:
* They offer four plans with the same radio equipment: residential 3mbps/3mbps ($50/mo) and 6/6 ($90/mo), and business 4/4 ($160/mo) and 7/7 ($380/mo)
* Setup fee plus equipment = $285 after rebates for the residential 6/6, $275 for the business 4/4
* I asked what their usage limits were: "If we see sustained usage above 1 mb/s CIR we usually talk to the user"
* Setup time is usually less than a week
* Residential plans have a best-effort SLA while the business plans have a 24x7 SLA with rebates for SLA violations
* Business plans can be shared and residential plans cannot
* There needs to be a clear line of sight to the tower (in my case, the Oakland Hills ridgeline)
MAY 2010 UPDATE
Well, we've been an Unwired customer for four years now and are still thrilled with the service. It's moved with us to three apartments now. Luckily our landlords have not had a problem with the dish installed on the roof. It is SO nice dealing with a small company. We had an appointment with the installer tech within a few days to come out and move the dish to the new place on our moving day.
At the last apartment in Berkeley we were easily getting the advertised 6/6 speeds. Now we're in North Oakland, and speeds are also very near advertised. We were unable to get the new 12/6 connection right away, but the tower we are connected to is apparently getting its speed upgrade in a few weeks, at which time we'll enjoy even higher speeds.
The new plans are:
- 24/9Mbps for $129.95
- 12/6Mbps for $89.95
- 6/3Mbps for $49.95
Absolutely no problems with stable speeds, great low latency, no issues with sane amounts of torrenting, and super friendly people. Completely worth the small premium for a service that is so critical for our lives and small business!
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 Review by badtrip
member for 9.1 years, 2272 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3.4 years ago
- Albany,Alameda,CA
- $89 per month
- about 4 days
- "Reliable. Friendly. Obviously care about their customer's experience. Symmetric service."
- "Almost double the monthly price of Comcast. Hefty set-up fees."
- "Customer service and support is good."
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My wife and I telecommute often and we need a rock-solid, reliable connection. Unfortunately, Comcast was either unwilling or unable to provide what we needed so I did some research and found Unwired.
During my very first call and each subsequent communication with Unwired, I have been treated with courtesy and respect. The microwave connection is extremely reliable, in the 6 months I've been an Unwired customer, I have seen so much as a hiccup. Maintenence is transparent, timely and unobtrusive.
I reservedly recommend Unwired to any and all in their service area.
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Review by petertait
member for 5.1 years, 6 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
updated 4 years ago
- Berkeley,Alameda,CA
- $49 per month
- about 1 days
- "Fast, small local company, frighteningly responsive"
- "Must have line of sight, and small company means service quality depends on individuals"
- "I'm SO happy...."
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If you have line of sight to one of the Unwired towers, and like dealing with a small local business, this is a great choice.
After almost 10 years of reliable COVAD DSL service, I started to have increasing line problems and decreasing speed. A visit from a COVAD tech uncovered issues with the line and resulted in the speed being reduced to 1Mb/s to get some stability, and lately it's down to about 750kb/s. I'm in the Berkeley Hills a long way from the CO, at least 12k feet, but 1.5M service was fine for years. My personal suspicion is that ATT/SBC is undermining 3rd party DSL service to cut these suppliers off.
Anyway, I needed a replacement and I didn't want to go to ATT or Comcast. Based on reviews on this site I contacted Unwired Ltd by completing the Check Availability form on www.unwiredltd.com. Within 24 hours, I had an email from a network engineer (Claire) with information on tower locations, plans, pricing etc. Over the next couple of days, Claire answered all of my service-related questions by email, sometimes within minutes.
When I finally selected a plan and sent her the paperwork, she offered installation the next day! Unwired was also able to schedule install within a one-hour window, and the installation tech arrived right on time. Installation took about two hours, and the initial tests showed I was getting 5.8Mb/s each way. That has since been throttled back to the 3Mb/s I am paying for, although it varies a little during the day. I haven't seen less than 2.5Mb/s down and 1.8Mb/s up on the DSLReports flash test. Latency is typically around 20mS.
It is funny and wonderful dealing with a small company. The bill arrived via email about 10 days after the install, and was actually from a real human being with a direct office number. If I have any billing issues, I can actually reach the right person directly, without going through a maze of phone choices.
Installation is expensive, especially if you choose to purchase the equipment, but the $49.95 monthly fee seems great for this speed.
So far, I'm a happy customer, and I love the idea of supporting a local business.
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Review by mattyx
member for 4.3 years, 19 visits, last login: 165 days ago
updated 4.1 years ago
- Oakland,Alameda,CA
- $89 per month
- about 4 days
- "Local, independent company who care about their users. Fast and low latency!"
- "More expensive than other options"
- "Its worth the extra cash for this level of service."
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After having Comcast as my TV and internet provider, I finally got fed up with their constant price increases, and poor picture quality. After they could not fix the TV quality after more than 10 callouts, and repeatedly missed my appointments, I decided it was time to stop paying them altogether, and move my TV and internet services to companies who valued my business. I was looking for an internet provider who would give me a good speeds, and not require me to sign up for a phone line (since I don't have/need one). After reading some of the reviews on dslreports.com, and hearing someone I work with rave about Unwired, I decided to give them a shot.
4 days after my initial call to sign up, the service was installed and working. I will say that the installation costs are a bit steep, but from what I have read, the radios (dishes) they use are quite expensive, and are discounted deeply. That said, the installer was very professional, very nice, and honestly cared about making sure I was getting the best speeds I could get. He spent time make sure the dish was mounted securely, and even fixed a loose bracket on the house, since he was up there. I was immediately impressed with the level of customer service and quality of install.
Some time after the install, I noticed that my speeds were not as fast as I had hoped (I opted for the 6/6 plan, and was getting 4.5/4 or so). I contacted Unwired, and they verified the access point I was on was very busy, and offered to either move my radio to point at another location, or wait until they added more access points on the tower I was pointed at. Like clockwork, they added the additional access points a month later, and had swapped out my radio, and readjusted it for me. You're not going to get service like this from AT&T or Comcast. This is the beauty of a local company, and specifically Unwired.
I have never had an internet provider care so much about my needs, and treat my issues with such care and expediency. I am extremely impressed with Unwired, and see myself being a longtime customer. I urge anyone who is sick of their cable/DSL provider to give them a shot. You wont be disappointed. It's great to both support a local company and have such amazing customer service and technical support. I am very happy.
UPDATE 3/28/09:
Still loving Unwired. I have had no problems, and am happy with the service. If you're looking for a company that actually cares about its customers, give Unwired a try. I'm a very satisfied customer. Speeds are exactly as promised, and latency is low (18-21ms).
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Review by tdelporto9
member for 11.6 years, 4 visits, last login: 5 years ago
updated 5 years ago
- Emeryville,Alameda,CA
- $90 per month
- about 5 days
- "Fast install turn-around, Great connectivity to major providers, no wires, very personal service"
- "A little more expensive and longer time for physical install than DSL"
- "So Far, much better than any other internet connection I've had"
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After being a Speakeasy DSL customer for 7 years I had to find another provider due to AT&T continuously moving my copper in preparation for providing television in my neighborhood. I couldn't stomach Comcast, and FIOS isn't available to me, so I decided to try wireless. I set up wireless networks as part of my job, albeit for a much different application (large groups in concentrated areas rather than long distance point to point) and as such was leery of trusting a wireless link. The nice bit about Unwired's solution is that they use Motorola's Canopy product which uses licensed spectrum (5.7Ghz). I've only had the link for a week, so I'm not sure how reliable it will be in weather, but other reviews suggest that I don't have anything to worry about. They used a dish about the size of a Satellite TV dish for a 4 mile connection.
Unwired is a small business and support is very personal. I just email or call my contact and he responds personally and promptly. I have a routed /30 subnet for my single IP, something most providers do not do, and had the option of a /29 without additional charges. I play FPS games online casually, and latency is much less with Unwired than with DSL. Web pages load *very* fast. Bulk downloads seem to average around 3Mbps though I have 6Mbps class service. The one drawback seems to be their bandwidth to subscriber ratio is lower than larger providers. I might be upset but for the fact that they are very upfront about the "burstyness" of their connection. Oh, and latency to my office is 14ms. SSH is just like being on the office lan.
------------ update May 2008 -------------
Now that I've had the service a couple months I can readily recommend it, as long as your primary internet use is not bittorrent. Unwired allows bittorrent and requires users to police their own usage limiting rates depending on the tier of the user's subscription. A week or two ago a fellow subscriber didn't cap his/her rate, the result of which being latency shooting way up, at times to over 1000ms on the first hop. Web surfing still worked, albeit slow, but interactive ssh and my favorite FPS game were pretty useless. Once notified Unwired took care of the offender. and the connection has been fine since. I hate to say it, but cases like these make me a little more sympathetic towards ISPs that shape or limit bittorrent traffic.
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Review by bbrown888
member for 7.4 years, 2 visits, last login: 5.5 years ago
updated 5.5 years ago
- Oakland,Alameda,CA
- $89 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "Personal Service, Highly technical staff, excelent value, high quality"
- "Limited service area"
- "Superior alternative to wireline, high speed upload rates"
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Unwired provided me with a custom wireless link between my home and Internet with static IP’s and reverse DNS at no additional charge. Upload/Download speeds vary with radio frequency and technology, my link is 3mbps (slowest due to trees etc. in the pathway). Unlimited monitors the quality of signal and link status every five seconds and sends me a quick email if there are any issues. Unlike many wireless services my real life wireless loop delays are much less than T-1’s, typically pings to WWW sites is less than 6-8ms. You will get great customer service. I have checked all of the East Bay San Francisco Bay Area WISPS and Unwired is simply the best quality WISP I have found.
11-07 Update:
It's been 3 years since connecting with the service and everything is still running great. My radio link is monitored 24 hours a day for quality of the connection. When I've unplugged the radio to re-wire I always get a followup email just to make sure there are not technical problems with my service. The stability is far better than any copper based internet service I have had such as Covad, DSL, @Home, ATT, or Comcast.
-Brad
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Review by Uxorious
member for 12.9 years, 118 visits, last login: 3.2 years ago
lodged 6.2 years ago
- San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
- $89 per month
- about 5 days
- "High (symmetric) speed. Small company with highly skilled workers."
- "Difficult installation. Burstable speed. High installation cost."
- "Highly recommended."
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Pre-installation was a breeze. Unwired was extremely helpful in providing pre-sales information - both non- and technical. Installation was scheduled just a few days after the order.
The hardest part of the installation was getting the dish located in a spot with good reception... but then again, I'm quite far away from the radio tower so I guess that is to be expected.
When the installer initially came out, Unwired didn't have a "high gain" antenna live in the tower, so I was unable to get 6 mbit. They installed the radio/reflector dish in the spot I preferred, and everything was running. About a week later, the new radio in the tower went live, and hey switched me over - but for some reason I was only getting 6 mbit upstream. Downstream had issues and was giving me around 3 mbit. Not bad - but I was looking for the 6 mbit plan.
After a few weeks we agreed to try moving the antenna. They sent the installer out again, and we spent a few hours moving the dish around and doing measurements. I guess when you're 14+ miles away from the tower, the location can get a bit tricky. Moving the dish even a few feet had dramatic effects. In the end we were getting a solid 6/6 connection.
The connection is "burstable" meaning that the bandwith is shared across multiple users, and so you will not always get the full speed. (This is also the case with cable-modems and such - they just don't advertise it). I have yet to be botherd by it. All the speed tests I have run have been 4+ mbit, and the majority has been closer to 5 or 5.5 mbit.
The Pro plan came with 5 useable static IP addresses, and Unwired will set up reverse DNS at no charge.
I have now had the service for a month or so, and I am very satisfied!
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