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Review by shrraga See Profile

  • Location: West Danville, Caledonia, VT, USA
  • Cost: $65 per month (12 month contract)
Willing to replace modems
Will not provide proper speeds, insanely expensive, will not replace plant, will not provide bill credits
Avoid if at all possible
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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So, we've been fairpoint subscribers for 11 years now. We started off with phone (120 long distance minutes and unlimited local) and DSL (7/1mb) at a rate of $100 a month for the first ~7 years. Then, price hikes and the same was $110 for ~3 years.

I noticed I could save $40 a month by dropping phone and just get a cell phone (at&t 10 cents per minute plan) so Dropped that like a hot potato. Customer support talked me into a 1 year contract to lower my $65 a month price for my super slow 7/1 mb internet connection to "$55 a month for a year", 4 months into that the $10 bill credit went down to $7...

Way back in November (181 days ago!) my connection speed dropped to a third of nothing (1.70/.30mb, with frequent disconnects, so not even a stable low speed connection) and I've been fighting with them ever since to get them to fix stuff. I got a tech sent out once during that period, and had a ~week of blessed 7/1 (I know, that is really nothing, but barely more than nothing is better than nothing at all). After... February? Speeds have averaged 1/.3mb or less.

I cannot get them to provide bill credits (or refunds) for all the months with greatly reduced service, CS today saying that the issue needs to be resolved before they will consider crediting me... so, I'm stuck paying $58 a month until they actually fix their plant. Which seems like it will be never.

Edit: Should probably mention that the plant was damaged from repeated lightning strikes also... one of the incidents everything electronic was destroyed in my house, another incident wire was damaged by pedestals out on the road getting struck, destroying everything connected to the telephone line... I didn't know that DSL filters could explode like that, found pieces up to 20 feet away from where they were installed. These incidents happened way back in ~2010 and ~2013.

Update 5/8: Finally, after all this time, they are replacing the dead section of line. I've only been stuck with this »www.speedtest.net/my-res ··· 44437993 for $58 a month since november

update 5/12: They finally got back to me, telling me that they do plan to replace it, but have no estimates at all on when that might happen. So, today is day 192 of greatly reduced service.

member for 11.6 years, 308 visits, last login: 7.5 years ago
updated 8.8 years ago


Review by oran See Profile

  • Location: united state
  • Cost: $80 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 21 days
None really - only reason we have it is because we have no other choice.
Uncoordinated install - took weeks to resolve. Same thing if there is a problem with the service. Very unprofessional.
Avoid and use another provider if at all possible.
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Install: Everything for voice and DSL service was setup incorrectly. Fairpoint representatives lacked empathy and did not demonstrate any ownership to correct the issue.

Service: Unreliable. We had a disconnect problem that went on for months - we would keep opening trouble tickets only to have tech support close them without any resolution. Finally a tech noticed we had *thousands* of disconnects over the span of the past few weeks. Even he was shocked that his peers had not recognized the severity of the issue nor had they taken any action to correct the issue.

Support: Horrible! Representatives are not educated/trained well, and there appears to be a severe lack of quality control. No empowerment or ability to diagnose or correct the issue.

Bottom line: We have no choice right now - no other wired providers in our area. HughesNet, StarBand and Wildblue do not have very good reviews, so we're avoiding that route. We'd like Time Warner to begin servicing the area, but given that we are rural do not know if, or when, that will happen.

member for 23.3 years, 484 visits, last login: 4.6 years ago
updated 9 years ago


jchambers28
Premium Member
join:2007-05-12
Peculiar, MO

jchambers28

Premium Member

att 3g

does att do 3g service there? I would look into it than dealing with these morons.
oran
join:2000-11-14
united state

1 edit

oran

Member

Re: att 3g

Unfortunately wireless isn't an option - only US Cellular and Verizon service our area - all other providers are out. We recently tried data services from both - US Cellular was spotty and Verizon, despite their claims that we are in a service area, flat out didn't work.

Review by xQim See Profile

  • Location: 01234
  • Cost: $60 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
It Connects Most Of The Time, No Contract
Constant Slow Downs & Drops Requiring Reboot, Never Get Close to Advertised Speeds
Way More Expensive and Slower Than The Competition, Terrible ISP
Pre Sales information:
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unFairpoint has to be the worst ISP in the areas it provides services too. I don't need anyone to counter my claim because you will be 1 person out of 10,000 that actually gets the service you are paying for. Except for FAST, the price to speed ratio is downright abysmal. It costs $60/Month for 7.1Mbps/1Mbps. How is that competition when you can get TWC 50Mbps/5Mbps for $5 more? I still think TWC packages are garbage too. The Ultimate should be a minimum of 10Mbps upload. Anyways, I have had unFairpoint DSL several times. All of them were not by choice, as the house wasn't hooked up to the cable grid and I wasn't going to pay $6000 for TWC to run a line up my 1200ft long driveway. I also had it in another town where my distance was 5000ft to the CO, and another town where my distance was 3100ft from the CO and still didn't receive advertised speeds. It started out with Pivot.Net. Anyone remember that horrendous service? It was $60/Month for 256Kbps/96Kbps. Anyways, Pivot.Net was taken over by unFairpoint and the speed went up very slowly. The quickest package for DSL is 15Mbps/1Mbps if you are lucky enough to be in the area that provides this. Most people only have access to the whopping 3Mbps/1Mbps service. Furthermore, GWI leases lines from unFairpoint and can provide 20Mbps/1Mbps @ $44.99/Month. Why can't unFairpoint provide these speeds and pricing?

This is opinion based on experiences with this company. They do not care at all about their customers. Out of all the times I have had their DSL service, at no point did I receive advertised speeds. I realize the gimmick is "up to" but there should at least be a "best effort" to try and give customers the speeds they are paying for. I was even told by a technician that they oversubscribe DSL users 200% plus above what their equipment is capable of and what the town is allotted for speed. Every single time I had the service I would have frequent drops (which was blamed on a hop in New York), slow speeds, even slower between 4pm - 11pm (3rd Picture). Generally, the upload speed was quicker than the download. I also ran into an issue where everyday my speed would be cut in half for no reason, forcing me to continously keep rebooting the modem until my speeds returned to normal. The tech support is terrible. It gets old hearing, "Have you tried rebooting the modem," or "you need to plug the computer directly into the modem," as if either one of these fixes anything.

The service, tech support, and prices are terrible. Yes, the tech support speaks English, but what good is that when they have no idea what they're talking about? The best advice I can give anyone is AVOID this company at all costs unless it is the only landline service.

Here is what I received on a 7.1Mbps/1Mbps service (2nd Picture) and the other picture is what unFairpoint speeds should be (1st Picture | Ethernet 30Mbps/30Mbps). Furthermore, why is DSL always capped at 1Mbps upload when some of the DSL protocols are capable of 3.5Mbps upload? The answer is obvious. They have no competition so there is zero incentive to improve anything. As stated before:

Zero Competition = Terrible Service

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member for 20.5 years, 338 visits, last login: 8.5 years ago
updated 9.6 years ago

bejee
join:2007-07-30
Orleans, VT

bejee

Member

I guess it just depends...

Click for full size
...on where you are located. Westmore, VT:
xQim
join:2003-09-20
01234

4 edits

xQim

Member

Re: I guess it just depends...

Glad you get such great service.
bejee
join:2007-07-30
Orleans, VT

bejee

Member

Re: I guess it just depends...

Down boy - lets not bump the blood pressure! Unfortunately, most of your assumptions are not correct. I am a semi-retired IT consultant whose only connection to FP is through my clients and at my residence. My home service was installed 1 year ago July and most anyone who was going to sign up did at that time, except the numerous well to do seasonal folk who signed up this summer. The only option to FP is Great Auk wireless (Great Ugh!) and they have become, for the most part, a non issue where there is any competition. No cable in Westmore.

You might remember the feel good national news story about FP using draft horses to string fiber through the mud and snow - that was us. What you probably didn't read was that residents of this town brought drinks and tasty goodies out to the crews that were stringing the cable in appreciation of their efforts to bring reliable broadband to this corner of Vermont on time in spite of terrible spring flooding. I pay $50/mo for 15 down and 1 up and I get what I pay for and happy to pay it. To accuse me of Photoshopping my upload is rather childish.

Professionally I deal with FP, Comcast, Charter, Great Auk, and a myriad of phone providers and I can honestly say I have fewer issues with FP than the cable outfits. My guess is that is not as much technical as much as right of way issues in bad weather (read trees falling on lines!).

I agree that there are many sites trashing FP but as we know, satisfied customers rarely post to forums. Pissed customers often post. You posted because you were upset with your treatment by FP - I posted because I have a problem with your gross generalizations. I don't doubt your poor history with FP but I have a problem with stretching that to include the total footprint of the company. As I said before, it depends where you are...
bejee

bejee to xQim

Member

to xQim
I applaud your decision to remove your original review.

Review by jde5500 See Profile

  • Location: Drexel, Bates, MO, USA
  • Cost: $100 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
  • No Cap
Absolutely nothing unless you like to be lied to!
Horrible had nothing but problems. constantly down, tech says he showed up when he did not
If you want to have internet and have any other options choose someone else!!!
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Worst company ever.... never call back, never show up and they say our internet is working when it is not. Paying $100 a month for 12 MB/s but only get 3 MB/s most the time.

We call multiple times a day and IF they put in a repair ticket they just close it with no knowledge by us. They say that their modems a top of line, we looked it up and its only worth $20 (comtrend) Sorry I could buy a better one at a dollar store. Fairpoint Communications is a complete joke. Wouldn't invest it them ever. I know grade school students with more knowledge than their techs have. What a rip off...They come in and do a speed test say all good then leave, never fixing a problem. Paid for new lines instant problems. Oh and you have to pay for a phone line as well, never mentioned in presale or install. Wonderful!!!! We have to call them at least every other month because the internet is down. This week has been everyday. According to them we had a tech out here this morning I was home all day and no one showed up. They also put in the notes that they called at 9 am today and it was 11:30 when they called. The worst time with the internet was when it was out for a month and because of that I lost my job (I worked from home and needed the internet to do my job). They always said that they had sent someone out and never did. We have only had FairPoint Communications for about 6 months and only use them because they are the only ones that service our area without a cap on the usage. Your better off just running off your cellphone you will have better service. Thank you for your time.

member for 10 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 10 years ago


Review by forthepeople See Profile

  • Location: Selah, Yakima, WA, USA
  • Cost: $816 per month
bad bad bad
absolute thieves
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Upon internal audit of phone service, company stold over $30,000 since 2005...although they claim have have never looked at services they provided? We paid for modem that did not exist and 10 phone lines since 2005 through 05/21/2012. They simply stated we never requested a change in service....are you kidding me? Very limited service in any way, shape or form. They simply charged for services they did not provide. As a courtesy, they would credit our company for 6 Six monthz of DSL that has not exist since 2005. AND they wonder why?

THE END

member for 11.8 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 11.8 years ago


Review by mca824 See Profile

  • Location: Kearney, Clay, MO, USA
  • Cost: $89 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 14 days
Everything
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Speed 4meg ( That's it all they provide )
Took a little over 2 week's after calling them to come and set-up.
Equipment -Motorola RG2200C VDSL Decoder Box
First of all 4meg down..cell phone's get that and more nowadays's !
Second the Internet is Always crashing and when I say Always I mean ALWAYS !
Issue's with the Cable T.V. " There is a problem with your Network Please call ect..."
I've seen people posting that have FairPoint saying they have 15 meg or so down...Are you joking me ?Why are we here in Kearney Mo. limited to a poor sad pathetic 4meg??
Now I've called and reported these issue's..Same response "It has to be something wrong with your Equipment " So I started knocking on doors and asking questions..The result A lot of people have faulty Equipment....Or so they been told by Fairpoint

member for 12.2 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 12.2 years ago


Review by PersonX99 See Profile

  • Location: Manchester, Hillsborough, NH, USA
  • Cost: $38 per month (24 month contract)
It was easy to set up
Consistent less than 1/2 rated speed
Comcast is easier
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I have had FairPoint for a little over a week. I ordered 7Mb/768kb, but I am only getting about 3Mb down and 768up.

I am supposed to be on a 30-day money back guarantee, but I have yet to get even close to the rated connection speed. I made MANY phone calls. A tech is supposed to come out in a week and a half. They were surprised when I requested that my "30 day eval" not start until the service is "fully" active. I also requested that I be credited for the time that the service has been down (in this case, since the beginning). Reluctantly, they "agreed". They would not give it to me in writing, but I have ALL of the calls recorded. It probably would not stand up in court, but it might have an impact if I am forced to resolve the matter in arbitration. I hope it does not come to that though. I would rather just get the bandwidth and happily pay my bill.

Customer service at these types of companies are about the same, so I won't say FP has awful customer service. I have never raised my voice on the phone, but for some reason, I seem to frustrate them to the point where they begin yelling at me.

member for 12.7 years, 5 visits, last login: 12.5 years ago
updated 12.7 years ago

bejee
join:2007-07-30
Orleans, VT

bejee

Member

Fairpoint

15meg DSL just went live here in Westmore, VT. Thoroughly satisfied - so far! A couple of thing about FairPoint supprt: 1) They are located in the US. 2) They speak perfect English. 3) They honestly want to help and satisfy the customer 4) They don't always have the tools to do number 3!

Compare to the rediculous excuse for high speed internet that we hav ehad for the past few years - Great Auk Wireless - these guys are heroes. Cut them some slack...
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Read your TOS

Your speed is UP TO and nothing more. And just because you order a speed does NOT mean you'll get that full speed on DSL.
xQim
join:2003-09-20
01234

xQim

Member

Not surprised

You'll never get anywhere near advertised speed with unFairpoint. I had the 3Mbps/.768Mbps service and could hit the CO with a rock from my house. I could never get above 1.5Mbps and at night it would hover around 500Kbps. I hope you didn't sign a contract. Get out of it if so. Good luck! No slack to be cut, they are a terrible company.
PersonX99
join:2011-07-20
Manchester, NH

PersonX99

Member

that is quite a bit of slack to cut

If you purchased a car that got 1/2 the mileage advertised (under ideal conditions of course), would everyone be ok with that? I would not be. I would not expect to always get 7Mb down, but when I can rarely achieve 1/2 that speed, I think I SHOULD have a problem with that.
Prior to fairpoint, I was a comcast customer since 1997. The only problem I had with their internet is the limited "unlimited" bandwidth. I usually had faster speeds than advertised. I only got rid of them because of the cable tv, so I might have to go back if fairpoint does not work out for me.

Review by Gremlinlord See Profile

  • Location: Oxford, Oxford, ME, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Free modem, only show in town
Terrible service, slow speeds, not getting what you pay for, extreme variable latency
If you have ANY other option, take it and forget about Failpoint
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I've been with Fairpoint for about 1.5 years now. They expanded into new territory after our town wrote them a list of people and addresses that wanted high speed. Knowing we had a great desire for high speed they connected our area.

However even though they knew the number of people they rolled out a measly pipe that is always congested. My current speed is supposed to be the 3Mbps teir. I get ~ 2.2Mbps and consider that lucky.

My longest open ticket with Fairpoint was open for 6 months without resolution (it's documented in these forums). As a network engineer myself I know how WAN networks work. Fairpoint is incompetent, it's the only excuse for these issues in a "new" deployment.

If you have any other terrestrial broadband option go for it (note: Fairpoint dsl is too slow to qualify as broadband, hence the "High Speed" in their marketing). There are no other options in my area other then Sat and dial-up, nether of which are viable.

Unless you're looking for trouble, look elsewhere.

member for 13.6 years, 20 visits, last login: 11.7 years ago
lodged 12.7 years ago

xQim
join:2003-09-20
01234

xQim

Member

Better Than Me

I had the 3Mbps service and can hit the CO with a rock and couldn't get above 1.5Mbps down and at night it would hover around 500Kbps. Tossed that trash company out the window, got RR Turbo and get 30Mbps down now. I'm sorry you can't.

Review by kvkeerthi See Profile

  • Location: Nashua, Hillsborough, NH, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
The worst service i ever ever saw
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Every week there is a down time. When ever we call them they will say we have issues in NY, Main,NH,Vermont. They dont even have good Technical Eng the worst ISP i ever saw. I have stopped referring fairpoint........

member for 12.8 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 12.8 years ago







Review by Jbluefire See Profile

  • Location: Bar Harbor, Hancock, ME, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Better then Dial-up... sometimes
PPP drops, high pings, slow speeds
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Ever seance Fairpoint bought out Verizon I have had nothing but problems. When I have to call there tech support, usually due to PPP dropping, it takes about two week of calls and people coming by the house to "fix the problem". They end up "rebuilding the line" and it fixes it 50% of time. If it fixes it I am good for another 2-3weeks before I have to call about that issue or a different one again. It has driven me mad. I know most of their tech people by name.

If I had any other choice I would leave fair point. but I live on a side road with 3 houses. To get cable I have to pay $4000+ to get it run to my house. And the road is on the side of a hill and I can't get satellite internet.

So I am suck with the idiots at fair point. Avoid if you can!

member for 12.9 years, 1 visits, last login: 12.9 years ago
lodged 12.9 years ago


whatafpointm
@verizon.net

whatafpointm

Anon

unfairpoint

I subscribed to fairpoint dsl for 3mb and EVERY NIGHT get no better that 202kb. Found out from someone who works there that they put 200% too many on their dsl network to meet their promise to regulators and didn't bother to upgrade their systems and network to support it. So basically put way too many people on their dsl network causing it to get backed up and there for not allowing even close to acceptable speed. This is the worst internet I have ever Had! Fairpoint is by far the worst company ever and if they can't get it together and find someone stupid enough to buy their shamble of a company soon, will be bankrupt again in no time. What a bunch of BOZOS