how-to block ads
|
next review in page
Review by Okinell 
member for 119 days, 1 visits, last login: 118 days ago
updated 118 days ago
 Conroe,Montgomery,TX
 $49 per month- (12 month contract)
 "Only good are the field technicians." "Just about every aspect of this company is THE WORST." "The only reason I use them is that THEY ARE MY ONLY CHOICE!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
When I first moved to this location, Grangerland, Texas, in late 2003 Dial-Up was all we could get. In about a year Consolidated was and still is the only DSL service offered in my locale and is a great example of the type of service you get when there is NO COMPETITION. The DSL has always been erratic both in speed and consistent connectivity. About 5 or years ago I signed up for their Digital Video Service, i.e., DVS. WHAT A JOKE THAT WAS from the "get go". I had two other neighbors that also signed up for it but ditched that garbage in about 6 months. I did stick it out up until early this summer when I tried to have them increase my DSL speed from 3 mbps to 6. That is when the proverbial excrement "hit the fan". Both my DSL and DVS were never working properly as soon as they increased my speed to 6 mbps. I was told that due to limitations of their system I would have to reduce my DSL speed back down to 3 mbps or give up 2 of my DVS data streams in order to have enough bandwidth to keep my 6 mbps DSL speed. What total failure once again! I finally quit the DVS totally and am very happy with my DISH NETWORK. Even with no DVS I had better connectivity and consistent speeds back at 3 mbps. My current DSL speeds can range from sub dial-up speeds to just over 4 mbps and usually my speeds hang around the 2 mbps range. This company SUCKS and so does their service. I can rarely view streaming videos because of all of this not to mention waiting for the web connectivity to reset itself. I HATE CONSOLIDATED COMMS.
Comments:
 | next review in page (previous review)
Review by Mowergun
member for 7.9 years, 1505 visits, last login: 16 days ago
updated 167 days ago
- Charleston,Coles,IL
- $14 per month
- (12 month contract)
 about 5 days- "A lot faster than dial up when it works"
- "In my first fourteen days service has been down three days and counting"
- "Unreliable so far, I hope it gets better P.S. It got better"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I was a Consolidated Communications dial-up customer until DSL finally became available at my location two or three weeks ago. They had an introductory promotion of $14.95 per month for up to 3Mbps service for 12 months. After twelve months the price goes up to $39.95 per month.
My service comes over 3/4 mile of copper line from the terminus of the nearest fiber optic line. My actual speed seems to be just a little less than 1Mbps. That is fantastic compared to the 26,400 bps dial-up service that I had in the past, and I would be very happy if it were reliable. However in the first fourteen days of DSL service, my internet has been out of service for a total of three days and counting in two out-of-service occurrences. It is out of service now, and I am writing this review using dial-up.
Consolidated furnished me with a Consolidated branded modem with wireless capability at no charge, I think it is manufactured by ZHone, and also five phone filters. I installed the hardware myself. Consolidated sales people were friendly and helpful, and tech support (located in Texas) has been friendly and technically knowledgeable.
I am located in a rural area just twenty five miles from Consolidated Communication's corporate headquarters in Mattoon, Illinois and Consolidated Communications is my phone company.
I would be very happy with my Consolidated Communications DSL service if it were as reliable as Dial-up. I have been without service for three+ days out of fourteen so far. I hope it gets better.
Update: My DSL service is still down today, Thursday. This makes four days out of fifteen days and counting. Local Consolidated Communications repair tells me that they will not even start working on DSL outages until Friday or Saturday. Seems they still have telephone no-dial-tone outages that take priority over DSL service from the storm we had on Tuesday of this week. Funny thing is that after the storm Tuesday I still had DSL service for about three hours before it stopped responding.
Update: My DSL service finally came back up around 5:00 P.M. today, Friday. So at this point I have had a total of five days of no service during the first sixteen days of my Consolidated Communications DSL contract.
Update: My DSL service is down again today, Saturday. This makes six days of no service during the first seventeen days of my Consolidated Communications DSL contract.
Today is November 11, 2008. Over the course of the past few months I have found that I lose my DSL service whenever it rains. In addition, there have been outages recently that I understand are due to maintenance and changes being done by Consolidated. Typical day to day speeds have gotten slower than they were when I first got DSL service. In the beginning my wife and I could both watch videos simultaneously on separate machines. Now I can rarely watch a video on one machine without pausing it to allow things to catch up.
Today is February 10, 2010. At this time my DSL service is pretty good. My speeds at Speedtest.net have been better than 2.00 Mbps for download and better than .50 Mbps for upload for the last couple of weeks. I had a period of poor speeds and unreliable service the last couple of months, as did my neighbors, but then Consolidated did some repairs and/or maintenance at the terminus of the fiber optic line nearby, and I think they upgraded some equipment, and my speeds have been good and reliable since then.
I am not an easy customer when I am not satisfied, but I will have to say that the people at Consolidated have been professional, friendly, and seem to be genuine in their desire to fix problems. I have the gut feeling that they will improve over time, but living way out in the country I know I will never be on the leading edge of progress.
I have never had to pay the $39.95 post promotion price that was quoted to me in the beginning. Consolidated has continued to offer to extend my service at the original promotional price of $14.95 per month, so I would have to say that I am getting good value for my money on balance.
Despite occasional hiccups, I would have to say that the reliability of my service has improved and on average is better than It was in the first few months. The folks at Consolidated have been generally honest with me when I talk to them, so at this point I will say that I have been satisfied most of the time during the past two years.
Today is August 28, 2011. My Consolidated DSL service has steadily improved over time. I now routinely get speeds of around 2.50 Mbps download and .54 Mbps upload. Slowdowns or outages are now rare, and when they happen are usually due to either extreme weather events or brief scheduled maintenance. Service, when needed, has been fast and friendly. I am well satisfied with my Consolidated DSL service at this time.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain westinghouse.com)
lodged 182 days ago
- Allison Park,Allegheny,PA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Customer Service"
- "Terrible service to a 15 year customer"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I have been a customer of North Pittsburgh Telephone Company since 1996, wh=
ich was the mother company of Consolidated Communications. Lately, the cust=
omer service has been so bad; I have no words to describe it.
They sent me a new router that I did not request with four pages of install=
ation instructions. When I called them to ask if a service person could com=
e to install it, they told me it was no need for a service person to come b=
ecause it was a "plug and go" situation (I wondered how come they sent me f=
our pages if it was so simple to do). They added that if they would send a =
service person, it would be to a cost.
I told them, I could not afford a service charge for something I did not re=
quest. They assure me I could do it and that if I had any problems to give =
them a call.
I tried to do the connections but when I arrived to step #3, got stacked. I=
called them and they gave me a different password because the one sent to =
me did not work. This new one did and took me to another screen that was as=
king me for numbers as the Gateway, etc, etc I called them back and they to=
ld me to call Linksys for those numbers. I remind him I could not retrieve =
their phone numbers because I did not have internet connection, and asked h=
im if he could provide them. He told me, no, I cannot.
I disconnected the services because they showed no concern or will to assis=
t me with total disregard for the problem they created by their choice. I c=
ame to find out other neighbors had similar experiences and went to other p=
roviders as well.
I paid my fine for early disconnection and move on. I do not recommend this=
company to anyone.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain consolidated.net)
lodged 349 days ago
- Spring,Montgomery,TX
- $14 per month
- (12 month contract)
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Consolidated has been OK. Nothing fancy but get through to customer service quickly and very few problems overall. A solid B is how I would rate them.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by texaschick67
member for 4.7 years, 33 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
updated 1.2 years ago
- Conroe,Montgomery,TX
- $165 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 21 days
 Digital- "Service is fairly reliable, but their equipment sucks"
- "Customer service tries to be helpful, but they are not very knowledgeable"
- "Consolidated is pretty bad overall. If you have other options take them."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
The people are rude, the service (if you want to call it that) is unreliable. They lie about pricing. They offer no installation. You have to pick up your own equipment at only one location that may be nowhere near you. By far my "service" with them has been the worst I have ever experienced and what's worse is since it is your only option they have you over a barrel and they know it and treat their customers like dirt. It is so bad I will probably move ASAP just to get a new ISP/Phone company, it is that bad.
Now 8 months later, I am on my 3rd router and I have been with little to no service for 3 weeks and counting. I am told everyday that someone will be here to service my ticket but no one ever shows up. The next time I call I am told my "issue" has been resolved and I have to put in yet another trouble ticked. I have been told for over 6 months that the problem is they are building a new tower/building....My question is, just how long does it take to build this building???
I am now paying almost $70 a month for their "fastest" package and my fastest download speed to date is 974kbps but on an average it is usually under 300.
The worst part of all of this is I have Vonage so no Internet means no phone and cell phones don't work here either so I hope I never have an emergency because I would be unable to call 911. Strangely Consolidated does not view this as any big deal. They are the only provider in my area for Internet, Phone and cable so after seeing what a sorry excuse of a company they are and their poor service I use Vonage for my phone and Dish Network for cable as I refuse to give them another penny of my money.
Besides, the services and features I get with Vonage for less than $30 a month Consolidated would charge me almost $100....It's a no-brainer.
(UPDATE 6/17/10)
Well, since my less than glowing review 3 years ago the service has gotten much better I have to admit. Even after I downgraded to the lowest Internet package since I wasn't getting anything close to what I was paying for with their highest. Surprisingly the lowest package is faster!!! Very few outages. Customer service is still very bad however. I have called a dozen times or more asking them to walk me through setting up a secured connection. I am repeatedly told they do the support using a secure connection and refuse to help me. I do not understand this at all. They would prefer my neighbors be able to piggyback off my connection as opposed to helping me so my neighbors would be forced to pay for their service???
They now offer DDS television and VOIP phone service and their packages are very reasonable. I have been with Dish Network for over 10 years and Vonage for over 3 with no issues other than the satellite going out when it storms. I have been skeptical about switching to a "Pick 3" all in one plan but with money being tight these days and their improved service I have decided to give it a shot.
Cross your fingers for me. I have been unable to find any reviews on their cable and phone service so I'm a little nervous. They will be here Wednesday 6/23/10 to hook us up.
(UPDATE 11/9/10)
Switching from Dish Network was the worst mistake I ever made.
The digital cable service is actually pretty good. The service has never went out. However, their equipment is total crap. Sluggish and unresponsive. It freezes up constantly and I have to reboot the whole system at least once a day which takes about 15 to 20 minutes.
The digital phone service is great, no complaints there.
The Internet speed is terrible and only one speed is available, no options for a faster package! Downloads that should take 30 minutes take several hours, downloads that should take a few hours take all night or longer. When you download you are not able to do anything else. The phone is unusable, pages wont load etc...
Streaming Netflix via a Blu-Ray player is a crap shoot on any given day. Their "On Demand" is a joke. You cant catch missed episodes of a show that came on HBO for instance. It is just basic Pay-Per-View with movies only.
Consolidated is a nightmare!
I am finally moving in February after 5 long years of this mess. Hello Comcast!!!!
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by grommyfrog
member for 2.1 years, 34 visits, last login: 210 days ago
updated 1.4 years ago
- Conroe,Montgomery,TX
- $22 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 4 days
- "Only DSL Provider In My Area."
- "Unreliable! 50/50 Spilt Between Great and Unusable!"
- "If You Have Another Choice in Providers...Take It!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Consolidated Communications is the only company offering "High Speed Internet Access" in my area (Montgomery County, Texas).
I have had their "3MB" DSL package for two and a half years now. Ordering and installation were fairly easy and service was activated quickly. Prices are within reason and most plans offer decent promotions.
You have the choice of a "Free" modem, Wireless Router or 4 Port Wired Router. All are absolute garbage! Take the free modem and purchase a decent brand name router.
The DSL connection fluctuates wildly between 3+ Mbps and no service at all. I can have several months of excellent service followed by a month or more of Latency, minimal bandwidth and dropped connections. It's so irregular that I find it difficult to explain. The drops in service levels do not correspond with any internet traffic patterns or maintenance routines I can figure out. Christmas Eve/Christmas day I have perfect service. The rest of January I am lucky if I can load Google's home page in less than a minute!
Customer Service is worthless. "Exchange your modem and call us back if it doesn't help." I now keep a spare modem in my desk drawer. Calling back and reporting the same issue results in a mythical visit by a technician. I had one visit from a technician (Not my regular one) two months after my last call to the CS department. He had no idea what was wrong with my connection and replaced my wall jack because it might help.
Every call to report a DSL Outage is greeted with a response of, "We have no reports of outages in your area. It must be on your end." This is usually followed the next day by seeing several Consolidated trucks moving through my neighborhood and the restoration of service in a week or so.
I've known our neighborhoods Phone Company Technician for nearly 14 years. He has told me on numerous occasions that my area has many aerial lines with lightning damage, Melted line connections and severely outdated equipment that Consolidated refuses to replace until they quit working entirely. He basically instructed me to call in a support ticket for any minor problems with my Phone or DSL service. Unless he has an open support ticket the company will not authorize any repairs or upgrades.
Another major issue with DSL service in the area is theft of Copper Phone lines. This is not the fault of Consolidated. Just a fairly common occurrence the last year or so. Consolidated does tend to restore service within 5-48 hours. Calling Customer Service during an outage due to line theft is still greeted with the same old, "We have no reports of outages in your area. It must be on your end." Which tends to p%&$ me off to no end. Maybe if the CS people would stop and actually listen to me they could catch the thieves?
Last time I called and asked if an outage was due to the Cable Theft I read about in our local paper, I was told point blank that Consolidated Communications has never had any instances of Cable Theft in my area. Ummm, so the line technicians, newspaper and the $3500 reward for information posted on your corporate website are all lying to me? Or, does your company have the worst technical support I've ever had to call?
I have no choice but to use CCI for both phone and DSL service. I will never try their IPTV service.
Handy tip when dealing with Consolidated's CS. Call and report issues with your "Phone Service" and then speak to the tech. about your DSL when they arrive. They are generally very friendly and for the most part will tell you exactly what is wrong. It is always "Something on their end. Please be patient. We are working on it."
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by zfelixz
member for 5.6 years, 2 visits, last login: 137 days ago
lodged 1.9 years ago
- Conroe,Montgomery,TX
- $15 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 2 days
- "cheep"
- "after school slow"
- "for the price its okay - they actually use another carrier for dsl service"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
cheep and adiquit service support is some times ruff because the use another inter net carrier don'tm\ no who but when passed to them it is ovious.
after scholl it gets slow and some time randum times
It ok and very cheep with the 24 mon contract
stan
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by mbardsley
member for 2.1 years, 4 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
lodged 1.9 years ago
- Katy,Harris,TX
- $120 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 7 days
- Digital
- "NONE"
- "STAY AWAY!!!!!! Nothing works right"
- "STAY AWAY!!!!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Made the worst mistake, was a DSL customer (50/month), switched to a triple play product, and got rid of Dishnetwork. That was beginning of Dec. 2009. I still dont have all TV (4) working, have 1 TV that works about 50-60% of the time. You call and call, no one returns calls. But they still keep billing you. removing all services, and filling charges with the PUC.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by jeffdunn
member for 2.9 years, 16 visits, last login: 1.9 years ago
lodged 2.1 years ago
- Hillsboro,Montgomery,IL
 Business customer- $99 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 15 days
- "Very fast."
- "None."
- "Great service."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
We have a business in Hillsboro, IL. We upgraded to Consolidated's new 20 meg Internet service a couple weeks ago.
The service uses a bonded pair of 10 meg DSL lines so this service requires 2 pair of wires coming into your building. The modem they furnished is a Comtrend Nexuslink 5631. The modem bonds the two 10 meg DSL lines into a single connection which doubles the speed.
We are located less than 1 block from the Consolidated's local office. We consistently see speeds of 18.4 meg inbound and 1.1 meg outbound.
Installation took about 2 weeks since we needed a second pair of wires coming into our building.
Consolidated Communications 20 meg service is excellent.
Comments:
| next page (previous review)
Review by MaRViN111
member for 2.4 years, 24 visits, last login: 2.3 years ago
lodged 2.4 years ago
- Lufkin,Angelina,TX
- $19 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 3 days
- "better than nothing"
- "down load speed is not reliable"
- "not much better than dial-up"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Download speed is terrible, upload speed seems to be okay. Better than dial-up but not by much. Service was advertised as 3mb/s but only getting maybe on average 200kb/s
Comments:
|
|
