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Review by steiny58 
member for 5.8 years, 14 visits, last login: 4.9 years ago
lodged 5.4 years ago
 Rochester,Olmsted,MN
 $69 per month "Local company, no contract, static ip" "Dropped packets, interference, outages, high latency, installation" "Not recommended for savvy users or businesses"
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Professional installation ($$$) included the modem/router and antenna. Order and install process was relatively hassle free. The installer called and coordinated the date and time and showed up on time. The installation was neat and tidy. It required an antenna mounted in our attic with a cable fished inside to the modem.
The first month or so of service was ok, then the problems began. Packets started dropping and ping times were in excess of 2000 ms. A core router was replaced after a few days of spotty service. Things improved but never recovered. I dealt with an average packet loss of 10% or more and average ping times to various servers of 125+ ms for about 2 months. They claimed to be having problems with a rougue user or script kiddie DoS attack or some such problem.
Rapid Web, LLP is a wireless ISP that runs in the unlicensed 900 mHz spectrum. I think it is a three person company; one installer, one saleman, and a tech running the backend.
We also started to have problems when a new office started next door. They used headphones running at 900 mHz and drowned out our connection. Rapid Web's tech did all that he could to mitigate the interference i.e. moving the transmitters and installing a temporary antenna away from the interference. We still had down time and have just switched to another ISP. I instantly had 0 packet loss and ping times around 40-50 ms on the new connection.
I do not recommend the service for savvy users or businesses. My neighbor who only checks email and does a little web surfing rarely noticed the latency or periodic outages that I did, so residential use may be ok.
The company did provide support that was above and beyond the normal call of duty, but much of it was necessitated by the inherent problems of their technology and topology.
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