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 Review by Hpower 
UPDATED: 8.3 years ago
member for 9.4 years, 1681 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Glendale,Los Angeles,CA
 $49 per month (12 month contract)
 about 7 days
 SBC
CLEC party: SBC
 "Totally AMAZING connection stability and speed! A blast!"
 "Nothing really. You just have to know a little big about the technology and be prepared."
 "I am so amazed with pacbell ADSL on pronto RT! It's just too good!"
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THIS REVIEW IS FOR PACBELL DSL, NOT FLASHCOM! Have 4 reviews, which is MAX!
Prepare for a perfect DSL connection!
Review memory jog:
Q:What speed did you order, at what monthly price?
A:Pacbell ADSL 384-1.5mbps/128
Q:How was the order/install process?
A:Totally flawless...excellent!
Q:What was the home equipment?
A:Efficient Networks 5260
Q:Static IP, dynamic IP, or PPPoE?
A: PPPoE
Q:Other bad/good experiences?
A:Too many positive experiences! No bad experiences! Too good!!! My pings are very awesome, low, and stable 24/7.
-=INSTALLATION=-
I used to have Charter Pipeclog and canceled it this morning. Glad I did!
I ordered Pacbell 384-1.5mb/128 for $39 a month for the first 3 months (which will turn to $49 a month after the 3 month period) on July 20th. I am on a 1 year contract. This service comes with a $149 rebate that I can use to pay off the first $150 bill i am expecting using a mastercard.
Talked to someone rather not very knowing about DSL and ordered ADSL after 2 years of trying. Was told i should expect the equipment by next week, and it arrived exactly 1 week later, with everything I expected. Did the install myself, of course and got perfect sync.
I am running my connection behind a linksys 4 port router and do NOT have ANY ppoep software (or protocol in the network settings in windows 98) installed. I have a username and password in the setup page of the routuer, using dynamic routing settings flawlessly.
-=REGISTRATION=-
I registered my username and password at the pacbell's sercure website using my friend's computer next door on his cable connection.
The email server is so blazing fast! Never expected these speeds! I just did 3 speed tests and got:
Test running..........
** Speed 1227(down)/134(up) kbps **
(At least 24 times faster than a 56k modem)
Logging result
Finish.
Test running..........
** Speed 1220(down)/134(up) kbps **
(At least 24 times faster than a 56k modem)
Logging result
Finish.
Test running..........
** Speed 1221(down)/135(up) kbps **
(At least 24 times faster than a 56k modem)
Logging result
Finish.
Ping stability:
Max ping 109
Min ping 102
No difference, and 100% transmit with no packetloss everytime I did a tweak and speed test.
Man, this is stability heaven...
Settings:
RWIN: 35000
Windows Scaling: No
Timestamping: No
Selective Acks: Yes
Path MTU Discovery: Yes
Black Hole Detection: No
Max. Duplicate Acks: 3
TTL: 64
MTU: 1492 (and 1492 on linksys router using latest firmware 1.39)
-=FINAL NOTES=-
One thing, i have good wiring in my house. I use CAT 5 wires, and have every computer in my network tweaked: 1 laptop, and 2 desktops.
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 Review by jay1214
UPDATED: 8.4 years ago
member for 9.5 years, 697 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Rochester,Oakland,MI
Contract price not specified.
Ameritech
"None"
"Where do you want me to start"
"FLASHCOM SUCKS"
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I am going to make it short I signed up for flashcom over 4 months ago I was told that flashcom had service in my area first off they took 103.38 from my account for a depsoit when I called to find out what was going on with my account they told me they never got the depsoit that was 2 months later and when I sat on hold for over 1 hr at a time they told me I had to fax proof of them getting the depsoit after I did that the same day I called back and sat on hold again for 45 mins they said they never got my fax and told me to resend it which I did and never got a call back so I sent email to flashcom 2 days later i got a email from flashcom stateing that we cannot provide you with service so now I am screwed out of my 103.38 DO NOT GET FLASHCOM the service SUCKS I sat on hold for hours on end UPDATE: After many hrs on the phone and many emails later I did get my refund of 103.38
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Review by ericwfrost
Posted: 8.5 years ago
member for 8.5 years, 12 visits, last login: 8.1 years ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$110 per month (12 month contract)
about 180 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: NorthPoint
"months of free service"
"trouble with install, intermittent service"
"perhaps not bad for 1999"
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OK, I realize these people have been bankrupt for several mos. but I just want to reiterate how much this company sucked. I am having problems with installation now, but it's a cakewalk so far compared to the problems I experienced with installation back in 1999.. several pointless visits, phone calls and finding out that my installation had been "on hold" a few times when no one had contacted me were only the tip of iceberg.
Also, service was *very* intermittent the first several months of service but I did get them to credit me one month--it had been down several times amounting to about 15 days. They would always blame a problem at Northpoint.
On the upside I think the last time I was billed was like Oct. 2000 and I received service through Northpoint cessation of service at the end of March, 2001.
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Review by rockina
Posted: 8.6 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 1 visits, last login: 8.6 years ago
Walnut,Los Angeles,CA
$49 per month (24 month contract)
about 45 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
"Once finally connected, NEVER down for two years, never needed to call for customer service."
"Took GTE and FLASHCOM six weeks to get it working right!"
"Was a great service!"
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After the initial nightmare of GTE and Flashcom blaming each other for 6 weeks before the install actually worked, I never had a problem since 1999. And since I was online 10-14 hrs per day, Flashcom gets A+ rating on that. My main complaint is that I was never notified until TODAY that Flascom would be disconnected three days from now. Of course, I immediately contacted the two majors ISPs in my area, Earthlink and Verizon. Turns out both Earthlink and Verizon will not even take my order for DSL service until they verify that my current line is released and disconnected. Earthlink is currently running 4-6 week backlog, Verizon is 6-8 weeks. WebUniverse is taking over for Flashcom so I am forced to go with them, at their rates and conditions, if I want to keep my connection. Nothing like not having any choices!
The best part????? Flashcom didn't charge me for 1 1/2 years! When I tried to be nice and pay them directly during that time, they sent me a refund, saying that my credit card would be charged. When they finally figured it out, they only billed me retroactively for 3 prior months - no wonder they went under!
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Review by Gres7
Posted: 8.6 years ago
member for 8.7 years, 1312 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Brooklyn,Kings,NY
$57 per month (12 month contract)
about 30 days
"Steady as rock connection for 1.5 years"
"Tech support? Tho, I had no need to contact them all that time."
"They out of bussines :("
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Not exactly a review, but rather something I should've said few month ago...
Better late then never , I guess  .
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Review by K7FE
Posted: 8.6 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 6 visits, last login: 5.9 years ago
Thousand Oaks,Ventura,CA
$39 per month
about 25 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
CLEC party: Verizon (ex GTE)
"Cable modem is faster than 56k phone modem"
"off line at times and slow other times, cannot achieve DSL speeds."
"The speed degrades with more users, more users is good for Verizon & bad for me"
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The speed tests at dslreports.com, 2wire.com or msn.com show that my cable bandwith (speed) varies with the time of day (i.e. user volume). Speeds that I have been recording are: 227kbps down 167kbps up
202 & 141
351 & 177
217 & 135 .............................and so on.
So when do I see "DSL like" speeds of 760kbps ?
My neighborhood has a computer in every home, Verizon needs to break up the user nodes into smaller areas so that fewer people will be on each node, thus assuring that people on line will have faster internet access. Verizon Customer service told me that I should expect minimum cable modem speeds of 300-500kbps. My speeds seldom hit the 300kbps Verizon "minimum speed"
So what to do??? I'm now shopping for a true DSL service that works in Thousand Oaks, CA - - - - - - - Any suggestions?
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Review by bart99gt
Posted: 8.6 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 1 visits, last login: 4.3 years ago
Newnan,Coweta,GA
$50 per month (12 month contract)
about 60 days
BellSouth
CLEC party: BellSouth
"Very reliable mail and news services"
"Tech support stank, they had limited support in some regions of the country"
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I too until just very recently was with Flashcom and hadn't gotten billed because they hadn't "noticed" I was on their Bell South network, and not Covad. Supposedly, the BellSouth accounts were supposed to have been transferred or just out right dropped sometime around Decemeber, but I was never notified, but I still had access to my connection.
I guess this doesn't matter much now, since they're under bankrupcy, but their tech support was virtually non-existant. I had requested an external modem after a less than pleasing experience with the internal one they had origionally sent me. I did get the external modem, but they never sent me any software, information, whatever to configure it. Supposedly they only had one BellSouth technical support rep, who seemed to never be in...every time I called them up, it wasn't his day to work, he was busy, or he wasn't in yet. Never got a call back from them either regarding this. Also, I had a pain trying to get it installed in the first place. I was PROMISED an install in a month, took nearly 2 months to get it working, when in fact, the line into my house was working about 3 weeks after I had ordered it, they just had very poor communication between BellSouth and themselves and no one there knew that my DSL had already been installed, and they just needed to send me the modem!
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Review by nealbscott
Posted: 8.7 years ago
member for 8.7 years, 221 visits, last login: 12 days ago
Manassas,Prince William,VA
Contract price not specified.
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Well here it is March 21,2001 and I'd figured by now my service would be turned off, or I would be transferred automatically to someone else. Well, my service is still on and no one has billed me for 3 months. Well I admit, I don't have real DSL. It really is IDSL which in my book is not the real thing. To me it's just ISDN that's billed differently. Anyway I also see that there was a GTE/Verizon snafu. Somehow that should have affected me, but didn't. I am enjoying this free service while it lasts! God help me if the line goes down and they continue to bill me..
Are there any other Flashcom customers out there with a perfectly good DSL line but not billed and not transferred to new ISP?
-Neal
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Review by dougw13
Posted: 8.7 years ago
member for 8.7 years, 13 visits, last login: 8.2 years ago
La Habra,Orange,CA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 30 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"The best price for idsl, supernews, low downtime"
"zero cust. support, out of business"
"It was fun while it lasted."
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Last year, I ordered DSL with pacbell which I never got--total nightmare--won't go into it, but when I moved back in with my parent's I learned that the only thing available there was idsl.
La Habra, had/has no cable internet--still years and years off in the distance--and since I am a long ass distance from my CO, I had to settle for idsl. Flashcom was the company that offered it to me for only $49.95! I jumped at it, as speed is 1/3rd my problem with dial-up--there is also waiting for it to connect, and dynamic ip.
It only took around 30 days to get it in, and since it was installed, I noticed it go down about 4 times (since last August). And the bandwidth was always around 80% advertised! I love my service.
You know, part of the fact that they went under is cuz they never billed--until Dec! I will always be amazed that they dropped the ball like they did.
Now I am left with $90/month idsl with $500 installation fees.
And I will pay--cuz I live in the sticks (which is really just a ass backwards urban area in Southern California).
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Review by mumbo1
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 17 visits, last login: 8 years ago
Pleasanton,Alameda,CA
$41 per month (12 month contract)
about 30 days
"Filed chapter 11"
"Where do I start?"
"Run away from these guys!!"
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These guys are the DSL providers from HELL!! Over a year after I have discontinued my service, they are STILL billing my American Express monthly. I have conected their customer service and accounting departments and written letters to their president -- next month, there's the bill again. Wait time for support is at least an HOUR.
The real kicker is that American Express says even if I cancelled all my cards, since I gave Flashcom approval to bill my card, they will continue to send me bills.
Class action suit, anyone??
Ric
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