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Review by jsopko 
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 9 years, 109 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago
 New Kensington,Westmoreland,PA
 $51 per month (12 month contract)
 about 70 days
 Verizon
CLEC party: NorthPoint
 "Fast speed, static IP address, they don't filter anything."
 "Tech support is typical tech support, sometimes you have to let them know that you are down."
 "Good service for the money, it is definitely worth the $50 per month I pay, without a doubt."
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I ordered 416k SDSL for a monthly price of $50.00 per month ($51.85 per month after taxes), setup and installation charges were free. I did have to pay the tax on the hardware though (like $15-$20 or something for the 3Com SDSL Modem). I believe I placed the order around May 15th, 2000 and the install was completed on August 5th, 2000. A bit of a wait, but it was worth it. I get one static IP address that is unfiltered. The connection is actually bridged to the DSLAM at my CO with a 3Com SDSL Modem that they provide. I have the option of purchasing a second IP address for a $50.00 setup fee and an extra $5.00 per month. I can also upgrade to 768k SDSL for another $20.00 per month ($75.00 per month total if I want two static IP addresses and 768k SDSL, a damn good deal if you ask me). I am going to upgrade during early next year most likely. Overall, it is definitely worth the money. I have been down for an extended period of time twice since my install, with the longest being for about 40 hours. Other than that, it's been smooth sailing. With the 40 hour downtime episode, I had to contact them to let them know I was down, and the tech support woman was a bit clueless, as most level 1 tech support people are. I explained to her that I was manager of network operations for an e-commerce company in Pittsburgh, PA. I also explained to her that I knew a lot about networking, and told her what I thought was wrong. Turned out that I was right, but regardless she tried to get me to walk through the steps on the piece of paper in front of her. Her: "What operating system are you running, Windows 98?" Me: "No, I am running GNAT Box." Her: "Can you go to the machine and click on the start button, then select run, then type winipcfg and hit Enter?" Me: "No, I can't. But I can tell you that I have the correct IP address in my GNAT Box configuration." Her: "What is GNAT Box?" Me: "It is a firewall based on the FreeBSD kernel that does stateful packet inspection and network address translation." Her: "Oooo, GNAT Box, yeah I know this program. Ok, can you go to your GNAT Box machine and click on the start button, then select run, then type winipcfg and hit Enter?" I basically just kind of sighed and said, ok, hold on a minute. Then I put the phone down, poured myself a cup of coffee, came back, picked up the phone and told her the IP address that 'it said'. Eventually I got through to a network engineer there and he fixed things, turned out that someone added a bad route 'accidentally' for my subnet, and since I was the only person on that subnet, nobody knew (except for me, of course). Anyways, I would highly recommend Flashcom's services, they are well worth the money. I mean, 768k SDSL for $70.00 per month?! That's great.
///Jason
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Review by figmund
Posted: 9 years ago
member for 9 years, 148 visits, last login: 2.3 years ago
Seattle,King,WA
$52 per month
"none"
"taking my money and running with it."
"avoid them like the disease they are."
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It's very simple. I am no longer with Flashcom, and when I can get through, customer service even agrees that my account is closed. yet... THEY CONTINUE TO BILL ME! Of course the charges are in dispute with my credit card company, but what a hassle.
FLASHCOM - If you read this... Why not REALLY CLOSE MY ACCOUNT and give me back my money for a service even you say you're not providing me.
This account was closed properly... my contract was up, the service was just fine over the contract, I was very happy, but I had a sinking feeling they would just keep charging me on and on after I closed with them. *sigh* In the end this company is just not worth dealing with.
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Review by tk1230
Posted: 9 years ago
member for 9 years, 2 visits, last login: 9 years ago
Rolling Meadows,Cook,IL
 Business customer
$120 per month (24 month contract)
about 12 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: NorthPoint
"One of the ISP who have coverage almost in all areas"
"Bad - very bad customer support"
"If your technical troubleshooting skills are good - this is a good service."
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Flashcom - though not the best has very good network connection and good performance, however their support is very very bad. The customer support wait time on the phone is close to two hours. No service on Saturday and sunday. Its rare that the network goes down, however I did have it die on me twice in a year and both the times it was down on a Friday night.
Problems get resolved if you start emailing everyone including the president. It only takes one email but make sure you copy everyone including the president.
The instalation did talk about free router and installation - however that is not the case.
Krish
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Review by lee.sparkman
Posted: 9 years ago
(review was emailed from domain avatarco.net)
Mclean,Fairfax,VA
Contract price not specified.
Verizon
CLEC party: Covad
"Covad/Flashcom installation coordination is horrendous!!!"
"Wish I had read dslreports about Flashcom before ordering!!!"
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Tried to order Flashcom back in September. They/Covad scheduled
installation at my residence four separate times. My neighbor ordered from
another ISP same week and received service just this past week. Finally had
the Verizon folks out to assure I had clean pipe back to the CO. Verizon
said everything was go. Then, next day, I was notified by Covad that it
would be another two months before they could complete my install.
Biggest problem was that Flashcom was totally unaware of my order status and
unhelpful. If you ever can get routed to one of their customer service
people (it's difficult), they are apparently completely unknowledgeable as
to order status. And, Covad's policy is you have to work through the ISP
regardless of how bad they are.....
I've given up on Flashcom. Cancelled the order and going back in the queue
with SpeakEasy. May still have Covad / Verizon issues, but hopefully with
an ISP with better install administration.
Throughout this four month experience I sensed there appears to be something
very wrong in the relationship between Flashcom and Covad.
Lee Sparkman
____________________________________________________________________________
__________
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Review by ihateflashcom
Posted: 9 years ago
member for 9 years, 8 visits, last login: 8.3 years ago
Union City,Alameda,CA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 90 days
SBC
CLEC party: NorthPoint
"NONE"
"Above & Beyond all, they simply don't give a sh*t about the customer."
"THIS IS THE WORST ISP I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH - AVOID!"
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I AM FURIOUS.
Flashcom is the worst ISP ever to exist.
1st they could get the initial install right, after 90 days of waiting and broken promises... I finally had to hook it all up myself...
Everything was ok for about 30 days then this big fiasco...
I am now without DSL service for 4+ days because they took it upon themselves to "soft disconnect" PAYING & Current subscribers, in order to update the Credit Card database.
They did this to me even though I am current & payed up, they had the correct CreditCard information to begin with & I had been overbilled for 2 months even though I had not yet recieved the service...
When I called, they gave me the run around.
1st off, you can never ever get through, after waiting sometimes for 40 minutes on HOLD, you eventually get to a message "We're sorry, due to unusually high call volume, we are unable to take your call"...
Not only that, when I signed up - I do recall this god damned ISP stating they had 24/7 Tech Support & it still states so on there website, THIS IS A LIE. They (all of Flashcom) now close at 6pm.
So I have been calling & calling & emailing & calling & emailing...
I CAN GET NO ASSISTANCE.
When I do talk to someone they are usually snide & rude and simply do not demonstrate any kind of courtesy...
Not only that, they claim to all "not be able to do anything else for me" other than "resubmit my information"...
They keep telling me I should be on within 24 hours, It's been over 4 days now & I am still down...
I truly regret signing up with this GOD forsaken ISP, they are HORRIBLE and simply do not give a you know what.
I understand they are in some kind of financial & internal trouble but as a paying customer I am NOT GETTING WHAT I PAID FOR.
I HIGHLY ADVISE ANYBODY CONSIDERING AN ISP AVOID FLASHCOM AT ALL COSTS.
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Review by jontando
Posted: 9 years ago
member for 9 years, 10 visits, last login: 8.7 years ago
Encino,Los Angeles,CA
$54 per month (12 month contract)
about 40 days
Covad
CLEC party: Covad
"Always on"
"150/80 on a 384/128 contract"
"Make SURE they test it at least TWICE when installing!!!"
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Installed on the wrong line (have to run the line from the spare bedroom to my office - thanks guys!).
Connection is not evn half as fast as what I'm paying for, but the price difference is negligable if I step down to 128/128 and I'd lose that precious extra 22k 
I realize I'm far from the hub but COME ON!
I have a static IP and have a cute little router though 
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 9 years ago
(review was emailed from domain juno.com)
Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
$39 per month
NorthPoint
CLEC party: NorthPoint
"It was good while it lasted"
"It didn't last"
"I think they went out of business"
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I subscribe to Flashcom, and I now have no service even though I'm still
paying. They contracted for 24 hour tech support, but after 6PM the
message says they are closed. During the hours they are open, the
message says that they are busy and I should call back later. I get the
same message for tech support, customer service, and sales. When I try
to email them the email bounces back. In short, there is no way to
contact them whatsoever. They must be going out of business. A large
number of people prepaid for an entire year because the rates were
cheaper, and now I imagine they will lose their money.
________________________________________________________________
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Review by davidthe1
Posted: 9 years ago
member for 9 years, 4 visits, last login: 9 years ago
Chevy Chase,Montgomery,MD
$39 per month (12 month contract)
NorthPoint
CLEC party: Verizon
"I was able to cancel with no fee"
"three months, still no installation."
"$40 Flashcom DSL is too good to be true"
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I ordered DSL in september. I was happy because I am close enough to the Central Office (CO) that I would be able to toast my old modem forever. My sales guy seemed to know what he was saying, and all was good except that he told me it would take 6-8 weeks. Well I eventually got my outside wiring appointment, and as it came and went I heard nothing about it from anybody. Eventually I got another email of another outside wiring appointment, and in any case, DSL outside installation dragged on over 3 months. Verizon kept skipping appointments and after long hours of waiting on hold, apethetic employees would say that there was nothing they could do. I felt helpless being locked into a one year internment. Some people don't have problems with installation, but if you are a regular mere mortal, Flashcom won't be there for you.
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Review by linuxdaemon
Posted: 9 years ago
member for 9 years, 4 visits, last login: 8.7 years ago
Westerville,Franklin,OH
$49 per month (24 month contract)
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Not Many"
"Calling support is an all-day affair. Which you may have to repeat."
"Support is the worst I have ever seen. Connection is not too reliable."
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We have had Flashcom since May 2000. We have had good times and bad ones. The connection is usually up, but I can never rely on it 100% of the time. Recently everything has gotten so bad, I had to make it publically known.
Most of the problems are related to their tech support. I have had instances where I call, wait on hold for 40 minutes, get the first line people which tell me to reboot everything. When the problem still persists I am on hold for an additional 30-40 minutes to get to someone who has half a clue. They then put me on hold for 5-10 minutes. Then they get back with me and tell me that my trouble ticket has been posted and I should hear something within 24-48 hours. So basically I have been on the phone for over an hour, to say someone might get to my problem in my lifetime. I usually have to follow up/remind them to work on my ticket, since no one ever contacts me to let me know anything has been done.
My most recent problem was an intermittent connection. I reported it 3 times before it was ever ticketed as a problem. And only then because there was NO connection at all.
I have also had instances where I have waited on hold for the first 40 minutes only to be disconnected while it is doing some kind of transfer.
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Review by entspeak
Posted: 9 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 42 visits, last login: 4.4 years ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
Contract price not specified.
Ameritech
CLEC party: Rhythms
"my... can't think of one."
"Severe communication problems with their customers and their partners"
"The worst... Rhythms and Flashcom aren't getting along and I'm caught in the middle."
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Signed up for DSL in September... it is now December and they haven't even tested my line yet. When I called Flashcom this morning, they told me my order had been cancelled because of high voltage on the line. I called Ameritech because I wanted to find out if there was something I could do -- upgrade my phone line or something. They tested me for DSL and said my line was fine. I called Rhythms -- apparently a no-no, and was told, after being told that I really should be speaking with my ISP, that the order was still in process and that the phone number was incorrect. This had happened once earlier when Flashcom tried to connect me using the secondary contact number I gave them... my cell phone number. This time, the number was wrong altogether. I gave them the correct number.
Then, and THIS is the kicker... I was told that Rhythms is not responding to Flashcom orders because of "ISSUES WITH FLASHCOM". No one would tell me what those issues are or when they will be connecting my service -- they have been instructed not to discuss it. Flashcom hung up on me when I brought it up to them. AND they no longer have 24 hour customer service!! I had to call several times to get passed the "due to increased call volume we are unable to process your call." message.
If you are a current Flashcom customer awaiting installation through Rhythms, you could be in for a long, long wait. I'm going to change to another ISP. DO NOT USE FLASHCOM!!!
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Flashcom
