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Review by drbadass 
Posted: 2.1 years ago
member for 6.5 years, 657 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
 Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
 Contract price not specified.
 "None"
 "Doesn't work, bad pre-sales info, support sucks."
 "Not ready for prime-time!"
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Philly WiFi has been available in certain neighborhoods for a while but one day I realized it was ready in my neighborhood. So I immediately signed up. I called so that I could ask a few questions. My big question, could I be using the service linked to my account in more than one location at a time (ie have my home connection connected while being out in the city somewhere connected with a laptop or iPhone). The pre-sales guy said yes, that was fine to do.
So I decided to order. Upon ordering, they do tell you that they "recommend" the modem, but only after I ordered the service without it and dug around on google did I find some other users saying that you basically need the modem, no way around it. Some later testing found that if I was outside in front of my house, I would get a single bar connection, but nothing inside. So I went to order my modem and was told that since I opted not to buy it when I first ordered, I no longer had the option of renting for $4/month. Kind of stupid, but no big deal. Then, they wanted $20 shipping to ship ground. That was a big deal. But I was willing to deal with it from all that I would save on the service.
When I got my modem, I set it up and got nothing. Please know that the antenna on this thing is about 12 inches long. I tried it in a bunch of places, near windows, etc. Only one place in my house where I could get signal, and that was with the modem perched up on the window pane in the front of my house, no where near where I have all my computer stuff.
I called support on Thursday and after sitting in support queues for 20 minutes, I explained my problem. Doing some diagnostics, I was seeing lots of Earthlink signals, but none of them were the secure signals. After about 30 minutes, they said they'd need to have field techs work on this and that in 24 hours, it would definitely work. I wanted it to work, so I went along.
24 hours later, no change. I called up again, this time Friday, went through the same 20-30 minute wait time. The support person explained that they needed the tech to go back out and reconfigure the interface in my area, but in 24 hours, it would definitely work. This was strike two, but again, $20 bucks, you want it to work.
The next Tuesday, things were still not working any differently. So I decided that was strike three, and this thing is just not ready for the level of stability we all expect from our telecommunications systems. The queue this day was horrendous. I kept getting disconnected after long wait times. Then, after accidentally hitting Spanish, I got right to a tech, this time not in India, but an American. He was very helpful, actually cared about getting me some information, but then had to send me back to India.
I finally got a woman on the phone and asked to cancel my service. She immediately asked for me to give her 24 hours to get it fixed and it would then definitely work. I explained it was too late, I would maybe try the service again in 6 months, but now wasn't the time. She kept pleading for more time, then offered me a $20 dollar credit. I kept telling her I wanted my money back. At one point, she explained that there was an outage in my area. I then asked why the outage did not show on their live google map overlay of system outages on the web. She said something like the services was still being configured.
At this point, I'm annoyed and I'm demanding a refund. Finally, the woman gives in, says she'll process the refund. At that moment and onward, she was really nasty to me. She first said that she'd refund the service. I then asked about the modem, which she replied I had to keep, because I bought it. This thing was $70+$20 shipping, no way! I fought with her on that for a few minutes, then she agreed to take that back. She refused to give me the shipping charge refund, but I didn't push too hard, as I had spent almost two hours on the phone at this point.
In the end, all the refunds were processed, and I'm back with Comcast. But I could not believe how this company was treating me as a customer. They're certainly not doing themselves any favors there. I hope someday the service works, but for now, it's just not ready for prime-time.
Followup comments:  
rbockman
@feather.net
| Philly wifi I have had the same experience as the poster above except that I got the "modem" when I signed up, the charge was 24.99 or 29.99 I forget now. I signed up as soon as it was available in South Philadelphia, 6.99 for the first six months, 19.99 for the second six months. The signal was flaky sometimes OK other times terrible. At one point tech support said an "engineer' would call me back within 30 minutes, never happened. Cancelled within 30 days to avoid penalty. They said they would send a label to return the modem, never happened. Got a mailing about a new "scary fast" promotion 9.99 first six months, 22.99 second six months. I got sucked in for a second time. My radio gets better signal than their "modem". The problem with their tech support is that the Hindus just have no idea what to do, but there is a higher level of support, I found it when I called to cancel the second time. This higher level tech used some application to access my machine and since he tweaked it I'm getting better results. I guess I'll see. They tell me I have until 11/30 to cancel without penalty. I would not recommend Earthlink wifi to anyone. By the way AT&T has dsl 1.5 Mbps for 19.95 a month, but about 60.00 signup fee and shipping. »attsignup.com/att_dsl.htm | |
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raheenb
@comcast.net
| No good in Philly! Just canceled my wi-fi subscription....I live in Center City and get a strong signal...when their connections show up, that is! It would take about 15-20 seconds for a page to come up, and I never have any problems like this on any other wi-fi connection. They need more time to fix their problems which it too bad because I really wanted it to work! | |
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| Forums » comments on review of Earthlink WiFI |
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 Review by neuronix
Posted: 2.3 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 428 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
$20 per month
"None"
"Tech support is completely useless"
"This service does not work for me and likely never well"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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I am a current Comcast HSI customer and am pretty happy with their service. I signed up for Earthlink WiFi because it's cheap and I would like to dump my cable service along with it. I live in an area of Philadelphia that recently added Earthlink WiFi service. I ordered the 1Mbit up/down package for $7 for the first 6 months and $20 thereafter.
I signed up online through text chat thinking that would be easy. I had several questions for the person who signed me up. The first question they got wrong was, would I be able to simply use my laptop on their network from my apartment since I could see their network? They said yes, so I did not get a WiFi modem. The real scoop turned out to be your standard laptop doesn't have enough transfer power to get out of the house to the WiFi router.
So I modded my WRT54Gv4 with 7dBi antennas and turned it into a repeater to use the service. My pings to the first hop past my wireless repeater are almost consistantly low and without loss. According to DD-WRT, my connection to the Earthlink wireless access point is stronger than the connection to my laptop in the same room. However, my traceroutes and pings past that are high latency and with much packet loss. This is within Earthlink's network.
Attempts to get this problem resolved have been completely ignored. I have been put on hold for long amounts of time. I am told that the "problem will be fixed within 24-48 hours" so fast I'm sure the person never even checked if that was the case. I have been told to install software that doesn't exist. I have been told to install patches that have nothing to do with my problem. I have been transferred around in a circle, twice. Tech support is full of simple conflict resolution phrases like "I'm sorry you have had difficulties Mr. ***" and "I understand your concerns Mr. ***", but they do not understand what I am telling them. I explain to them what I have just explained to you in the last paragraph, and they do not ever attempt to address those problems. Never has one attempted to traceroute me, for example, to see if they see the same problems from their end. When I used to work tier 2 tech support, that's the first thing I would have done. I'm convinced they don't even know what I'm talking about. I have never been transferred to tier 2. I have asked several times and am simply transferred to someone just as clueless.
I am now over two weeks since I signed up. The service has been barely useable about 25% of the times I tried. When it works at all, speeds on the tester are around dialup speed and severe latency and packet loss means it takes a long time to load websites.
I was surprised to find my neighbor at work sending back his Pepwave surf yesterday. He had similar problems and also could not get them resolved. From posts on Internet forums it is obvious that many people are having trouble with the WiFi service, and my impression is that will not change as long as there is no method to report these problems.
Followup comments:
Not happy
@pa.us |  Earthlink Philly WiFi
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rbockman
@feather.net | Philly wifi Signed up as soon as it was available in south Philly. I believe that I'm within 50' of one of their nodes. Signal is "flaky" hardly ever robust. 30 days to get out of it, did so today. Earthlink wifi is not ready for prime time. | |
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Queen Village
@einstein.edu
| Feather by Earthlink I am one block from two different nodes in Queen Village in Center City but can't get a strong reliable signal in spite of the fact I am using a Pepwave box they recommended.
I experienced the same long phone hold times with India (one night on hold a total of 3 hours out of 3 hours and 15 minutes. They do not understand English and do not check your prior record to follow how long you have had a problem or what has/has not been done. Same promise about the 24 to 48 hours but when I tracked down someone at corporate, they told me they never promise this. Here is the corporate number 404-815-0770 for service in Atlanta.
I have been an Earthlink customer for 8 years but not for much longer.... | |
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Medude
@radianmi.com | Re: Feather by Earthlink Just signed up today, looks like a nice deal, I guess i made a big big mistake | |
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dubsix
@feather.net |  Not too bad for me
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nealc99
@mindspring.com
| Earthlink Wifi Extreme (Corpus Christ, TX area) I have spent HOURS on the phone with tech support and only getting about 1/3 of the advertised speed.
Apparently they TRYING to sell a service (up to 3 megabits) on either an already over taxed infrastructure or they don't even have the infrastructure to support it.
My connection is excellent (-45 dBm) to the router on the poll (using their PEP modem) and retries are 0 most of the time. Nothing wrong with my connection to their network.
Am considering calling Corporate support, then if no reasonable response I may look into initiating a class action lawsuit against Earthlink for misrepresentation (as well as filing complaints with Attorney General, BBB and other relevant agencies).
They should not be allowed to sell something they can't provide. | |
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Pissed off
@feather.net
| service sucks At firs i had great service 24/7 but them i got a letter in the mail about a free upgrade to a faster connection, and what happened, i have great servie untill about 5:30pm and then forget about it.only the most basic fuctions work like and IM not even email works. | |
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rth
@scansafe.net | Is anyone experiencing good service in center city>? I am thinking of switching for comcast, and wondering what service is like in center city. | |
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JimLowTeck
@verizon.net | Earthlink is a come-on Philly residence stay away, once you sign up, hours on the phone get it canceled with lots of promises and no results. | |
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Irene
@msimsi.com
| Stay away! It's been two months I signed up for this Wifi service. I live on the block of Pine and 20th and I'm between two nodes.. on 21st and 20th on Pine st. I couldn't have been closer. I have spent maybe a total of 15 hours speaking with India on the phone (and by the way, half of tech support can even speak english) trying to get this fixed. I called very angry last week to disconnect the damn thing and they offered me to get the modem. I got the damn modem last night and it still doesnt work! It gets a full blast signal and then within seconds it looses it! I'm calling them again today and I'm going to ask for refund of the shipping charges $19.99. I'll be better of with Comcast, way expensive but RELIABLE. | |
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Al bundy
@cigna.com
| Feather wifi | |
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pissed
@feather.net | Re: Feather wifi they're just screwed up i've been having the exact same problem for three months now | |
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Al Bundy
@cigna.com
| I finally got in contact with someone and they told me they don't have any service in my zip code yet (19115). Funny, I've found 2 feather, 1 WirelessPhiladelphia, 1 Earthlink. Not bad for no service!!!  | |
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Earthlink WiFI
