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Review by paulgrinnell 
member for 59 days, 0 visits, last login: 59 days ago
lodged 59 days ago
 99801-8522
 $109 per month
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I'm concerned ACS (»www.alaskacommunications.com/) uses a partner site when doing speed test in order to present higher results...
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Review by jessinak
member for 125 days, 0 visits, last login: 125 days ago
lodged 125 days ago
- Soldotna,Kenai Peninsula,AK
 Business customer- Contract price not specified.
 "absolutely disgusted with their business customer service"
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I just hung up the phone with ACS's manager Isaac. They are charging me to fix their equipment that didn't work correctly from the beginning. This whole process took over 2 YEARS. That was the worst example of customer service I have ever had. As their representative, he just threw away many thousands of dollars of advertising, internet, phone line, & future products. As well as, the negative customer testimonial concerning my experience with ACS. It is very disappointing that this company does not have a better representative and b2b practices.
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Review by nitejazz
member for 7.1 years, 33 visits, last login: 181 days ago
updated 241 days ago
- Sitka,Sitka,AK
- Contract price not specified.
 "Tech support good during week, nonexistent on weekends"- "connectivity and speed are terrible"
 "Expensive, and not very reliable in this community."
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I have 4MB DSL (fastest available in Sitka). Speed has been dwindling over the past few weeks and now is comparable to a moderate speed dialup. Cable is dismal here and even more expensive than ACS Alaska DSL.
If I had a choice I would get another service. Nothing else is available here.
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Review by allemania
member for 252 days, 0 visits, last login: 252 days ago
lodged 252 days ago
- Kenai,Kenai Peninsula,AK
- Contract price not specified.
- "Honestly nothing at this point."
- "SUPER SLOW internet speed; less than half the internet speed that we are paying for/subscribing to."
- "They are charging us for a service/speed that they cannot and will not provide."
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We live in Nikiski Alaska and we subscribe to ACS internet for 1 mbps speed which is the fastest they would offer us. However, we rarely ever get that speed or anything near it for that matter. I run internet speed tests throughout various times of the day and evening, and we consistently have speeds as low as 130 kbps, especially during the evening peak hours. We subscribe to Netflix, but we can't stream anything from them anymore as our internet speeds are barely above dial-up levels. I spoke with an ACS tech last week who was totally unsympathetic to our situation and those of my neighbors. He admitted that the internet equipment in our area is outdated and was never meant to supply the number of households and the internet speeds that we are paying for! He said that there was nothing they could do about it right now, and that we would have to wait at least a year before we saw any improvement. I said that ACS shouldn't charge us for 1 mbps speeds if they couldn't provide it, and that I felt we should be allowed to pay for slower speeds instead. He said I could ask customer service if they would lower our cost, but if they did then they would also lower our internet speed from 1 mbps (which we rarely ever get) to 330 kbps! He also cautioned me not to give up our internet service as we wait for them to update the equipment, because he said if we did give up our port, they would give it to someone else and we would never get our internet service back. My husband and I feel like we are being held hostage by ACS---having to pay for service and speeds that they admittedly cannot/will not provide for us. What can we do? Do we have any options available to us, anyone who can help us?
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 | | Extremely Disappointed in ACS I also live in Nikiski. Moved in here about 8 years ago. Hooked up the DSL, and all was good with only minor intermittent hiccups in packet loss or bandwidth at peak times. Then in went the gradeschool internet down the road...instant peak time 20-40% packet loss and .2 to .4 download speeds. After literally having to fight with them on the phone about this being there issue, they reduced my payment by 20$ a month. So now I'm paying 80$ a month for a 14.4k dial up connection essentially (dial up is more stable by far, but ACS cant install a second line here). As of three days ago, the bottom has dropped out of the bucket. Minimum of 45 seconds to load one standard sized webpage. Bandwidth, Ping, and Jitter won't even register on any tests...now heres the kicker. At least 15 of my neighbors are all experiencing the same issues, have all made the same calls to ACS demanding a fix, and have all recieved the same story; its on our end. Oh, so my brand new internal phone lines I had installed must be faulty. Maybe, just maybe it has to do with the overloaded COPPER phone box by the Stop and Go Cafe (not that one of your internal techs released that information or anything). ACS Tech's quote, "we have crammed as much copper into that box as is possible...its a known bottleneck". Wonderful Alaska service...just wonderful! If you live in Nikiski or Northern Kenai, forget DSL, or Wireless internet (it uses the same overloaded substations as the DSL internet). | |
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Review by jrlawso
member for 3.4 years, 5 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
updated 1.1 years ago
- Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
- $69 per month
- (12 month contract)
 about 4 days- "no overage charges"
- "poor speed and line quality. Antiquated equipment."
- "I would not recommend ACS. GCI is now a a far better value."
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In December, 2011 I tried to upgrade my DSL service with ACS from 1 MB to 3 MB. ACS gave me a song and dance that the line would support the higher speed and they turned it up fror $89/month. After two weeks of continuously having to reset my modem to maintain even a 1.5 MB rate, I called them and they sent a tech to diagnose the problem. The tech detemined that there was a problem with the line from the fiber/copper transition point about four blocks away to my service entrance. They tried some things to fix it but it only made it worse. I had to go back to 1 MB service.
Finally in March, 2012 I switched back to GCI 10 MB cable modem service with a 60 GB monthly limit. So far the service is great, speed is outstanding, the cost is less that ACS, and we're nowhere close to using the monthly limit.
One thing that really torqued me about ACS is the way that they treated me when I gave my notice. When I left GCI several years ago GCI let me keep my gci.net email account for $3.00 a month. I wanted to do the same thing with ACS and they wouldn't even talk to me about it. They summarily turned off my email account the same day that they turned off the DSL service. Talk about sore losers !!
I switched to ACS 1 MB unlimited DSL service 3 months ago after several years of frustration with GCI's usage overage charges, frequent system outages, less than advertised speed (at least in my neighborhood), and very poor customer service.
I have been very impressed with ACS customer service and their internet service performs as advertised. Their phone and tech support folks are alway friendly and they seem like they really want to help.
I took the extra step of installing a whole house DSL filter / splitter at my service entrance when I got DSL service and I believe that it helped with line quality. For awhile the DSL modem was dropping synch often due to poor line quality and errors. After much frustration I tried changing the RJ11 patch cable that ACS had supplied with the Zhone modem and the problems went away.
Overall my experience with the ACS DSL service has been great and I can recommend it to anyone.
Update 3/12/10 - Last week I drove into my driveway with my AM radio on and the radio sounded as though I had an atom bomb in my house ! I searched the house with a portable AM radio and found that the power supply in my PC was throwing all kinds of trash back onto the power lines. I replaced the power supply in the PC the next day and the noise went away. At the same time the connection statistics on my DSL modem greatly improved and it has not lost sync in over a week now.
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Review by AKLife247
member for 2 years, 3 visits, last login: 2 years ago
updated 2 years ago
- Nikiski,Kenai Peninsula,AK
- Contract price not specified.
- "ACS Alaska offers DSL with unlimited downloads"
- "ACS Alaska does not care about their"
- "For a lot of Alaska residents, they are the only option. ACS Alaska knows and abuses this fact."
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I have used ACS Alaska as my POTS provider for over 15 years. I jumped on their DSL service as soon as it was available in my area. This was over ten years ago and they were offering 320k D/L for ~ $30 per month. A few years later I managed to upgrade to 640k d/l for ~$44 per month. Fast forwarding to fall of 2010, ACS had finally managed to make 1 meg d/l available in my area. I jumped on this upgrade and thought life was grand. A few months go by and I begin to notice intermittent but substantial latency and bandwidth reductions during normal peak usage times (after work until late evening).
I called ACS Tech and was told everything was fine on their end; it must be my DSL modem. After two modem replacements...with no help in the problem, I was told that it must be my router because, you know - it's old. Instead of rushing out and buying a new one, I researched all I could on network latency and DSL. After I compiled days of trace route data, I started in with Tech support, continuously requesting my issues to be taken to the 'next level' since each person I talked with seemed to know very little about trace route data. After days of this, I was finally told that the top Tech Support Manager would call me.
After a week of waiting and a couple or reminder, I finally got on the phone with him and was promptly told that ACS Alaska simply could not offer me a stable low-latency service at the "high" bandwidth that I had. The options offered were a reduction to 320k d/l or to "live with it". The Manager admitted that "work needed to be done in the area to remedy the issue, but that work is not going to happen for AT LEAST 9 months".
So here we are - in a small Alaska town, using a local Alaskan company, and realizing they don't care one bit about customer satisfaction, only about shareholder profits. ACS Alaska is focused SOLELY on expanding and profiting from their wireless market. They have no desire to upgrade their wired network but will be happy to charge you exceptionally high monthly rates for decade-old technology. In case you don't believe my comments regarding their focus, I recommend that you read the ACS yearly shareholder reports for 2009 and 2010, which are freely available on the web. If you are in a small town, welcome to my boat!
TL:DR version - For those interested in DSL, I recommend you look elsewhere first. Use ACS Alaska only as a last resort and prepare for regular battles with their Tech support.
Their sales pitch about ACS vs the Cable Company quoted from their website: "Alaska Communications High-Speed Internet always gives you your own dedicated line-that means consistently high-speed Internet every time." This is total and utter BS. My bandwidth is being reduced due to other local users. ACS has admitted this is the case, are obviously aware of the issue, and have done nothing to resolve it.
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Review by dirtfarmer
member for 11.7 years, 119 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
lodged 2.2 years ago
- Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
- $69 per month
- "Tech support has always been quick and efficient."
- "Tested speeds have consistantly been slower than advertised"
- "Except for the slow speed it's OK."
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Speed package is 1M/320kbs. The order install was DYI and was really no trouble. The contract is part of bundled services, including local phone. We are using a Nortel network box and have for several years without a problem.
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Review by goshrx
member for 3.1 years, 5 visits, last login: 2.5 years ago
updated 2.5 years ago
- Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
- $89 per month
- "Excellent customer service"
- "Could be even faster I suppose"
- "Very good value"
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I was one of the first dozen or so GCI cable modem customers when those came out. Speeds were great, but their customer service was always horrible, whether it was for internet, or cable tv. But they were, I think, the only game in town for broadband. After about 6 months (when my neighbors had all signed up as well), I noticed that the good speeds I originally enjoyed were now a fraction of that. Every night, after folks came home from work, the net got slower and slower and slower. That's because with GCI, you share the bandwidth with your neighbors. When I moved out of that apartment and bought a home in 2004, we switched to ACS for phone and internet, and I've never looked back. In fact, I've had the same dsl modem since then (grey Nortel box, I don't know if that's still what they use but I'm guessing not). Original speedtests show that I'm getting about 600kbps down and 240 kbps up, for $49/month bundled with phone (total bill is around $81/month). I think that's an excellent deal, and it hasn't changed since 2004. Big fan of ACS here, but I do wish, like everyone else, that speeds were faster to allow for high def streaming.
Update Nov 2010: Just upgraded to ACS 3mbps package. Voila! Much faster now! Streaming on Netflix/xbox is NOT a problem. Sweetness! $89/month including landline phone with bells/whistles and 100min out of state.
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Review by dpsiegel2
member for 6.5 years, 15 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
updated 2.8 years ago
- Fairbanks,Fairbanks North Star,AK
- $108 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 2 days
- "Fast response from tech support. Stable connection. Steady speeds."
- "On speed tests, 60-90% of advertised speed. Sales reps need some coaching."
- "Only game in town in the great white North! Beats cable (which isn't in my area anyway)"
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I started with the 1m'330k package. (net/phone/100 min.LD) It streams Netflix to the TV while surfing on the PC. Just upped to 3m/500k. We'll see if that ups the quality of streaming video. Plus, we've got a wireless router and the kids are getting laptops for school. We home school so our Internet is an invaluable resource. Hopefully we've got enough bandwidth to handle it.
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Review by methodical6
member for 3 years, 10 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
lodged 3 years ago
- Fairbanks,Fairbanks North Star,AK
- $106 per month
- (24 month contract)
- "reliability, good service"
- "price, slow speeds"
- "Ok for residential service if you don't want TV"
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3/.512 service package is the fastest ACS offers and it lives up to it's name for me. It's worked well, and was able to call tech support and change from interleaved to fast path to lower my ping times for gaming, which was a pleasant surprise.
It's still coming out to more than $100 a month for the service though, and includes a local phone line and long distance I don't use. I wish they'd offer naked DSL, or lower the prices and introduce a higher speed tier or two. Their speed tiers are anemic and sad.
I'm a previous customer of GCI's cable modem product and the GCI internet experience is much better for me. Lower pings and a better network, but I'm not in their service area.
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