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Review by MDMisnowBS See Profile

  • Location: Redmond, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Maintenance Techs that used to work at MDM were the best.
Name Change only, no changes in company
Hire people that can manage the system better, upgrade your gear
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Duvall, Carnation, Issaquah are ran out of there headend, located in the highlands in issaquah and only have a 100FX to 100TX converter. So looking at the CMTS, it constantly peeks, with 100's of users and only 100Mbits... Echo Lake, and Roseiger are ran off of T1 Lines from Verizon.

Just some information shared to me. If they upgraded their fiber connection, and offered more than 100Mbit, they would be at least a descent ISP, instead of only getting 100-300Kb during peak times.

Anything on the East side, ames lake, issaquah, duvall, carnation, sahalee, are all capped with the limitations of their gear.

member for 16.4 years, 3 visits, last login: 15.3 years ago
lodged 15.3 years ago


Review by Bulgaro See Profile

  • Location: Glen Burnie, Anne Arundel, MD, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 3 days
Reliable
None
Good Alternative
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We considered Comcast and decided on Broadstripe Speed are as Advertised Modem could be better .

member for 22.8 years, 1976 visits, last login: 5.6 years ago
lodged 15.3 years ago







Review by Maxxodd See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month
None
Unimaginably poor service, apathetic customer support
Worst excuse for an ISP out there
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Its hard to believe that a company with 11 negative reviews and 0 positive reviews (at the time of this review) could be over-rated. I think some of the other reviewers have been kind. The only reason they remain in business is because of lack of competition by paying for exclusivity contracts with cities such as Seattle so that there can be no other cable competition (Comcast/Verizon) can provide service. They are then free to charge whatever they want and provide as poor of service as they want. I personally just echo other's reviews and have had nothing but headaches from this company. I've had enough and I'll be switching to Qwest DSL who offers faster service (both up and down) at a cheaper price.

member for 15.4 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 15.4 years ago


Review by jamielady See Profile

  • Location: Carnation, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month
Nice service techs. and most Customer Service reps
All Services Offered
Needs to be put out of business
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We have had service(LOL) with Broadstripe and Millenium since we moved here over 3 yrs ago. It has been nothing but a nightmare. I have had so many techs to my house we are on a first name basis and the same with many of the Customer Service Reps. Getting any kind of credit from them is impossible!! They charge for High speed Internet for low speed service. The DVR they offer only works half the time. When we had it instaled the service tech Mike had to come to our house 5 times in 2 weeks to replace the defunct machines!! And when I requested credit..NONE! I had to stay home five times from work and nothing?! The CS supervisors are so rude its unbeliveable! The CS reps are nice but they seem to have thier hands tied as to helping orgiving any kind of credit. The internt is so awful and the digital phone is even worse. I have had no service for up to five days at a time!! Here in Carnation we are stuck withthem if you want cable and so they have a monopoly, and we lose. The City of Duvall has even had town hall meetings with the CEO's of the comapny flying out here to try to rectify the probelms and still it actuallygets worse. I pray that Comcast buys them out!! $120.00 a month should get at the very least reasonable service. I feel like Im back to using Dial-up again!! Shame on them!!

member for 15.5 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 15.5 years ago


Review by meeesterkob See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $97 per month
non-existent reliability, incompetent service
suckage
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I bought a packaged deal with basic tv and their slower internet package, which might have been an alright deal when it started with their promotional pricing (around $60 for 6 months), except for the quality of service.

As other reviewers have indicated, reliability is abysmal. I have had my modem disconnect and attempt to reconnect dozens of times per day during the worst periods. When I called in for service, they were polite enough, but pretty unhelpful, always wanting to send out a technician. The technicians they sent have been polite enough, but every other one screwed up something or another that the next technician would find and fix. Unfortunately, reliability has not improved at all after any service visits, so I have given up on getting them to fix anything.

Speed on their light package has peaked pretty uniformly at around 60kB/s downstream, right around the advertised peak for the "Light" package.

Seattle residents: beware of moving to a residence serviced exclusively by Broadstripe!!

member for 15.5 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 15.5 years ago


Review by maclean See Profile

  • Location: Duvall, King, WA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Very few
Slow speed, very poor customer service, and prices that do not reflect the service provided.
Call King County and demand they switch to Comcast.

I pay for 6MB service, and receive 1.2.

My prices increase dramatically as service suffers.

Calls to customer service result in word games about packages and discontinued pricing schemes.

On demand service and stable speeds that Comcast provides daily are a pipe dream if you live in the area leased to Broadstripe by King County.

If it were not the only choice here for broadband, I'd be washed of them.

member for 16.9 years, 3 visits, last login: 15.5 years ago
lodged 15.6 years ago


Review by phatoneusa See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month (3 month contract)
Works decent
Throttle Upload (I think), slow internet, connection drops, 6MB?
DSL is better than Cable, Broadstripe you need to add more bandwidth to Seattle
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In the apartment I moved to in downtown Seattle they had a contract with Broadstripe. Tell me WHY IS THE INTERNET SO SLOW IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE!!! It's the 21st century, why is the upload only 384k and 6MB down it's the 21st Century. I should have a comparable speed to Comcast with Broadstripe and I don't, the Extreme service should be 12mb + down and 1-2mb upload. Anything else is a shame and Seattle should have Fiber Optic to everyone and ditch Cable IMO, also citywide fast Wifi like the UK has with 10/10 wouldn't be bad either. Anyways this service is overpriced and the only good thing about Broadstripe is it isn't as big of a rip-off as other DSL /TV providers are sometimes.

Overall BROADSTRIPE sucks and them not being a major corporation is a very bad excuse for all the Broadstripe fanboys. Fix the connection problems, if you have broadstripe try to broadcast video on ustream.tv and see how it freezes, what a joke, EVDO or cell phone internet works more consistantly uploading. It feels a lot like Clearwire and their throttling when you broadcast video.

member for 20.3 years, 162 visits, last login: 15.6 years ago
updated 15.7 years ago


Review by Klosterheim See Profile

  • Location: Carnation, King, WA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Cable TV works most of the time, most tech support people are nice
Internet and Phone service is horrible, chronic outages
Someone needs to put these guys out of business.
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We have been using Broadstripe services for about 9 months, and we have had techs out to the house about 5 or 6 times.

One time, we had a tech out because our HDTV wasn't working. The rest of the times, we have had a tech out because of problems with the internet and (therefore) phone service.

We have had two kinds of problems with them: chronic and intermittent.

The chronic problem is that Broadstripe's cable speed is bad. They claim they offer up to 6 Mbit, but we have never had speed that fast. I know they only say "up to 6 Mbit" and don't guarantee it, but by this logic, they can just say "up to twelve hundred billion million trillion Mbit" and be technically correct, but still suck. Bottom line: If you are looking to use Broadstripe because they are advertising "up to 6 Mbit", please understand that, based on my experience, you will not get anywhere near that speed, even if you buy the highest package. You might want to get the cheapest package possible, because no matter how much you pay, your internet speed is going to suck.

Intermittently, we have also had problems with service dropping in and out, leaving us with no internet or phone. They have tried many different things to fix the problem: they have run new cable from the street, they have replaced cable splitters, they have replaced the modem, etc., but they have never done anything that has permanently fixed the problem. Now, I am no expert, but I do login to the modem's diagnostic panel, and it sure seems to me that the problem is that the modem is trying to connect upstream and it is regularly failing. Sometimes it connects and holds for a while, but mostly the modem just sits there knocking on the door trying to find something to connect to. For sure, maybe the modem is sending some corrupt packets or something, but it sure seems to me that the problem is not with my hardware. I could be wrong, but they have basically replaced everything but the kitchen sink and we still have these problems, so I am guessing the problem is not in our house but in theirs ...

Finally, here is a story that has happened twice, and is fairly representative of my experience with Broadstripe, a conjoining of the tragic and comic. One of the basic problems with the service is that when the internet is down, so is the phone. But when Broadstripe decides to roll a truck out, they need to have a phone number in order to make sure they are there before they come. Here is what has happened to us ... twice.

1. We schedule a tech service.

2. We tell the tech people that the phone does not work and not to call it.

3. The truck rolls out.

4. The truck tries to call the phone that does not work, indeed, the very phone they are supposed to roll out to fix.

5. The truck decides that we aren't home and never shows up.

This has happened ... twice. Twice! They send someone out to fix the phone, but they call the phone they are supposed to fix, don't reach it, and so never show up.

Is this for real? Is this one of the saddest, most idiotic things you have ever heard? How are these guys not bankrupt?

In a real world, where consumers can expect to trade money for workable service, Broadstripe would be out of business and / or in court. In our world, however, Broadstripe can continue to take money from us, even though they can't keep their service up.

Avoid Broadstripe at all costs. If you are thinking about moving to the Seattle area, first make sure you can get another cable company. If you can't, think about moving to a part of Seattle where you can. DO NOT use Broadstripe if you telecommute or expect to have internet connectivity as part of your job.

Again, this is all based just on my experience, and maybe everyone else is happy and we have rotten cable wires or something, but Broadstripe is easily one of the worst companies I have ever had a relationship with, and I have used Comcast and Adelphia both. Comcast and Adelphia are shining beacons on a hill compared to these guys.

member for 16.3 years, 7 visits, last login: 12.2 years ago
lodged 15.7 years ago


Review by neineken See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $135 per month
None
Everything You Can Think Of, Defrauded the BBB
Avoid at All Costs, Report to BBB, Report to Cable Commission
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A long time ago I wrote a scathing review on here about some problems I was having with Broadstripe/MDM. I went through the hassle of getting in touch with the city Cable Commission or whatever it is, as well as filing a BBB report on them. When my problem was "resolved", I changed this review and removed a lot of my angry comments. I am adding them back. Quick summary:

- My service sucks, as does the service of all of those commenting below me
- The stupid clown on the commercials that I want to choke keeps telling me "6 MEGS!"... it's not 6 anything, it's not even one
- Support sucks, if you can reach them
- Repair technicians are grossly incompetent and could not fix my problem after several on-site visits
- Service is a total ripoff, I've never had to pay this much for such horrible service

So get this, in order to get my BBB complaint closed and marked as 'customer accepts resolution' or whatever, they jack up my cable speed immensely. All of a sudden, I'm getting a full 6, and even more than 6mbit. I was really surprised, and thought they had fixed the problem.

What happens next is almost comical. Once the BBB was closed and marked as resolved/customer happy, my service immediately... I'm talking about the day after they called... goes back down to the same crap it always was.

What conclusions can I draw from this? That everyone reporting crappy 1mb speeds is being purposely throttled down to that speed, as I got a temporary look into what speeds can really be achieved if they actually remove the cap.

We are being intentionally ripped off.
They are throttling traffic, heavily.

They are now sending along Globe Life Insurance policy spam in their bills. That is wonderful too.

I have reopened my BBB complaint and allege fraud.

member for 16.1 years, 4 visits, last login: 15.8 years ago
updated 15.8 years ago


Broadkiller
@cablespeed.com

Broadkiller

Anon

Broadstripe simply sucks!

What cable internet service allows dropped connections every three minutes or less? Hey, it's Broadstripe! I've lived in the Seattle area for 12 years, and have been a Comcast cable subscriber for as long as Comcast has offered cable. I have had Comcast cable at three different homes, all with great service and a steady upload and download stream.
I live in Queen Anne; I recently bought a small condo here. My building has a contract with Broadstripe. When I checked around for Comcast, they said that they didn't have a service contract for my building. I thought, "Oh no! Then who does?" I immediately had suspicions about "the other high speed internet cable provider in the Seattle area."
I work virtually via VPN (virtual private network) and use remote desktop to connect to a computer at my workplace. Using Broadstripe is an exercise in frustration because the feed drops about every minute, and I have to wait for the VPN utility to reconnect. I have used VPN for three years previously with Comcast and have experienced no problems.
I created a ticket with Broadstripe and their service technician will come out for a look next week. I'll get charged $29.99 if they find out it's my equipment. Somehow I have a feeling that, no matter what happens, I'm going to get charged for anything that this company does anyway, and the problem won't get resolved.
If you have a choice between Broadstripe and Comcast, steer clear of the sporadic outages and dropped connections that plague Broadstripe service.

markk1661
@spcsdns.net

markk1661

Anon

Broadstripe Lies and trys to steal from you

I just moved to Seattle 4 months ago and had only one choice for Cable service in my building. I got Broadstripe HD TV and broadband internet. I was told that I had a set price for 6 months at $71.00 a month. After 3 months it went up to $101.00.

I also have had bad broadband and HD service for the 3 months and so I canceled everything and can't wait to move into my new house.

mikemos
@cablespeed.com

mikemos

Anon

I hate Broadstripe (Millenium)

Why does Seattle allow Broadstripe to exist in Seattle. I'm convinced someone is getting a kickback. It's not like it's for competitive reasons. If you live in the sliver of downtown that Broadstripe covers, that's all you can get.

This is the 2nd time I have been forced to contract with them. I was with Comcast before and while I had my problems with them it was NOTHING like the issues I have with Broadstripe.

They claim 6Mbs downstream but almost every other night I get 1Mbs or below. They don't do anything about it either. I work on a number of server and have to connect remotely. I am constantly getting bogged down. At night I like to watch Netflix on demand. I don't do it at peak times, only at night and it constantly crawls. If you want basic cable it's $45. With Comcast you can get basic 2-13 for something like $15. What is going on?

I would say "if you have a choice" but you probably don't. You're forced to get Broadstripe if you want cable access. Write your city council person and tell them to get rid of Broadstripe. Make them give you an answer why they have let them in the city.

I like it
@cablespeed.com

I like it

Anon

BROADSTRIPE

WELL i HAVE HAD THEM FOR OVER 5yrs andI have gotten excellent cust serv. I know that some times the cable goes down, but they have always worked to repair and gave crd for time down. I found that they are always upfront w/ me on priciing and packages, and this info is always available to me. I know that they are sometimes the only option in an area, and that if you have had a comcast it is not comparable, but comcast is also a large company that has been around alot longer. since bs has taken over I have seen great improvemts in the service and in customer service. But you will get good and bad companies where ever you go. So I recommend to try them out, and if you are unsatisfied you can always switch
leland_sabon
join:2003-05-13
Seattle, WA

leland_sabon

Member

Re: BROADSTRIPE

I just moved to Seattle. Don't have a tv (yet), and my internet choices are broadstripe and qwest.

Am I just up s**t creek? Is either a decent choice?

Review by megaduck See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month
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Having limited choice i decided to sign up with Broadstripe and get their top of the range 6mbps package, or at least that's what i pay for. The installation was seamless, everything hooked up very quickly. Now for the service that's a different story.

Internet speed is around 200-800 kbps at best. Peak times even worse. They clearly have an overloaded backbone, and too many users on their pipes. I call this misrepresentation and creating false customer expectations. The service has steadily been getting worse too.

Seeing only bad reviews on this site, i only wish i had done more reading in the beginning. I'll be looking elsewhere for better speed and reliability.


member for 15.8 years, 3 visits, last login: 15.7 years ago
lodged 15.8 years ago


dhanson1971
@verizon.net

dhanson1971

Anon

Broadstripe is awful - Get dish if in rural Snohomish

Broadstripe is a joke. I have been forced to have them be my only option as a cable company in a new development in rural Snohomish, out by Lake Roesiger. My only choice, mind you - but I am getting dish ASAP even if it makes the outside of my house look crazy - I don't give a shit anymore. In the past 1.5 years I have had Broadstripe (MDM before that) I have paid less than 5 full cable bills because they can't keep their cable signal up EVER. The wind blows too hard, out - it rains too much, out. I have now lost cable since yesterday during the DAY only because it is too hot - but it magically comes on at night and stays on in the AM until the weather temp goes up and then, out again . . No one at their customer service cares - and in rural Snohomish they only service or send techs out on Tuesday & Thursday . . so when I called @ 3:00 PM on Friday, they actually told me no one could help me until Tuesday. 5 days I just won't have service. I have had their "tech" people in my house more than 10 times evaluating all of my connections because no one believes me that it is their horrid out-dated equipment and lines that won't hold signal strength. Their tech guys also have no emergency or night time service, and only keep the same hours as their customer service people, actually, no - because they will answer the phone up until 7:00 PST and their tech guys will only work on the lines up until 4:00 PM, so lots of help there. This week I have had to call Broadstripe customer service 5 days in a row: they ditched my scheduled appointment (again!) and then showed up unexpected the following day (thank god I was home?) and then the very next day, no cable and now suddenly no one can come figure out why. I can call over the weekend, but you get an answering service who really doesn't record you called or pass on the information and who can blame them - their isn't any tech people working on a Saturday or Sunday - so why bother. I will have to wait until Monday and call AGAIN . . . the funny thing is when I did call this morning and told them it was out; they said they would email dispatch and call me back . . said the same thing yesterday, and it didn't happen. As I was leaving my house today, someone called from Broadstripe to ask if my cable was still out (I had just called them less than a 1/2 hour earlier to tell them it was still out) before they sent someone out to our area - I said, "Yes, still out" and they assured me they would have someone out today and that the tech would call and give me an update; guess what? No update, no call, no cable . . . so I'll be receiving yet another 5 days worth of no cable credit - but it will take me months to make sure it gets on my bill. Last time they skipped an appointment on me, I was supposed to receive a credit to my account in the amount of $20.00 - and the CHARGED me for it - and then it took me over 4 months to get it reversed and I had to call and remind them each month to reverse it. How frickin hard it is to keep BASIC CABLE service up, schedule appointments, and because of computer technology, update and maintain records of payment and invoice your customers right? Apparently, for these clowns, it is very tough. For the past year, I have been told over and over again that they are in the process of upgrading our lines and they know how bad our area is- BLAH, BLAH, BLAH . . all a bunch of crap. If anything, their service has gotten worse, they cut back the days they will even come out to where we live - and they can't manage what they tell me from phone call to phone call.

This is, bar none, the WORST company I have ever had to use and I am furious that I have no other choice in my area. We are calling and meeting with the Snohomish County public works franchising department to have them explain to me why I am forced to have to use this backwards, outdated company and their services. I used to hate Comcast - I would give anything to be their customer again.

I am currently looking into joining the other 51 households in my development who use Direct TV and Dish Network - I should have listened to them when I moved in, but then our flat screens won't be so "flat" with their reception boxes everywhere, but I don't care. I have already talked 2 other of my neighbors into getting Broadstripe - and I will continue on my war path forever with this company until they improve their services and actually make customer service and satisfaction a priority. Leaving a customer without service for 5 days is ridiculous to me - and do you think it is a bad thing that I have their 800 number on speed dial or that I have both their 800 number memorized since I have to call and complain about them so much? Both my husband and I have asked repeatedly for supervisors in cable TV to call us and explain why we can't have service that is dependable and reliable in the year 2008. Do you know how many have called? NONE!

BROADSTRIPE SUCKS - IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE, GO WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN THIS COMPANY OR YOU WILL BE GREATLY SORRY!