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Review by KMcQuade4 
Posted: 9.9 years ago
member for 10.2 years, 5 visits, last login: 9.8 years ago
 Great Falls,Fairfax,VA
 Business customer
 $124 per month (12 month contract)
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(ratings match consensus)
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I ordered Concentric recently for IDSL. My home is 18500 feet from the CO.
The rate seems high, but the installation and equipment are free. I have seen some offers as low as $69 per month, but you pay for the equipment and the providers' reviews were less than impressive.
Are there any better provider alternatives in the Northern Virginia area when I can't get Road Runner and I'm 18,500 feet from the CO?
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Review by dvarona
Posted: 9.9 years ago
member for 10 years, 1127 visits, last login: 1 days ago
East Elmhurst,Queens,NY
$89 per month (12 month contract)
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
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(ratings above consensus)
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I ordered 768/384kbps from Concentric via Covad about two weeks before Thanksgiving. They offered 4 static IP addrs, 5 e-mail accounts, all for $89/month. The installation prices were pretty high, but a $150 rebate from Covad for the modem softened it a bit. They promised 30-45 business days (6-9 weeks!) but since they warned me ahead of time, I was prepared to hunker down and wait. Having some static IP addresses available to play with, along with the speedy access, made this setup quite attractive to me.
I was impressed with the pre-sales information and the automated and personal handling provided by Concentric. I was completely surprised when I was given install dates only two weeks after my initial order! They followed up with fully informational e-mails and even reminder phone calls. Bell Atlantic was to arrive on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and Covad on Saturday after.
The installation process is where things fell apart. Each of the three parties messed up in some way: Bell Atlantic needed to reengineer a panel, and finished early but didn't tell everybody else they had finished. Concentric scheduled me for a second Covad date during my vacation, and messed up the reschedule by not informing me of the new date until the *night* (9pm) before-- I was already gone but had someone else wait in vain. Covad promised a 12n-5p install time by both voice and e-mail but had their guys come out at 9am instead when I wasn't there. A fourth appointment was necessary. Oh, the pain of being on the bleeding edge of technology.
Despite all of this, my Concentric reps were very helpful, and even compensated me for my extra trials. In any case, they were well within the 9 week timeframe; it's just the disappointment of what looked like two weeks that turned into 6 that got me.
Finally, though, I now have DSL. It seems blazingly fast, even faster than the T-1 at work-- probably since there is no proxy server or firewall (yet) and no sharing.
I rate the value a 4 instead of 5 because of the high installation fees of over $600 (though I haven't really compared, and that's without the $150 rebate). The monthly fees are more than Bell Atlantic's $49/mo, but you get much more with Concentric and they seem much more professional about it that I'm glad I picked them.
--Donald Varona
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Review by gclarke1
Posted: 9.9 years ago
member for 9.9 years, 1 visits, last login: 9.7 years ago
Northbrook,Cook,IL
Business customer
$169 per month (12 month contract)
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(ratings well above consensus)
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After reading some of the reviews, I expected to encounter a number of problems with the installation of our DSL service. To my surprise, the entire process from order to installation went exactly as promised. Genie Hua, the account rep. for Concentric is pleasant, professional and knowledgeable. We received periodic updates via e-mail regarding the progress of our order, and Ameritech and Covad were here when promised. The Covad installation techs were great, as well.
I highly recommend Concentric.
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Review by albeau@yahoo.com
Posted: 10 years ago
member for 10 years, 0 visits, last login: 10 years ago
Reading,Middlesex,MA
Contract price not specified.
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(ratings above consensus)
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Alan from Reading:
I ordered 384/128 ADSL from Concentric at the end of October. Over the next 3 weeks, I received at least 2 emails per week letting me know where things were at with my order. Everything occurred on time, with no hassles whatsoever; Covad even called to offer to push up the final install! My install occurred on Nov 20th, and only took 45 minutes (I had everything ready for them, including the internal wiring). So far, speed has been excellent, and I have not needed tech support.
Concentric/Covad costs a little more than some of the others, but, so far, I can't say enough good things about them. Way to go!
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Review by gimp`
Posted: 10 years ago
member for 10 years, 0 visits, last login: 10 years ago
Allston,Suffolk,MA
Contract price not specified.
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Concentric's service has been quite good; we haven't had any issues with speed. We orderd a 1.1mbit line and bought the router. Bell Atl. neglected to show up on the original day they posted but made it the second time around. I only wish the support lines were a little more quick to respond with requests. It seems like it takes a couple reminders for them to do simple things. The one *major* issue I have with concentric is their network layout. Everything is centralized so that everything we do here in MA gets routed through chicago. This adds latency to everything. I can't talk to a computer in my backyard without a minimum of 70ms as a result of this. If latency is a concern, I'd suggest ensuring that you live near one of the exit points on their network.
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Review by qubit1
Posted: 10.1 years ago
member for 10.1 years, 1 visits, last login: 9.1 years ago
Forest Park,Cook,IL
Contract price not specified.
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(ratings below consensus)
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I read Joe's review of his recent Concentric/Covad installation in the
Chicago area and, Wow! Mine is a totally opposite experience.
I, too, placed my order on 27 September, 1999. First I checked for
availability in my area and the web page initially said, "no." Assuming the
web page data was a bit off (Ameritech had told me the distance) I simply
called Concentric and had them recheck and sure enough, I was at 8000 feet.
I then placed my order for 768/384 service, left my info, etc.
By the end of the day I had been assigned to an account executive, Genie
Hua. And I can't say enough pleasant things about her - charm and efficiency
being on top of the list. On the 30th I received email from Covad letting
me know that they had been contacted and would be arranging things with
Ameritech. Within a few days I had the dates for installation nailed down.
Ameritech arrived - as scheduled - on 13 October and spent a total of 30
minutes hooking up the wire in my basement and testing the line. The guy was
ecstatic that the signal was so clear and he could take an early lunch;
pretty happy dude to talk with as well.
The DSL installation was to have taken place on 26 October, but when Covad
heard back from Ameritech that all was well, they called and asked to move
the date up to October 16, a Saturday even. As I was out of town that
weekend I settled on the following Thursday. (And don't think I didn't
struggle with canceling that weekend trip). On Thursday, 22 October, the
Covad installer arrived and spent around 45 minutes hooking up the service
and then left (Thanks John!)
The service has been on 24/7 since. I paid for 768/384 and am getting around
720kps typically. I haven't checked my upload rate yet.
Again, Concentric DSL was an extremely pleasant experience. I went in under
the assumption that it would take forever and they were on the ball in no
time flat.
Cheers,
david
»www.mcs.anl.gov/~gunter
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 10.1 years ago
(review was emailed from domain epamail.epa.gov)
Naperville,Dupage,IL
Contract price not specified.
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Hi there!
I'm writing to you to let you know of my frustrating experience with
ConcentricDSL and
Covad. Last September 27, 1999, after doing a lot of research for DSL providers
here
in Chicago and its suburbs (primarily Naperville), I decided to sign up with
Concentric
DSL because of there no cost installation and equipment. I went thru all DSL
providers'
SOPs: providing them with my address and phone number and after checking their
data-
base or something? they said that service is available in my area with speed of
144KB.
So I signed up. I was told that it would take approximately four to six weeks, I
said "fine,
I could wait".
By October 21st, after about three weeks of waiting, I had a voice mail message
from
one of Concentric's Rep., unfortunately, I was on the road and was not able to
return
the call until yesterday, the 26th. I tried to get a hold of thet Rep. Jim
Somebody, but
he was with a customer so I talk to the Rep who answered my call. Guess what he
told me? My address or house is not wired for DSL, this is after they confirmed
it was
available when I signed up. Why have me wait for three weeks to tell me this
information.
I could have signed up with another company during that period. Now I have to
start
all over again and that pushes all my plans back another six to four weeks.
Any assistance or clarification you provide will be appreciated, or if you could
warn
other future DSL subscribers with this kind of problem they might encounter with
this
company. I have tried to call several of their customer service supervisor or
manager
and left messages, but so far no one have returned my call.
Thank you very much for your time.
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Review by joewagner
Posted: 10.1 years ago
member for 10.1 years, 0 visits, last login: 10.1 years ago
Redwood City,San Mateo,CA
Contract price not specified.
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I switched from WholeEarth Networks and Covad -- an absolutely nightmare of poor quality and support to Concentric's one year ago and haven't looked back.
I have 416/416 (max possible) using Northpoint and the Netopia 7100 Router. In fact, I was Concentric's first customer to use the Netopia router (thanks Lyn!) and both it and Northpoint's DSL have been very solid.
I have been really pleased with Concentric. I consistently get 47k ftp uploads and downloads to servers accross the country. Their "private backbone" really seems to do the trick, I experience fewer (though not few enough of course) slowdowns than the T-1 service of several companies that I consult at.
My biggest conplaint would be the price $199/month is a bit more than others are charging. For the first part of the year we were getting 99% up time, which disappointed me because that meant 8 hours a month we'd be off line. The outages were mostly late at night, but that's when our big transfers often occur so the outages did hurt espcially during crunch times. Lately things have been stable, and it seems that we are approaching 99.8% uptime which compared to other ISP reports is great. Almost T-1 dependability.
I don't really use their DNS, Mail or News services so I won't rate them.
Joe
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Review by sarne
Posted: 10.1 years ago
member for 10.1 years, 2 visits, last login: 9.8 years ago
Brooklyn,Kings,NY
Contract price not specified.
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(ratings well above consensus)
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Ordered Concentric DSL (Covad) 384/768. Install coordination was excellent. Installed in NYC, within the promised time frames. Priced reasonably for bridged service for SOHO lan with 3 computers. They include 4 static IPs in the monthly fee. Speed looks great on first day. Was up within 15 minutes after Covad tech arrived.
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Review by rkarash
Posted: 10.1 years ago
member for 10.2 years, 19 visits, last login: 112 days ago
Boston,Suffolk,MA
Contract price not specified.
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SDSL, 192k. Static IPs. FlowPoint 2200-12 Router. Macintosh ethernet network.
Ordering was fine. Told 30 days.
It took 50.
Bell Atlantic wouldn't even provide a date for 40 days! But, then did double followup on providing the pair!
Concentric uses Covad locally. This DSL stuff is building so fast... The Covad installer was a good guy but new. He had good telephone backup to resolve problems, and we had several. Install took 3 hrs.
At one very sticky point, I noticed that Covad had different IP addresses vs. what Concentric had sent me by email... Covad's were wrong, missing a digit! There must be a manual transcription of IPs from Concentric to Covad, creating opportunity for error. Concentric phone support was immediate and EXCELLENT.
DSL works great. Simple to configure TCP/IP on the Macs here. Speed is good. No drops (that I know of).
During the install, I noted the warnings in the set-up programs (used by Covad) "Be sure to change the router password from 'admin', the factory default! Otherwise you're open to hackers!" So, late tonight, just to make sure, I telnet to the router IP and sure enough... The password is still 'admin'! Damn! Fortunately, I had been watching closely! Again, with excellent help from Concentric support, I changed the router password.
My NET: Concentric support is superb; DSL is new and has grown fast... The process will necessarily involve people who are learning. Watch out for mistakes/errors.
Mac users can write me.. I'll be glad to help.
-=- Rick Karash
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XO COMMUNICATIONS
