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Review by kvk

  • Location: Naperville, Du Page, IL, USA
  • Cost: $69 per month (12 month contract)
Pre Sales information:
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Value for money:

After a half-week of service, I'm having good luck so far with Concentric ADSL (384/128) in Naperville IL. Price is $69/mo for SOHO 384/128, $89/mo for 768/384, but I'm too far from the CO to get the faster service. Price include 4 IP's and 5 email boxes, installation was $149 ($299 less $150 rebate) plus $90/hr for inside wiring. I was quoted 30-45 days for installation but was up and running in 23 days. The installation process was smooth, the Covad installer knew his stuff. The only negative was that if you do have a question during the installation interval, expect a very long wait on hold with Concentric's understaffed phone support line (hence the low tech support rating). The ADSL performance has been good, and very reliable so far. For their SOHO service they're using a Speedstream 5250 DSL bridge, so if you're paranoid like me you should plan to supply your own firewall. I'm hooking it through a Netopia R9100 ethernet router/firewall/NAT, and that's working well.

-----

Kevin Kinder

dsl@luckytown.org

(review was emailed from domain luckytown.org)
lodged 24.1 years ago


Review by hypnotik1 See Profile

  • Location: Rockville, Montgomery, MD, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $199 per month (12 month contract)
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My experience with Concentric Network has been, for the most part, quite
good. I actually ordered the service last March - 3/22/1999 actually, and
was up and running by 4/12/1999.

There was a slight mix up at the Concentric Sales Office regarding who was
assigned to my account. Aside from that, there were no problems with the
bellatlantic installation of the line, and the Covad technician simply
used my existing isdn pair for the SDSL line.

I ended up getting a /27 (32 IPs) for various servers and sites that I
run for my small business with a line speed of 384kbps symetric.

I've had very good speeds and low latency on this link and there have been
only a handful of network problems or outages since April.

As far as costs go - the installation/hardware charge was not discounted
and there was no rebate at the time I ordered the service.

Hardware costs were $450 for the Flowpoint SDSL 2200 router.
Installation was free, and the monthly charges are $199.

Overall I've been pleased with the quality of service.

network traffic: »firenze.hypnotic.net/mrtg/

-chris

member for 24.2 years, 35 visits, last login: 23.8 years ago
lodged 24.2 years ago


Review by Audrey

  • Location: San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
  • Cost: $69 per month
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After calling PacBell and getting bounced between people who ultimately
said "You're on your own for support", I had a refreshing phone
conversation with Kevin Lawrence at Concentric who promised to hold my
hand throughout the process. Concentric had an advantage: I already
had a couple dial up accounts with them and they already host my
domain. I figured having someone hold my hand and promise they wouldn't
screw up was worth the extra $20/month over what I would have spent
using PacBell's DSL.

The one question I forgot to ask before I decided on Concentric is about
dial up access when I'm on the road. I asked via email, and received
no response. Finally, I got Kevin to tell me that I could get a
$19.95/month dial up account. I heard that PacBell offers a dial up
account as part of their DSL service. This now makes Concentric $40 per
month more expensive than PacBell. If I had known that, I might have
opted for the pain of PacBell. $40/month is a lot to pay year after
year for the INITIAL hand holding.

I was sent instructions for configuring TCP in Windows, although I had
made it very clear from the start that I use a Macintosh. Kevin had
assured me that would be no problem. I received no response from an
email asking for TCP configuration for the Mac. Luckily, I'm technical
enough that I figured it out; someone less knowledgeable than me would
have had a harder time.

That said, I was exceedingly pleased with everything about the
pre-installation. Everyone showed up and performed as advertised;
everything went smoothly and professionally. The service itself seems
fast and problem-free. I have yet to cancel my dialup accounts;
hopefully things will remain problem-free when I do!

Audrey

(review was emailed from domain AudreyCole.com)
lodged 24.2 years ago


Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $179 per month (12 month contract)
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I live in Dallas. I recently bought a 384/384 DSL line from Concentric. The
contract was for 1 year. It included 13 IP addresses at no charge. Kevin
Lawrence ( klawrence@cncx.com 408-817-2423 )
with Concentric discounted the line 10%. This brought my total price to
179.10 a month. He also threw in a Flowpoint 2200 router for free along
with free installation. The installation went just as Kevin Lawrence said it
would, trouble free. Concentric and Mr. Lawrence kept me informed every step
of the way. It is comforting to see a company actually deliver what they
promise in today's market in the time frame that they quoted. I rate
Concentric and their service a five out of five.

Ryan

(review was emailed from domain sgp.net)
lodged 24.2 years ago


Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Littleton, Douglas, CO, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $124 per month (12 month contract)
Pre Sales information:

I am preparing to get a IDSL service in CO highlands ranch. When I contacted
Covad, after few days a rep from concentric contact me. Contract was one
sided. They say 124/mo and upto $90.00 installation. And I have to pay
$250.00 if I cancel the order before the installation. They do not specify when they will get me the service. It may be 20 years from now, But I still have to pay, if I don;t need it. I asked them to specify a date ( 2-4 months from the ordered date). Because If I don;t get this
service untill next April I may go with ISDN. However the rep would not let
me talk to manager or change the contract to add a date by which If I am not provisioned, I can choose to cancel. Also they are not
willing to add in the contract maximum installtion charge. All it says is at
the discretion of installer any amount may be incurred by the client. No
mention of free modem either in the contract. Very poor customer pre sale
support. I rate them 1 of 5

Sada

(review was emailed from domain hsacorp.net)
lodged 24.2 years ago

System

Anon

DSL when you want it

I called South Western Bell They said 10 days and it was 10 days.... Their web policy stinks like all getup but 10 days and it was a done deal. Outages is another thing they don't fix anything it seems until monday if it goes down on the weekend. And their webpage policy still stinks, but who needs their webpage I got DSL and Linux.

Review by KMcQuade4 See Profile

  • Location: Great Falls, Fairfax, VA, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $124 per month (12 month contract)
Pre Sales information:

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?

member for 24.5 years, 5 visits, last login: 24.1 years ago
lodged 24.2 years ago


Review by dvarona See Profile

  • Location: East Elmhurst, Queens, NY, USA
  • Cost: $89 per month (12 month contract)
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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

member for 24.3 years, 1382 visits, last login: 6.8 years ago
lodged 24.2 years ago


Review by gclarke1 See Profile

  • Location: Northbrook, Cook, IL, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $169 per month (12 month contract)
Pre Sales information:
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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.

member for 24.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 24 years ago
lodged 24.2 years ago


Review by albeau@yahoo.com See Profile

  • Location: Reading, Middlesex, MA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
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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!

member for 24.3 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 24.3 years ago


Review by gimp` See Profile

  • Location: Allston, Suffolk, MA, USA
  • Cost 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.

member for 24.3 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 24.3 years ago