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Review by ftrue See Profile

  • Location: Bloomsbury, Hunterdon, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $135 per month
Excellent tech support, solid reliability
Somewhat more expensive, still victim to local telco (Embarq) problems
Quite happy with NAC.
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My monthly cost includes a /28 static IP block with DNS service (hence the added cost), otherwise their "Business DSL" is cost competetive. Service is 3M/768K ADSL (can't get much higher with the quality of our copper in this part of Hunterdon County). The local service is Embarq, which has been *horrible* - I'd rather deal with NAC techs over Embarq any day. However, I still have to deal with outages and performance issues caused by Embarq's infrastructure (however NAC handles the tickets, and gets much better priority than I would).

member for 15.9 years, 13 visits, last login: 14 years ago
lodged 15.3 years ago


Review by wjwallace3 See Profile

  • Location: Parsippany, Morris, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $69 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 22 days
  • Telco party Verizon
  • CLEC party: Covad
Customer Service & Connection Quality
Not the cheapest around but worth every penney
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I had been a Net Access customer some years back with a dialup connection. When they first started offering DSL they were a lot more expensive than Verizon, I made the mistake of choosing Verizon DSL over NAC.

When I initially setup my Verizon DSL, there was an outage in my area, and I counldn't hook it up for three days. Eventually I got it up and running and the speed was great. My gripe with them was frequent outages, and extremely long wait times to speak to a rep to tell them I was having an outage. Eventually I learned that my outages weren't outages, it was their routers dropping my MAC? address, or something to that effect. After a few months of this, CableVision offered me their Optimum Online product. I switched.

The switch over took only a few days, and the setup on my computer wasn't too bad. I liked the speed, but noticed that after a few months, it felt like it was getting slower. So I started visiting cnet and doing internet speedometer tests. After a few weeks of testing, I realized that it was getting slower. Sometimes it was slower than my 56k dialup modem. On my way to a relatives house I passed a billboard from Net Access that said get DSL. Once I got home, I checked their site, and it looked available.

I called them and spoke with their sales department, they were helpful, and explained why their service was more expensive than Verizons, and why theirs was better. I have to admit that I had a "yeah, sure" attitude. NAC provides service through Covad in my area, I heard that they were having some money troubles, I was assured that they were a good company and not going anywhere. I decided to take my chances with them. I had to actually sign a contract which was annoying, but what can you do. I called back a few days later, and they told me my due date. The self install kit was fairly easy to figure out, I did have one problem though, I didn't know that you had to have the @nac.net on your login name to get in. I called tech support, after waiting on hold for only a couple of minutes (pleasantly suprised with the wait time) the tech quickly figured out my problem.

So far, I have been pleased with the service. It is really fast, NAC's router hasn't dropped my address, it has never gone down, & the setup was a breeze. Their service is a little more than the other providers I've had in the past, but I guess that old saying is true, "you get what you pay for."

member for 22.2 years, 56 visits, last login: 21.4 years ago
lodged 22.2 years ago


shawn744
Premium Member
join:2001-02-16
New Jersey

shawn744

Premium Member

Well...that's good

Well it's good to hear that you're paying a lot for good service...paying money is good. Well technology is getting better by the second...hang on...in about 10 years...whooooo it's gonna be so fun...can't wait to buy top quality electronics....well good luck to you too.! -shawn

Review by ekleiner7 See Profile

  • Location: Sussex, Sussex, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $18 per month (12 month contract)
Fasst Connection Speed 49999bps and faster when in win 98
win 2000 connection speeds slower than 32kbps
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When Connecting With Windows 2000 The Connection will not be faster than 32kbps. All was fine untill early december 2001. after this i have yet to connect any faster than 34kbps. They claime it is a "driver issue". The Modem Manufacture has checked the modem and driver config. They say it works fine. When connecting to another isp, i get a 49kbps connection! They wont do anything about this, at all.

member for 22.2 years, 202 visits, last login: 17.7 years ago
lodged 22.2 years ago


Review by kevincl78 See Profile

  • Location: Worcester, Worcester, MA, USA
  • Cost: $80 per month (12 month contract)
Reliable connection. has not even been down once since I started using it
Not getting the speed I'm paying for
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I got my dsl installation about 3 weeks after i placed the order. The only thing that I wasn't happy about was that they didn't tell me when they were going to come in advance and all. But 3 weeks from the order date! I thought it was very quick. I know of a friend who waited 2 months (flashcom).

The covad person knew what he was doing. There was a slight problem but they got it all figured out within 30 mins or less. My machine has 3com ethernet NIC and they brought SpeedStream 5260. Connection is very reliable. It never went down. The only problem is that I'm not getting the speed I'm paying for. I ordered 1.5mbps down and 384 kbps up (static ip). I'm definitely getting 384 kbps up but also getting only 384 kbps down. I plan to call NAC and ask them about it since I tried all those DSL tweaks listed on this website. Other than the speed, I'm happy with everything else.

member for 23.4 years, 143 visits, last login: 17.1 years ago
lodged 23.4 years ago


Review by Snwbrdng5 See Profile

  • Location: Whippany, Morris, NJ, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $159 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 14 days
  • Telco party Verizon
  • CLEC party: Covad
Quick installation, good price, fast connection, excellent customer service
Bell Atlantic went on strike and slowed the process down
Excellent for business
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Ordered a 192SDSL line with 16 static IP addresses. We have had the line for 4 months now. Net Access configured reverse DNS for us and also holds our secondary DNS. Every time we call, we always get somebody. Not once have we called and gotten an automated system. No downtime at all since we have had the line. Covad was there the day after Bell Atlantic had installed the line and Covad had tested it.

member for 23.4 years, 1 visits, last login: 23.4 years ago
lodged 23.4 years ago


Review by gwhitney See Profile

  • Location: East Setauket, Suffolk, NY, USA
  • Cost: $59 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 999 days
  • Telco party Verizon
  • CLEC party: Covad
Friendly and reachable on the phones (although they rarely call you)
They obtain DSL circuits through Zyan, not directly from Covad
They were unable to provide me with service
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:

I originally chose Teliquest as my DSL internet service provider, which was a debacle (see review under Teliquest for details). Once I finally obtained a release letter from Teliquest, I wanted to do an ISP switch to another provider who offered Covad DSL service. The reviews for Network Access Corp. looked good, although they were sparse; they offered static IP addresses; they offered a contract with no commitment for an ISP switch; and they were friendly and apparently informative over the phone.
(However, I did not ask, nor did they volunteer, that they no longer have direct relationship with Covad, but rather obtain their DSL circuits through Zyan, who acts as a circuit aggregator for them and others, presumably.) Here's the timeline of what happened (all dates are year 2000):

Wed, August 30: I sign a work order and send it to NAC. "Phil" there says that they've received the order, and that ISP switches are fast, so I should be up and running in 2-4 days. He says he'll call in two days to give me a status report.

Fri, Sep 1: Actually I call back, and Phil says that everything is in Covad's hands, and he's waiting to
hear from Covad next Tuesday, so if I don't hear on Tuesday, call back.

Wed, Sep 6: I call back. Phil says they're waiting on Covad, who must be swamped with fallout from the
Verizon strike. He says I can also call "Chris" who's actually working on the order. I call Chris who says that he doesn't know what the holdup with Covad is, he'll find out and get back to me tomorrow.

Fri, Sep 8, morning: No word from Chris or Phil yesterday, so I contact Chris. He has no additional information, and is unwilling to try to obtain any. When I complain about this, Chris refers me to
his manager, "Ben". I contact Ben, who says that the holdup is actually with Zyan, who I have not heard about before this point. NAC actually buys its circuits from Zyan, who I guess buys a whole bunch of circuits from Covad and resells them to smaller customers. Ben apologizes for the delay, and
says he'll find out from Zyan what the holdup is and get back to me.

Fri, Sep 8, evening: Ben calls me to say that since they have never done an ISP switch with Zyan before, there was some confusion, and actually no order had ever been placed (!). He says that my "real" order will go in on Monday, Sep 10, and then it should take 2-4 days, so that I will have DSL
connectivity by Friday, Sep 15.

Fri, Sep 15: Having had no word so far, I call Ben first thing in the morning. He says he will contact Zyan and get back to me that day, but I do not hear from him that day or all day next Monday.

Tues, Sep 19: Called Ben first thing in the morning, asked him to call me ASAP. At 2pm, having heard
nothing, I call Phil., who said he would track down Ben and find out what was going on. Phil called back
and said that the order had to be in Zyan's system for two weeks before they could "escalate" it.

At this point, I called Ben and chewed him out, saying they originally promised 2-4
days, then nothing happened until I pursued it, then it got in
Zyan's system and he promised 2-4 days again, and that promise was
broken. Now he's saying that he has to wait another week before he
can go back to Zyan and even ask somebody knowledgeable what's
going on, let alone get in touch with Covad. So we agreed (a) that
he's going to be proactive and on Monday the 25th, the two-week
anniversary of actually getting the order on Zyan's system, if the
switchover hasn't taken place he's going to find out what's up and
call me instead of the other way around; and (b) I'll get an
additional free month of service.

Monday, Sep 25: Chris called at Ben's request to say that there was
no new information, and that they can't escalate it until the
29th. This is in direct conflict with what Ben told me on Sep 19.
I immediately called Ben and left a message asking him to call me,
which he didn't do by 5:30 PM.

Wed, Sep 27: Still no word from Ben, so I left another message for
him and one for Phil.

Fri, Sep 29: Ben called, said that due to misunderstandings
between Zyan and Covad, it was back to square one, and that it
would be at least couple of weeks until I had DSL. So given their inability to handle my order, the poor record on calling back when they said they would, and the fact that it was easy to imagine thet the first time there was a problem I'd be back in this ping-pong between NAC, Zyan, and Covad, I canceled.

My conclusions are that the relationship with Covad through Zyan as an intermediary has severely hampered NAC's ability to do business as an ISP for Covad DSL. I would recommend if you want or need Covad DSL service, that you choose an ISP that does business directly with Covad. In the NY area, one example is I2000.com, who I tried next and who had me up and running in 10 days. (see my review)

member for 23.6 years, 17 visits, last login: 23.1 years ago
lodged 23.4 years ago


Review by mroe660 See Profile

  • Location: Lakeland, Polk, FL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
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Pre Sales information:
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Value for money:

.

member for 23.5 years, 9 visits, last login: 23.4 years ago
lodged 23.5 years ago







Review by cyberbob7 See Profile

  • Location: Dover, Morris, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $79 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 51 days
  • CLEC party: Covad
Sales people were helpful even after sale. Excellent tech support.
Installation took forever. Mostly Verizon who delayed. I did order prior to strike.
I think I made a good choice. Long wait, but well worth it!
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The speed I ordered was 1500/384 with a static IP. I have not measured my speed yet, but it is really fast! The installation went pretty smooth except for the Verizon install. I got bumped because they went on strike and then seemed to be forgotten, but the ISP was always willing to talk to me and I always got someone on the phone. I think that is what I like about them. I have AOL for the kids and have tried to reach them for tech support and have been on hold for what seemed to be days. I have never had that here at Net Access. I am sure I will be this pleased in the future also.

member for 23.5 years, 1 visits, last login: 23.5 years ago
lodged 23.5 years ago


Review by lcbart See Profile

  • Location: Pottstown, Montgomery, PA, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 15 days
  • Telco party Verizon
  • CLEC party: Covad
Somebody must be getting what they signed for.
It ain't me.
Unless it gets fixed real soon I'll be calling my Dialup and begging them to take me back.
Pre Sales information:
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OK. Maybe it's me... I've been reading these glowing reviews and feeling lousy about this, because I can't find anything good to say. Here's the history.

6 weeks ago - Decided I was tired of screechy noises and hearing my friends talk about how fast their DSL was, checked this site and some others and decided NAC looked like a good deal. Went to their web site, checked availabilty and filled out the online request.

5 weeks ago - No response - went back to the site, got the number and called, after about three hand offs I got a a sales person who said the request never went through, faxed me the paper work and got things rolling. (This guy did his job).

4 1/2 weeks ago. Bell came out and did their thing. No prob.

3 Weeks ago - Covad calls on Friday to 'remind' me about appointment Saturday. I needed reminding since they never called the first time, I was going away for the weekend, and I din't have a NIC card yet. Rep said it was no problem, they could install without me here, and without the card. Next day (Sat.) I'm on the phone with my wife and the Covad rep most of the day answering the questions he said I really should have been here to answer. Stupid me.

I come home install the card and hook up expecting the top of my head to be blown off by the speed. HA! Things seemed slower than my dialup ! Actually they were about the same.

3 weeks ago to Now - Many phone calls, emails, conference calls later we're all sitting around shrugging about why my speed is 65-95k. NOT what I expected, hoped for, or will pay for.

member for 23.5 years, 11 visits, last login: 22.2 years ago
lodged 23.5 years ago


mbuechler
join:2000-04-18
Cincinnati, OH

mbuechler

Member

Bad speed

Dear lcbart,

Your speed definitely doesn't look good - if you're not getting anywhere with them, I'd swap out my NIC card and if that didn't work I'd demand a replacement DSL modem to see if that might be the problem. Unless you're paying for 128/128 service, you speed is very slow.

--
Sincerely,
Matthew B. Buechler
Intersoft Designs
System

Anon

Don't be so quick to blame the ISP

It sounds to me exactly like the problem i had with my First DSL provider, Which turned out to be a Bell Atlantic Problem, NOT the ISP. BA had a bad DSLAM in my local C/O.

I use NAC, and don't have any problems. i usually get 1200k+

My only gripe with NAC is that i have sent the billing department 3 emails over the past couple months, and have yet to recieve a response...

Review by dkounter

  • Location: Lake Hiawatha, Morris, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
Reliable service, good tech support, no extra software to install.
Numerous calls during setup.
Keep on them to get through the installation, the end result is worth it!
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've only been while these guys for a short time, but they definitely
impressed me! I worked almost entirely with Brian, who was always
helpful and returned my phone calls. I have a 384k connection with a
dedicated IP address, which averages around 35-40k actual downstream
data transfer.

Gripes with NAC:
a.. I had to make numerous follow-up phone calls to keep things
moving along during pre-installation.
b.. They use two news servers... one for binaries, and one for
everything else, so I had to switch to a newsreader that could handle
two accounts. This is pretty minor complaint, though.

Praises for NAC:
a.. Although I did have to make a lot of phone calls, they followed
up on every single one of them.
b.. The service has been constant ever since I joined, with NO
interruptions. This is important.
c.. The network speed is pretty much what I expected.
d.. I use NT server with a lot of services running, and the DSL
installation did not interfere with any of them. This also was
important to me.
e.. I had one problem after the service was installed, and it was
handled quickly and efficiently during a single phone call.
f.. I did not receive a bill until after the installation was
completed.
g.. They did what they said they'd do, unlike BA!
h.. There wasn't any extra software to install, just some IP settings.

I originally tried BA, which was a HUGE mistake!!!! After numerous
calls, literally HOURS of being put on hold, I dumped those guys for
NAC. I never did get connected using Bell... switching to NAC was a
very good decision.

(review was emailed from domain interactive.net)
lodged 23.9 years ago