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Review by romistry 
Posted: 8.3 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 22 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
 Littleton,Douglas,CO
 $48 per month
 about 50 days
 Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
 "Service has not been down yet"
 "Incredibly arrogant, totally obnoxious and ignorant customer service"
 "Terrible customer service negates anything else good about Qwest"
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Terrible Customer Service from Qwest hardly makes it worth it!! I came to the USA almost 12 years back. One of the best things I liked about USA was its lack of corruption and the great customer service with the attitude of 'Customer comes first and that 'The Customer is Always Right . Unfortunately, I have seen the degradation of customer service in recent years, and have now been privy to the worst customer service I have ever had! That company is QWEST.
It all started in May 2001, when due to Northpoint declaring bankruptcy, I had to switch DSL providers. QWEST was offering a DSL service with the first month free with no installation or equipment charges. So I went ahead and ordered the service. As it happened, I had to leave for a conference and was going to be out of town from May 17 to June 4. So, I call up customer service to ask them to hold my modem until I return. The customer service reply was that they cannot do that! The modem would still be shipped, and after they try delivering it a couple times, they would send it back! As the wait time to get the DSL service started was a couple of weeks only, to save everyone the trouble, I cancelled the order, telling them that I would place the order once again on my return.
The week of June 4, after my return I placed the order again and they said they would have the DSL connection up and going for me by the 22nd or so. I asked them specifically about the modem too, and they said that the modem would be shipping out, and that I should be receiving it within a week, but to not hook up the modem until the date given, as the line would not be ready. OK fine. I wait another week, and when I do not get my modem, I call them up to inquire the status. I talk to this lady, Laura and she says that my DSL order has been cancelled as my residential line was on a metered basis and DSL requires the unlimited line. Why could not the customer be informed about that, instead of just canceling the order without even notifying the customer? When I asked her that and told her about having to cancel my previous order too, Laura was apologetic about the mess-up on their part. She said that they should have just put the modem on hold in the first place, which they could have done! She said she would also get the residential line switched to the unlimited, and a new order was submitted. Unfortunately, as this was another new order, the DSL would not be activated until July 2 but she would try her best to prioritize the order. Because of the trouble I was put through, she would not charge me for the switch and would give me an extra month of DSL service for free. OK, at least their mistake was acknowledged and they were doing something about it, to rectify the situation.
A week later, still no modem!! I call them up again and this time it is Maria. She claims that the modem will not be delivered until July 2 and that nothing can be done about prioritizing my order! I tell her that I am going on vacation for the week of July 4th so I will not be able to receive the modem then, so to please ship it earlier, which I had understood to be the case anyway from Laura. She is adamant that this cannot be done, even though there are more than 10 days left in the month! I try to explain to her that that is not what I heard from Laura, and that I am getting conflicting stories from her and Laura. As the stories differed so much, I asked if I could speak to a supervisor. She even refused to do that, saying that there is nothing the supervisor could do either! The only option left to me was to cancel again, if I was going to be out of town. This, absolutely unhelpful attitude on her part got me determined to speak to a supervisor and I insisted on speaking to one. She finally left, saying that she would bring a supervisor back, and after a while came back and said that the supervisor was not available immediately, but that he would call me back within an hour or two. I give up and say OK. Never hear from the supervisor. I call back the next day, and is promised the same and again no call! When I try again the next day, the phone is 'accidentally disconnected!! So, disgustingly enough, a supervisor never even bothers to call me!!
The modem finally does show up, and it is before I leave on vacation. Well, I guess they were able to do it after all, and just gave me grief for no reason!! On July 23, I get the bill from Qwest. The bill has all kinds of charges on it! Even though the promotion said that the first month would be free, there is a full charge for it! On top of that, there are several charges for switching my line too! Qwest just can't get anything right! I call them up on the 24th, get through and start explaining the bill and I am cut off in the middle! They do not even bother to call me back, and when I try, it says that the call volume is very high now so call back in a day or two!
On July 26, 2001 I get through to the customer service representative, Reno. I begin explaining the situation to him. He admits that there is a mistake on the bill, and that the month's charge would be removed as it was part of the promotion. I ask him about the other month also that I was to get for their previous mess up. He looks up the memo and says that he cannot give me the other month as I had insisted on speaking to a supervisor when I had called last!! What is this? Is it a punishment to the customer for having insisted on talking to the supervisor? A black mark put on his records to not provide any more service? I tried explaining to him that those were two separate incidences and the free month was for the mess up even before that. And, even after insisting on talking to a supervisor, no supervisor had ever called me back, even after calling 10 times!! He checks and says that his record indicates that I only got through six times, unbelievable!! He kept insisting that he would not even give me the other free month and service, even though that was promised by someone before him!! He was so rude as to tell me that there was no mess up on their part and that the whole thing was all my fault!! Imagine the gall of a customer service representative telling a customer that!! It is such, out of control Customer service representatives, who totally muddy the names of big companies like QWEST, with attitudes like we are so big now that even if we lose a few of our customers (who have been us for 5-10 years), there are plenty of new customers we can have!! Hopefully someday, upper management in companies such as QWEST realize the importance of good customer service and correct it before they kill their goose that lays the golden eggs.
Aside from the worst customer service seen, I have been using the DSL service from July 7 or so, and have not seen it go down yet, the service itself is pretty reliable. It uses PPP over a USB modem, which takes a little getting used to, but does provide the advantage of disconnecting the computer from the internet totally if needed. The service is 640K down / 256K up and I have seen 450-550K down and 100-200K upload speeds which is pretty decent overall. The Qwest DSL Deluxe service is at $29.95 per month with another $17.95 for the ISP. And if you consider having to change from a metered phone service to an unlimited service, add another $5-$10 per month.
Because of the terrible customer service provided by Qwest, I have started looking for other providers such as Sprint ION, that provide both regular phone service and DSL connectivity and get rid of QWEST totally. Any suggestions?
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Review by btb103
Posted: 8.4 years ago
member for 8.5 years, 9 visits, last login: 8.2 years ago
Omaha,Douglas,NE
$40 per month
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"It's better than Dial-up"
"Worst cable connection I've ever had."
"Avoid it at all costs, nightmare tech support... slow connection... HUGE cable modem that looks like it's from the 80s"
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We just moved from Kansas City to Omaha to an apartment which had a package to get their cable internet and TV, so we got them both. This, as far as I know, is the only city in which Qwest cable internet is available (I wonder why!?) I wasn't home when they set it up... but I heard it didn't go too well. They insisted that they use Netscape for our e-mail, we have previously used Outlook and planned to continue to do so. This would have been fine... except they left jack-squat as far as a member name/password, manuals on set up. etc. They had an error setting up the internet with Netscape so we are left w/o e-mail and without a member name and password and other info to set it up on Outlook. By this time I was pretty mad, until I found out how slow it was. Previously in KC i had Road Runner, it was blazing fast calculated to be 25x faster than a 56k and our new service says 10 or 7 most of the time. Also I realized when trying to do another test on this web site that our IP wasn't private, it begins with a 10, which i found HIGHLY unusual. So I call them and I get some dumb*** lady who doesn't know jack about computers. She tells me she can't give me the member name and password because we have to use Netscape because that's they're "network" but Netscape isn't a network, it's just a program. I tried explaining this to her but she didn't know what I was talking about and I asked her about the ip and she said she didn't know. By this time, I'm pissed. We payed some 125 dollar install fee and now we've got the worst cable connection in the entire nation. This is hell, don't even mess w/ it.
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Review by ukiemafia
Posted: 8.4 years ago
member for 8.5 years, 1605 visits, last login: 261 days ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$50 per month (12 month contract)
about 31 days
Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
"Fast downloads and uploads."
"Didn't sync, connection down a lot, half of advertised download speed."
"The service is fast and the connection is more stable now"
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I ordered earthlink dsl May 5. Got my line activated about one week later. Then it took a long time for my dsl equiptment to arrive. When it finally did arrive I right away installed the Arescom NetDSL 800 modem. Problem was the modem wouldn't sync. I called earthlink tech support and got a trouble ticket. I got a call two days later and the modem was able to sync. So I was real happy and went to dslreports.com right away and did a speed test. I got 192/318 from the first test. Later I did some tweaks and got a better speed of 400/316. After time I started to get an average of 700/320 and still do to this day. Then the bad started to happen. The connection would go down and stay down for 1-4 hours and then it would stay up for about 1/2-1 hour then go down again, very frusturating. I called tech support again. I was on hold for about a total time of 1 and 1/2 hours. After i got through i was transfered to tech support level 2. There the tech was a lot more knowledgeable and fixed my problem by putting my dsl line on safe mode, which means more errors can come through before the dsl connection is lost. Now i very rarely get disconnected and when i do it connects right back. And the speed is still at an average of 700/320 so its no bad. Overall I would say get earthlink dsl if you can. I know others with this companny and they have no problems. I am just one of the few that didnt get lucky from the start.
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Review by shelden7
UPDATED: 8.4 years ago
member for 9.1 years, 49 visits, last login: 2 years ago
Tacoma,Pierce,WA
$38 per month (month by month)
about 11 days
Qwest
"CHEAP; speed 640/272 @45dB; never down or busy"
"Internal modem; 2-hour limit with cutoff after 10-min warning; dynamic IP;POP&SMTP"
"Cheap and perfect for the price"
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This is the $19.95 Select service, does not work with an external modem and has a 2-hour cutoff. If you disconnect prior to 2 hours you can immediately reconnect and chain-on unlimited. My ISP is Qwest $17.95 also, I never installed their ISP software.
Using the "free" Intel 2100 internal modem without problems. Line was ready 4 days before promised and I was up on my own. I suppose I never want to deal with anyone's tech, Qwest's included.
We are fiber in Tacoma and I'm 3700 ft from CO.
I don't use the ISP features but I note that their POP mail account is down a lot more than any other (free) POP or IMAP I use. Keep your Yahoo/Hotmail account I say. Qwest does let me domain-stamp my SMTP but their reliability causes me to use others instead.
I am happy with the product for the price. I read DSLreports months ago and avoided Northpoint heartache by going with telco DSL.
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For a bit more money, compare to an alternate DSL choice: I save $120/yr by not having Qwest's Deluxe service which would give a static IP, 24/7 connection, and external Cisco modem. That external modem would have cost me $150 (half price promotion). If cost isn't an issue go for the Deluxe and external Cisco especially if you have multiple computers. Or go with cable through one of the Tacoma Click! providers if you are in my area. I have Harbornet.com cable at another location for $26.95 but paid for modem and installation.
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Review by mw
Posted: 8.6 years ago
member for 10.1 years, 493 visits, last login: 253 days ago
Bellevue,King,WA
$57 per month
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"just had my 1st problem and quest had a tech at my house with in 3 hours, once to change the box, and 2nd time to change the lin"
"speed still not as fast as it should be"
"costs could be less for qwest(uswest) if you have kids or are on the net more then just e-mail..u have to get this"
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this is not my 1st review but the 1st time i had to call quest about line problems. the tech was here at my house on a weekend with in 3 hours.
$57 includes $39 for dsl and $17 for isp isp could be much less
great
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Review by gabrielt99
Posted: 8.7 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 244 visits, last login: 6.2 years ago
Boulder,Boulder,CO
 Business customer
Contract price not specified.
about 90 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Relatively cheap, available"
"Frequent disconnects; tech support (if you can call it that way) is useless"
"Other providers seem to be just as bad"
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Installation took ~3 months. The sales guy made all kinds of mistakes (specifying the wrong phone line for DSL, etc.). It's hard to believe, but he was worse than the tech support bozos. I ended up with one DSL account, 2 Cisco 675 routers, and 3 isp accounts, which still work after 3 years.
My current problem is that the line is dropping every 10-15 minutes and stays off for a minute or two (enough to break up telnet sessions and file transfers). The 675 shows no indication of problems (line quality is always 45db, error count is always 0, Wan link light always on). This problem has always happended, but less frequently. It is getting to the point where the service is nearly useless.
Tech support has not been much help. They want me to get off Bridging mode, which I don't want to do just yet, and they won't test the line or the DSLAM equipment until I switch to PPP. I am afraid they wil create worse problems if they try to do anything.
I would like to know if anyone has had a similar problem. Did USWEST tech support fix the problem? (wishful thinking, I know). What was wrong? How was it fixed? Any changes I can make to the router settings?
Thanks...
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Review by dalast23
UPDATED: 8.7 years ago
member for 9 years, 33 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
Anoka,Anoka,MN
$47 per month
about 14 days
"They said 2 weeks for install, and they were right on time"
"Salesman said it was 640/640, but it's 640/270"
"Just don't believe what the salesman tells you, and you'll LOVE it"
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I've only had Qwest Dsl for a month and a half, but so far no problems. They offer a self install, which I chose. (Always trying to save money) The install was easy to complete. I set it up on the day the CO was supposed to be ready for it, and signed on. No problems. Along with getting the modem for free (I chose the Intel Pro DSL 2100 internal modem), instal of course cost nothing, since I did it myself. Price is 29.99/month for the line, and 17.99 for the ISP. And there's no contract, so once cable is available in my area I can cancel it. =) Overall, I think it's great, I even recommended it to my friends, of course none of them can get it in their area. Of course the salesman that I talked to had no idea what he was talking about. I specifically asked him if it was 640/640 or not, he said, "Yes of course". Also, they had a cheaper way to go, which was a "Not always on connection" for $10 less, so I chose that, they of course didn't tell me that I would be getting disconnected every 2 hours and have to wait 5 minutes after that to get back online, this of course wasn't very satisfactory, so I changed it to always on.
Update: I've had my dsl for 5 months now, and still as fast as ever. Only problem is, once I connect, sometimes the connection stops responding if I'm not using it, and my computer doesn't know that it's not responding. The Qwest Tech's don't seem to understand what I'm telling them. I can try to load a web site, get on aim, icq, whatever, and can't connect. If I disconnect my connection, my computer will freeze and I have to turn it off with the power button, and turn it back on. This is somewhat annoying to say the least.
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 Review by jasshultz
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 9.5 years, 71 visits, last login: 4.3 years ago
Tempe,Maricopa,AZ
$40 per month
about 14 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"connection is good even at 21db"
"tech support is terrible"
"decent deal for the money."
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I ordered the 256k/256k connection but have been getting better results then expected. The order was done very easily without hardly any problems. The only part I didn't like was tech support. With an average hold time of 30+ min I think something could be done. Even late at night it was extremely long. Secondly, even if it's the day of install and you notify them there is a problem and it's not going to work the following day, they should be able to open a trouble ticket. However, they refused to and so it didn't get fixed until Monday. Apparently, the people who work trouble tickets don't work them on the weekends so your pretty much screwed if something happens Friday night.
I got the Intel 2100 internal modem is pretty good. At least it get's the job done so I can't complain about that. 
It's a dynamic IP address and I must say that $10 extra for a static IP is about he stupidest thing I've ever seen. But as an earlier poster noted. They are a monopoly so what are you gonna do. I'm almost afraid to switch to another ISP because I remember what happened before when I had ADSL and another ISP. It sucked A## bigtime.
So, I'll try this out for a while. It's cheaper then my SDSL line that I had previously through Covad/Voicenet. The good thing about SDSL though is that you get support like you wouldn't believe.
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Review by jaimex
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 13 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
Tucson,Pima,AZ
$37 per month
about 7 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Very easy to follow set up instructions, speed, consistency."
"none so far"
"I'm extremely happy with my service, crusing at 640K."
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At first, after reading some reviews I was expecting to have a hard time setting up my service and get it up and running. It took me no longer than an hour, from installing the modem to connect to my DSL service.
I placed the order on Tuesday 23 January, received my free Intel 2100 modem and the rest of the software and hardware on Monday 29 January Wed morning I decided to install the software (my service was suppose to be activated February 6) but a tech at qwest told me to go ahead and install it, sometimes is activated before the due date. To my surprise I was cruising the net that same Wed 31 January.
Have not had any problems connecting, it has been no less than 640000 bps and man I love this baby. Fast as a shark.
When you get your hardware package there is some information you need to get from your ISP (I chose QWEST simply because having the same DSL and IPS makes it a lot easier), once you get this information the rest is easy as long as you can read English and follow instructions, the tech at qwest was very helpful in answering any question that I had, have not called back for anything else. I'm set.
I was paying $21 Month for always for 56k speed, with only one phone line so I could not make or receive calls while on line.
Now I pay $37 a month, one phone line, I can receive and make calls while surfing the net at faster speed. Is it worth it? Hell yeah!
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Review by teamROCS010
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 4 visits, last login: 8.6 years ago
Tucson,Pima,AZ
$39 per month
about 10 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Starnet
"Fast Uploads AND downloads, great service."
"None really, other than the wait time to activate."
"You'll stay home happy if you order USWest/Qwest DSL and AZStarnet as your ISP!"
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I have USWest DSL (now Qwest), and AZStarnet as my ISP, and BOTH the DSL line through USWest, and my ISP have been fantastic. About 3 days after I placed my order for DSL I got my hardware (nic card and router, and all the misc goodies that go with it), and of course was anxious to install and get things up and running, but unfortunately had to wait a little while longer for the line to actually be active. I found that the line was actually ON and ready in less than 6 days, but I didn't actually call my ISP to get things started for another few days. I called a day earlier than scheduled, and they set me up and things worked fine anyway (typical of the USWest DSL line from what my provider told me. They're always EARLY they said.).
Anyway, the service has been great from day one. I was amazed at how much faster it was than my 56K modem. I ordered the 256K/256K dsl package for $39.95 per month, with Dynamic IP, including 2 email addresses (more can be purchased for additional cost), through USWest, and AZStarnet is $19.95 a month, which ended up being only about $2 more than having my second phone line (dedicated to the computer), and my old ISP, and for what I received, it's worth every penny of that extra $2. After a short time Qwest took over USWest, and they almost immediately upgraded my dsl line to 640K/256K service, at no additional charge (and in fact, they dropped the price to $29.95 a month), which I think is a very nice touch (actually my upload speed is/was also 640 when I signed up), and makes me even more satisfied with my choice. Also, I should mention that when I signed up, they offered an Internal modem/router for FREE upon signup, or you could purchase the nic card and external modem/router for only $50 (normally $299 or something like that) upon signup. I opted for the $50 external setup, for networking purposes, and have to say I'm glad I did.
I have only had two instances where I didn't have service, the first one being only for about 15 minutes, and the other being because I just plain forgot to pay my bill (actually I wasn't here for over a month, and when I got back it was on temporary disconnect). Unfortunately when you get disconnected for any reason, it takes another 10 days (roughly) to get your line re-activated. That is about my only complaint about the service from USWest/Qwest.
As far as ISP's go, AZStarnet has been absolutely fantastic for me to this point. I've had virtually zero problems, and zero downtime with them. The tech support is also great. When I called the very first time (during my initial setup) they were very helpful, and answered all my questions with clear concise responses. They had me up and running in a matter of a few minutes (literally). The only other time I have had to call Tech Support was to ask about networking more than one machine to the DSL line, and they answered the questions I had just as quickly and clearly as the day I first spoke with them. The techs I have spoken with have always appeared very knowledgable of their service, and are pleasant to speak with. ZERO complaints about them! I assure you, if you choose AZStarnet as your ISP you will not be disappointed. The other nice thing is, they offer tech support via their own newsgroups as well, and are quick to reply, and always have good answers (from what I can tell). The newsgroups are fairly void of questions, and the only reason I can think of for that is, there are just plain NO PROBLEMS with their service really for anyone to complain about, or question.
Well, that's just a quick (or not so quick) rundown of my thoughts on USWest/Qwest DSL, and AZStarnet as an ISP.
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U S WEST
