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 Review by ConsultChrys 
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 9.3 years, 67 visits, last login: 8.3 years ago
 Portland,Multnomah,OR
 $49 per month
 about 3 days
 Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
 "2"
 "3"
 "I can't live without DSL anymore, therefore I accept what I can not change."
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I've had DSL for almost 3 years. I went without it for two months and thought I would die!!!
The first time around DSL was fresh out and no one knew how to set it up. A friend from Seattle came down and setup our network, running NT server. At that time I had never even heard of NT much less a server so it came as a surprise when three months after installation we were informed through uswest that our computers had been "compromised". It was then that I gave myself a crash course in NT, DSL and server administration.
It took five months from the date ordered until we were up and surfing.
The second time was just a few months ago after having it off for two months.
At this time I was a DSL tech for Qwest. I ordered my service on a monday, and knew my network stack would still be operational due to the area I live in. By this I mean... most people in my area can not afford DSL.
Three days later, on Wednesday, I ran my number through the system to see if the ISP side was set up. It was. I grabbed the username, set a new password since techs can't see your password this was necessary. That evening I threw the router on the hub, changed the network/internet configurations and 5 minutes later
I was surfing high speed again.
Tech support has been from the start a HUGE disappointment. I self taught myself the ins and outs long before going to work for Qwest. Im thankful I had this advantage.
Overall, DSL is incredible and worth every disappoint that comes up.
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Review by boark
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 10.3 years, 1313 visits, last login: 8 days ago
Seattle,King,WA
Contract price not specified.
about 90 days
Qwest
"reliable, steady and consistent speed/throughput"
"support involves calling USWest.net, then USWest telco, then USWest Repair"
"journeyman dsl service, no glitz but reliable"
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i have MegaBits Deluxe: dynamic IP, originally 325 down but i have always had 640 down. the isp is bundled with the dsl ... i chose USWest all around because it was easier than deciding on an ISP (i already have a dial access ISP i am very happy with so the dsl isp was just "because i need one to get dsl").
i originally ordered the service when it was first available in the area ... so there was large demand and orders were backed up. then there was a labour issue and when i ck'd on the status of my order ... well, it was not there so they restarted the clock. then the labour issues were settled, i decided to ck again, and well it was not there and they reset the clock.
finally it was good to go, the box arrived brimming with schtuff. a cisco router (and ALL the documentation from cisco ... oodles of it), a 3com nic and instructions.
the self-install was painless. setting up the router was well documented in uswest's booklet. fortuitously the cisco documentation was also included, and it was just as plain and clear as uswest's booklet. i did run into a little question and was helped patiently by an agent over the phone. i was surprised and pleased by the tech support i received at that time. the service was new to them as well but time was taken to ensure my settings were correct.
in the last couple of years there have been less than a handful of outages. each involved the time consuming process of first contacting the ISP USWest.net who cks their end of the connection. They give you some code phrases and a phone number and you then call USWest the telephone company.
You call USWest the telephone company and they ck their end, and give you some code phrases and a phone number and you then call USWest Repair.
USWest Repair opens a ticket, gives you a two-hour window to repair it and each time things have been resolved within an hour if not minutes. Go figure, luck of the draw?
am i happy with the service? Yes.
i have colleagues and friends who have cable, isdn and even fixed wireless. The cable buddies have outrageous speed/throughput but it is not consistent. my dsl is a steady rate all day every day no matter what time of day. their cable is dependent on the current load of those in their immediate area - of course when it is good it is very very good.
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Review by skidder
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 1 visits, last login: 8.8 years ago
Rapid City,Pennington,SD
$47 per month (month by month)
about 14 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Service NEVER down, NO bad packets, consisitant, reliable, fast, connection, WYSIWYG..."
"Customer Service is just terible depending on who you get, don't ask ANY technical questions they DON'T KNOW at QWEST"
"Only option in this area for DSL, Fast, and Reliable once it is hooked up. Terible Customer Support."
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Good Day,
I am commenting on Qwest.net DSL Deluxe Mo-to-Mo service in 57701 *RC, SD*.
I also have Qwest.net for my ISP.
I ordered aDSL from Qwest with a speed of 640 up and 256 down. It is always in that range (~512k up/~215 down) in tests. This was provided at 29.95 for the line (always connected) and 17.95 for the ISP service.
The order/install was as follows. I placed the order for the DSL line once I moved in this building. They said 2 weeks 'due date' I said "OK.". They were going to UPS me the equipment, one Intel 2100 PRO DSL PCI card, and filters. I said "OK". I told the rep about 5 times to make sure she mails it to my NEW address not my OLD address that I had just disconnected service at and moved from - she said "OK" and verified it for me. She said I would have the card in 5 days or give her a call "OK". I waited 8 days, no card - I called. Left a mesage on her voice mail, she called back about an hour later and said "Oh, I'm so sorry..." "UH-OH I think....here it comes..."I messed up your address and sent the DSL to your old address with your new apartment number" "Auugg...I thought I verified this with you like 5 times..." I say. "Yes, you did" she says. "What is the problem then?" I say with a indignant tone. "I don't know, I just must have not transfered it over to the order screen right.." she says apologetically. I say "OK, now how are we going to rectify this." with a sarcastic tone. "We will just mail you out another card overnight, so you can have it by your 'due date'. Great, I think... I agree and the conversation is ended. Well I wait a few days on the 11th day with no card I'm begining to think - this is what I knew would happen with Qwest, they will miss the due date. Well, I am curious so I drive over to my old large condo complex and go to my old place. I talk with the new owner and they say "Oh yea I have a box for you from Qwest denver." It came a few days ago. She hands it to me, I can't beleive I'm actually holding it in my hands.... Yes, Indeed the address is my old one with my new apartment number on it.... UPS knew where I lived because of the quanity of stuff I get shipped to me. So they still delivered it with the wrong apartment number. I then get home and call QWEST and say "I've got the card, you can stop, or I can return the "Supposedly overnighted card you sent a few days ago".. (I had left this on the voice mail of my rep. No return call....) ~18 days after order another DSL kit shows up at my new address.... The "Overnight" kit arrived - Ground service. Oops.... While I'm pondering what to do with this new card I go out to dinner one night. Half way into my dinner my cell phone rings and it's UPS - they say they have a "trace" on a package from Qwest! WHAT? How did you get my cell phone number?? Apparently Qwest gave it to UPS? I had given my CELL phone number to Qwest so they could contact me until my Land-Line was set up... Well I was not too impressed by this but at this point I really didn't care.... I told them yea I got the trace package and the replacement package already. They can't have the trace package because I already opened it and put the card into my PC and I'm NOT taking it out. So consider it delivered. They say "OK" and UPS's obligation is now over. Blah blah blah... Qwest never retured my phone calls, and I think my rep got fired somewhere in this time. Long story short. I had to take the replacement DSL card to MBE and have them send it back or Qwest was going to charge me - what a hassle....
Bottom line, very poor communications between divisions of Qwest... One employee who contacted me said "Personally, I can't believe Qwest is still in business and anyone would order something from us - I guess that is what happens when were a monopoly, you can suck and still get customers" - ...hello deregulation, I think? I am still rather shocked and taken back by that employees comments.
Going on with this Epic, once I put the Intel 2100 PRO card in I was like, hum, it installed on Windows ME (Even though the rep with Qwest said it will NEVER work on ME...) I had to call megabit support because I had never received my "Qwest - kit w/ my disks and password sheet" and such. (2 weeks later that was forwared from my old address too via USPS. They screwed the address up on that too. ( same problem ). ) Well once I punched in these few numbers and passwords I was set to go... I have now had this service for ~4 months and it's worked great. I have upgraded to Windows NT5 (WIN 2K pro) and it works even better - all I had to do was go to the megabit site and download the new driver set for W2k.
So how is the home equipment? Well, it works fine, I guess...
I have a dynamic IP - something I lothe - I wish I had the static - but that's 10 $ extra per month - not willing to pay that.
Other than that terible, confusing, and fustrating time of getting the card and the passwords and such everything is great.
As for others in this area (57701) don't count on your line qualifying - the service area is about 1 sq mile with the center being the downtown USWest building - I'm about 2 blocks from it so I have no problems.
Hope this review helps... I find that this Qwest experience is about average - most people I have talked to say they always have problems with there customer support at signup. So I'm not alone in this, as if that is a consolation.
Thanks for your interest.
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 Review by kickahaota
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 196 visits, last login: 7.9 years ago
Seattle,King,WA
$53 per month (month by month)
about 270 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Stable, reliable connectivity."
"Unreliable tech support; that '270' under 'days from order to live' is not a typo. :)"
"Competent and reliable connectivity, but I'm hoping for better ISP services elsewhere."
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I initially ordered their 768/768 SDSL service (at atrocious prices, nearly $200 monthly); recently, when their standard ADSL service changed from 256/128 to 604/128, I downgraded to that.
The initial order took forever to process. With all the college students, computer shops and cyber-cafes in my neighborhood (the University District in Seattle), the DSL capacity of the equipment had been reached almost as quickly as service had been offered. Seven months or so later, with the order still not provisioned, Winstar Northwest Nexus (the ISP I had requested) publicly announced that they were no longer interested in opening residential dialup or DSL accounts. They never got around to actually telling me that, but I took the hint, cancelled the order, and placed a new order requesting USWest.net as the ISP. About a month and a half later, the new order was finally provisioned and installed. (I would normally suspect treachery on the part of US West in delaying the old order--and I still do, to at least some small degree--but other people who had ordered USWest.net service at the same time I did experienced similar delays.)
The service itself has been quite reliable, with good, stable download speeds at nearly the full rated capacity of the connection. Mail service has been slow, but fortunately I have an outside web service provider (Pair Networks; I highly recommend them) that also includes email handling, which allows me to avoid the problem by simply not using USWest's email servers.
This was a line-sharing service; I was given a Cisco Commander 675 DSL modem, which has proved to be just fine. Only a single dynamic IP was allowed; static IPs are apparently not available without upgrading to a business class of service at a much higher cost.
Technical support has been friendly, but often unaware of system problems. (Fortunately, system problems have been few.) The service change from SDSL to ADSL was badly mishandled, resulting in a loss of connection for about three days (with much incorrect advice on the problem given in the meantime); but overall things have been acceptable.
In summary, if there were no other alternatives, I'd be more than happy with USWest.net; but I'd like more services (like static IPs and better tech support), so I'm planning to switch to Speakeasy.net and hope that the rumors about them are true. 
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Review by ruthven78
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 9 years, 52 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago
Spokane,Spokane,WA
$17 per month
about 53 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"No packet loss, good line quality, line speeds average 80% of max (640k/256k)"
"HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!! Took them 53 days to change my ISP!!! Read my review or dont say I never warned ya!!"
"Technically ok, but dread ever having to contact them for any reason at all. USWest is now Qwest except for their ISP service"
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I had put in a change of ISP request on Novembver 22 from USWest.net to Cet.com using their online ordering tool. After a month, the ISP had still not been changed! I resubmitted the change of order form online and also followed up with a repair request letting them know of my situation. The reply i got stated they recieved my change request but the request showed I had reqeusted the ISP not to change. Confused I contacted my future ISP about this. They informed me they hadnt recieved the VCI that was required to turn on my account and were still waiting for the Qwest DSL to send it to them. The ISP also informed me I should contact my Public Service Commision (which is the WUTC for Washington State wutc.wa.gov) which I did and they started an investigation. I then called USWest on January 8th to egt this straightened out. The customer service department (800-244-1111) stated that is showed my ISP was currently set to CET.com. Having DSL and talking on the phone was great cause I informed them my IP was still showing USWest.net as my provider. I was then transfered from department to department, phone number to phone number until I reached the correct department nearly two hours later! This department informed me they had never recieved any change of ISP request and suggested the idea that someone along the lines dropped the ball. I was transfered then to another department that insured me my ISP would be changed no later than monday of the following week (this was on a thursday) . On the following Satuday I received an email from the Customer Service department saying my order has been placed on hold pending clarification of my ISP order. My god, how many people do I need to tell I want to change my ISP? So I sent a nice reply stated how upset I was, and the fact I had talked to WUTC. Come Monday when I got home from work my future ISP left a message on my answering machine stating they recieved the VCI and my account was now fully functioning. I quickly changed the account name and password on the router and away I went. I emailed my WUTC contact the change had happened. I then recieved an email from the USWest Customer Service department again, saying this time my oder status was being investigated.....sheesh talk about two steps behind! I informed then they really need to strengthen communication between their departments and the change had already happened. So now Im waiting to see if anything else can get screwed up since no everything is the way I want it. Oh did I forget to mention they had charged me their standard $30 fee for changing ISPs way back in December before the change had actually happened? You bet Im going to be seeking a refund!
Ruthven78
Craig Baker
Spokane, WA
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Review by dustball6
Posted: 8.8 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 32 visits, last login: 8.6 years ago
Colorado Springs,El Paso,CO
$65 per month
about 7 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Good reliability. Only one drop in 1 1/2 years"
"Customer Service. Get the run around from department to department"
"Well worth the hassle ONCE you get connected"
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Same ole stuff..... Line didn't qualify, but it did. Had to wait for their web site to cough to get connected.
Once connected, great service and throughput with low loss packets
Be persistant with Customer Service. Have them put the order in even if your line doesn't qualify. You may be surprised...I sure was after months of not qualifing, I go service. (Where have you heard this b4)
Only had problems with the mail server going down a few times, but it was back up in a few hours.
I'm in Colorado so I can olny speak of the local service.... it's pretty damn good.
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Review by nhulst
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 77 visits, last login: 5.2 years ago
Grand Forks,Grand Forks,ND
$48 per month (month by month)
about 14 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Easy install, delivered on-time; solid performance"
"Small area of availability in Grand Forks; setup required a phone call"
"Worth the cost"
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Qwest/US West (don't know the distinction anymore) offers a basic service package for $30 a month for the line plus $18 a month for ISP service if desired (this is what I chose). RADSL is the chosen mode, with a guaranteed speed of 256k. Connect speed has been 640k downstream and 276k upstream, with actual throughput considerably slower but still acceptable.
Connect time was promised to be 10 business days from the time of the request, with actual service achieved in 14 calendar days despite the fact that my connection occurred right at the peak of the Christmas season. The router and software were sent by UPS and I found that service had been activated by the time the products arrived. I did not receive ISP information with the hardware, and so I had to call Qwest's tech support, an investment of 10 minutes.
To answer all the questions shown below:
*I ordered 256k for $47.90 per month
*I ordered service in the same phone call as my order for telephone service; DSL service was connected behind the scenes and all the equipment I needed was delievered in one package via UPS
* Home equipment consisted of a pre-configured Cisco 675 router
Qwest.net uses dynamic IP addressing
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Review by jrdabritz
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 15 visits, last login: 8.5 years ago
Portland,Multnomah,OR
$50 per month (month by month)
about 30 days
Qwest
"Reasonable service no glaring problems"
"Bad support, had some outage problems"
"Go to a no default ISP :P"
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This ISP is not bad, but dont go with the default. Im going to swtich to DSL-only.net soon. They dont give you techsupport hardly worth a Sh*t. The home setup (do-it-yourself) option was easy for me.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 8.9 years ago
(review was emailed from domain uswest.net)
Tempe,Maricopa,AZ
$48 per month
Qwest
"In almost two years with USWest.net over USWest telephone lines DSL I have had less than 5 times where DNS or service was down."
"It is very difficult to find anyone at USWest or USWest.net support or sales that knows anything not in the install guide."
"If you can help yourself in most situations, the service is of good quality and reliable. The Cisco 675 is small and reliable."
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USWest.net, now Qwest.net
==========================
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Review by carlandomagic
Posted: 8.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 5 visits, last login: 8.9 years ago
Eugene,Lane,OR
$69 per month (12 month contract)
New Edge Networks
CLEC party: Qwest
"Great connection speeds; more bandwidth than paid for; great tech support"
"backbone problem once"
"A great ISP that will only get better over time."
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Note:(I listed the participating CLEC as US West and I am pretty sure that is what it is).
My ISP is Continet (www.continet.com) and it has been great. I was sold 384/128 ADSL but I am constantly getting SDSL speeds of 384/384. I have had almost no problems and the techs have been very fast to answer any problems I have had. I recommend this ISP to anyone searching for a stable and fast DSL provider.
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