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 Review by djdanska 
UPDATED: 1.5 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 4579 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Chicago,Cook,IL
 $9 per month
 about 1 days
 "Affordable, many tools, fast, tech support/sales is good"
 "Updated plans not automatically changed, must call to do. Tech support hard to understand sometimes."
 "Good and affordable hosting with tons of good tools."
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Edit2: Reactivated another domain with them. Doing very good again. The new site is just as fast as my original site. I installed drupal on both and it runs very well. I hate the outbound firewall as i can't get drupal updates or anything, that's a pain. But, i understand why they have it. It took 15 minutes for the new hosting to start and about 24 hours for the domain to work. (It was previously registered with aplus.net, so that was already done). I don't know why i hear so many bad things with aplus.net but i have been and still am very happy with them. The only thing that kinda sucks is if i upload a file via http (at the website, using drupal) it uploads at about 400 kbps vs. ftp which is 1500 kbps. Ftp is over 3 times faster. I upload via ftp and use drupal's import feature if i am at home. Otherwise i just live with the slower http upload speeds.
Edit: Things are doing fine so far. I have a 20/2 home connection and was able to upload to my website a about 1.5 meg so it's a lot better than its ever been. Even with my old 768kbps connection, i was only able to upload at about 500kbps. (and this was for like years). I welcome the added bandwidth. Speed of my website is still acceptable. They are trying a new control panel. I mostly like it but one thing bothers me. I like to pay for my web services in advance. I usually don't have the payment ready when they request it. So, when i get paid, i go online and pay for it then. The new control panel only lets you pay the current amount due, not anything else. I have to revert to the old control panel to pay anything extra. I like to have all of my bills paid on the first of the month. Even if it's 10 days before the bill is processed. Just makes my life easier. I uploaded a large file (about 1 gig) and it uploaded fine. No errors or anything. I am very pleased with the services they provide and plan on using them again with a possible future site. (using drupal again). I don't know why so many people get a negative vibe from them, but they have not done anything wrong with me so far. And i do understand about the outbound firewall issue. Not a huge deal. I will just have to deal with it.
Edit: Still going ok. I don't get outbound access. That kinda sucks with the rss feeds but i can live with that. Tech support is not bad. I thought they where based in the states but it can be hard to understand the accent though. I don't use their email services. I prefer google's apps instead. Gmail for my domain? Works for me. Still would recommend regardless. Doing ok..
I'm on the Solo XR plan for $9.95 a month.
I have been with aplus.net for a while now and want to review them. They have recently changed their plans. My plan includes 12000 MB of storage, 500 GB of transfer, and 500 email addresses. (with imap support)
I mainly used my account for storage. I put photos and other various stuff on it for other forums or for my friends. They have tons of tools to make a website and they where very simple to install. I was able to choose from various designs for free. They include:
tiki wiki, media wiki, phpBB, and many others.
It gave me tons of things to choose from and i don't have to ftp the files and install manually. The speeds are very good. The page transfers are pretty good too. I occasionally get a slight delay but its still acceptable.
They have changed around their plans a lot in the past year or so. If you don't look on their webpage for changes, you would never know. You have to call them up and ask them to change your plan to the new one.
I highly recommend them for those who want a webpage, blog, or forum and don't know what to look for.
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Review by c0rv1d43
Posted: 7.5 years ago
member for 8 years, 60 visits, last login: 7.1 years ago
Mechanicsburg,Cumberland,PA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
 Verizon
CLEC party: Covad
"Fixed IP Addy, Connection Never Drops, Good Business Ethics"
"250-300 down on a"
"I started off being pretty annoyed with them, but they've done everything in their power to make things right."
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My sales person is friendly and seems genuinely interested in providing me with good service. I've had a few problems with the account, but I'd use them again.
Significant issues:
1. The throughput on the line is only half of what it should be. Records show the local loop as being on the order of 5,000 feet. Testing says it's more like 17,000. I guess I'm lucky that A + Net was willing to take the chance. I just wish the phone company would whip its copper into shape. Obviously, the slow throughput is not A + Net's fault.
2. It's a 12 month contract in which the customer pays up front for the SpeedStream 5360 and connection bits. At $225 for the self-install kit I guess that's not too bad -- except for the fact that Covad sent me the cobbiest-looking modem I've ever seen. The sucker actually has cigarette burns on the plastic and dents in the aluminum panel!!! (Hint to Covad: If you're going to charge top whack for a refurbished modem, at least replace the case -- especially if it looks like someone has been using it as an ash tray!!!) Again, not really A + Net's fault. I griped about it several times. A + Net apologized and told me that they'd have Covad send me a new modem. They also suspended all bills for monthly service until arrival of the new modem as compensation! After three months I realized that Covad wasn't going to send a modem, and I relented, calling A + Net and telling them to resume billing since they'd obviously more than made up for the cost differential between a cobby, used modem and a new one. It's charming that they were willing to go this far to try to make the transaction satisfactory to the customer.
3. There have been occasional periods of time when e-mail was unavailable for brief periods. That's unacceptable. Because my e-mail service is so important to me, I've had to maintain my dial-up account (with another company).
4. There have been occasional periods of time when the online customer support pages that allow the customer to review / change account details have been unavailable -- and for periods of several days. It hasn't been critical yet, but I would have been really annoyed if I had needed to change an account feature and couldn't do so. (Callling them to accomplish the same thing can be very time-consuming.)
Though it may not be cloud nine, this service is really quite good for the money. Half of their problems with customer service appear to be related to the third parties in the mix. SOP for DSL service. Getting them to take action about something can be a real chore, but I've seen far worse at much higher price points. And, when you finally do get hold of someone, they go the extra mile to make you a happy customer. It would be better if the glitches didn't occur in the first place. My impression is that I'm dealing with good people who are just a bit overwhelmed with some of the complexities on the business side of Internet service provision. I can sympathize with that. At least the connection has been absolutely reliable, and the speed, though slower than I had hoped, beats the living daylights out of my dial-up connection.
I give them 8 out of 10. So far I haven't seen any other DSL (or Cable) providers that I'd rank as highly. And I've had some experience. A + Net is the 13th different service provider with whom I've dealt for DSL service, though they're the first I've dealt with for my own personal residential service. Some of the service providers out there should be garotted with their own red tape! 
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Review by xineann
Posted: 7.6 years ago
member for 7.7 years, 28 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Goleta,Santa Barbara,CA
$50 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
Verizon
CLEC party: Covad
"Outstanding friendly tech support. Service oriented. The best!"
"Billing is confusing but gets sorted out."
"Outstanding ISP"
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I've had A+ service for 9 months. I can only compare to Speakeasy, who I had for a year before that.
Upfront, the sales guys was less than warm but competent. I originally went with A+ because only they and speakeasy offered static ips in my area. And I wasn't at all happy with speakeasy, too mass market "If you aren't running Windows 98, we can't help you" for my needs.
Connect speed is mediocre to good. There are faster but not with all the features I wanted. Reliability: good to excellent. Ping times go through the roof for about a half an hour about every week to 10 days but entire fall-offs are rare.
As for tech support at A+, the wait music sucks... but you don't have to listen to it for very long! The folks in DSL tech support are professional, friendly, and competent. Verizon decided I had canceled DSL (I hadn't) and my DSL tech pushed it through so I was reconnected.
For service add-ons, I got my reverse DNS within 2 hours of my request and it cost nothing (Speakeasy wants $10 a month per IP address plus a setup fee). I don't know about their web space because I don't use it. Since I don't use their email or webspace, they cut me a $10 break on the monthly cost instead of sticking me with a package full of features I don't use. Additional IP addresses took about 4 days to get.
These people know what service means. A dying breed.
They will do everything they say the will but if you are insecure after several nightmare horrors, you may want reassurance, a "done" back. You'll know if your DSL is on or not. Other things you might have to call back to verify that it was done. They know they did it; why don't you?
Good but could be better: The website is good but rough. If there's a "current system status" page, I haven't found it. Also the toll-free number for tech support is in fine print, so write it down. But I am grasping for straws here to find points of improvement.
I've never been happier with an ISP.
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Review by luvbug
Posted: 7.7 years ago
member for 7.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 7.7 years ago
Solana Beach,San Diego,CA
$59 per month (month by month)
about 21 days
Covad
CLEC party: SBC
"I really liked the fact that I get my own Account Rep to ask questions anytime!!!"
"DSL is distance related, I only get 384K because of my distance from the phone company hub!!"
"I get the freedom of having as many Static IP's for my Home network and server!!"
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This is way better than Cable! I was up and running in 3 weeks and It hasn't slowed down @ all!!! It Sucks that my friends on the next block howerver get a faster connection than me on the same 128/608 connection!! Oh well I can't afford a T-1 yet!!!!!!
Luvbug
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Review by diablinator
Posted: 7.8 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 1 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
San Diego,San Diego,CA
$59 per month (12 month contract)
about 15 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"Static IP address, good help from the sales guy"
"Had to pay for ALL the equipment, No refunds or anything"
"You get what you pay for. Here I paid for everything but I am getting a great conection GAME ON!!"
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I merged over to Covad.net from Flashcom (when they finally gave up the ghost) by using the Covad Safety Net and it has resulted in better performance than I ever had with Flashcom.
I kept the 608/128 speed that I previously had for the same price ($59.95) and I was only down for 2 days during the transition. There were no hitches in the installation of the software and it is working like a charm.
What I like the most is the fact that there is only one hop to the Internet! With Flashcom, I had 4-5 hops. Needless to say, this really helps with gaming a lot!
I have a static IP address, since I am hosting a web server or mail server, this is a big plus.
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Review by itguru4
Posted: 7.9 years ago
member for 7.9 years, 1 visits, last login: 7.9 years ago
San Diego,San Diego,CA
$79 per month (12 month contract)
about 23 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"Time Frame was exactly as promised"
"none"
"Aplus is the way to go for DSL"
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I contacted aplus.net in October 2001 for DSL service. I am in the San Diego area & have heard alot about their services. I see there ads everywhere. I decided I wanted to give my business to a local provider. I gave my sales rep my information to see if I was qualified. He told me I was 8,000 ft. from the CO. This would qualify me for ADSL. I signed for a self install. The kit was sent to me about 3 weeks later. Very easy instructions & aplus tech support was great. I have been online since with no major flaws. I have been bounced around from ISP to ISP in the past but I hope that aplus stays in business forever because they are the best yet.
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Review by ajafar
UPDATED: 7.9 years ago
member for 9 years, 397 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
Bellevue,King,WA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
Covad
CLEC party: Covad
"Customer Service getting better"
"Read the Review and you'll know"
"Covad Good, A+ Net Bad."
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Being a DSL user for over 4 years now and having the privaledge of participating with the DSL beta program back in 96 with USWest in the seattle area, I have been a pretty happy user, until I fell on the hands of A+ Net.
Having to get a new DSL line because my current DSL provider went bankrupt.(or should be going out of business anytime soon, Rythms, Telocity.) Couldn't get Qwest to provide the line (for some unknown reason eventhough my upstairs neighbor does), I had to resort to my last option, Covad. After looking at many reviews here on DSL reports and seeing that the only decently rated Covad DSL ISP in my area was A+ Net, I decided to give it a shot. My only problem was with the equipment costs of over $225 bucks so I went on ebay and bought me the exact same equipment for $40 bucks and yes if any of the tech people want to argue with me, I could reconfigure it with my account settings for A+ Net.
Contacted A+ Net sales sometime September and talked to a person by the name of Chris Netherton (I know he was fired, I know my account has been transfered, but nonetheless nothing has changed Adam) where he proceeded to take my information, before agreeing to anything, I informed him that I didn't want the self install kit for $225+ bucks as I already had that exact same dsl modem and he assured me at that time that I wouldn't be getting charged for one. And he also said he'd be sending me my account sales details via email so I could take a closer look and what I'd be getting. 2 weeks later no email. Multiple calls to Sales and finally I had someone by the name of Will send me an attachment with the details of my order.
I get a phone call from my bank telling me that I'd been overdrawn because of a $300+ charge on my bank account by none other than, you guessed it, A+ Net. I call Sales and they tell me call Billing which for some unknown reason (well actually it's pretty well known practice by many dsl companies) wasn't an 800 number. I get an answering machine and I leave a message, decide I'd email them as well. No return calls, no return emails and 2 weeks pass. To save myself the headache, I call my bank and dispute the charge. Problem solved .
Another 2 weeks pass by and multiple calls to sales and billing and still no return calls or answers and all of a sudden, whaddaya know, a DSL kit appears at my door. I even listed on the contract that I signed and sent back to A+ Net that I already had and didn't need a dsl modem. Let's just put it this way, they will promise u the world in terms of service and support and they will pretty much do nothing about it.
With the DSL modem I bought from ebay, I hooked it up to see if I could even get a sync connection with Covad and all looks good, so I know I'm syncing up with the DSLAM, but I'm sure that since I disputed the charge with my bank, that's the reason I can't get up and running, even though I did talk to Adam Zale regarding this matter and he assured me that Billing would contact me to resolve the issue and that "Your DSL line should be up and running now". Hey Adam? Your tech support sucks ass, your billing department sucks even more ass, I don't want any more of this crap. You want my business? Have someone actually call me.
Bottom Line, don't go with them, they will make you run around in circles.
Ali Tarzaban
Update 11/29/01
Finally got some help from someone at aplus.net and amazingly, I'm up and running. So far everything looks good. Mark Drake was extremely helpful and had everyone contact me on time with regards to this issue. Even had a tech guy actually call me and rebuild my connection. All is well so far. Adjusted ratings accordingly. My only problem is the 1st hop out of my router goes all the way down to California eventhough I'm in Seattle, maybe eventually I could talk them into changing my route.
Ali Tarzaban
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Review by a10u8
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 3 visits, last login: 8.1 years ago
77777
$169 per month (12 month contract)
about 8 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"Tech support really stuck with it."
"Got me switched"
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I found this company on DSLR. I've been a superuser of bandwidth for a long time. Had a T1 at work, now have 384K. I got connected first with DSL.net. They stink. Line speeds were consistently less than 384. I was clocking it at an average of 256K. I figure, I pay for 384, I should get at least close to it! Turns out they had oversubscribed the lines and I was getting jammed up. Got tired of it. Finally found Aplus.net. It took awhile to switch over, primarily because of some +IP issue on my plan. Aplus issues a static IP so it turned out to be a bit different. Didn't know a lot about them but have to hand it to them...they stuck with it and got it switched over. Talked to Covad, they said they were sorry it took so long and that the problem was on their end. All in all, a great experience. These guys seem to know what they're doing. Finally. An isp I can deal with.
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Review by Tdawg8
Posted: 8.3 years ago
member for 8.3 years, 7 visits, last login: 8.1 years ago
Santee,San Diego,CA
$109 per month (12 month contract)
about 26 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"Gets my vote"
"Haven't had any"
"I don't think I was just lucky"
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Well, I've heard some stories about dsl installations and problems and I didn't have one. Aplus did exactly what they claimed. I could only get what they call idsl and it works! I'm a new user and didn't know that you can only get certain speeds depending on distance from a "co". They gave me the information to make an informed decision and everything went the way they said.
Hope everyone else gets as pleasant of an experience as I got. I almost didn't sign up because of the wait time but they told me it was about normal. I asked a few more places and I guess that's right.
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Review by dr_b
Posted: 8.3 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 3 visits, last login: 8.3 years ago
Spring Valley,San Diego,CA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 24 days
SBC
CLEC party: Covad
"Knowlegable saleperson always available or someone else helps"
"At first hard to get tech, but lately that has greatly improved"
"Solid performance from live people"
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I was a bit gun shy at first from all the horror stories about trying to get DSL installed and providers going away. But, my involvement with Aplus has been all in all good from the start. From the first contact with sales where the person was courteous and informative, to the follow up he did on when my install would be done, to tech support helping me with my self install kit ( it was short 2 of the blockers and the Aplus tech contacted Covad and got me more shipped ) If the service keeps running as good as it is now and I can still reach a live body when I need to, I see no need to search anywhere else for my connection
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A + Net
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