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Review by steve1515 See Profile

  • Location: Peabody, Essex, MA, USA
  • Cost: $65 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 6 days
  • Telco party Verizon
Static IP; Stable
They don't have the OSTG package anymore.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

UPDATE (3/4/2010): Canceled my service. I switched over to Comcast Business. Speakeasy has been great and reliable, but the price to speed ratio is a little high compared to other providers. That's why I made the switch.

UPDATE (5/7/2009): I just got my invoice. Everything looks like it's fine now.

UPDATE (3/19/2009): I called billing last week and they told me they would get back to me on the billing issue by Monday. It's now Thursday, and I haven't heard anything. EDIT: I just called them. They said it was fixed but I won't see it until my next invoice gets generated on April 7th. I'll post an update then.

UPDATE (3/7/2009): I've received my first full month's invoice for my new phone line and it's $10 more than I was promised. Looks like they didn't give me a credit that they said they would. I'll have to call next week and get this fixed. I'll post an update with the results.

UPDATE (2/17/2009): I've been up an running on my new line/phone number for about a week and a half. So far it's been very good. Someone from Speakeasy called me and helped me rebuild my package on the new line. She was very helpful. She was very nice even when I had to call back the next day to get a billing error fixed. I will update if anything changes.

UPDATE (1/27/2009): I'm currently trying to get my packaged moved to a new phone number. I was promised that I would be able to do this without any trouble. I've now been trying to get this done for about 2 weeks. Hopefully this will turn out well. I will post an update soon.

UPDATE (6/10/2008): I still have Speakeasy, but I upgraded to the OSTG package a few years ago for an upload speed increase and 8 static IPs (I only use 2 of those IPs). They no longer offer the OSTG package, so if I ever switch I probably can't come back at my current rate. This is bad since their current pricing structure is very expensive. As long as nothing changes, I'll stay because they are very reliable, and they let me run servers.

I canceled Earthlink during the week of December 22. They disconnected me and freed my line.

Once I noticed that my modem no longer got sync, I knew that I could call Speakeasy. This was on December 31st. Luck me, this was the last day for the rebate for the modem kit.

I called and ordered everything was ok except that the rep selected the wrong speed package. (I'll explain below). Anyway, everything went smoothly and was up and running on January 6th, the date that they gave me.

I ordered the 1.5/256 plan with dynamic IP, they gave me a static IP, which is a free bonus. (Since I'm supposed to have a dynamic IP, they can switch me over to dynamic any time they want. But, that's not a problem for me. )

The rep accidentally picked 1.5/768. This would cost me 79.99 a month which I didn't want. I just had to wait till my line was activated and they they would correct the mistake and put me back to 1.5/256. I called today to have them fix the problem and they said it would take 24 hours. Well, it only took about 10 minutes. I was very impressed.

I've only had Speakeasy for a week and I love it. It's worth the price. I hope it's always this good.

Summary:
CPE: Zyxel 645M (Using Old Westell)
Speed: 1.5/768
Price: $65
IP: 8 Static IPs

member for 23.6 years, 6668 visits, last login: 2.6 years ago
updated 14 years ago

NbWY1
join:2003-05-23
Columbia, MD

NbWY1

Member

Speakeasy

Typical Speakeasy experience. I've used them twice and love 'em

peter Carr
@mit.edu

peter Carr

Anon

Now owned by BestBuy

I am a loyal and happy speakeasy customer since 1999 and would recommend them to anybody.

But Speakeasy has recently been purchased by BestBuy and I am skeptical of what is coming next. Based on BestBuy's customer service reputation I would not recommend speakeasy to anyone. I am currently shopping for a new ISP even though I haven't had any problems under the new regime.

unhappy camper
@comscore.com

unhappy camper

Anon

the new Speakeasy sucks!

I had Speakeasy since Dec 2001 when we moved to Manassas. Got 384Kbps SDLS service, with 4 static IP and a SLA. Before they were purchased by Best Buy, their customer service was kind-of decent.

I did not had to call them many times.

First it was to activate my e-mail account (they forgot to do that). Got resolved in 3 minutes.

Second time to get my 4 IPs re-assigned because they were scattered all over. Never got a resolution, but some lame excuses, if I remember correctly. It was mentioned that if I would be willing to pay some unbelievable amount that "could possibly get resolved". Dropped it, since their offer was unbelievably expensive.

Third time is now - Jan / Feb 2009 - (after they got purchased by "Best" Buy) and it's awful.

12 days ago I noticed I could not ping the gateway. I power-cycled and then checked every switch and router inside my house. All was OK. Power-cycled the DSL modem. No change to the situation. Called their tech support. John Givins pretended he ran tests (did not revealed in detail what he wad doing) and determined the modem is at fault. Arranged I'd be sent a DSL router as a replacement. Got the DSL router not overnight, as I should have, but 3 days after (partially because bad weather - can not blame Speakeasy here). However, the power supply would not match the router. Complained about that. Got a second power supply re-sent "overnight".

After 7 days I finally got a compatible power supply and DSL router. Plugged those in. Still no connectivity.

Called Speakeasy again. This time Jenn ran tests with me again. Jenn's theory, confirmed later by Covad, was that the noise on the line is out of acceptable limits.

Jenn suggested I stay at home during the week-end, since the phone company might come during the week-end to fix the problematic loop, because it seems it is a cable problem between the CO and my house.

Of course, the phone company (Verizon) reps did not show up during the week-end. Nobody contacted me for 3 days. When I finally called then after 11 days they are pointing the finger at Covad, and Covad is pointing the finger at Verizon.

After "guessing" the wrong answer (till I have a reason to believe otherwise, my modem is fine), sending me the wrong equipment and saying "sorry", they finally are escalating the case. 11 days after I opened the case.

However, there is no end in sight, since Verizon (Speakeasy's competitor) are dragging their feet and did not get involved yet. And Speakeasy - which is providing a *fake* SLA (99% speed "guarantee") does not seem to care too much.

Meanwhile we had bad weather and I had to stay at home. Would I have had DSL available, I could have worked from home. Since I did not had this, I had to take 2 days of vacation, since I could not work from home.

I can not do research from home and I am losing time and money just because of that.

Seven days out of this delay are directly attributable to John Givins, who does not know his job! Jenn made me believe that by today (Monday) things would get resolved. I am paying over $100 / month for a business type of service to receive poor customer service and excuses. Not a good deal, if you ask me!

*Stay away* from "the new" Speakeasy, that is my advice!

Review by winfire692 See Profile

  • Location: Brooklyn, Kings, NY, USA
  • Cost: $105 per month (12 month contract)
  • Telco party Verizon
Been with them for 6yrs reliable up to three weeks ago
Misrepresented, estimate customers distance from Covad not exact, not able to provide speed
Have 25 days to cancel
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Decided to upgrade my old DSL to onelink plus $105.95. Very upset with the installation process verizon came out 3 times to tag the circuit ( very nasty). Covad came twice. I want to keep my existing phone # for faxing ( dedicated line only for Speakeasy) thats wasn't the case. They had to bring the old line down in order to bring the new line up. Fine. Spoke to Speakeasy they told me that my existing phone # is out lingering until I get a out side person to come and hook back up a line to use my existing #. Then lo and behold found out that I'm not getting 6.0 b/c I'm too far away from covad. I'm locate 11,000 feet from them and I need to be @ 10,000 feet to get 6.0. Now this is after installation is complete. Rep told me that she will downgrde my service to 3.0 dn 768 up. Pissed because verizon think they slick. Come home from work and lo and behold I'm not getting 3.0 but its @ 2.5 call Speakeasy up they gave me a cock and bull story. They can't provide 6.0 but also they can't provide at least 3.0. WTH. I love speakeasy never had a problem with them but this here might just make me go to cable. I'm torn Speakeasy u hurt me bad real bad.

member for 14.3 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 14.3 years ago


Review by exussum See Profile

  • Location: Brooklyn, Kings, NY, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
Responsive to phone calls.
Lately, slow due to old infrastucture.
May not be staying with them once contrat is up.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've been a customer of speakeasy for about 5 or so years now. I've always recommended them since my first experience with them about 10 years ago.

It's with my deep regret that I cannot recommend them anymore. Speaking with a tech about my random traceroute times, they say that their infrastructure in NYC is not up to snuff and have no ETA on when it will be.

The problem I'm hoping to solve is randomness with ping times. Hulu and the online games I play have been wonky. Performing traceroutes has shown a consistent increase, hop per hop, for my ping times per hop. It's utterly random. The first hop may be 300ms, or 20ms, then the second may or may not be more or less.

Sadly, I had to prod to keep the ticket open so that I can get a valid answer, if something will be fixed soon, by a certain time, or if ever. Credit to the tech, I did put him on the spot. Unfortunately, re-provisioning my virtual circuit has been done about 5 times now. Rebooting over and over won't solve much.

C'mmon speakeasy. This is your time to shine. You've done it now and again, and given me satisfactory service. Is this our grand goodbye when my contract is up? I'm paying a premium for your overall quality, rather than a lopsided speedy line, crappy customer service.

member for 14.3 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 14.3 years ago


Dest
Bolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL

Dest

Premium Member

hop to hop ping time

its my understanding that ping time at each hop have no relation to the actual time a normal data packet take to travel from/to you and the destination.

some routers are set to give ping request a low processing priority or ignore ping request all together.

as long as your end destination/server ping time remain relatively constant, that's not the problem, but if the destination/server ping time are jumping all over the place, then yeah theres a problem somewhere.

Review by Gomez See Profile

  • Location: Atlanta, Dekalb, GA, USA
  • Cost: $89 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
  • Telco party BellSouth
Good speed (around 1200/600), zero problems in set up, responsive support. Static ip.
None yet. Update: To many alternatives with better cost/Mb.
So far so good. Update: Terminating service
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Put in the order 1/27, after cancelling earthlink. There was one minor delay in waiting for earthlink to release the line, and get it reprovisioned. This likely could have been avoided had I waited to order, but ordering got me dialup access I would need during the transation.

The one call to support was due to an Auth error which ended up being "no more minutes" for dialup. This was handled quickly, and at no cost.

Up on 02/11 (10 business days later) with no difficulties as of yet. Now that this is working to satisfaction, I'll be upgrading to the 3.0/768 plan. Which will prompt a rereview, in which I'll have a better feel for overall reliability.

10/19/09 - Update.

Performance has been degrading over time. Since the recent rains, mostly unusable. Constant 20%, presumably as it's re-syncing. To the point now that uploading a 20 meg file to work is next to impossible.

Opened ticket, got a response that I need to call voice while having access to the modem. Understandable, I guess.

In the mean time, I explored alternatives, and decided that I could get a lot more bandwidth for much less money.

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."


member for 23.1 years, 6191 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
updated 14.4 years ago


anon
@comcast.net

anon

Anon

on price...

I agree.. I get the speeds below for around $25 a month (comcast - cable)

Download Speed: 29226 kbps (3653.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 3001 kbps (375.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

Of course being cable the speeds aren't rock-solid, but the last I've seen is around 13,000 kbps, which is still way higher than speakeasy (or any dsl for that matter)

Review by charden420 See Profile

  • Location: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $2000 per month (12 month contract)
  • Telco party AT&T
There are a couple honest reps.
Promised speed vs. delivered speed, billing accuracy, correction of billing mistakes
Don't bother unless you have tons of time to monitor & call to battle for what you were promised
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

We picked Speakeasy as a provider and became a Partner even though they weren't the least expensive for the benefit of a Dedicated Account Manager, and because at the time they had an excellent customer service rating, all of which quickly faded into oblivion. I'd like to begin by stating that we signed up 4 of our satellite locations for service. It took over 1 year and many calls and emails to receive our commissions for these other locations. The service disappeared into a black hole shortly after upgrading from a single T1 to a bonded T1, requesting an additional ADSL for our original service location (Location 1), and adding 2 additional service locations (Locations 2 and 3). Location 1: We never received the promised rebate for a very over priced Cisco router; in addition to that we were overbilled for the service ordered. To add insult to injury the 2nd ADSL ordered at the same time ended up being installed over the existing circuit leaving us with 1 ADSL line and 2 monthly line items, and as if that weren’t enough we never achieved the speed on the ADSL that was promised and were in turn severely overbilled for it. When we contacted them to have this rectified we were at first told that we didn't call soon enough to have the item removed, and it took 6 weeks of battling front line Cust. Svc up the food chain and then having to play semantics with upper management until they could no longer deny the proof provided (and declined to send a Tech out to verify and split the cost) and finally credited our account, and adjusted the billing to reflect what we were promised. Location 2: was promised 6.0/768, it took over 45 days to have this service installed. Upon install they were unable to sync the line, so the service was turned down to 3.0/768, billing was not adjusted accordingly, and a loop test was not preformed until 8mos later and only after persistent calls to tech support and finally getting a decent tech who actually followed up. Once the loop test was performed it was determined that the location was over 13k ft. from the CO and the highest speed that could be achieved was 1.5/384, despite our experience w/Location 1, credit was offered up immediately, our best guess as to why is because this was a line running to a residence/home office. Location 3: fantastic to start with, installed in record time, and speed/up time was as promised.... Until the phone number for the location was ported away from Verizon and 6mos later Verizon reclaimed their line, upon reinstall there have been numerous erroneous charges that effectively more than doubled the cost of service and they continued to bill for the initial service/circuit that Verizon removed, we're still fighting to have these charges explained and removed, and will update once the issues have been resolved. All 3 locations' services have been discontinued and new providers have been put into place. I have fought with my fair share of "utility and phone companies". We are not alone in our suffering of Speakeasy's Illegal Billing Practices, and if you've experienced similar we urge you to contact the FTC as we did.

member for 14.9 years, 19 visits, last login: 14.5 years ago
lodged 14.5 years ago


Review by jtl10 See Profile

  • Location: New York, New York, NY, USA
  • Cost: $464 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 35 days
  • Telco party Verizon
Was an OK T1 provider for a while
Grossly understaffed customer support, lies about callbacks
A BAD choice for T1 service
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

UPDATED:

By and large our experience with SpeakEasy was OK, until Yesterday. Since we were out of contract we decided to look for a better deal. SpeakEasy was advertising 3x3 (3mbps up/down) service in our area for about the same price as our existing T1. However, we were able to find a better deal from another company so we went with them and decided to just cancel our T1 service.

Cancelling our service was a NIGHTMERE. I called twice and was promised a call back both times (both in less than 30 minutes) - and no one called. I called again and waited on hold nearly 30 minutes - and despite answering a long series of voice prompts to get the right department was told that the person who answered would be unable to cancel our service and that I needed to be transferred to another division that would be able to help - with another 15-30 minutes on hold... however, as I was being transferred I was hung up on.

Called again, promised a call back, no one called.

Called again, promised a call back within 30 minutes, received a call 3 HOURS later... and I cancelled. And I will never, ever do business with speakeasy again.

It's too bad... the service was OK... but they simply don't have anywhere near enough customer support reps to operate a business. Thank goodness we never had any major connection problems... we could be out for a long time with customer service like this.

Bottom line - STAY Away.

--

Our company was looking for T1 service to supplement our existing DSL connection. Since cable or direct fiber wasn't available in our building, the only choice was a traditional T1 with local loop. After some problems negotiating a contract with another provider, we went with Speakeasy.

Since this connection was going to be backed up by a DSL link, reliability wasn't the most important concern for us; however, so far we haven't had any problems with the service. Uploads and downloads have been very near to rated speeds and there has been no problems with excessive packet loss or latency.

Installation was delayed a bit, solely because of delays by Verizon getting the local loop to work. This is typical of my experiences with Verizon.

One nice thing is the myspeakeasy web site. It works well and had very detailed notes durring the entire installation process.

Compared to other T1 providers this service was a good deal. However, it's still a bit disapointing to pay so much for a connection that a good deal slower than my cable modem service at home (at least for downloading).

Overall, I'd definately recommend Speakeasy to others. Their staff is friendly and helpful and we've been very pleased with the service so far.

member for 17.1 years, 37 visits, last login: 13.7 years ago
updated 14.9 years ago


Review by Omnifarious0 See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $56 per month (12 month contract)
Responsive
Won't do anything, charge for service not provided, charge disconnect fee for service not provided
Avoid
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I ordered Speakeasy broadband for the apartment of my girlfriend so I could have net access when I was there. I've had generally good luck with Speakeasy in the past, but not this time.

First they complained about her telephone number. She uses a number that can automatically roll over to her cell phone. Apparently, despite the fact that the physical line terminates in a nearby central office, this prohibits them from providing service over that same line.

So I went for service over her second line, which exists, but is disconnected. Speakeasy does not require an active telephone line and has a service that works with an inactive one.

This appears to go better, but when the technician comes out he complains about some detail of the apartment building's wiring and suggests I go for Comcast (Never!) or ClearWire. Speakeasy then wants me to take responsibility for the wiring in the apartment building. I refuse to do this, but ask them to keep the ticket open in the hopes that they find some way to provide service.

A few months later, I give up and ask them to cancel it. They then want to charge me a $300 disconnect fee. They never connected. It was never properly installed. But they charged me right along for the service and then wanted to charge me a $300 disconnect fee.

This is totally unacceptable.

member for 15 years, 3 visits, last login: 14.8 years ago
lodged 15 years ago


Review by shortmexican See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified. (12 month contract)
employ's American workers
out of date out of touch
not the worst, just bad
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Everyone at Speakeasy hates DSL few of us even use Speakeasy, Despite the employee discount that makes it almost competitive. Slow DSL is for losers that are too upset with Comcast to see reason. As for working at Speakeasy? I think you get better treatment in prison.
after two years I have had enough. I have seen people fired for minor infractions or just honest mistakes as sacrifices to paperwork. While others spend the day spoofing emails on the clock to harass other employees without consequence.
Thank god I am out. Management is the lowest rung of bureaucrats rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship. Nothing we offer can't be found for less somewhere else. Please avoid at all costs. even in this economy I would rather find work elsewhere.



member for 15 years, 4 visits, last login: 14.8 years ago
updated 15 years ago


jadebangle
Premium Member
join:2007-05-22
00000

jadebangle

Premium Member

What does this have to do with isp review?

scraches head
spineless5
join:2003-11-11
Bellevue, WA

spineless5

Member

Disgruntled worker I guess...

I have been with Speakeasy for over 5 years for my DSL and up until recently I have been happy and/or satisfied with the service. I think that their customer service is great. I just think that the value (price vs. performance) of their service has fallen over the years. $55 for 1.5Mb DSL? That is so 2002, when you can currently get 8Mb DSL for the same price.

Review by gariac See Profile

  • Location: Fremont, Alameda, CA, USA
  • Cost: $52 per month
  • Telco party AT&T
no port blocking
flaky tech support; expensive
I'm looking for a new provider
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've been a subscriber to Speakeasy DSL for more years than I can remember. Here is my history. I started with Telogy, which became DirectTV DSL. It was great. It went bust. I was on Covad for a while. Back then it was quite expensive. I changed to Speakeasy, but used my Covad hardware per Speakeasy's suggestion.

The change from Covad was pretty simple. They do their magic, I get a new set of "numbers", plug them into the router and it's done.

Now here is the trick with Speakeasy. They change plans to be competitive, but don't bother telling their subscribers of the change. For instance, I had upload speeds around 245kbps. Speakeasy updated this to 380kbps or so. The only way I found out was to see the new plan on their website. So I call tech support. They insist I am at the higher speed. I insist I'm not. After much arm twisting, Speakeasy calls Covad (who is the first provider in my DSL chain) and gets my speed up to the 380kbps (or whatever, since I don't recall the exact number.)

OK, time passes. I notice the plan I have with Speakeasy is now $10 cheaper a month. I call, I bitch, I get the new rate. I have no idea how long they were screwing me for the extra $10.

Now once in a while my DSL modem locked up. It was a Prestige from the old Covad days. Speakeasy agrees to send me a new modem if I stay with them another year. I should have dropped them then, but changing DSL providers is work, and Speakeasy kind of worked. The new modem arrives. Well, make that recycled modem. It is some sort of box from Creative. The new modem was dead on arrival. I send it back and get another one. This one worked and thus far doesn't lock up. However, it has a different problem. If there is an interruption in power, the modem locks up. This is actually worse than the prestige modem which would only lock up once a month. This new modem is total crap. The only way I can get the modem to work is to power it down for about 10 minutes, then plug it in again. Clearly I can't do any remote desktop with such a garbage modem.

Now Speakeasy doesn't totally suck. The download speed of 1.2Mbps is close to the 1.5mbps target. The upload speed reaches about 300kbps. However, the service is over-priced.

Regarding tech support, everyone speaks English. Beyond that, it is quite poor. Case in point, the DSL goes down. I do all sorts of reboots on my end. I give up and call tech support. They insist on me rebooting the modem, even though I already did ths. I had the fool on the line for the 10 minutes it takes that crappy Creative moden to reset. Of course, the reboot has no effect. I knew that would be the case since I did a reboot of everything prior to my call. They set up an appointment. What typically happens with these appointments is nobody shows up because the problem is not on my end. The usual outcome is the DSL mysteriously starts to work again. For this last so-called service call, I twist the arm of Speakeasy to find out what Covad actually did. All Covad did was pull and reseat a card in their rack. So the flaky hardware is still there.

As most people know, Speakeasy was bought out by Best Buy. The company was going down hill before the buy out, but Best Buy did nothing to improve the service.

I encourage you to log into the Speakeasy.net website and try to find the pricing plans. All you get is "starts from." This may be to prevent customers like me from finding out the prices have dropped and insisting on getting the new rate. Thus far the only other provider I looked at was DSLextreme. I can't vouch for them, but I can tell what their service costs from their website.

As soon as this modem contract is up, I'm dropping Speakeasy. I may just dropped them sooner since the competition is about $20 less a month for the same service.

-------

4/5/2008 follow-up

In the middle of a "session", the internet connection quits. The modem is happy (DSL light on), but websites are not found. I unplugged the modem for two minutes, but that wasn't enough due to the crappy power on reset Creative Broadxent DSL modem uses. So I leave it alone for about 10, then boot. It still doesn't work so I boot the linksys router. This is nuts. I can tolerate the booting, but the 10 minute wait for the Broadxent DSL modem is intolerable. If I could find decent test data and reviews, I'd go buy a modem.

------------

11/20/2008

Well, I finally got around to buying another DSL modem. Doing some research, I concluded that 2wire gear was a good as it gets. Unfortunately, they only sell to ISPs (providers), but you can get 2wire modems used, mostly from people that "upgrade" to cable (subject to debate) or just move out of town. At the time of this writing, the top of the line 2wire is the 2701HG-B, commonly used by AT&T, and goes for around $40 used.

I was having trouble with the Broadxent locking up, especially with bit torrent. That is now history. The 2wire has no issues with bit torrent. My upload speed is slightly faster. Download is about the same. There are umpteen things to tweak in a 2wire modem, so I don't want to post any hard number until I'm sure it is as good as it gets.

Ultimately, I'm still going to dump Speakeasy. Just too expensive for what you get. The nice thing about the 2wire modem is there are diagnostics that read out phone line related quality parameters. Next up is tweaking my house wiring to insure there is nothing funky on my end. I'm about 5db too high in loss to go up to the next speed level. The 2wire reads out loss up and down, signal levels, noise, and uncanceled echo. It's really worth the money. I can't understand why any ISP would just insist on a 2wire rather than waste the time of their customers with garbage like the Broadxent BritePort. You can poke around DSLreports and see similar complaints about that modem.

member for 20.1 years, 16 visits, last login: 12.4 years ago
updated 15.3 years ago


Review by nixen See Profile

  • Location: Alexandria, Fairfax, VA, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 40 days
  • Telco party Verizon
If you can get through the initial install problems and instabilities, they tend to leave things alone.
Getting a human to talk to is an ordeal. Their automated systems are even worse. Customer service is not their forte.
Too expensive for the speeds and service.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've had SpeakEasy for a number of years now. They used to be a good company to do business with. It's why, after several moves, I still have them. Unfortunately, it seems that SpeakEasy's business priorities have changed. If you are looking for residential service, is simply would NOT recommend them.

While they've always been more expensive than their competition, they used to provide value for this price differential. The SpeakEasy forum used to be an example of this: they used to have employees participate in the forum to help customers. This policy seems to have ended in July of 2006. They've dropped a number of other things that made them "worth it."

Lastly, they like to advertise one price for their service then absolutely PILE on miscellaneous fees. They then like to attribute these fees to "compliance recovery" costs. Most egregious of these was with the recent repeal of the USF. Somehow, even though the USF was removed, some new "compliance fee" was introduced that pretty much offset this reduction. Requests for clarification go unanswered.

Due to the high prices, I dropped service a few months ago and switched to Cox plus a VPS. I liked Speakeasy, I just could no longer justify the price given my ther options.

member for 21.4 years, 3546 visits, last login: 14.2 years ago
updated 15.3 years ago

Dr Gary
join:2001-01-13
Geneva, IL

Dr Gary

Member

$105 a Month for 1.5/768 is too Much....

I currently pay $45 a month for 1.5/768 DSL service including 2 static IP's with BritSys. Why are you paying more than double for the same service?

BritSys has even higher customer satisfaction ratings on DSLR than Speakeasy...
bored_in_nh
join:2003-01-04
Stamping Ground, KY

bored_in_nh

Member

Re: $105 a Month for 1.5/768 is too Much....

Is that MCI 1.5/768 or Covad 1.5/768? My bet is that he's not in an area served by MCI, and the only choice is Covad's re-branded DSL.
Dr Gary
join:2001-01-13
Geneva, IL

Dr Gary

Member

Re: $105 a Month for 1.5/768 is too Much....

My BritSys is MCI...so you are probably correct.