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Review by dsleeve
(review was emailed from domain speakeasy.net)
lodged 13.5 years ago
 New York,New York,NY
 Contract price not specified.
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I have only had the service for a few days but so far it has been fantastic. Every part of the process from inital order to instal went without a hitch. I was even able to get my covad instal date pushed up a bit.
The order process was painless as can be. Robert was able to answer any questions I had with ease. About 3 1/2 weeks later bell showed up at my door and did what they had to do. Covad came 3 days later and got me up and runing. All this time I was able to use a free dial up account provided by speakeasy and check on my order status on line.
Another aspect of the Speakeasy service that I feel should be praised is their billing and 'contract' policy. Speakeasy did not ask me for any money until my service was up and working. They then sent me an email requesting the payment that I am more then happy to give. When I was looking around for a DSL provider I was amazed and somewhat frightend by the contracts and legal jargon most providers threw at me. 2 or 3 year binding contracts, inflated termination fee's and what have you. What a pleasure it was to find Speakeasy. There is no 'binding' contract to speak of with speakeasy. They only want a $250 fee if you want out. Thats much beter then paying 7 or 8 months worth of $89 payments or more, depending on whatever remains of your contract. I really dont see myself paying the $250.00 fee as I am so happy with the service I will never want out.
Now that I am connected I can not see how I lived with a dial up modem. I have the 768/384 package and have yet to see a download speed under 50-70k a sec. To make the situation even better Speakeasy is going to instal a NY server for us east coast folks! This is really awsome because a NY server would make my gamming pings low as hell. I am in NYC.
I only wish I had found Speakeasy sooner. It would have saved me the hassle of dealing with all the other troubled providers.
Speakeay is wonderful.
D. Zucker
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Review by jkwan 
member for 13.6 years, 5 visits, last login: 13 years ago
lodged 13.5 years ago
- Lexington,Middlesex,MA
- Contract price not specified.
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My experience with Speakeasy has been great. I ordered the service on Oct. 1, the Bell Atlantic guys came on Oct. 19. And then I got call from Covad the next day telling me I could re-schedule an appointment for the FOLLOWING day! I was all set by Oct. 21! I ordered 384/128 and I've been getting very reliable speeds (20-30 Kbytes/sec downloads). The SpeedStream 5250 has been working without a hitch.
All the computers in the house have been working fine with the DSL line.
The most amazing thing about ordering from Speakeasy is their attention to giving customers status info.
I placed a phone order with them, and once everything was setup (accounts, etc). I could check it all online with their TAC (Total Account Control). All calls with Covad were logged in their DSL worklog. The 8 step status is awesome. This is the most impressive customer information tool I have seen yet.
In addition, I get 5 hours of free dialup a month for when I'm on the road. They have access number across the US AND Canada! For an extra $13, I got unlimited dialup.
People are very friendly there, never got a rude person on the other end of the line.
Excellent service and value.
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Review by Dstaples42
member for 13.7 years, 20 visits, last login: 11.8 years ago
lodged 13.5 years ago
- Chicago,Cook,IL
- Contract price not specified.
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Long Review by
Daniel Staples
First off,
I ordered 768/384 SDSL from Speakeasy and am extremely happy now that everything works.
For Speakeasy & Covad's part of the install all went as well & quickly as anyone could ask.
The only problems that arose were the problems caused by my local ameritech. I find it most upsetting that they just don't seem to understand what an appointment is for or how it is supposed to work.
Speakeasy's tech support is very knowledgeable and more important they
understand that it's OK to say I don't know, Ill find out & get back to you.
And they do call back, in a suprisingly short time.
Additionally they didn't bill me for anything until it all worked.
One odd thing that I didn't understand until I was installed & working, my packets route invisibly to the gateway in speakeasy's network & my packets
hit the internet in Washington state.
It really doesn't seem to make any difference (except that the Half life servers with 90 pings are in Washington) the local Chicago servers now ping at around 120 -130.
I got 8 static IP addresses
They use Supernews for their news server.
They also provide 2 Email addresses and unlimited? aliases pointing to those two
Overall I would grade the Speakeasy and Covad parts of this adventure as very good, A+
I however have to grade ameritech at a D- their lack of respect for their customers is appalling. If I wasn't home (due to being an independent consultant) to let them in when they just arrived, I likely still wouldn't have service.
-------------------- Timeline & install details ------------------------------
I Ordered on 9/13 estimated install time 25 working days.
Actual install time 39 working days or 52 real days (I can't believe it took that long!)
ameritech "committed delivery date" 9/23 Appointment blown off by ameritech. ameritech reported a successful appointment to Covad.
Covad install initially proposed for 10/1. I emailed and asked to reschedule for the day before or after, Covad rescheduled during the call for 9/31.
On 9/31 Covad tech called 3 hours before appointment window & arrived 20 min. after I said it was ok cause I was there. Connected hardware to line (I had previously run cat 5 line from the ameritech box to my install location,) and to the ameritech box, It didn't work (no surprise) Tech called in trouble ticket from my phone. He was very happy to tell me anything I wanted to know about my service.
2 more blown off appointments by ameritech and 3 unexpected arrivals (that I was here to let the ameritech guy in for) and still no connection. I should mention that the ameritech interface is inside the building.
On 11/4 A speakeasy rep called & asked me to check the line & it was up.
but slow, an ameritech tech arrived 2 or 3 days later (no appointment & unannounced, he just rang the doorbell) tested the line & pronounced everything was "clean". Speed improved by 100% (The tech said he didn't do anything but test, yea right.)
Speeds were still slow, showing 50 to 60 Kbytes per second to/from
Speakeasy's servers
I spoke with a couple of techs at speakeasy, trying various test scenarios
until one tech suggested doing downloads from multiple sites, Just to see...
I ftp'd down a 10mb file from Netscape's server & uploaded it to my speakeasy homedir. Used 2 running copies of Cuteftp to download the same file again from Speakeasy & Netscape at the same time.
I got 80kbytes per second download total. (WOW)
I then pronounced the install complete & they agreed
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Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain xnewmex.com)
lodged 13.5 years ago
- West Chester,Chester,PA
- Contract price not specified.
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Here it is nice and simple:
Speakeasy.net Rocks! They are reliable, helpful and don't impose a lot of BS rules on you. I HIGHLY recommend them.
--Chris
SDSL 384/384 bridge w/ static IPs
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Review by johnn71
member for 13.5 years, 3 visits, last login: 10.5 years ago
lodged 13.5 years ago
- Vancouver,Clark,WA
- Contract price not specified.
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This tail is a bit long, but it is my hope that it will provide a good picture of how difficult it can be to order and get DSL service, and more importantly, how well one ISP can do their job.
I run, out of my house, a small consulting business. We specialize in helping small and medium sized businesses get more return out of their information technology systems. In the last few years, of course this has led to an ever-increasing appreciation for the utility and power of Internet connectivity. More and more however, much of the power and utility seems to be throttled by slow dial-up Internet access. For many of us, dial-up access has been the only economically feasible method of connecting to the net. Yes, ISDN has been available for a few years, but getting it from US West has been tricky at best, and with an aggregate bandwidth of 128kbps, it barely over twice as fast as a 56k dial-up connection. Traditional broadband connections like frame relay, T1, etc. are ridiculously expensive.
So when US West finally announced the availability of DSL in the Vancouver area, I immediately took action. At last, we would be able do some serious work via the net, and if a few Quake II sessions slipped in here and there
As anyone who has tried to order ISDN or DSL from US West can tell you, US West doesn't seem very eager to deliver it. For months, they said 'No, can't get it to you yet . I'd periodically check back with their pre-qualification web site. Finally, I received a shock when I was informed my line qualified. The elation lasted about two days until US West called me and informed me that my on-line qualification showed a 'false positive . No they don't have any DSL to sell me after all. Answers to queries about when it would be available were vague at best.
In July of this year, our local newspaper ran a story about DSL becoming widely available in Vancouver, WA, including the US West central office that served my area. Hot dang! Call US West again. Much puzzled conversation later, we finally agree that yes, they still won't sell what their customers want to buy. A little more research on my part, and I finally learn that it isn't US West that is delivering DSL to these areas, but rather a company called Covad Communications. Covad is a 'competitive local exchange carrier , one of many aggressive new companies that lease capacity on the 'incumbent local exchange carrier's local loop.
I hit Covad's web site and discover a list of ISP's who will gladly arrange for DSL service, through Covad, for me. On July 9 I called Speakeasy, a Seattle based ISP. My choice was made first on price, followed closely by features and services offered. After speaking with a thoroughly knowledgeable sales rep named Danny, I discovered that Speakeasy would also provide up to 8 static IP addresses. I ordered 384k SDSL service. Typical wait, I am told, is 25-30 working days.
Knowing that I have only two pair of copper between my house and the street, I ask if I should call US West to cancel one of my POTS (plain old telephone service) lines, since I won't be needing it, and it might speed the DSL installation along if that pair were available. 'No. Don't do that I am told. The line might be immediately reassigned to someone else before the process is complete. No sense in doing without that second phone line. Okay, whatever.
Due date comes, and goes. Nothing. I call Speakeasy. This time I speak with Jessica. Again, a very short wait (about as fast as one can key-press through an automated call center) and I'm talking to a pleasant and well informed customer service rep. 'No facilities is the reason I'm given. Ah, I've heard that before.
Because I've heard it before I know exactly where to place the blame. US West can't find a pair of wires over which to deliver service. It is an all-to-common excuse given by US West in this area. In fact, US West often can't tell you, with any degree of reliability, just how many wires they have running where. This fact will be illustrated shortly. To be fair though, in this case I know that US West is at least partially correct. I have only the two pair of copper. Someone is going to have to dig up my yard and run more from the street to my house. Whatever.
So I tell Jessica, not to worry. I understand what the hold up is and that they are powerless to do much about it. I'll check back.
Check back I do. Again, and again. Same story. Finally, in October, I'm told to expect a visit from US West, who will do part of the installation of my DSL line, followed a few days later by a visit from a Covad technician to do the rest of the install. Curiously, the utilities locators haven't shown up to in advance of the guys who (I assume) will be digging up my yard. I'm starting to get a little nervous.
The appointed day arrives. So does the US West technician. In classic homeowner fashion, that I am sure annoys the hell out of service technicians from all trades, I hover over his shoulder as he tries to work. He opens the NID (network interface device) on the side of my house and tries to ignore me. He seems puzzled. 'You got data running on that line? says he as we hear the buzz of modems talking through his test gear. 'Yes I mutter tentatively. 'Well we can't do this. Both your lines are in use. Well duh. I tell him that I was afraid it might happen this way, and that I rather expected to have my yard dug up. He explains that this wouldn't do any good. 'There isn't any more copper at the street either. Huh?
My service tech explains that, for a time, the engineering guys who design the telephone network, decided that residential customers would only ever need two phone lines to their house. So they developed a scheme called encapsulated service, wherein each premise has two, and only two, pairs of copper that extend all the way from the NID to a neighborhood junction box several blocks away. He adds that the field guys knew this would never work out.
Ever helpful, he explains that the only thing to do is cancel the service on one line and have Covad re-schedule the installation. I thank him for his time, apologize for his company's incompetence with regards to network record-keeping, and go inside to cancel service on one of my POTS lines.
I then call Speakeasy and Covad. I am a little steamed, at this point. I wanted to cancel one of my lines when I first ordered the DSL line because I knew facilities would become an issue. I just didn't know how much of an issue. I just didn't want my yard dug up.
Once again, Jessica was very helpful, and very apologetic. Through subsequent emails and telephone conversations we manage to all get educated on what happened, why, and what needs to happen now. Apparently, Covad can NOT directly 'take over an operating POTS line for a DSL installation, even if that is precisely what the customer wants done. It seems that US West has managed a court order preventing this, citing 'anti-competitive practices . Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
We reschedule. A few days later, another US West tech arrives. She seems less prone to ignore the hovering homeowner, so I bend her ear about my ordeal. She's unimpressed. No doubt she's heard this tale before, a lot. So I chat her up about some other telco work I have in the offing, hoping to pick up from one of the 'grunts some intelligence that I might use to avoid some of these pitfalls in the future. She's very helpful, even calling another senior tech to answer some of my questions on the spot. I am amazed at the difference between US West's field technical staff and their 'customer service staff. Perhaps they should have the technicians give customer service lessons to the customer service staff.
Later that same day, Jessica e-mails and says that the loop tests okay, and offers to move up my appointment with Covad. Well , duh. Covad technician arrives and is just delighted that he doesn't have to crawl under my house. He seems a bit impressed by the installation I've prepared (jacks, patch bays, shelves, etc.), and remarks how he wishes it were always this easy to do an installation.
I explain. 'Well , I have had a little time to prepare for this
P.S.
I should also add that during this process, I sent an email to Speakeasy president Mike Apgar, telling him about the problems I'd had. I figured he's a busy guy but could probably use a heads up on what appeared to be a gap in their provisioning process. To my surprise, I received a personal response almost immediately. I don't get that kind of responsiveness out of my current ISP, and the president is a personal acquaintance!
The Speakeasy DSL service, from this point on, has functioned flawlessly. Speakeasy has never been less than pleasant to deal with. Their tech support people are sharp. Very sharp. The phone queues are short. I honestly can't recommend them highly enough. This company has definitely 'gotten it right .
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Review by whitfb
member for 13.4 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
lodged 13.5 years ago
- Brooklyn,Kings,NY
- Contract price not specified.
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[Note: I tried to log on rather than be Anon, but it's broken!]
It took some effort to get the full details on pricing and options, but they were friendly about it. Several of their competitors never answered queries, or quit answering them after failing to answer them completely at first, and my pressing them. Ordered 384/384 service at end of September, installed November 1. They got Bell and Covad out here right when they scheduled them, although there was a mixup on scheduling Covad for the afternoon, as they'd offerred and I'd asked - it took a number of e-mails and calls to get it set for the afternoon rather than their initial scheduling for 8 am. The Covad installer set things up rapidly, but used the wrong cable (the crossed-over one) from the bridge to the jack, so I was confused for a half-hour afterwards, but no real harm. (He said he hadn't had a day off in weeks.) Not sure why the technician was even needed really, a jack and a bridge, and I could have hooked it up myself.
The first day of service the ATM line to Seattle from NYC was having problems (evidently in the ATM network itself), which degraded service, but now the second day with that fully functional things look very good indeed. (And they do plan a right coast NOC in a couple months.) Their tech support is available by 800 number, and friendly and helpful, but not fully informed on all aspects . The SpeedStream 5250 bridge seems to be a good piece of equipment. The contract is a bit strange, since it gives them the right to change any term at any time. But they assure me they've never pulled that clause on anyone, and unlike most of their competition they don't even take a credit card number before the service is fully and happily installed. (How to get Ultracom to stop responding to you: ask them if you still have to pay them if the install fails.)
They provide 8 static IPs with their SOHO account at $150 a month. Setup with a Linux box as router/firewall works fine with the bridge, if you know your Linux. I did try their instructions for a Windows 95 machine here, and it didn't work - which is most likely a Windows 95 issue. But I have no problem masquerading that machine through a Linux box in the standard Linux way.
To be honest, a large part of my reason for going with Speakeasy is knowing where they're from - I lived on the edge of their neighborhood, Belltown, Seattle in the 80s, and the business culture is much less corrupt there than here in NYC (it's easy to get mugged in Silicon Alley, I can tell you) ... as long as you don't go NE of Seattle.
-Whit
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Review by tedhowe
member for 13.8 years, 1030 visits, last login: 2 years ago
lodged 13.5 years ago
- West Chester,Chester,PA
- Contract price not specified.
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I've had my service with Speakeasy for about a week now and I could not be happier... now that I've finally gotten it set up. But it was a long road getting here.
Okay... allow me to veny and give some background: I've been on the lookout for high-speed dedicated internet access for better than two years. Almost weeks, I've checked the websites of both my Cable company (Suburban Cable) and my telco (Bell Atlantic) for information... to no avail.
Early this year I heard of Covad and the DSL service that they were rolling out around the country to compete with the local telcos, so I added them to my list of sites I would monitor.
This summer, I finally stated seeing realistic dates for availability at my CO (Exton, PA - about 20 miles west of Philadelphia). Several sites said that Covad would turn up the CO on 8/15. I called speakeasy to se if I could "pre-order" and was told that I couldn't. I could understand that, but when i called back on the 18th of August, I was told that the CO had been pulled from Covad's list. I was back to square one, or so I thought. I kept checking back and by the end of the week, the Exton CO was back onling and was now accepting orders.
I placed my order with Speakeasy for 384/128 service on 8/20. About 10 days later, I got an e-mail saying that BA had scheduled their install for 9/15 and Covad for 9/22. I was excited. Only about a month from my order date. Not bad.
Well, 9/15 came around and BA never showed. I called Speakeasy and the followed up with Covad/BA. It took almost two weeks to get any real information. I finally got a new install date: 10/8 for BA and then 10/15 for Covad. A few days later, I got an update saying that the BA install was moved to 10/13 but since that was still before the Covad date, there would be no change in my scheduled Covad install.
On the morning of the 15th, the Covad tech showed up a few minutes early!! He came in, and after about half an hour of fiddling, couldn't get the 5250 bridge to sync up with the DSLAM. He said that there were "electronics" on the line that that they'd have to work it out with BA before re-trying the install. Big disappointment, but at least since he was so prompt, I didn't have to use vacation. I was out of the house an to work by 9:00AM.
About a week days later, I got a message saying that the phone company had worked out the problem and a new Covad install was scheduled for Monday 10/25. Again the Covad tech ( a different one this time) arrived a few minutes early and within 30 minutes had me up and running.
I had already configured the IP addresses on my machines, so as soon as his ping tests were done, I plugged the x-over cable into my hub and my machines were browsing the net.
Overall, it was about what I expected in the installation. Two visits is about par for the course from what I understand. And everyone was very courteous. Whenever you have three companies involved in the installation, there are going to be coordination issues, and I think that overall, Speakeasy did a fair job with the install.
In a week of use, I've found my connection to be fast and reliable. I'm pretty sure that any slowdowns I've seen are related to server loads, and not line issues.
Tech support has been very good. One of the reasons that I went with Speakeasy was because I wanted to run my own server and my own DNS.
The night after my connection was set up, I had a conversation with Speakeasy tech support about registering a domain name and setting up a DNS on my machine for them to mirror. I got the information I needed, went to the Network solutions web site and filled out my registration form with my machine as primary DNS and Speakeasy's as secondary. By morning, I was able to browse to my web server by name.
I can't comment on mail services from Speakeasy, since I'm going to run my own mail server, but I am very happy with their new server. I'm not sure who runs it form them, but I am happy enought that I'm going to dump giganews for my news service.
Overall the value is outstanding, I think. A few problems getting set up, but I can't blame that on Speakeasy.
That's all for now.
Ted
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Review by rohanoberoi
member for 13.5 years, 0 visits, last login: 13.5 years ago
lodged 13.5 years ago
- Cambridge,Middlesex,MA
- Contract price not specified.
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I've had Speakeasy in Boston for a month and a half now and I'm very happy with everything, including the speed. (I regularly get around 300kbps downloads, against the theoretical 384/128kbps).
Their sales reps were very knowledgeable. The one hitch was that they couldn't process the order until Bell Atlantic had turned on my phone line at my new apartment, but once that was done I had a Bell Atlantic date within two weeks (which went fine, I didn't even need to be there) and a Covad date a few days later.
The Covad technician was competent and helpful. The install was quite painless. Now I have two static IPs, and permission to run servers (I don't know any other DSL or cable providers who allow that -- when I had an RCN cable modem I was running one in contravention of RCN policy).
After the other fellows who try to con you into signing a contract for a year or more, Speakeasy is great: no money before the service is up and running (they even give you two shell accounts on their server in the meantime), and a monthly $59.95 thereafter (for 384/128).
I asked for bridge but got a Flowpoint 2200 router which they configured as a bridge -- normally I believe the Flowpoint is $85 extra (I didn't pay any extra).
In the last month and half there hasn't been any downtime, and the download/upload speeds have been rock-solid.
These guys are great! Don't even think of going with anyone else...
-- Rohan Oberoi.
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Review by bofh692
member for 13.8 years, 0 visits, last login: 13.6 years ago
lodged 13.6 years ago
- Englewood,Arapahoe,CO
- Contract price not specified.
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I ordered 384/128 from Speakeasy on 1999/09/24, they quoted me 25-45 days for installation. I got a call from Covad on 1999/10/08 to inform me they had an appointment on 1999/10/12 to do their installation. I am very impressed that they actually completed the whole thing ahead of their fastest prediction. The whole process was very smooth. Speakeasy even gave me free dialup access until the DSL connection was up and running. I have two static IP addresses, which I think is great. I've had to call Speakeasy's tech support a couple of times for dialup problems in the last few weeks, and they are always helpful and knowledgeable about their systems. Overall I'd have to rate it a great experience.
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Review by mkraley
member for 13.7 years, 8 visits, last login: 183 days ago
lodged 13.6 years ago
- Lexington,Middlesex,MA
- Contract price not specified.
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Mostly based on the positive reviews I have seen here and elsewhere, I decided to go with Speakeasy. The headline is "so far so good!"
I placed my order in late august. The pricing seemed competitive, although no special deals (free install, free month) that some of the other more agressive companies are offering. After a week, I got my install dates, which I awaited with dread, based on some of the horror stories I've heard.
The Bell Atlantic guy was first. He even showed up on the day after Hurricane Floyd went by - I was suprirsed. After a lot of futzing about to find a good pair down the street, he was done.
The next day (Saturday), I got a call from Covad asking if it would be OK to move _up_ my install date from them  When I got my breath back, I said sure - they showed up the following tuesday (wanted to come monday, but I couldn't). They tested the line, hooked up their modem and were gone in an hour.
The only snag was that somehow speakeasy hadn't yet assigned me my IP numbers. Then the big disadvantage of dealing with a west coast outfit - I had to wait a couple of hours until they woke up.
But I shortly got the numbers, plugged them into my machine, and I was up! Performance is a vast improvement over my previous ISDN line. I've only been connected for a few hours so far, so I can't give any feeling for reliability, but at the moment, I'm a happy camper.
Other plusses: up to 8 static IPs free! and they don't even ask for a credit card number until you are up and working.
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