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Review by jonnyblaze 
member for 12.2 years, 1926 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
lodged 3.7 years ago
 Cupertino,Santa Clara,CA
 $56 per month "Overall awesome service! I have had them since I've moved back to CA (in 2001)." "Can't really think of any..." "Their support is tops in my book!"
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They have been a very even-keel company since I've had them. I have moved 4 times since I came back out here and no problems on each move.
My Parents also have them with no problems either.
Highly recommend them!
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Review by spectrum1190
member for 7.6 years, 11 visits, last login: 3.5 years ago
updated 3.8 years ago
- Glen Mills,Delaware,PA
- $71 per month
 about 14 days Verizon- "reliability, price, service"
- "fios speed not available"
- "great choice for reliability and value"
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$65.95 per month
Tech Plus OneLink ADSL 1.5/384 Pro-Install (C)
*Tax Reimbursement (g): Special Tax - State
*Regulatory Compliance Fee
*not included in monthly fee
Had Speakeasy DSL for two years before moving from an apartment to a house. House was in new development and service through speakeasy (covad) was not available when moving in. Had service through Comcast CABLE for four years, but would have problems with connectivity 1-2x per month. As of 2005 found that Speakeasy was available and have had service with them since.
Had considered DSL though Verizon (2001 and 2005), however, they said that we were too far away from CO for service (DISTANCE FROM C.O. 14,724 ft).
Now considering FIOS for greater speed, but will regret leaving speakeasy. They were efficient, friendly, and knowledgeable.
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 Review by frodo123
member for 6.1 years, 86 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago
lodged 3.9 years ago
- Norristown,Montgomery,PA
 Business customer- $117 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 15 days
- Cavalier
- "Always UP!"
- "max speeds available in my area are poor due to CO distance"
- "Great deal if you can't get cble or FiOS"
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Never really had any problems with SpeakEasy and if I could get faster speeds I would stay with them but, I think I'll be switching to FiOS soon and canceling SpeakEasy.
I currently have 3mb/768k ADSL2+ from Speakeasy and this seems to be the fastest I will ever get on DSL due to the distance from the CO. So the speed limitations and the pricing for the differences between DSL and FiOS are the only reasons I may switch.
The service has always been excellent and Tech support is great!!
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Review by jtl10
member for 6.2 years, 37 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
updated 4.1 years ago
- New York,New York,NY
- $464 per month
- (24 month contract)
- about 35 days
- Verizon
- "Was an OK T1 provider for a while"
- "Grossly understaffed customer support, lies about callbacks"
- "A BAD choice for T1 service"
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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.
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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.
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Review by Omnifarious0
member for 4.1 years, 3 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago
lodged 4.1 years ago
- Seattle,King,WA
- $56 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "Responsive"
- "Won't do anything, charge for service not provided, charge disconnect fee for service not provided"
- "Avoid"
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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.
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Review by shortmexican
member for 4.2 years, 4 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago
updated 4.2 years ago
- Seattle,King,WA
- Contract price not specified.
- (12 month contract)
- "employ's American workers"
- "out of date out of touch"
- "not the worst, just bad"
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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.
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 Review by djpiazza
member for 12.1 years, 2178 visits, last login: 2 years ago
updated 4.3 years ago
- Caldwell,Essex,NJ
- Business customer
- $106 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 12 days
- Verizon
- "Reliable Service, Static IP's, no restrictions"
- "More expensive than other providers"
- "Can't compete with Fios."
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The Order - I ordered Speakeasy in June 2003. Had service up and running faster than expected. Frustrated that I had to order a Verizon Phone line to get DSL service. Quickly learned that it didn't matter what ISP, all required Verizon phone line. Being an AT&T local customer, I had to add a basic Verizon line. this was still much cheaper than using Comcast. (STAY AWAY FROM THEM) Sales people very helpful. Only problem was a misunderstanding regarding the rebate process. It was eventually solved but caused a huge delay in receiving the rebate. Started billing 3 days before service was up but a quick phone call had them credit the days back.
The Install - Plugged in the router Prestige 645m and connected to supplied filters. Connected Linksys Wireless router using NAT. Plugged in Computer and it worked. Couldn't have been any easier.
The Service - I don't really have any complaints about the service. It works great. Speed provision is 1536/768. I regularly test at 1306/564 with 15.4ms ping times.
Occasionally an e-mail comes warning of maintenance down time, usually 3-7 days in advance. While there have been some unexpected down-times, they have been few in occurrence and short in duration. Mail servers seem to work fine.
Overall - I think Speakeasy is a top rate company. Yes they cost more but I am gladly paying the bill for service that works and the added benefits of features I want with no restrictions.
Upgrade - I just ordered an Upgrade to 3.0/768. At first was told I can not have the current promotion of 69.95 for 3 months than 99.95 thereafter because that was for new customers and I am still under contract(1.5 months left). I stated that I was willing to extend contract and should be rewarded as a loyal customer and not punished for it. I was transferred to a manager who more than willingly allowed me to have the promotion, although she had to do it "creatively" due to computer processing restrictions. Will post an update as to how this pans out and how long it takes.
UPDATED - Well It's 4 days later and My speeds are blazing. Apparently Speakeasy decided to include me in the upgrade to 6.0/768 for the promotion. Thank you very much. Line steadily tests at 5061/705 now. Interesting that I have a great increase in upload as well. Previously very steady upload of 560's went to a steady 700+ now. SPEAKEASY ROCKS.
**Updated 8-31-2006**
I have to say the service still performs exceptionally well but I have become increasingly disappointed in their pricing. It seems everywhere I look I see speeds getting faster and prices getting lower. But not a single change from Speakeasy. And now with this BS price increase disguised as a regulatory fee when everyone expected the rate to go down with the elimination of the federal tax, I am beginning to look at alternative solutions. Updates to follow.
**Updated 1-18-2009**
The time finally came. I am now a Fios for Business customer. I tried to stay with Speakeasy, but they had nothing to offer to compete with Fios and offered nothing for me to stay with the slower packages they offered. Was a bit surprised when they said ADSL2 was not available to me yet it "was" available to me 1 year ago when it first came out. After 5 1/2 years with SE, I thought they might at least try to retain me as a customer. They did not. Didn't even try. SO goodbye SE and good luck.
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Review by abenamer
member for 11.4 years, 54 visits, last login: 4.3 years ago
updated 4.3 years ago
- Brooklyn,Kings,NY
- $90 per month
- (12 month contract)
- Verizon
- "Dry line DSL installation, courteous service"
- "Quick and efficient installation"
- "Pretty fast connection speed"
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I'm more than 11000 ft from the CO but I managed to get 2.5 mbps down and .6 mbps up. They're replacing my old Acedsl connect.
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 Review by SilverTab2
member for 12.5 years, 146 visits, last login: 194 days ago
updated 4.3 years ago
- Birmingham,Jefferson,AL
- $89 per month
- BellSouth
- "Good package...static IPs!"
- "Unfortunately you have to deal with Covad and Bellsouth, so you may never get them..."
- "Cross your fingers and hope that your order goes perfectly...they DO NOT deal with problems."
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I orginally ordered DSL with Bellsouth, but with two computers in the apartment we really need static IPs to get full functionality, especially when doing things like webcasting. I was using my computer for routing and NAT, but I still couldn't get both computers to do a webcam broadcast simultaneously or separately, and I don't really have the time to be a sysadmin for the apartment. After loads of research and several types of routing software, I still couldn't find a solution where my roomate could webcast, so I just decided we should switch to an ISP that will give us static IPs. I guess I should have cancelled Bellsouth before I even contacted Speakeasy, but not knowing much about the process at the time, I didn't think there would be a problem. Boy, was I in for it. It's quite a story, but check it out...it should sound familiar.
I ordered DSL from Bellsouth around the end of October and got it up and running on November 15. However, we decided that we would switch to Speakeasy and ordered service with them about a week or so after ordering from Bellsouth, but I didn't want to cancel my service with Bellsouth until I heard something from Speakeasy. On the 17th or 18th we lost connectivity with our Bellsouth DSL. After a few hours on the phone with them, they told my roomate that somehow we had gotten removed from the system. I now realize that that HAD to have something to do with my speakeasy service, because on the 17th, my Covad loop was delivered according to my TAC page. WHAT? This was a line-sharing order. There is no loop installation on a line sharing order. *sigh* That didn't occur to me at the time.
Well after being on the phone with them for awhile, they realized that I had been cancelled somehow...one of the people I talked to mentioned Covad, but I told them that until I get some kind of confirmation from Covad that Bellsouth is still my ISP...so they got us turned back on immediately. [Let's stop right there and realize that at this point, I had heard NOTHING from Speakeasy. NOTHING. And again, why did they mention a loop install?] Then on the 20th we lost connectivity again...this time for good. The data light on the modem would only blink. After a few more hours on the phone (again, it was my roomate with them because I had to leave for work) they concluded that the modem must be malfunctioning. They scheduled a technician to come and replace the modem on November 30. But on the 27th, I *finally* got an email about my Speakeasy order saying that the loop install date is...or WAS the 17th. I didn't notice that that was the day we first lost connectivity. At any rate, the Covad install date was set for the 30th, and now I knew it was safe to cancel Bellsouth, so I did. When the technician set up the modem and the data light blinked, I immediately realized that that was the same thing the Bellsouth modem was doing, so it probably wasn't broken. Slowly, I saw the bumf*ckery arising from the muck. I think Bellsouth just got confused.
What I'm wondering is what exactly happened on the November 17, and what happened on November 20? And what exactly is the present problem with my loop? How many loops do I have now? Why did Covad order a loop? Of course, only Bellsouth and Covad can answer those questions, but Speakeasy should be seeking this information, too. I work in DSL installation for Verizon and from what I know this problem can probably be solved very quickly. I already had DSL, how could they screw up the cross-connect?
By this time, I was reading horror stories on DSLR. So rather than let the order get bogged down in the internal workings at Covad or Bellsouth, I decided to continue to give them both a kick in the pants by calling Speakeasy daily until I either know what happened and when they're gonna fix it, or until the DSL starts working.
So I did. And I kept hearing the same thing:
"Covad is currently working with Bellsouth to resolve the issue..."
"We should know something within 24 to 48 hours..."
"Check your TAC page within the next 48 hours..."
"Covad doesn't have any new information, so I'm gonna open a trouble ticket..."
"They will respond within 48 hours..."
"There is no new information available, but if you check your TAC page within the next couple of days..."
After three weeks I gave them one more chance to find out what was going on. But that yielded nothing within the 24 hours it was supposed to take, so I called back and ended up giving them ANOTHER "last" chance. On that call, a ticket was escalated within Covad that was supposed to yield a response from Bellsouth within 48 hours. I told the tech (who I'm sure didn't care...I know, I do the same thing...I work for Verizon) that I would cancel if they lied to me again. The next day, I checked the TAC page, and Covad acknowledged the inquiry. The NEXT day their 48 hours was up, but being the nice guy that I am, and realizing that Covad didn't acknowledge the ticket until yesterday, I gave them ONE MORE day. The next day, after holding for 30 minutes or so, I asked the Speakeasy tech to see if Covad had a response yet, and as I wholly expected, they did not. I wasn't the least bit surprised. I knew when I picked up the phone that it would be my last correspondence with Speakeasy, and it was. I cancelled immediately.
If they so much as THINK of charging me some kind of disconnect fee, I'm going to call an airstrike on them.
I probably should have cancelled Bellsouth before I even got their modem, however, I didn't receive word from Covad or Speakeasy until the 27th which led me to believe that my order had fallen through the cracks, and I was on the verge of deciding to keep Bellsouth. But Speakeay told me that most telcos will not allow an order to go to completion if the customer already has DSL with them...they'll tell Speakeasy that the user has to cancel DSL with them before Speakeasy can move in. The Speakeasy tech who answered my first angry email informed me that the reason Bellsouth didn't say no is because the information that would have told them that is on paper, in filing cabinets. That's ridiculous.
Speakeasy and Covad are not proactive enough when things go wrong. "There are established processes that we have to follow..." as one tech put it in an email response. Yeah? Well your established processes BLOW. You need to come up with new process to deal with orders that go wrong. How about you create the 'telco hassle dept.' to deal with the likes of Bellsouth. Well, in the end, they failed because Speakeasy doesn't give a damn whether *I* have DSL or not, so they're not gonna get mad at Covad and Bellsouth. But I had to watch from a distance. I had a lady call me at work who's order was being screwed up. I couldn't even tell what happened. She had been told that her install date would be moved up, but it got moved back or something like that. There wasn't really anything she could do...so I thought. She asked to speak to my supervisor. Well after 70 minutes of talking to damn near every dept in Verizon, her DSL was up and running. A little fury can go a long way when you're right and they're wrong. But since Speakeasy doesn't care, my fury fell on deaf ears.
I've now gone crawling back to Bellsouth's non-static IP-offering a$$es. At least now I can hassle them directly, and get my DSL fixed. Unfortunately, the holidays are bogging me down now.
Speakeasy + Covad + Bellsouth = CRAP. ...over an indefinite time period, no matter how often you check your TAC page.
UPDATE: I came back here to read this review just for the nostalgia value, and one of the commenters mentioned that Covad was sueing BellSouth. I looked it up... and in 2002 Covad eventually won!
"In a decision handed down on Friday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court erred last year in dismissing Covad's case. Covad has charged BellSouth with intentionally delaying its ability to offer DSL (digital subscriber line) service to BellSouth customers."
BellSouth INTENTUALLY screwing Covad over. All these years later, the truth finally comes out. I wish I could have testified...
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Review by mrrabbit
member for 5.3 years, 20 visits, last login: 293 days ago
updated 4.4 years ago
- San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
- $65 per month
- AT&T
- "Been customer since 1999. Survived Flashcom transition, and recently had rate reduced for old circuit under new sales tier."
- "Read members ticket submissions guys - you keep turning off SAFE MODE. =8-)"
- "Not much has changed since Best Buy aquisition - though they seem to have more data link control nowadays."
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Been a customer since 1999, so this is more of an update review.
About 8-12 months back I noticed that I was still paying 92.00 / month for a 1500/384 service locked in SAFE MODE at 790/329.
I requested that I at least get the same rate for someone paying today's 1500/384 service at 65.00 / month.
They obliged. That's a good indicator of a business that sees a reasonable request when it is made.
My line is in SAFE MODE because my neighboorhood wiring though in ground alongside buried electrical is considered to the modern way of doing things - it is apparrently aerial rated cable that has been direct buried without any built in moisture protection.
Plus Comcast sliced the 400 pair running up the street a few years back...and the splice in the sidewalk across the corner had to be redone. Anytime that splice is exposed and the splice moisture seal removed - all noise in the neighborhood suddenly disappears.
I think you get the picture....
So recently, AT&T created a new digital equipment distribution cabinet behind the block from which they are re-feeding the two neighborhood green huts as well as providing 10-12 Mbps service up to the last mile. I guess when they were cleaning up blocks and transferring pairs and the like they were also resetting circuits / loops at the CO in tandem.
Circuit went down - and apparrently was brought back up unlocked. Well...that was good for a day or so - but as before - BAM! - hard down.
SAFE MODE brought it back up - but Speakeasy went ahead and sent AT&T out to attempt to fix a loop ground issue. This has been tried before - and the result has always been the same. Despite what the test results say - hard down within 1-2 days unless SAFE MODE is turned back on.
I guess Speakeasy REALLY WANTING THE BEST FOR ME tried unlocking one more time - same result.
It's okay guys...really...call your wife and buy her roses or something - don't waste your time trying to give me something I know for a fact won't work.
Okay? =8-)
On a scale of 5 on this day, November 22, 2008, I give Speakeasy a rating of 4.5.
=8-)
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