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Review by smarzuke 
Posted: 5.4 years ago
member for 5.4 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.4 years ago
 Houston,Harris,TX
 $24 per month
 Southwestern Bell
 "Awesome Customer Service"
 "None"
 "You can't go wrong- don't waste your time with SBC Yahoo!!"
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I had a nightmare of an experience with SBC Yahoo from the initial order, to delivery, to customer service to billing. All in all, signing on with Oplink has been so pain free it's scary. Today I actually received an e-mail from Ryan indicating I had overpaid on my account- inquiring on how I would like to handle it. I must say this is a first for me having a company actually get in touch with me and then give me a choice on how I would like to proceed instead of telling me what must happen. Their customer service, unlike SBC has been great all the way along. For those of you looking into choosing a DSL provider you can't go wrong with Oplink.
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Review by jpahouston
Posted: 5.4 years ago
member for 6.2 years, 2 visits, last login: 5.4 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$35 per month (12 month contract)
 about 14 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"Swift, attentive service and always reaching advertised speed"
"This is what the others should aspire to."
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I waited 6 months before posting this to insure that the flush of good connection was masking other problems. I am glad to say I am very impressed with my Oplink connection - minimal downtime, always reaching my rated speed, straight-forward help.
When I initially ordered the service, there was a slight delay that was not due to anything on Oplink's part but they initiated the resolution and followed through to fix a broken line. Their communications with me during this time were concise, informative and friendly. Quite a change from the AT&T dsl service I had.
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Review by bubudee
Posted: 5.6 years ago
member for 5.6 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.6 years ago
Tomball,Harris,TX
$19 per month
about 5 days
Southwestern Bell
"Value and support are excellent"
"great company"
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I was a SBC Dsl customer and was very unhappy, so much so that my time as a customer was 3 days. The connection was slower than dial-up, I spent two frustrating days on line with various techs (both SBC and the modem co.) and still was not able to resolve basic issues like uh...connection.
Needless to say I was looking for something a little more satisfying and personal. I wanted a local company and called quite a few before finding Oplink. Their customer rep. Ryan was knowledgable and personable, very low pressure. I was convinced and became a customer. Since then I have had serious issues such as a very persistent hijacker and an inadvertant deletion of critical files which forced a reload. Through it all Ryan was patient and helpful.
I am convinced that being local makes a difference. I tell everyone I know to switch from the megas because as far as I'm concerned Oplink has it all, makes it easy to use and hires great folks.
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Review by big99dog
Posted: 5.7 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 5.7 years ago
Cypress,Harris,TX
$49 per month
about 14 days
Southwestern Bell
"great service; great speed"
"South Western Bell"
"great performance and great service. What more can I ask for."
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I have been using Roadrunner for the past 2 years and finally got sick and tired of the service being down all the time. It seems to go down daily and even when it is up the speeds are not even close to advertised. Typically during the evenings I was seeing 500-700k download.
To make a long story short, I searched this site for a good DSL provider and I beleive I have found one with Oplink. I submitted the request for new service and within 2 minutes if clicking the submit button I had a call from Ryan. The entire process was really smooth.
Overall it took me a little over 2 weeks to get service, but this was entirely due to SWB. Oplink had the dsl modem to me, ready to go out of the box, within 3 days of the DSL line being turned up by SWB. DSL worked perfectly the first time I plugged it into the wall. No hassles at all.
I highly recommend them.
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Review by keyser04
Posted: 5.7 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.7 years ago
Spring,Harris,TX
$39 per month
about 5 days
Southwestern Bell
"Fast, reliable, customer help is always good..overall great value"
"nada"
"Prices are competitive and the service/support is top notch...if your tired with the crap from other companies give them a try"
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Used a few different broadband services in the past...Time warner gave me a lot of headaches as the service was horribly unreliable (not to mention the lack of support). SBC DSL was ok but the customer service and attention wasn't there, often got transferred around and fixing issues took a while. The high quality service I require is exactly what was delievered with Oplink. I get a real person at the end of the line and they follow trouble through the finish. I recommend giving them a try...great people to deal with.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 5.9 years ago
(review was emailed from domain att.net)
Spring,Harris,TX
$20 per month
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"Really personal service, small company attitudes. Big company technology."
"Nothing yet"
"Real value for the money. Another upgrade coming 12/23/03."
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Pre-Sales *****
Instal Coor.*****
Connection****
Tech Support-No need so far
Service****
Value for Money****
Order to Live --4days
TELCO-SBC
CLEC-SBC
No Contract $19.95 per month for first six months. Expectation that as prices
fall Oplink will reflect prevailing prices. They have done that with dial-up.
I had seen the one really negative review, but still did not look forward to
dealing with the administrative and support issues in the SBC reviews. Oplink
seemed a good solution. The DSL services from a large solid source[SBC] and
the administrative and support from a small local business[ Oplink]. So far
[five weeks]everything is working out great.
I read Oplinks reviews here on a Saturday night and dropped a note. I had a
note back from Dan Newman early Sunday, and by Monday a line test and speed
estimation. The modem arrived two days after order and went up with no
problems. Speed have stayed in my expected ranges.
Bruce Macfadden, Spring,TX
--
Regards,
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Review by jpaladin7193
UPDATED: 6 years ago
member for 6.8 years, 2 visits, last login: 6 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$65 per month (month by month)
about 10 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"reliability, ease of setup, linux friendly, server friendly, way too many to list."
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Optimal link has been nothing but good to me. The only time that there was an outage, it was scheduled and it was for an upgrade on their end. They informed customers and let everyone know well in advance.
On setup when I asked if I was allowed to run daemons and services, they flat stated that they do not mind at all. I had obtained and used 3 email accounts within two hours of asking for them. They have been a very good ISP.
Thank you Oplink. Keep up the outstanding work.
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This was originally posted in March and I have to say that since then, my connection has gone down a couple of times. Every time however, I was given at least 24 hours of notification with the exception of an outage in November that was SBC's fault. I have also had my account upgraded at no cost to me keeping the same payment plan. I have also made a few support calls and recieved outstanding assistance even after normal working hours. In fact, the most recent call that I made was during the floods in Nov. and was given very accurate and prompt help even though the issue appeared to be my own. Optimal link is so far the best ISP that I have ever had in my 10 years of being on the internet. Good job guys, thank you very much.
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Review by hdx08774
Posted: 6.2 years ago
member for 6.2 years, 18 visits, last login: 5.3 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$27 per month (month by month)
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"I have never experienced such outstanding service from an ISP."
"Dan (The CEO) works too hard :)"
"If you want the best DSL service available - try Oplink"
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Firstly, I want to point out that I actually haven't started using my DSL service yet, I only placed the order a couple of days ago. The main reason I am writing this review is to tell everyone about the fantastic service I have received from Dan and his staff at Oplink since I first called them a few days ago.
Last week I made the decision to get rid of my cable (Time Warner) internet connection. It has been unreliable and unstable for too long, and at $45 per month, there are better deals out there. I came to this forum to do some research on potential DSL providers. After a couple of days reading the forums and review pages on this site, I narrowed it down to two providers - BritSys.net and Oplink. I called them both and both were professional and informative. I spoke to Ryan at Oplink and he was great. He was obviously very very knowledgable on the subject of DSL, but was able to explain things to me in a language that I could understand. He did not talk down to me, or make me feel like and idiot when I did not understand certain features of DSL. Before even recommending a DSL package he gave me a lot of generic info on DSL and what I would need to do to prepare my home and system prior to even placing an order.
He warned me about having an alarm at home, and that I'd have to potentially look at how it was wired to the phone line. He also told me that I'd have to switch my phone service back to SBC (I had Birch Telecom and they cannot offer DSL for residential customers). Overall it was a great conversation, and I didn't feel pressured to order at any time. I told him I wanted to think on it because I wasn't sure about messing with alarm wires, NID boxes, etc. Two hours later, Ryan called me back and said that Dan (the CEO) would be happy to talk me through what wiring changes I could make, and would even drive over to my house to help me. I was amazed... Imagine the CEO of SBC Yahoo coming over to your house to help you wire a splitter in your NID box - it would never happen. I signed up at once...
The next day Dan e-mailed me and welcomed me to Oplink. He also re-iterated the offer to come to my house and help me with my wiring. Folks...let me tell you - this guy is unbelievable. He answers e-mails at 3am, he drives to customers houses, he called me over the weekend to see how the setup was going, etc. I have never experienced service like this in my life...It has ruined me for any future ISP experience. If you have, or plan to have DSL, switch to Oplink !!! Three of my friends are already planning to make the change.
If the actual DSL service is 10% as good as the customer service, I'll be surfing at light speed by the end of the week  Thanks Oplink for your efforts and for treating your customers so well...
On top of this wonderful experience, I even saved money... The standard DSL package (1.5Mb/128Kb [soon to be 256Kb]) is only $19.99 per month for the first six months - that's over 50% cheaper than Time Warner Cable Internet, and most other DSL providers. Best of all, there is no contract - just go month to month with the freedom to cancel or change between Oplink plans at any time.
To sum it up, I've had a great experience with Oplink so far, and give them a 5-star rating.
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Review by glbias
UPDATED: 6.2 years ago
member for 9.4 years, 18 visits, last login: 6.2 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$63 per month (12 month contract)
about 120 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"Small size gives personalized support; they fight the SWB monster for you"
"Limited tech support hours/personnel"
"A good solution if you don't have hours to spend on the phone with SWB trying to get support"
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I signed up with The Optimal Link in September, after a truly horrific experience in April-June trying to get DSL directly through SWB that ended with me cancelling the order in disgust and vowing to wait a year before trying again. (see previous report under SWB) A job change raised the urgency of my broadband requirement so I decided to try a SWB reseller to let someone else deal with the nightmare of SWB's "help" system. (A.K.A. the go-away-dont-bother-me folks). The Optimal Link is small enough that you speak to a real human when you call - usually the same person. This has all the plusses AND minuses of a small firm - you're not launched into a giant void, and they do remember who you are and your account status, but they aren't 24/7 and they don't appear to have a sophisticated account tracking system (E.G. "let me go find your file").
The long (4 month) install time was entirely SWB's fault, beginning with the fact that they never completely cancelled my previous order, thus preventing The Optimal Link from placing an order to provision my line, since SWB's computer believed I already had DSL on that line (though they were not billing me for it). This took entirely too long to resolve, and in the end required raising Cain and escalating with SWB until it reached deep enough into their system to reach someone who could fix the database record. Really insane. I expected The Optimal Link to do more on this, but they were helpful and at least got us to the right people to yell at at Bell.
Once that problem was solved, we returned to the problem that had initially frustrated me to the point of cancelling my first attempt - DSL was apparently working fine - all green lights on the modem, just no IP address. After several calls from The Optimal Link, SWB finally claimed they had found the problem - and on the designated "fix" day, the DSL carrier dissapeared from the line and the green lights vanished - at least some indication that someone did SOMETHING to the other end of the wire! This was just prior to Christmas and I resigned myself to the fact that it was pointless to even call over the holidays, and that we'd just have to start the nagging process again after New Years. Imagine my surprise on New Years Eve when we receive a message that they have found the problem and fixed it. Shazam! 4 greens, IP address, and decent (700 / 120 Kbit) transfer speeds. It's been flawless ever since. Apparently there was something wrong from day one either in the wiring plant or DSLAM at SWB, and they finally tracked it down.
The terms are as advertised on their web site; several price options depending on how much guaranteed bandwidth you want. The gear is the standard SWB kit - Kingston Ethernet NIC and Efficient Networks SpeadStream 5260 modem. There are various installlation / rebate offers and I don't know at this point which of the various deals that was in effect over the 4 months this order was in will actually apply. What I signed for was $200 for the equipment with $100 rebate, but have since been promised free time by both SWB and The Optimal Link to offset the ugly installation. We'll see what the bottom line is. There's a 1 year committment to SWB for the line, no contract with The Optimal Link, so I'm free to change ISP's at any time, like I want to go through THAT nightmare any time soon
A plus for me is that The Optimal Link uses DHCP instead of PPPOE - much easier to configure, and I can plug in my company-supplied laptop without loading any additional software. And there's no lock-in to a specific Ethernet NIC, nor do they insist as SWB did that it will only work with the Ethernet card they provide. I've easily connected Win98, Win2K, and Linux systems to the DSL modem.
I haven't used the mail facility enough to comment yet, and The Optimal Link is using usenetserver.com for their news server - excellent coverage but some connectivity problems in the first week.
The Optimal Link's tech support is very helpful an patient - they were able to talk my wife and 11 year old son through various configuration steps and they are very attentive and accessible. And they DO answer email!
All in all I'm dissapointed in how long it took but this appears to be very common, and I doubt that SWB would have *ever* solved the problem on their own. My experience seems to be as good as or better than anyone else in the area I've talked to, so I guess in 2000, this is As Good As It Gets, and it's certainly good enough to make me rue the day I ever have to go back to 56K dialup!
Update - after 2 1/2 years, the honeymoon is still on. There have been remarkably few glitches, and none of any substantial duration, other than a physical problem with SWB's line (which also took out my voice service on that line). I'm still recommending them to my friends and associates. Especially if you're using a non-Windoze platform, DHCP instead of PPPoE is a real boon.
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Review by grotchly
UPDATED: 6.2 years ago
member for 7.2 years, 22 visits, last login: 4.8 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$50 per month
about 4 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"These guys are GREAT!"
"They're not everyone's ISP!"
"Up and running fast, fast connection, friendly staff with actual brains."
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I know I sound like an ad, but I can't complain about anything. I placed one 5 minute phone call. I got my install kit in a couple days. They got my connection up in 4 business days. My latest speed is 1220/137. I will keep posting if something goes wrong.
I can't yet rate connection reliability and mail since I've had the connection for only 1 day.
______________
Update 09/10/03
So far the connection has been very good. I've only had to restart the modem once. Speeds are steady at around 1.2. The email servers are a little slow, but not any real trouble.
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