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Review by tfpinc 
Posted: 7.3 years ago
member for 7.3 years, 2 visits, last login: 5.5 years ago
 Houston,Harris,TX
 Contract price not specified.
 Southwestern Bell
 "They actually "Care" about the customer"
 "I'm sure there must be - just can' think of any"
 "I recommend them to any client looking for an ISP"
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As a computer consultant, I have dealt with most of the major ISP's in Houston and of course the AOL, MSN, Earthlink, AT&T etc. I prefer local because of the need for responsive service and technical support in a computer network situation and I can't wait around a client office/home for hours waiting on a response to an internet problem.
That is why I always recommend Optimal Link. They are not a giant ISP and have no desire to become one to my knowledge. This means you get fast, competent service to the best of their control. I'm thankful not to have been the "consultant" referred to in the negative review from "hidden by request" but I understand the frustration at being given inaccurate information and commiting time and money based on that information.
Most users of DSL in Houston don't understand that SWB has a semi-monopoly on DSL service in Houston through their cabling subsidary ASI. Customers, as well as, ISP's using ASI lines are subject to the "huge" administrative bureaucracy of the "telco" which last year, for example, changed the maximum distance for DSL from 17000 ft to 14000 ft without even telling the ISP's. Their qualification database is full of bugs. It's no wonder that SWB could have told optimal Link their customers DSL had been activated when in fact he didn't even qualify. It's happened to more than one of my clients.
If the consultant for "hidden by request" did not even plug in the DSL modem to test for sync and that was the "sole reason" for the network, then perhaps the consultant should be considered negligent. If the location did/does not qualify for DSL from ASI, my experience is that Time Warner will install cable even in an office building and then the network installation costs will not have been wasted.
Finally for RommelErwin, I am not a paid spokesperson, but I do recognize quality when I see it.
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Review by thewave
Posted: 7.3 years ago
member for 7.3 years, 0 visits, last login: 7.3 years ago
Spring,Harris,TX
$69 per month
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"Very competent technical staff"
"Excellent organization to do business with."
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I ordered DSL service with four static IP's. Installation process was flawless. Any questions that I had were answered quickly. I am a happy customer.
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Review by igoddard
Posted: 7.3 years ago
member for 7.3 years, 51 visits, last login: 6.6 years ago
Tomball,Harris,TX
$49 per month
 about 7 days
Southwestern Bell
"Very personable, helpful, competent staff, very fast"
"None so far"
"I highly recommend this ISP"
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Speed has always been great, but it just got better with their latest upgrade to their Internet backbone. I think this is their 2nd upgrade this year, which tells me that this ISP cares about bringing the best service to Houston. I regularly get 1Mbit/s and better downloads (have a remote terminal connection).
I called to order the service a few months ago late on a Saturday and was amazed that I got to speak to the president of the company, Dan. He was very helpful and discussed all aspects of the service with me. They partner with SWB, but are completely independent and have their own equipment and backbone link. He said that he didn't want the company to have the reputation of being a SWB reseller, so their relationship with SWB is only to have my connection linked by SWB DSL signal to their network equipment on the North Belt. From there I go through their servers to the Internet.
These guys know how to do it right. They're always available to answer questions and the installation was done without incident in about a week. All I had to do was plug in the equipment (modem), add a few numbers to my network card configuration, and I was up and running at full speed. Ryan (I think he's a system admin there) walked me through the process over the phone in about 10 minutes.
I can't praise them enough. I think this is the best ISP I've ever had, and I've been with them several months.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 7.3 years ago
(review was emailed from domain msn.com)
Houston,Harris,TX
$58 per month
Southwestern Bell
"Nice people."
"Not very thorough."
"If things don't work out, it's somebody else's fault."
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Nice people. Pretty good pre-installation service. The only problem was
they told me everything was ready to go, so I called my consultant to do
the installation - and found out that everything wasn't ready to go.
This happened twice. Ultimately, they were not able to provide DSL
service as promised. They blamed the situation on Southwestern Bell - even though they told me the service was ready to go. Now, I have wasted money on consulting fees and they won't take responsibility. They talk a good game, but when it comes down to it, I would find more honorable people to do business with.
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Review by matcorp
Posted: 7.8 years ago
member for 8 years, 154 visits, last login: 227 days ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$49 per month
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"Technical support, service, attention to customer, attention to detail, follow up is super."
"Best ISP in Houston."
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If you need personal attention, you can be assured that you will get it from these folks. The service quality from Optimal Link is far superior to the competitors in the Houston area. If you have a problem, they will fix it. I had several problems during startup (related to the telco-SWB) and Optimal Link stayed on top until they were resolved. They seemed genuinely and sincerely interested in making sure that I was getting the best possible service available. You can't believe all of these testaments and reviews, until you sign up with Optimal Link. They all are true. I really feel link I'm getting my moneys worth.
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Review by jgstang
Posted: 8 years ago
member for 8 years, 1 visits, last login: 8 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$50 per month
"Great speed, great service, rarely ever have service interupted"
"great ISP"
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I am a current customer of The Optimal Link, and I have had great service as well as a great experience with this company. I live in the downtown Houston area, and I am network consultant and technician. I was a former user of RaodRunner and I was a happy client until the day came that it took their customer service techs and engineers 23 days to give me an IP address. I then decided to go with the Optimal Link. I was extremely surprised with my download speeds that are well above those of RoadRunner, and I can use port 80 if i so choose to host a web site. The setup was easy and timeless as I was up in just a few days after I ordered the service. Being a net technician and all around computer geek, I love that my sppeds are always the same throughout the day, and that I am no longer sharing bandwidth. The service at the Optimal Link has been nothing but informative and happy to deal with me and my MANY MANY needs. I always get a friendly voice on the other end of the line, which is important to keeping a great relationship with the client. I will continue to use the Optimal Link as long as I am a Houston residense.
Justin Graves
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Review by dmooredotcom
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 5 visits, last login: 8 years ago
Cypress,Harris,TX
$70 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"Easy install, allow port 25 and 80 inbound, nice pople"
"slow speed when compared with RR.COM but problem is with SWBT"
"Not cheaper or faster than Cable, but better service and support - the way ISPs used to do it"
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Was ok with cable modem and the speed was fast enough(over 1000 kbps down and 300-400 up) when I needed it to be (I work from home during the days over VPN) but the service with Road Runner was poor as best. I finally had to get off RR once they cut off inbound port 80 (you can not run a web server) even though I was never anything more than a small site (they banned 80 due to the virus problems with IIS). Now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place as I need server support but the DSL is right on the line of too slow (~500 kbps down, 130 up or about half to a third of what it was with cable) to allow me to work the way I was with cable modem. My recommendation is get cable modem if you are a normal user that does not depend on highly reliable internet access and want a simple and cheap solution with fast speed go DSL if you hate the cable companies or want better service - your milage may vary but you only are assured of 384 kbps down with DSL over SWBT's DSL lines.
I will keep both cable and DSL for awhile and see what I can do with SWBT on getting the line cleaned up, otherwise it's cheaper to host services outside the ISP than pay 70/month for the right.
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Review by darkmoon2
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 8 visits, last login: 6.3 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$65 per month
about 10 days
Southwestern Bell
"small company, personalized service, nice people working there."
"Bandwidth hogs not welcome"
"If you want great customer service and that personal touch, go with this isp!"
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Well, i have good things to say about this ISP!
First off i'd like to say that the ordering and install was the best i've ever seen! They got me up within' 10 days! The employee's are very nice there and you know them by name, unlike a huge isp where you get a different person every time. Also they have great tech support incase your line goes down or whatever. And if there is a problem you know exactly what it is... like a router or their uplink or whatever.... unlike bell where you call and all they know is your area is having trouble.
But here comes the dark cloud..... When i was happily using my dsl line, terror struck. I got a call from the president saying i downloaded 14gig's in 3 days time. He explained that this was WAY too much for their networks to handle without affecting other customers. Then i tried to cut back abit, but it wasn't enough. He gave me another call saying he was going to have to cap my line at 128 (ISDN SPEED!). This is exactly the type of fast acting administration that a sucessful isp has. They constantly monitor the level of bandwidth being used so everyone is up and running as fast as possible. Unlike other larger isp's who don't care and even disconnect some heavy users temporarily when bandwidth is in short supply thus hurting everyone.
So basically if your looking for that special service and personal recgonition then this is the isp to go with. Their network will always be fast for everyone all the time. And heaven forbid that there is a problem these guys will keep in close contact with you to update you on the status of the issue.
All in all this is the place to be for quality!
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Review by jhan
Posted: 8.2 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 20 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
Houston,Harris,TX
$65 per month (12 month contract)
about 21 days
Southwestern Bell
"Extremely friendly, excellent customer service & tech support"
"Nothing so far!"
"If you're in Houston and you need broadband, call these guys"
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Went from IDSL through EV1 (before NorthPoint went kaput) and was stuck without options. Then along comes Optimal Link. For the great price of ~$60 a month (discounted 2 months b/c I pre-paid for a full year) I get 4 static IPs and fast speeds (768Kb-D/128Kb-U).
In addition, Mr. Newman and his staff are always there when I need them, and have always been a pleasure to deal with.
The only minor thing that I have had to deal with was getting my billing situation straightened out correctly, but again Optimal Link made this a very effortless and non-troublesome affair.
I am very pleased with Optimal Link and when the time comes to upgrade the lines for my SOHO I will not hesitate even for a second to go to them.
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Review by tbruin3235
Posted: 8.2 years ago
member for 9.4 years, 60 visits, last login: 6.1 years ago
Katy,Harris,TX
Contract price not specified. (12 month contract)
Southwestern Bell
"quick setup, attentive customer support"
"Southwestern Bell (hate giving them $40/month just for the DSL line)"
"So far very happy"
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My previous broadband ISP was Charter Pipeline (though my cable co). My speeds were horrendous, plus I had a faulty power cord on my cable modem for several months which caused the cable modem to reboot several times a day (the ticket opened was never replied to on a local level even after several calls to the help desk to check on the status of the ticket). I got so fed up, that when I found out Southwestern Bell had expanded their DSL service area to include my address, I decided to try DSL and drop my cable modem access.
I was reluctant to deal exclusively with SWbell (my dealings with them pertaining to my phone line has been a nightmare), and decided to go with Optimal Link (partically due to writeups at DSLReports), even though I would end up paying about $10 more per month than when I had cable access, the the fact that I get better speeds (both upstream and down), a static IP address, and the OK to run a personal webserver (something my cable company wouldn't allow) makes the added cost worth it in my view. And the fact that they don't use PPPoE is just icing on the cake.
It was pretty quick from the day I placed my order to when I received my equipment and was online and running in about 3 weeks (and this in spite of the fact that SWBell seemed to slip up and not inform Optimal Link of the delay). Optimal Link isn't using the SWBell's DSL modem equipment anymore, but going with a third party for the DSL modem and filters. The modem I received came with an ethernet card, but I just plugged it into my Linksys router.
Once everything was set, Optimal link emailed me several times to confirm I received all the equipment (especially phone filters). I also received an email informing us that there might be a problem with the DSL modems and how SWbell sets up the DSL lines, and how to configure our modem to overcome these problems. Even though I wasn't having any problems, this proves to me that Optimal Link is keeping on top of things, and making sure that they share this info with all of us, instead of waiting for us to have to open a ticket.
The plan I purchased guarantees speeds of 384/125 (down/up) speeds, but have been getting around 700-800/300. Quite refreshing after the 150/150 speeds I got with my cable modem.
I had some slow speeds the first couple of days, but when I emailed Optimal Link, the problem seemed to get fixed almost immediately (contrast that with tickets that would take WEEKS to complete with my old cable ISP). I am confident that I'll be happy with my broadband choice.
Now if SWBell would just lower their DSL line charge I'd be REALLY happy. SWBell's charging $35 + tax/fees is really outrageous! Too bad SWBell is the only option to actually getting the DSL line to my house.
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