 Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | North State Plex IPTV North State is now offering a new integrated service called Plex. This is very similar to AT&T's U-Verse service, only it offers higher speeds. They are offering IPTV (80HD channels with DVR), phone, and up to 20Mbps internet. They are utilize Cisco set-top boxes are the service.
I have inquired about Lightstar customers as the website mentions the service is delivered over DSL and Lightstar customers will in fact be some of the first to receive service. All existing Lightstar customers are being moved to the Plex internet service and can now sign up for Plex 20Mbps internet service for $55 a month. I have another inquiry asking if they offer any higher upstream speeds since their website only mentions 768Kbps upstream for all the Plex internet packages.
More info here: »www.northstate.net/productlandin···pageid=1 |
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| Did you find out any information about the upstream speed? I just recieved the mailing today, but not in a Lightstar neighborhood. Hopefully, this service is available in my neighborhood.
There are no where enough HD channels available for me to switch to the IPTV. What HD channels are available are mainly movie channels.
I plan on calling tomorrow to see if the service is available for me. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | Upstream is limited to 768Kbps on all packages unfortunately. They told me I should stay with my Lightstar 15/2 because if I switch to the Plex 20Mbps package, my upstream would be reduced to 768Kbps.
I believe they are using ADSL2+ for the service. |
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| reply to Matt3
Interesting,
I wonder how reliable the service will be. I have only heard bad things about their non-lightstar dsl.
I use TW for internet and Dish Network for TV. I would love to get them all from one provider.
I'm not sure how my neighborhood missed out on the Lightstar installations, as they were being built in the same period they were implementing it, even in the same area. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by Daniel in HP :
Interesting,
I wonder how reliable the service will be. I have only heard bad things about their non-lightstar dsl.
I use TW for internet and Dish Network for TV. I would love to get them all from one provider.
I'm not sure how my neighborhood missed out on the Lightstar installations, as they were being built in the same period they were implementing it, even in the same area.
I have never experienced non-Lightstar North State service, but my Lightstar has been pretty reliable. I've had a few issues and they've been fairly responsive. They have a pretty good back-end network and peer directly with Level 3 and Verizon.
It's my understanding that the builder played a role in whether North State brought Lightstar to the neighborhood. I'm not sure if that means they had to lay the fiber or what. I do know I didn't see North State nor their subcontractors that have serviced (and installed) my address laying fiber when my neighborhood was being built. |
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approval from:
Matt3 
| Well I had 20mb Plex installed at the house this afternoon. If the speeds hold true, I will be very pleased.
Here was a speed test taken after installation.
»www.speedtest.net/result/496340003.png |
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| I had 20MB Plex installed on Thursday, and it has only been a pain in the ass. I'm averaging about 1.5 MB with the highest being 6MB. I have talked with about 10 people at northstate and get conflicting answers every time. They said that the line card is at 20MB, but no dice. so they are coming out Friday for the 4th time in a week. Hopefully they will get this fixed or its back to Time Warner. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | reply to Daniel in HP
said by Daniel in HP :Well I had 20mb Plex installed at the house this afternoon. If the speeds hold true, I will be very pleased. Here was a speed test taken after installation. » www.speedtest.net/result/496340003.png That is great speed. I'd LOVE to have the 20Mbps down, but don't want to lose my upstream yet. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | reply to Roy in HP
said by Roy in HP :
I had 20MB Plex installed on Thursday, and it has only been a pain in the ass. I'm averaging about 1.5 MB with the highest being 6MB. I have talked with about 10 people at northstate and get conflicting answers every time. They said that the line card is at 20MB, but no dice. so they are coming out Friday for the 4th time in a week. Hopefully they will get this fixed or its back to Time Warner.
Hello Roy,
That sounds a awful lot like you're on an 802.11b wireless network. Can you describe your setup? |
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| I'm acutally on a wired connection. My machine is AMD 6000 (3Gz Dual Core) 2 GB RAM, 2TB Harddrive space running Vista and Ubuntu. The told me tonight that my neighbourhood doesn't support 20MB, but they told me twice earlier that it did. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by Roy in HP :
I'm acutally on a wired connection. My machine is AMD 6000 (3Gz Dual Core) 2 GB RAM, 2TB Harddrive space running Vista and Ubuntu. The told me tonight that my neighbourhood doesn't support 20MB, but they told me twice earlier that it did.
Yikes. I hope they are planning on refunding any monthly fees and installation charges? |
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| reply to Roy in HP
said by Roy in HP :
The told me tonight that my neighbourhood doesn't support 20MB, but they told me twice earlier that it did.
I got that from Bellsouth a while ago. The sales ppl just want the sale and the installers see the reality. |
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 SPT
@bellsouth.net | I live in Laurel Oak Ranch and I just ordered Plex 20 meg from Northstate. Now I am getting a bit worried after reading a few of these posts. Has anyone from my neighborhood had any experience with Plex? |
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DVDdude
join:2003-06-15
Greensboro, NC | reply to Matt3
Sadly, the only way you will ever find out what kind of speeds you will or won't get is to schedule an installation appointment and get a REAL TECHNICIAN out to your house. Maybe then you will find out if you have fiber to your home or just to the curb.
NSC customer service and sales is TOTALLY CLUELESS about broadband. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by DVDdude:NSC customer service and sales is TOTALLY CLUELESS about broadband. I have to agree with this. Even on the tech support side, level 1 tech support are clueless too. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | reply to SPT
said by SPT :
I live in Laurel Oak Ranch and I just ordered Plex 20 meg from Northstate. Now I am getting a bit worried after reading a few of these posts. Has anyone from my neighborhood had any experience with Plex?
My experience has been that although the front-line folks need to be trained, the actual product delivered is excellent. I've had Lightstar 15Mbps/2Mbps (delivered over Fiber) for 3 years (Installation Pictures Here: »[Fiber Pics] North State Communications Lightstar Pics) and aside from a bit of recent downtime and trouble due to a wire a contractor left bare that kept shorting my ONT, the speeds have been rock solid. Never any fluctuations whatsoever. North State has a very solid network that I think you'll be very pleased with. |
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| reply to Matt3
Anybody know if this is available in Adams Farm? I have their 3M DSL, which I have had problems with since they installed it. I'm lucky to get 1.5 or less. North State hasn't responded to any of my service emails. They just laid a bunch of fiber throughout Adams Farm, but I'm not sure who it was for. It was only along adams farm road (not back into the neighborhoods). If there is a way to get higher and more reliable speeds from North State, I'd be all for it. But if not, I'm gonna have to go back to cable as the DSL is not very good. |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by dmm219 :
Anybody know if this is available in Adams Farm? I have their 3M DSL, which I have had problems with since they installed it. I'm lucky to get 1.5 or less. North State hasn't responded to any of my service emails. They just laid a bunch of fiber throughout Adams Farm, but I'm not sure who it was for. It was only along adams farm road (not back into the neighborhoods). If there is a way to get higher and more reliable speeds from North State, I'd be all for it. But if not, I'm gonna have to go back to cable as the DSL is not very good.
I thought Adam's Farm was Bellsouth/AT&T? |
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| nope...its North State (at least the northern end where my house is) |
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Matt3All noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by dmm219 :
nope...its North State (at least the northern end where my house is)
Weird, I have a friend who lives off of Lange and she has AT&T DSL. Maybe the neighborhood is split between the two.
Anyway, their new Plex service utilizes ADSL2+ which (in some cases) will require FTTC (fiber to the curb). I've noticed contractors running fiber down Adam's Farm too while running, so if that is for North State, you're likely several months away from being eligible for Plex. They have to install the FTTC equipment unless it is already in place, but I haven't seen any. You have to be within a mile of the CO to receive 20Mbps over ADSL2+ and I believe the closest CO is off Penny Road.
If you want an example of what type of equipment needs to be installed, take a look at the equipment right before Bordeaux at Jamestown on Mackay. That is their Lightstar equipment, but FTTC requires a similar deployment. |
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