*HOT DEAL* On DSL. Limited Areas

[tjake]

I'm sure alot of you have heard about freedsl.com
I just signed up for their premium service in Los Angeles which includes speeds up to 1.4 (basically T1 speeds) for $34.95 per month. It also includes free dial-up, free modem and 5 mail accounts! Their premium service also has NO BANNERS (you can get their service free...144K speeds & banners)

I haven't started using the service yet but I'll update everyone when I do.

 

[CaptainDank]

Be careful going with schmuck dsl providers.. believe me, you get what you pay for with DSL.
my2centz.

cheers..

 

[403Forbidden]

uh...i think you'll be waiting quite a long time before you'll be able to use their service

 

[tjake]

I may be taking a risk but the "so-called" reliable providers (Earthlink, Pacific Bell) have not been given favorable reviews by my friends...so I figured, why not try it?

They claim 24 hours customer service and nothing is charged until my service is up and running. I guess I'll wait and see....

 

[rigor]

what you don't realize is that places like earthlink flashcom etc all use the local providers phone wires and service.

here mindspring flashcom and others all ride on bellsouth dslams and wire.

guess what happens when your stuff breaks? you call the reseller, they put a ticket in, it goes to places like kovad (inside installer) then meanders after a few days to bellsouth, then it may get to a bellsouth DSN.

Why? You're going to get crappier response time that way then getting the original carriers' service. duh.

 

[jedimasta]

I signed up too. They finally said that I had been qualified and when I went to purchase the modem the site wouldnt continue with the credit card transaction. I called cust service and I was given a case ID. I asked the rep why he couldnt just take the order over the phone and he told me that he wouldn't fee comfortable taking it and giving it to their billing people. He asked for my patience and a billing rep would return my call. That was 2 weeks ago. I have yet to hear from them. I'm also in the LA area. I'm going on vacation and can't deal with em until I get back.

Hope this is worth the trouble, I REALLY hate dial up

 

[Bglad]

I'm in Los Angeles as well. All these companies are resellers for either Pac Bell or GTE depending on your location in the city. I don't know about GTE (I'm in Pac Bell area) but everyone I've talked to gives BIG thumbs down to Pac Bell service. And. rigor is right, to get help, you gotta go through more levels. I've heard it takes forever. I assume this is the same in every city.

And the big kicker, Pac Bell is out of ports. If you call for info, they tell you it is a waiting list of about two weeks but if you order and try to make an appointment all of a sudden your appointment is 1.5 months away and you have a very good chance of being called in 3 weeks and being told that you still can't get it. I called several of the independents (who of course are actually using Pac Bell) and at least they were honest and said that I could sign up but they don't know when I'll actually get it.

I gave up and ordered cable through @Home. Probably not the best deal but they don't make you sign a contract either. You can dump it whenever something better and/or cheaper comes along.


[EDIT] for misspelling because I am anal LOL

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

i ordered using GTE. should be here 7/7. i'll post on speeds.

 

[RichieZ]

Perhaps you should do your research a little more throughly, yes the lines are leased from PacBell but internet service is provided through Covad not PacBell (excuse me this is not correct, I also posted on another thread about speakeasy). Speakeasy gives static IP's and is much better than PacBell

 

[jedimasta]

bglad, exactly what pac bell told me. I was originally just gonna pay for the damn thing, but after getting the run around for 3 weeks, and then being told 2 months until install (conveniently after a free modem/installation promotion ended) I told them to forget it and went to freeDSL. The funny thing is, shortly before logging back over here to check the posts I got a call from freeDSL saying that the were having CC order problems and that everything was working fine if I wanted to continue my ordering process.

Unfortuantely I wanted cable to begin with, but neither an @home provider or RoadRunner is available in my apt building in Van Nuys. I might as well just keep with freeDSL and whnever I move I'll have a DSL modem I dont have to pay for a second time. Sucks cuz I can only get 144 anyway, so it's barely worth my time (hence the choice to go free)

 

[Bglad]

Richie
Perhaps you should read a little more thoroughly or just learn to be a little more polite. We are all saying that we receive lousy CUSTOMER service, not connection service. We said that no matter who you buy from, your connection service comes from another company, Pac Bell, sometimes several contractual agreements away from the order I placed. You may very well be right that Covad supplies Pac Bell. That just adds one more step between me and the actual service providor. You have only strengthened my argument. Thank you. Reread and maybe you will understand better.

 

[Bglad]

Dirf
are you in Los Angeles as well? and if you are getting on 7/7, when did you place the order?

 

[RichieZ]

I'm sorry if my post sounds rude. I didn't mean for it to come out that way.

I don't know about pac bell in LA but in San Jose my neighbor and I both ordered DSL on the same day. He ordered directly from PacBell and I ordered from Covad. His DSL loop was installed the day before mine and we were both up and running in about 1 month.

 

[creedog]

I am actually using the freedsl service here in atlanta. Had some technical probs at first, but now everything is running great. Its pretty fast and mostly reliable.

I was lucky and was one of the first people in my are to sign-up and they sent me a free modem in an effort to get the service up and running here. THey do retain you CC number just in case you cancel the service within 13 mounths of the lines activation, this is to recoup their costs of having the line changed over if you decide to drop them..

So fasr they do not have to speed filters in place, so even with the free service I am getting some pretty decent speeds.