Opinions on Winfire and/or in the Chicago Are Please

[SuperStar]

Greetings,

I've been getting mixed reviews of Winfire (either really bad or somewhat decent), but wanted some other opinions especially if you have tried it in the Chicagoland area.

 

[Raju420]

i am still waiting for my connection in the new york city area. they keep saying there are waiting from my local telephone company to respond back to them. anywayz i can ait casue i had enough referals for them so they gave me a free dsl modem and free connection.
Peace.

 

[Fritoz]

You can get personal reviews and opinions of all the major broadband providers at http://www.dslreports.com

 

[formulav8]

My brother has the $20 a month deal and i've messed with it and its not bad at all.

 

[Ranger X]

Wow, what a hot deal!

 

[dcdomain]

RangerX, you just love neffing your way into these posts don't you, if you don't have anything to contribute, then quit posting, all you are doing is bringing these threads back up to the top. Let the mods do their job, they'll get around to this thread and lock it eventually.

Anyway, here's some information that you might be interested in. I'm sort of in the same boat as you. My area in Jersey just got included in the supported areas. And I placed my order around 2 weeks ago. I was suppose to get an activation date in a week. Still no activation date, they are blaming the phone company. But I expected this from all the stories I heard about people getting DSL. In addition, it's the holidays, so the phone company and Winfire is probably a mess. I, like you, have read both good and bad opinions on this service, but at $35, $20, $10 or free per month, how can you go wrong? I suggest you try them for the heck of it. That's what I decided.

Note: I wouldn't suggest buying the modem from them. Originall I jumped on the $20 per month plan so I could get the $100 rebate for the modem. However, they only have USB external and PCI internal modems. So if you plan on networking your computers together to share a connection, you either have to run a server using the PCI internal or you are out of look. I didn't want to leave a computer on as a server, so called them back up and dropped down to the $10 a month plan. And am now currently looking for a modem.

I searched many online stores, and only one had any external ADSL modems. And they were expensive! I suggest trying Egay... that's what I'm doing now. External modems can be had for a fraction of their original cost. I'm calling them up later on today to see what compatibility issues I must look into. Think there are three different standards for ADSL. Check my thread in the General Hardware Forum.

By the way, I also heard that if you opt for no ads, basically any service other than the free one, you still have to run their toolbar. I'm not sure why... just what I gathered from reviews on DSLReports. Time for me to figure out how to disable that sucker...

Hope this helps... and next time, I suggest you post this in the networking or general hardware forum.

 

[evergreen96]

N-e 1 have winfire dsl in San Jose, CA

They blame it on the phone company as well

They just sent me their FAQ which i already read. They say it avalible in my area.

 

[kaiotes]

i'm in sj, was eligible.
imo, NOT WORTH SPENDING monthly fee NOR paying 200 for modem? i forgot amount, to have AD BASED DSL/CABLE.

 

[BAMAVOO]

I live in Tennesee and they were supposed to have got us going a month ago..I just talked with customer support this week and they said the same thing..Our phone company, they also said that Nashville would be ready in January and our area in March..I am just hoping cable modem gets here firt..Of the two I would prefer cable but will take anything faster than my ISDN connection now..I opted for the $35 full plan..Gotta have mo speed..From what I have read they seem to be pretty good..Heck for $14 less a month they are worth a try..

 

[dcdomain]

Ok, I still can't find the damn standards they supporting... where do I go to find out? I did a search on DSLreports... and can't find anything... anyone using it in the Essex county/ Northern New Jersey area? Might be the same with NYC too! What Telco/ standards you using? What modems?

 

[jacobnero6918]

All dsl services can be great or horrible or somewhere in between. It has alot to do with your local phone company as well as who the actually supplier is. Winfire is just the middle man.

I'm still waiting myself....sick of slow dialup!

 

[zzzz]

In chicago, ameritech just plain sucks. Because of them, there are a lot of orders pending. I had ordered through them and waited for something like 4 months before cancelling. Get cable if it is available in your area.

 

[CoolTech]

didnt he say he wanted opinions in chicago area? wtf is this san jose cal. s*** and jersey s***??????????????

 

[fong718]

dont matter if its cali or jersey or anything, basic opinion about it help to man. winfire isn't all that great, i cant log on, and to call csr, average wait before you get to talk to a live rep is around 140min or so. basically, no one in my san jose area that i know has been able to get on, and winfire blames it on the router in the area.

 

[HJB417]

I'm currently waiting for activation in Manhattan. Verizon is my telco here. They estimated that it would eb active by 12/29/00 and are now supposedly gonna email me every week on the status. They also say a guy from the telco company might come to check the line at my house. TWC doesn't have E.Harlem covered for cable modem. I can't really back out of winfire becuase of cancellation fees so I'm just gonna have to sit and wait, I hope it's good because NetZero is gonna start charging people to user their service (if they use 40+ hrs).