 Review by Iridium 
UPDATED: 176 days ago
member for 5.5 years, 911 visits, last login: 11 days ago
 Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
 $26 per month (12 month contract)
 about 10 days
 SBC
 "Cheaper than most other isps"
 "Cheap-ass quality dsl modem, can't port forward without addtnl equip."
 "5 stars"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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OK my 1 year contract ended a few months back. i was paying $40 per month, after my contract ended, it went up to $50. I called them, asked to switch my plan to a cheaper one, signed up for the 384-1.5/256 plan for $26, using a dynamic IP. They told me that the downtime would be about a week, actually was more like almost 3 weeks. At least for me, my speeds started to plummet down while i was waiting for Pacbell to disconnect my circuit, the process took about 1 week. So basically the whole process took about a month, but it was cool because I still had access to my dialup account. Reconnected, my speeds are around 700-900/200. Still not bad for $26 per month, and I live like 22k feet from the nearest CO. DSL Tech support kicks ass, rarely wait over 10 minutes on hold. I think the FAQ on the webpage could be more exaustive. Now I have 100mb of email storage, a pretty good spam filter, and 10, 25mb web storage accounts. I can't see myself using any other provider.
OK now it has been 10 months in my contract. Speeds are around 500k per second, still not even close to the 900 i was getting when i first started. I have no idea how far I am from the CO. Its still better than dialup, but not worth thr A$45 i am paying per month. I am eyeing the 6/608 plan, and i expect i will get about 1/3 the speed, which is 2mb down. My modem loses line synch a few times at random parts of the day, I might need to order a new modem.
UPDATE!!
One week later i am still loving the service. Im consistently getting around 1000/128. Running Counterstrike 1.6 (STEAM) the highest ping times are 50 so far, average around 20-30 for local servers. haven't used any of the usnet services yet. Modem gets quite warm. I bought a 50' Cat5 cable from Staples for around $25 to put my pc in my room. Works flawlessly, and haven't gotten any prompts for password/username.
I finally got dsl! After doing a ton of research between cable and dsl, i chose the latter. I ordered it online about a week ago. I got the 192-1.5/128 plan for $39.99 per month, dynamic ip, pppoe. Unfortunately for me the price went down $5 per month 2 days later, and they wont give me a cheaper plan even though its the same speed. I smell BS, but its only $5. About 4 days later I got a message on my phone telling me that my order was put through, and they were shipping my modem that same day. The next day I got my modem in the mail, and on my activation day after about 30 min on hold from tech support this afternoon, I was up! The self install is really easy, only thing is that the modem sucks... a cheap LinkMAX one...it isnt worth the $100 I paid for it. It is light and flimsy looking, almost like a toy. I would of liked to have a better one made by a big manufacturer. And it gets really warm, both the modem and the power supply. My speeds so far(using the tests on this site) are 800/128. That might not seem like much for most, but my phone line is terrible to begin with, and its still much better than 56k. I was expecting higher, like at least 1200. When I download from places like fileplaned, my speeds reach 120kbs. I will be doing some serious tweaking next weekend. Anyways it was a smooth ride sofar. I think their tech support could put more faqs and help on the internet pages. When I got my confirmation email, it had a link for setting up the service, but the link only had info about setting up my email and newsgroups, not the nuts and bolts info that I needed. Calling tech support should be your last resort, if the isp has enough written documentation.
Update, 2-15-05
Everything has been running smooth, no problems whatsoever. I think they might have upgraded my speed, now I am getting speeds as fast as 150kb/s. They allow 2 methods of email, using the regular way with your program of choice (Outlook/Firebird/ect) or use the webmail. They have an excellent spam filter, so far it catches like 99.9% of spam on the maximum setting. I don't see any other ISp that offers such great service. You can't go wrong. Also it is difficult to port forward because the modem won't remember your settings if you reboot. I was trying to run a Shoutcast server off my laptop, but the main server couldn't see my IP address.
Update November 1, 2006
Just got off the phone with DSLx Tech Support. My service was downgraded and capped to 384 because of the crap phone wiring inside my building. I can't fault DSLx for this, they have been top notch, but when my contract is up, I don't think I will be back. Cable is an option for me, but I don't want to pay the premium for the speed, but it looks like I have little choice. Next place I will look into must have good pots wiring.
UPDATE July 2007
My contract is up, I am considering ATT's $10 per month for 768 down, which is what I am basically getting now because the inside wiring is crap. BUT, for $5 more per month I can keep all my email addresses and webspace. I think I am going to sign another contract.
Update April 2008
My modem loses synch a lot lately. Rebooting it works for a couple of hours. One trick I use is to stream a shoutcast station while I am browsing, it helps a little.
My major problem is that my apartment manager and owner don't give a damn about anything. I am sure it is the crappy wiring outside. PacHell already came and the tech said the wiring was the worst he had ever seen. I have a friend who lives in Chino Hills, he has 50mb FIOS, while I have to suffer with barely 400kb/s. I think my only option now is to either get cable, or hook up with Sprint SERO, and get the unlimited EVDO data plan, and get that D-Link wiureless PC card router. I figure if I can even get 2mb down I will be doing better than I am now. Plus the fact that I can work almost anywhere with my laptop.
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