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 Review by Sly 
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 4.6 years, 2327 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Limestone,Washington,TN
 Contract price not specified.
 "Low ping times, reliable upload speed"
 "slower than cable, download rates change a lot"
 "Overall I like this better than Comcast"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I just switched from Cable to DSL for the first time. I have been with cable for 5 years... My first impression with DSL is that DNS lookups are MUCH faster. It does not take hardly any time to resolve a website compared to Comcast internet. I also get a little better ping time to sites like DSLReports and Google. (46ms compared to 56ms).
I run VoIP and I have noticed that through DSL the call is perfect. This tells me that there is less packet loss through DSL than what I was getting with Comcast. I haven't actually done a test yet but most VoIP call quality is a function of packet loss, latency and download speed. So some of these or all of these qualities are better with Embarq DSL than were with Comcast.
Embarq is cheaper in terms of the monthly bill but you don't get as much download speed as you do with Cable. Most of my filesharing days are over and so this is not hardly a problem. I can do anything on the net from watching streaming movies to listening to music and browsing multiple tabbed sites all with no problem. I have 5 computers networked all sharing the 1500 DSL line (which is the minimum offered) and the performance is seamless. I notice no network lag or bottlenecking with this setup.
Overall after having both, I would recommend Embarq DSL over Comcast cable. It is a little cheaper, it is fast enough for anything the net has to offer, it has a faster response so that pages begin to load sooner, VoIP works better over DSL... oh... and the modem is cooler. 
The modem they shipped has many configuration screens to fine tune your network parameters although I found no tweaking necessary. Embark pushes updates automatically to the modem to keep it up to date. I had to log onto their site to manually update the firmware but once I did, Embarq configured the modem settings automatically. The modem also has a built in ping test and several self diagnostics menus to test modem performance before your LAN. This is useful for determining if network problems are due to either your router or your modem (LAN or WAN).
edit: Connection reliability has quickly proven to be one of the worst. Embarq has successfully passed all blame over to Sprint for their horrendous bottleneck. All servers at sprintlink.net undergo severe net traffic slowdowns every night between about 7pm and midnight eastern time. Ping times and bandwidth get so bad that it is basically useless between these times. They claim that it is Sprint's fault and their CS rep basically told me to just call Sprint to deal with it. However I am technically not a Sprint customer and so they won't deal with it either. If this doesn't change I am leaving them.
[update] Ok, I've been with them for awhile now and it's time to update the review. It seems like the transition from Sprint to Embarq was not a smooth one. Sprint oversold the service and Embarq inherited a mess, but they are working hard to clean it up. I have seen routing changes MANY times. Sometimes network performance gets better and sometimes it gets worse, but overall they are improving the service. They just gave everyone a free upload speed upgrade. I get much better uploads with them than I ever had with Comcast. It seems like they are finally seeing the light that so many other ISP's have missed and that is that we need upload AS WELL as download. So thumbs up for Embarq.
They have worked very hard with me to fix issues relating to the service problems I have had. They sent a tech out several times to check the line and they made followup phone calls to make sure everything was working ok. If they say they will call you back, believe it... They will unlike most other companies.
It has been a ROUGH past few months but they are working to fix things. They added a new redback in my area and have routed around problematic servers. I realize that this is an entirely different company than Sprint was. Good for them. So I have to increase my rating for customer service, value for money and install co-ordination.
I still stand by my statement that I like them better than Comcast. If they keep it up with the proposed 10meg and future 100 meg service that they are bringing, they will be my ideal ISP.
[update] I have since left Embarq. Their own techs have admitted that Sprint oversold the service. While I give them credit for trying to upgrade their pipeline, they are still married to Sprint who chooses to do nothing about their routing issues. Now they are just a defunct company who is powerless to fix their networking issues. I have lost my patience with them trying to fix their erratic ping times and poor bandwidth issues. YOU CAN'T DO ANY ONLINE GAMING ON EMBARQ... I have had many helpful technicians try to work their problems out with me but their fixes are only short lived. They simply can not handle what they have been given. Move on.
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Sprintlink.net Lag is terrible with Embarq