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 Review by ColorBASIC 
Posted: 1.3 years ago
member for 1.6 years, 212 visits, last login: 1 year ago
 Huntington Beach,Orange,CA
 Business customer
 $160 per month (24 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "None since COVAD took over"
 "With COVAD takecover came horrible reliability, long hold times, expensive"
 "Avoid at all costs, you're better off with dial up or other local WISP"
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Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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Stuck with 768/128 Business DSL I was excited to get Nextweb's Office Connect plan even being 5X the price. The plan was to use it as our primary connection keeping DSL as a backup. All I can say is boy am I glad I kept the DSL. After originally being very pleased and seeing excellent reliability and great speed (3Mb/3Mb) since COVAD took over service has gone to crap.
Presales (2): Presales info online was limited to pretty pictures of models in business suits. You have to call to get any decent information. I guess it's because people fall over when they hear the price. In looking at the site now there is even less information that when it was Nextweb.
Install (3): Install was a bit silly. The installer arrived on time and did a decent job although I had to help. It wouldn't be so bad except in addition to having to help, the install fee was $300. For $300 I expected to sit back and just watch, not pull cable.
Connection reliability (1): The first year or so was great. Very low latency and decent reliability. Then the merger with COVAD happened and service quickly went to crap. Since the merger I've noticed they've cut the speeds of their plans and outages are CONSTANT and extremely frustrating. Usually the outages are just for a few annoying minutes (shy of their definition of chronic) but like today it's been hours. As I write this review we are yet again failed-over to our slow but trusty DSL.
Tech Support (1): Non-existent. Again during this outage I gave up being on hold after nearly an hour. This after being told by the automated system that the hold time would be "6-10 minutes". Even Verizon on-rot times aren't this bad on their worst day and their service is only $30/mo. And it wasn't like this before the merger. I was never waiting more than a minute or two in the pre-COVAD days. I guess COVAD's idea of customer service is not having any.
Services (1): Talk and a pretty website are great. They can talk talk talk about what they offer but unless I can get it reliability there is little point. That's not service. And worse everyone has a different phone number, doesn't share information and can't transfer you. You call billing but actually need customer service you can't be transferred, you have to hang up and start all over. Same with technical support. In addition, there is no account information sharing going on so if you are talking to Covad billing, they have zero information about your Nextweb account other than when you paid them last. They just refer you to the local office where there is just a cheap sounding answering machine. You can never get a LIVE person on the phone anymore. You ALWAYS have to wait for a callback which may be anywhere from hours to days.
Value (1): Again, there is little value in a service that is up and down constantly and you can't get anyone other than COVAD billing (who knows nothing but phone numbers of COVAD/Nextweb answering machines) on the phone.
Here in Orange County AVOID Nextweb/COVAD at all costs. And if you must try them avoid the contract. My next call to COVAD (certainly just to leave a message as you can you can never get these guys on the phone) would be to cancel if not for this punitive 2 year contract that I still have a few months to go on. But once expired I'm fleeing as COVAD wireless sucks serious ass.
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