 Review by techjoe 
UPDATED: 2.1 years ago
member for 4.5 years, 1865 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Worth,Cook,IL
 $120 per month (12 month contract)
 about 15 days
 Ameritech
CLEC party: Covad
 "Decent support techs, good SLA"
 "requires pro install even if prewired and configured, routing flaky sometimes"
 "If you're too far for anything else, their idsl is a great option"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
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99/month for 144/144 idsl with a pretty nice SLA. Support techs were more than willing to help me configure existing equipment and kept on the few issues I had with my order until resolution. First problem is on SBC's side, as when they hooked up my circuit they attached to the wrong pair in the box outside, but a quick temp fix had me online until Covad can get that looked at. Since I'm not even due for inside wiring yet I cant be too edgy on that one, yet. One mix-up led to radius not being setup for my additional (free, may I add) block of 5 routable ips but after staring at my router config for an hour a 10-minute phone call had that fixed right up. I do not want to pay for this pro install since I am already online with old hardware (I still need a router through them) but it seems I'm stuck with it as this is treated pretty much like any fractional/t1..With the strict SLA I suppose it is reasonable for them to want to double-check it all at least. I'm using a netopia 4652-t from my straight covad install. Unsure what they are bringing, I think it may be the same router (tech mentioned something about firmware..Maybe newer firmware too).
As for prices, Covad charged me 139.99/month with router purchase. I had 30-45ms latency first hop out of my router round-trip and they still called it OK since oneway was looking around 20 or so. Now on megapath, even though it is resold Covad, I get 25-30ms first-hop, a bit stronger up and down (always was 'ok', just hardly more now) for $109/month. I had a lot of trouble and frustration with Covad's tech support initially which also didn't help matters..Megapath's staff seems a lot more on the ball overall..Time will tell that tale of course.
Update 11/27/04: Well their invoices are stupid, I've been past due a month for a while and they don't list that on the invoice, only email reminders. Aside from that, they are good on letting you stay connected a while for no-pay, I assume because I always eventually pay and obviously can't get any other type of connection (YET!) here..
I've had some really bad nights with routing. I had over one full month that all of my traffic from a south chicago suburb routed to texas and back, even to a server downtown chicago!! Crazy. They never gave me an estimate on how long it would take to resolve, and as a result I saw huge pings all across the board with no credit issued either. All in all it's been a good line, pretty stable and very rare I lose packets if ever. First hop time sorta bites(~30-35ms), but I'm about 9 miles of copper out from the CO, through a pair gain hut, and can't get squat else yet, so I cant complain too much. The price is insane for 144kbit, but they're all gangsters in that aspect. Wireless should become available within days or weeks here so I'll be dropping them ASAP primarily for more bandwidth, as most fps games these days run poorly over anything less than 192kbit (voice comms included).
Update 7/14/06: Disconnection is being processed. The line had serious issues, and they blamed my CPE (and sent out a billed $300 unit which is going back thankfully), then it was a line card, and it's still bouncing here and there as of 5am this morning on their provided CPE. That isn't the entire reason I'm terminating -- Their price is too high for 144kbit these days, and I have found an alternative source for access with some creative work on my end that gives me over 20x the downstream bandwidth, 3x the upstream, and 1/3rd of the monthly cost. Can you blame me?
Overall, their support was pretty good. The techs were usually prompt (except on return calls!) but as for speedy resolution, I didn't have much luck there. I didn't have too many problems with the line over the years, but I did expect better stability for the monthly cost.
So in the end, adios Megapath. Thanks for the overpriced yet only thing available bandwidth...
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