how-to block ads
|
»next review in page
 Review by TScheisskopf 
UPDATED: 217 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 1154 visits, last login: 29 days ago
 Belvidere,Warren,NJ
 $44 per month (12 month contract)
 "Embarq is incredibly competent."
 "Embarq is not in charge of policy for the entire Broadband industry."
 "Taken as a whole, you cannot do better. You can do a lot worse."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
10 solid and largely trouble free mbps for $44.95/mo and no cable loops and price hikes. Who can quibble?
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by s0121
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 7.6 years, 147 visits, last login: 182 days ago
Coldwater,Comanche,KS
$49 per month
 about 2 days
"Speeds are faster than the 700 mhz system"
"Tech support is rather iffy"
"Very good for this area"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
United upgraded me from the 700 Mhz Airspan modem to 900 mhz modem, speeds went from 184-483 kbps download / 125-99 kbps upload to a very solid (3 months now) - 1449 kbps/652kbps... a great improvement... but as soon as the speeds went up, service suddenly on Newsgroups was throttled, (via Cox.net) to less than 33.6 kbps with average of 23.8kbps.. for 49.95 a month United Telcom service is GOOD, but affilate with Cox.net and Newsgroups being throttled is crap.. The upgrade from the AirSpan 700 mhz modem to 900 mhz modem was excellent.
ISP UnitedWireless (United Telcom) says they do not CAP nor Throttle anything and have no idea why suddenly after almost 3 years my Newgroups speeds were throttled, they have contacted Cox.net but I have heard no reply back, this has been over 30 days ago. trace route :
1 192.168.1.100 37.270N, 99.326W Snuffy-PC
2 1 - 192.168.1.1 Unknown
3 2 1 70.182.239.2 Unknown bmsb500.unitedtelcom.net
4 3 2 70.182.239.1 Unknown ucomadm-70-182-239-1.ucom.net
5 4 3 70.167.59.69 Unknown wsip-70-167-59-69.ks.ks.cox.net
6 5 3 70.183.65.213 Unknown ip70-183-65-213.ks.ks.cox.net
7 6 - 70.183.71.101 Wichita
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by cconners
UPDATED: 1.5 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 39 visits, last login: 312 days ago
Vernon Hills,Lake,IL
$45 per month (12 month contract)
about 9 days
 AT&T
"Can be very fast ( >6Mbps)"
"Micro-outages (very rare); ugly antenna on 10' mast."
"Mostly rocks; local alternatives will cost more and deliver less, so why change?"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
|
Update 5/25/08: Anybody reading following this website knows that Sprint is shutting down their Broadband Direct service. My letter states 6/30/2008 as the shut down date. I'd have preferred a little bit more warning, but I think I have only one choice in my area for broadband service - Comcast. (I will start looking to make sure that is true, but I'm not feeling very optimistic.) Hard to believe that after seven years, AT&T still hasn't been willing to deploy DSL in my area. I keep hearing that broadband competition is alive and well in America, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case here in Vernon Hills.
Thanks to Sprint for seven years of decent service at a decent price. At least this makes my roofing work this year easier. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Update 2/1/07: No real news, but I thought some people might want to know that I still have the service, and am still satisfied. Hard to believe that it will be six years this spring. My roof is due for a new set of shingles, and I have some moisture damaged due to a dryer vent, so what will happen to my antenna and service when I re-roof? Stay tuned...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Update 4/3/02: Price Increase?!?! Yes, I just got an email from Sprint wanting $5/month more to keep just the high speed connection or $10/month to keep the full service (connection and Earthlink ISP). Hmmmm....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
Update 3/26/02: Since I last touched this review, the service has been dazzling - I downloaded MS XP RC2 (489MB) from a MS site in 14.5 minutes last year. While I still get amazing speeds, all is not well in SBBD-land. The micro-outages have gradually increased in frequency, so although I may have days that are uninterrupted, most sessions have anywhere from one to 5 sub-minute interruptions an hour. Sometimes it can even happen every other minute. More troubling are the rare occasions when I'm using it in the daytime during the week. I've experienced outages that last an hour or more. All I can say is I knew this might happen when I ordered the service (thanks to all the feedback on DSLReports), and I've gotten my money's worth out of this service over the past year. I just got a flier from AT&T warning of service interruptions and work crews accessing our easement over the next several weeks, so there may be an alternative opening up soon. But I'll miss those massive 4Mbps+ download speeds when I switch. :-(
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
What can I say that hasn't already been said about Sprint BBD. I read all of the reviews prior to going with the service, because my younger brother and his wife live in the Denver area and they were considering it. They still haven't made a decision, as they have other fish to fry right now, but when a friend forwarded me the Chicago Tribune article about Chicagoland availability, I was on the phone 24 hours later scheduling the installation.
I should state right now: Yes, I did really read all of the reviews, including the many horror stories from San Jose. A large number of people have had bad experiences with the service. But I also read the good ones, and decided to take the chance. I'm a (mostly) happy Sprint long distance and PCS customer, and figured that the odds were with me. We shall see.
*** NOTE: In Vernon Hills, you need a building permit. They are treating the antenna like a digital satellite dish. According to the 1997 ordinance, you can be fined $500 a day for installing without a permit. ***
The installation on April 5th was less than stellar, since the tech arrived almost 1 1/2 hours after my 7a-9a window. When he announced the need for a 10' mast to achieve line of site, I consulted both my wife and the local building department. Since this was the first install in the village, the department's electrical inspector wanted to come out and see what was going to be done. The inspector said that there was a height restriction, but he never said what it was - just that my installation was OK. They (the installer and inspector) debated over grounding procedures, but otherwise the install was OK. By the time he left, it was 2:30p, and I was very late for work.
Maybe I'm prejudiced, but I think the antenna and wiring look ugly as sin! The black coaxial cable looks ugly against the side to the house, and the beige ground wire looks lousy against the roof. And while all of the pictures show a nice white diamond shaped antenna, the back side is black (which is street-side) and is very visible day and night.
Right now, that's the end of the bad. I plugged it into my existing Comm server running Win 98SE with ICS, reconfigured it to share the NIC instead of the modem, and tweaked it using ICS Configuration (thanks to Harley Acheson and www.practicallynetworked.com). It works, sharing the connection with three other computers on the network. I think I've experience the micro outages that I've read about here on DSLReports, but they've not been significant enough to alarm me. I've done MS NetMeeting with my folks (who are using a 56Kbps modem) and that still works but I've yet to try it with another broadband user. I don't game anymore (three children really cramp you gaming style) and with the Sprint Unlimited weekends, I still use the phone for my long distance.
Downloaded and streaming video are awesome: I've become a real fan of NASA TV at 300Kbps, once I figured out that Win98SE ICS doesn't do high speed UDP. And the "always there, instant on" really makes it all worth while. So, generally, I'm a satisfied customer.
My first speed test on DSLReports was 520/204, and that's been my low water mark so far. I've achieved download speeds as high as 3.5Mbps+, and speed tests of over 4Mbps. I can live with 500Kbps if things should drop down that far, but will I be happy? With a large number of sites (such as my company's) limited by a T1 and restricting bandwidth, I'm used to seeing throttled downloads in IE of between 60-70KBps, but I'm no longer surprised to see it up at the 300KBps range.
I will always be "looking over my shoulder" waiting for the performance or reliability to drop. In the mean time, I'm livin' large and lovin' it!
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by jimmyjob
Posted: 1.5 years ago
member for 7 years, 62 visits, last login: 32 days ago
Alvin,Brazoria,TX
$41 per month (24 month contract)
about 5 days
"Fast Down stream"
"Slow upstream"
"Good when other services not available"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I have had them for about five years now but I got an email from them yesterday stating they had lost the radio spectrum and my service would end by 06/30/2008.
Is this system wide or aimed at me???Time will tell.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by michaelmcw
UPDATED: 1.5 years ago
member for 9 years, 90 visits, last login: 144 days ago
Alviso,Santa Clara,CA
$49 per month (24 month contract)
about 7 days
Sprint
"fast downloads"
"uploads can be slow but i am a patient person"
"i wouldn't trade it for dial up"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Has anyone been told that SBBD is discontinuing their service as of July 31, 2008. I spoke to a tech on their 888-996-0001, pressed #4 and the guy said they are turning off cities one by one. Has anyone heard of this?
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by markmc
UPDATED: 1.9 years ago
member for 1.9 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.9 years ago
Dallas,Dallas,TX
Contract price not specified.
"It rocks over anything else I have used"
"need a special Router to have more than one computer"
"Spend a little extra on the KR1 And your system will Kick"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Ok I dished up the 149.00 for a router that is wireless along with the evdo and monthly rate it stunk but i have it in every room on every computer (5) 3 laptops and 2 towers it is really nice to get a network secure and fairly cheap. since Att will not put a switch in and roadrunner stinks allways droping out and more per month than the sprint card. So if anybody is looking for a fairly inexpensive way to do it this is the way to go. took me all of 10 min. to make it go for all computers. hardest part was shelling the money out and getting out of my chair to get the other tower on line.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by blazintails
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 2.2 years, 265 visits, last login: 9 days ago
Dryden,Lapeer,MI
$49 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Easy To Install was up and running in no time"
"2 Yr Contract"
"Well worth it in rural areas with no other broadband available"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
SORRY THIS WAS POSTED IN THE WRONG SECTION, should be in Sprints Mobile
I just happened to find the wireless broadband while paying my nextel bill. I have been on dial up for 14 yrs with a break inbetween to try DirecWay which was a total joke so I went back to dial up until Aug 21st 2007
Nextel site doesnt advertize it at all. You basically have to find it on your own. Once found, I started doing research to see exactly what was needed and the connection speeds ect. I called Sprint to ask and since I have a nextel phone number they automatically sent me to Nextel tech support. Nextel knows nothing about Sprints Wireless. Needless to say it took me over 3 hours to finally gets a tech on the phone that could answer my questions. He was pretty knowledgable.
I wanted the Novatel U720 but after trying many times online to purchase and it just took me in circles, I called sales. I was informed that they do not offer the Novatel U720 anymore and I would have to purchase Sierra 595U. Order was place at 3:30pm they shipped it overnight mail and was here the next day at 1:30pm
Charging the battery for 2 hours prior to activating was annoying........all the online forums say to use a powered USB but it clearly states in the manual NOT to plug the 595U into one. I crabbed so much, the sales person gave me another $50 off my bill plus the $50 rebate, so I only paid $29.99 for the Sierra 595U. That helped me make my choice easier lol
Installing the software was a piece of cake, but calling to activate was another Sprint/Nextel phone BOT nightmare. I was on hold for almost 45 mins. Activation took aprox 5 mins. Then a box pops up and say, OH BOY NOW WAIT ANOTHER 2-4 hours before you will be on the network. After about an hour I hit the go button, It connected then disconnected in about 2 mins. I reconnected again and its been online for a good part of each day.
Day 3 .........Red battery light has came on as soon as I connected. Went off after about an hour. Then back on again about 2 hours later. So I plugged it into a powered USB hub. Red light has now gone off. Hopefully that will stop the issue.
The coverage area around me is Rev A my connection speeds are pretty good. But they seem to be much better in the morning/afternoon (800-1048K) than in the evening. (600-800K tops)
I would say if you want something more than dial up, even though its a bit pricey, Go for it. ...I'll NEVER go back to dial up!
Followup comments:  ydoucare
join:2003-03-12
Rensselaer, IN
 ·Embarq
 ·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
2 edits | ? Huh? This isn't Sprint Broadband Direct if you're using a Sierra 595U or Novatel U720. Those are both EVDO Rev A modems, which is Sprint Mobile Broadband, not Sprint Broadband Direct. Sprint Mobile Broadband is heavily advertised, both on the Internet and on TV. I think you're a little confused. This review should go under Sprint Mobile Broadband.
»powervision.sprint.com/mobilebroadband/ | |
| | blazintails
join:2007-08-25
·Millenicom
| Re: ? I must have clicked on the wrong link when writing the review. Yes its mobile broadband. And if you notice in doing the review, we are in a very rural area. I have never seen a Sprint commercial on TV or in the local news papers.
You honestly think I would have stayed on dial up?
Also I was a Nextel customer using Nextel site to pay my cell bill. It wasn't until about a month ago that the Nextel site is now redirected to Sprint.
SO confused, No......Human error. Yes. LOL
"NOTE TO SELF" Never write another review! As you're too simple to do so LOL. Thanks for the heads up "Ydoucare" | |
| | | ydoucare
join:2003-03-12
Rensselaer, IN
·Embarq
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| Re: ? lol it wasn't meant to offend you. I live in a very rural area also, 10 - 15 miles from the nearest town. I see Sprint Mobile Broadband commercials on TV quite freqently, must be different in your area. I don't think I ever mentioned anything about you staying on dial-up? lol | |
| | | | blazintails
join:2007-08-25
·Millenicom
| Re: ? Oh I wasnt offended, I was being a smartie pants. But seriously no commericals here for Sprint broadband in the least.....
Just about everyone in my area has Nextel phones and I wonder how many now are going to jump on the Sprint Mobile because they can see its available on the Sprint site. Nextel sure had nothing about it.
Im just glad I found it, but wish I would of when it came out. Dial-Up was horrible I was lucky to get 4Kb/s download usually was 3Kb/s. Im never going back. I'll keep this until cable comes in.....but I doubt that will ever happen. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by Puls4r
Posted: 2.3 years ago
member for 3.5 years, 11 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
Richmond,Macomb,MI
$39 per month
about 4 days
"Excellent speed and no outages"
"None so far."
"A great option in this area for rural true high-speed broadband."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Nothing else is available in my area, but I can't complain. Cheaper than Comcast, faster than DSL. Here's a traceroute to google:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
Tracing route to www.l.google.com [64.233.167.99]
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms Pulsar
2 21 ms 21 ms 21 ms 10.255.101.1
3 22 ms 21 ms 22 ms midtrort01.mi.sprintbbd.net [24.221.92.1]
4 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms sl-gw32-chi-6-0-TS1.sprintlink.net [144.228.207.
25]
5 32 ms 28 ms 28 ms sl-bb21-chi-4-2.sprintlink.net [144.232.26.33]
6 28 ms 28 ms 32 ms sl-bb22-chi-15-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.26.97]
7 29 ms 29 ms 28 ms sl-st21-chi-11-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.21
]
8 29 ms 29 ms 43 ms 144.223.241.54
9 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 216.239.48.154
10 30 ms 32 ms 31 ms 72.14.232.57
11 60 ms 34 ms 49 ms 64.233.175.26
12 30 ms 30 ms 30 ms py-in-f99.google.com [64.233.167.99]
Download speed clocks at 4.8 mb, upload at 323 kb. I run my voip over it as well. Standard voip score of 4.2 on most quality test sites.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by lvanheld
Posted: 2.5 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 37 visits, last login: 98 days ago
Aurora,Arapahoe,CO
$44 per month
about 14 days
"Hardly ever been down in the 6 years I have had the service"
"Latency and slow upload speeds"
"Best that I can get here, considering all other ISPs consider us rural even though we are surrounded by city dwellers"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
The installer gave me a scare when at first he suggested installing a 30' antenna on my roof, but luckily I could do with just a 3 foot tripod on the roof of my house. Download speeds on average have been above what was promised (1.5Mbps), but upload speeds brings tears to your eyes (160K on a good day). Also latency can be annoying with VoIP applications such as Skype. Distance from the transmitter (35 miles) is likely a big factor for the slow uploads and latency. Overall I have been very satisfied with the service and it's reliability. I use it mostly for recreation and for working from home (VPN) and for that is is more than adequate.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
| »next page (previous review)
 Review by winrip
UPDATED: 3.9 years ago
member for 9.7 years, 557 visits, last login: 249 days ago
Denver,Adams,CO
$45 per month (24 month contract)
about 7 days
"FAST.... Static IP, Still connected"
"HOA will probably have a fit"
"I like it.. I would recommend it.."
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Update 12-11-2005:
It's been almost five years with this service and for the most part it's been acceptable. During the time that sprint was not accepting new customers the connection and speed were absolutely outstanding. Recently they have begun accepting new customers and the outages have started just like they were in the beginning.
Most outages aren't long but when you have work to do and trying to VPN into work it's a real hassle. I normally don't see an outage late at night or even overnight. They usually seem to come late in the afternoon to evening between 3pm and 7pm. Most of the time they only last about 20 minutes but every once in a while they take an hour or two.
They haven't hassled me at all save for once. I'm normally downloading about 5-10 gigs of cd ISOs per week and haven't heard a peep. Upstream speeds on the other hand, suck. There's no other word to describe it. It just sucks.
If you have no other alternatives this isn't a bad deal at all. Static IP, downloads are still plenty fast. Outages only once in a while.
So I'm changing my ratings a little bit after all this time.
Pre sales stays the same.
As does Install Co-ordination.
Connection stays the same. It would have made a 5 but with the recent outages I'll leave it alone.
Tech Support remains unrated since I've never called them.
Services gets down graded to a 3. After all this time I think they should have added some other services/ freebees.
Value for the money gets upgraded to a 5 from a 4 because overall I'm satisfied with Sprint BBD after all these years.
Ordered in 04-03-01, installed 04-10-01.
Installer showed up at about 8:15 and did a site survey, 5 minutes later he came back and said he could get line of site and a good signal. He installed a 3 foot tripod and 5 foot mast, when he told me what he was going to use, I sh**. Anyway the mast is all the way down to the peak of the roof so I only have a 5 foot monstrosity instead os 8 foot... He finished everything up at about 10:30 so it went fairly fast.
I give them a four for presales, I would've liked to know a little more, but...
Install co-ordination gets a 5, they where here within a few minutes of the oppointment.
Connection gets 4, I haven't had it long enough to get a 5....
Tech support stays un-rated since I haven't used them yet.
Mail DNS and NEWs get a 4 simply because changing a username via the earthlink page is a little slow...
Value a 4, So far I am very pleased and with the run-around I've got from anyone trying to push their DSL, this will probably get updated to a 5....
Oh and a real world test, had a 635MB cdrom iso download this morning in 3 hours and 47 minutes.... not bad not bad at all.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Sprint Broadband Direct |
|
|
