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 Review by gaforces 
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 7.6 years, 2489 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
 $49 per month (month by month)
 about 1 days
 AT&T
 "Excellent local dsl and dialup service"
 "none"
 "Stable service with good pings"
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Ive been a customer since 2000 and have had cruzio dsl in 2 different locations in Santa Cruz County.
I downloaded games/patches/beta/streaming music,video,irc/mmorpg/multi-player team deathmatch voice communication pretty much the whole time and am very satisfied with cruzios service.
As its my last day on cruzio I wanted to write this review finally 
The only reason Im leaving is because I want 6mb/1.5 and cruzio has been 1500/256 without news of upgrade capability.
Cruzio is and has been the best ISP Ive had and Ive always had great service from the people in the sales and tech staff.
Thanks Cruzio!
I came back to Cruzio after 2 years with DSL Extreme. They now have the 6000/600 service. When I had some trouble with disconnections I was well taken care of by thier local service. Thier techs opened a ticket with ATT and it was fixed quickly. Afterwards they told me to call them if I had any more trouble.
I also had some problem with the newsgroup provider not recognizing my ip, and it was fixed with a couple emails.
Best ISP EVER!
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 Review by Motoripper
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 8.3 years, 337 visits, last login: 56 days ago
Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
$19 per month (12 month contract)
AT&T
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I've only had good experiance with these guy's. It's something like the fact that they know loads more than I when ever i've had question concerning my connection that I did'nt know the answer to. That to me in it's self is priceless. I can't stand it when I call a company about there product and service and after the call end's the only thing i got out of it was that they are idiots that know less than me about there own product. I have cruzio's dsl both at home and at my workplace.
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Review by marcelin
UPDATED: 4.2 years ago
member for 6.1 years, 14 visits, last login: 4.2 years ago
Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
$23 per month (12 month contract)
about 9 days
SBC
"Local customer service"
"Costs more than SBC (dynamic IP); no modem config. advice on Web site; usual frustrations"
"A good, local option"
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****** Monthly price under a one-year contract has dropped from $33 (approx., including taxes) to $23 (approx., including taxes), but I experienced a delay of almost a month in getting the rate reduction. I have noticed some reliability problems -- and poor management of the online and telephone network status announcements -- in September, 2005. See forum post below.
****** Billing system teething problems resolved as of August 1, 2004. Never did find out from Cruzio exactly what was wrong. Would wish for more advance testing of a new billing system in the future.
Local customer service
Accessible customer service seems to be Cruzio's biggest advantage. I was able to pick up my password and buy telephone line filters at Cruzio's counter in Downtown Santa Cruz, on a Saturday! I have made 2 calls to the sales department and 1 to the customer service department, and have never spent more than 5 minutes on hold. I have not yet had the occasion to call for technical support.
Not the cheapest
Cruzio matches SBC/Yahoo's old offer of $30/month for 1 year, but not the new $27 offer. On the plus side, Cruzio imposes fewer restrictions. I could have chosen (and can still choose) 1 fixed IP address for a total of $36/month, instead of 5 addresses -- SBC's smallest fixed IP package -- for a total of $55/month. And SBC requires a $250 technician install for fixed IP!
My equipment, my choice
Cruzio does not provide free equipment or rebates, but lets customers do their own shopping. I bought a new ADSL modem/router for $60 (net) from amazon.com and two telephone line filters for $5 (net) each from Cruzio. (I won't be using the modem's built-in router, because I already have a more advanced stand-alone router. Since the modem offers only 1 Ethernet port, additional equipment -- at least a hub or a switch -- is mandatory for router, i.e., multiple computer, applications anyway.) Had I gone with SBC's $27/month offer I would have been forced to buy a $99 modem (no router) from SBC, and though I would have received a $99 rebate, I would still have paid shipping, handling, and tax on this "free" product -- and many people would need a router too. Cruzio is honest about equipment choices, and doesn't hawk $150 modem/router packages when customers can purchase a generic modem/router like the one I bought for $60 and add a generic 4-port switch for $30.
Support Web site not useful
I happen to be a corporate database/user interface consultant, but I approach new technology from the perspective of an average user. Although I have the time, patience, and skill to troubleshoot sundry computer problems, having to do so pisses me off as much at it does the next person.
Cruzio's self-help support Web site explains how to create a new Ethernet network connection for an ADSL modem but provides no advice about configuring the modem. It's rather like a silly cookbook I've seen, that has a recipe for baking a cake from a cake mix. "Open Windows XP's 'New Network Connection Wizard' and keep clicking OK" is about as good as Cruzio's self-help advice gets (I am paraphrasing).
Since Cruzio lets customers make their own equipment choices, and since Cruzio does not use PPP over Ethernet, the "meat" of the problem is configuring the ADSL modem. I had no idea how to set the encapsulation, the VPI, or the VCI. I knew, from a sales-related page on the Cruzio site, that Cruzio uses bridging instead of PPPoE, so that left "1483 Bridged IP LLC", "1483 Bridged IP VC-Mux", and "Classical IP over ATM" as possible choices for encapsulation. I tried all three, but to no avail. I couldn't get an IP address from the DHCP server. (For other bewildered customers who may be reading this, the correct encapsulation for Cruzio turned out to be "1483 Bridged IP LLC".)
Returning to Cruzio's self-help support Web site, I found a page of DSL troubleshooting tips. All were for "sync" problems, that is, fundamental problems with the line and/or the modem. There was no advice -- other than to call Cruzio technical support in the morning -- for those of us who did have "sync".
Suspecting that something might be up with the VPI and VCI numbers, I crafted a few clever Google searches. I discovered that SBC/Pacific Bell uses a VPI of 0 and a VCI of 35. Since SBC provides the DSL line, I figured I'd give those values a try. They worked! My setup was up and running a few hours before Cruzio's help desk opened for the day.
How should support be delivered?
Complete lack of ADSL modem configuration details aside, Cruzio's use of a Web site to disseminate DSL setup instructions is pretty silly. Like most service providers, Cruzio provides dialup access as a backup, and mails out (or in this case, lets customer pick up) the dialup password. Why not hand out hard-copy DSL setup instructions at the same time?
In fairness to Cruzio, there is a lot of "real" information -- configuration parameters for operating systems and for common applications -- on Cruzio's support Web site. I spent a whole morning skimming all 190 SBC DSL FAQ items just to be clear on the "fine print" and the technical details of SBC's offer. There were fewer pieces of technical data on SBC's support site than on Cruzio's! It seems that SBC wants you to spend $200 (for dynamic IP, and optional) or $250 (for fixed IP, and required) on a technician install, whereas Cruzio just wants you to call in if you have a problem. Either way, I think putting all the details on the Web would be better.
Faster than promised
Cruzio promises 384 Kbps (with b = bits, not bytes, of course) for downloads and 128 kbps for uploads, but my ADSL modem's status screen reports 1.53 Mbps and 160 Mbps, respectively. Cnet's bandwidth monitor puts my effective download speed at 1.1 Mbps. I am very pleased with the high speed and low latency afforded by my DSL connection. Note that I do live within a 10 minute walk of the central office.
Backup dialup number is local only
One drawback to Cruzio is that the backup dialup number is local. The larger DSL providers all seem to have national dialup networks. Local access numbers around the US and around the world are about the only thing I'll miss when I cancel my Earthlink dialup service. (I travel a lot.)
Conclusions
Cruzio offers cheap DSL, has a local office, and eschews gimmicks. Cruzio's self-help support Web site is short on ADSL modem configuration details. So far, I am pleased with my Cruzio DSL experience.
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Review by fifthnail
Posted: 4.6 years ago
member for 4.6 years, 0 visits, last login: 4.6 years ago
Aptos,Santa Cruz,CA
$29 per month (12 month contract)
about 90 days
"Always great customer service. Two service locations, Local company & on the coast."
"Not a single thing."
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They have free web hosting with their DSL package. It's pretty basic, no php or asp, but it works see what I've done with it. »www.pettybooka.com. I've been a customer for over 3 years. Kudos.
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Review by fotomatt
Posted: 4.9 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 60 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
$63 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
Southwestern Bell
CLEC party: Southwestern Bell
"5Mb down, Fast Setup, Great Support, Local, Friendly,"
"Ummm... It's not free."
"I'm one happy camper."
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Having no prior account with Cruzio, I ordered DSL service via their online interface on Monday at 3:30pm. Two hours later (that'd be 5:30pm) I called them up. A human being answered on the second or third ring; he didn't put me on hold; after proper verification, he provided me with backup dialup login info so I could at least get online until DSL was ready. Dialup gave me 53.2k.
** Step One complete with no difficulties, whatsoever. **
A couple days later, I got all my setup info in the mail. It was clear and straightforward.
On Thursday, I get an email informing me that the PhoneCo person should be out by next Thursday; instead, he comes several days early (Monday). He sets it up, checks it, then knocks on my door to tell me it is ready to go. I smile.
I promptly set up a new connection, etc, and find that I've got 3.5Mdown/460Kup. I think this seems good, but Cruzio's site lets you know that this is only your starting speed and that they'll notch it up until your wiring/setup just can't handle any more speed. So, it may get even faster!
UPDATE: These days, I consistently get ~4950down / 505up.
Time from sign up to the fastest DSL I've ever had: exactly ONE week!
The only unfortunate thing for you is that Cruzio only services Santa Cruz County and you probably don't live here. Bummer.
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Review by rzg00
Posted: 5.2 years ago
member for 6 years, 1733 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Ben Lomond,Santa Cruz,CA
$32 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
SBC
CLEC party: SBC
"Local support; all the newsgroups; small and responsive"
"Um - it's not free :-("
"Excellent"
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I've been a dial-up Cruzio customer for years, finally switching to DSL when it became available in my area late in '03 and have been, and still am, very happy with them.
One thing they don't make any noise about is usenet newsgroup support - my account allows me to download ~17Gig/month (I forget the exact number) from Newsguy for no extra charge. I only know there's a download limit because one month I hit it and had to wait a few days for the monthly counter to be reset before I could download again - a MINOR complaint is that there's no way (as far as I can tell) to know how much they think I've downloaded.
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Review by ayahuasca7
Posted: 6.4 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 1 visits, last login: 2.6 years ago
Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
$49 per month
SBC
CLEC party: SBC
"well it does go on usually"
"it's slow, and every day I have to restart the modem and computer at least once"
"get cruzio."
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I've used two providers in the santa cruz area: pacbell and cruzio. cruzio, is, by far, the best service. I am not sure about pacbell's contract (I am using a friends) but cruzio's couldn't be simpler. you pay for what you use. no sign-up fees, no cut-off fees. the speed of cruzio is great. I was getting 900kps+ downloads in felton (95018). their customer service, actually knew how to remotely fix my modem...compared to other providers..say at+t cable, verison, sbc, and pacbell (yes pacbell is now sbc)....well there isn't a comparison. and no I don't work for cruzio. also cruzio is adsl and pacbell is ppoe--kind of a pain.
cruzio: $49 monthly. dynamic IP but static is available.
pacbell: $49 monthly. ppoe. not reliable.
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Review by sluggy9
UPDATED: 7.2 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 2 visits, last login: 7.2 years ago
Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 60 days
SBC
"Superb customer service, outstanding tech support, friendly, HONEST"
"in 5 years I've yet to come across any bad points"
"Cruzio is the model for what an ISP and a business should be"
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I don't know all the techno mumbo-jumbo about my order. I just know I ordered DSL in December, and it was off and running by February. I live about as far away as a person can get from the hub or whatever they call it, but Cruzio delt with PacBell on my behalf, and they got me up and running. All delays I had were by PacBell and their inability to schedule anything sooner than 60 days (at that time, which was last November 2000, they might have improved since then). PacBell checked the lines and said I had various and sundry problems that needed to be corrected before DSL would work. Cruzio worked with them to make sure they were corrected, and I had DSL access the day I was promised. I opted for the Cruzio tech guy to come to my house to set everything up. He was in and out in about 10 minutes. No problems with DSL for the last 8 months. Have never had access problems. Cruzio mucks around with their servers after hours to limit the downtime to the customer. Whenever I have a question or concern, their tech support is right there, holding my hand through everything. About 2 months ago I called one of the bigwigs at Cruzio (this is meant to be funny, because in Santa Cruz, no one, no matter what their position, considers themselves a 'bigwig') and raved on and on about how much I love their customer service, how tech support is just yummy and always quick to help out dorks like me who know NOTHING about their computers. Tech support even helps me out when I have problems with my computer that have nothing to do with their service (ok, I admit it, I kinda take advantage of their tech support, that's how good they are. It beats hanging on the line for up to 2 hours to get tech support out of the Mac help lines though!) Anyway, the only complaint I was able to come up with, is that with all the people I've turned on to Cruzio, and my own sign-on, I always seem to miss their t-shirt give-away promotion. The bigwig assured me if I just came on in, and informed the front desk that she ok'd a t-shirt, I'd be given one, no questions asked. Haven't done it yet, cause I'm afraid they'll think I'm greedy 
It's been almost a year since I reviewed Cruzio, and I have to say I'm as pleased as ever. They're still a hard working company, and they are head and shoulders above any other ISP out there. I'm responsible for making sure all our employees and contractors have fast, reliable service. The only employees I know who are 100% satisfied with their DSL/ISP service, are the ones who use Cruzio. I'm sick and tired of waiting on indefinate hold to get relatively simple info from the other guys. Unfortunately, only two of our employees work in the Santa Cruz area, or else I would have the rest of the company connected. We're a virtual office company with employees/contractors covering over a dozen ISPs. Cruzio not only has a business model to be envied, they have also got their customer service and tech support standards down pat.
Thank you Cruzio, for giving me bragging rights!
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 7.5 years ago
(review was emailed from domain rjhg.com)
Boulder Creek,Santa Cruz,CA
$55 per month (12 month contract)
SBC
CLEC party: SBC
"Fast Friendly service"
"None yet"
"Great value for your money"
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We did a bit of research on DSL in this area before selecting Cruzio.com. DSL reports.com was very helpful in providing reviews and information that we used in selecting Cruzio. When we finally had enough information including getting Pac Bell to check our line (~10,000 feet) we called Cruzio sales. Sales was very helpful and answered all of our questions quickly and accurately. We placed the order and set back to wait. Cruzio did all the legwork with PacBell and kept us updated as to status. Cruzio also promptly sent out info that we would need to set up our computer when the modem arrived. They also included complete info on email and personal web access and a backup dialup line.
There may have been a mis-understanding between Cruzio and us about picking up the DSL equipment. I thought they would call but when we hadn't heard by the 6th day from order we called them. It took a moment for them to find the order but they confirmed that our modem was in and we could pick it up. We brought it home and set it up with the included ethernet card (Modem is ethernet to DSL) and in 15 min from the door to DSL ready. Total time 6 days and it might have been faster if we had gotten the modem sooner.
Cruzio offers month to month pricing as well as yearly contracts. We chose the contract just to save about $100 on the equipment package.
Ordered 18-Apr-2002
Promised by 29-Apr-2002
Info packet rec'd 20-Apr-2002
Modem pickup 24-Apr-2002
Modem installation 15 min
DSL live 24-Apr-2002
Speeds as tested with DSLR tools
~1200 download
~ 110 upload
ISP service 1500/128
Install 4 stars due to the confusion on modem pickup. This could have been our
fault
Tech Support 4 stars due to their not knowing why we had trouble with FTP to personal website (we needed to set PASV on our ftp client) and the backup line is running at only 26kb instead of 56kb. Tech Support didn't know why. All other Tech support questions (we had no other problems) were handled very efficiently. Tech support answered their calls very quickly. we never waited more than 2-3 min when we called in.
Services 4 stars - Cruzio uses an out of house news server and it doesn't keep up with the DSL line
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Review by ogakor
UPDATED: 7.8 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 28 visits, last login: 187 days ago
Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
$39 per month
about 14 days
SBC
CLEC party: SBC
"Honest, hard-working, informed, respects the customer, on your side."
"Required to work with Pac Bell."
"Go with the smart little guys (and girls)."
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Truly amazing customer service. They actually tracked me down on the phone to warn me that Pac Bell was about to yank my service because I was slightly beyond the 20,000' distance limit from the CO and had a noisy connection that exceeded test parameters. Not only did my prior ISP (Mindspring/Earthlink) permit a disconnect to happen several months ago, they jerked me around for weeks afterward before finally telling me. Cruzio, instead, maintained my service and began working with me on ways of improving my DSL performance, starting with the diagnosis of noise introduced by my house wiring. Everyone I've talked to at Cruzio acts as if my satisfaction is a matter of his or her own personal responsibility.
UPDATE 7/10/01: Cruzio recently added a spam filter that eliminates almost all unwanted mail. The company claims 95% effectiveness, and I've found it's at least that good. DSL service continues uninterrupted. (By the way, Cruzio quoted this review in one of its' newspaper ads. Since I'm writing under a screen name, anyone who questions whether I am an actual paying customer and not a company shill can contact me for verification: ogakor@baymoon.com.)
UPDATE 1/27/02: I'm happy to report continued excellent service for nearly a year now. I've had some emails asking about house wiring noise. I'm at the extreme edge of DSL distance limits (actually somewhat beyond.) My DSL service tested clean at the outside terminal box when the line was installed by Pac Bell, but nothing I could do (including filters, removing phones, disconnecting wireless devices, unplugging halogen lamps) gave me a line clean enough for service inside. Rewiring the house or repositioning the computer was not an option. The solution was to install a splitter at the outside box. The incoming phone line connects to the input. I connected one output to a DSL line filter, and plugged that into my existing house wiring. The other output connects to a twisted-pair cable which loops around my house and plugs directly into my DSL modem. This has given me a clean signal with no problems for almost a year. The one filter on the splitter takes care of the entire house, including fax machines and cordless phones.
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