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Review by billbush 
UPDATED: 1.9 years ago
member for 9.6 years, 900 visits, last login: 10 days ago
 Bronxville,Westchester,NY
 $63 per month (12 month contract)
 Verizon
 "Really good, well meaning people, who are technically sound."
 "Not the least expensive, but reliable."
 "Nice guys...very good connection reliability."
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I need a static IP and their pricing is competitive and they are reliable.
Verizon requires a business line for a static, and I have been unable to find a person at Optimum to discuss getting a static ip.
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Review by mkaegler
Posted: 4.1 years ago
member for 4.1 years, 40 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
Poughkeepsie,Dutchess,NY
 Business customer
$350 per month (12 month contract)
 about 15 days
Verizon
CLEC party: Verizon
"Geek FRIENDLY. Not a giant soulcrushing multinational conglomerate."
"Doesn't own the copper, hence second-rate line service"
"Alright for regular residence. Only game in town for boffins."
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I'm not a regular user. My day job is as a network engineer, I moonlight with my own business as an internet consultant. I have special needs and I'm willing to pay a premium for them. Large companies like Verizon will never support them unless I order thousands of dollars of service, but Bestweb does. I'm talking about things like static addresses, entire subnets, and reverse resolution. And none of that PPPoE crap  Not being a giant company also gives me the warm and fuzzys. I like local businesses.
I started with bestweb in 2002 as a residential customer, 1.5mbit down, 256kbit up with a /29. Install took a *long* time, on the order of a month and a half. Later I traded up and currently get 2.4mbit sync (that's 2.4 each way) and a /25. Its a business line and was installed in a different location (at the office). That install was completed in a week or so. Why so long?
Here's the thing. Verizon/Frontier own the copper here. The only thing Bestweb can do is request that Verizon patches you into the network properly. Verizon wants the DSL customers for themselves, they only allow bestweb to exist because they're legally required to. So provisioning orders coming from Bestweb get a second class of service, and honestly the rack monkeys (telco central office guys) don't often get things right the first time. I don't know why. So going with Verizon will get you better line support. If you get water on the line (causing a ground loop and loss of service), they'll switch your pair faster if you're with verizon.
The second thing I see in some other reviews is the "oops I forgot a tax" letter. There's a second side to that story, and there's truth to it: As you know, your cellphone and landline bills are often 5-20% taxes. Those surcharges mostly go to the telcos for maintaining the telephone network, etc... so Verizon pushes for them. Verizon and other telco-ISPs started charging those taxes despite the fact they were not yet approved, but nontelco-ISPs like bestweb didn't believe the taxes would ever be approved...from the engineering point of view they were unnecessary. Politics trumps reality, the surcharges were approved retroactively and the nontelco ISPs were left to back-charge.
Sales: As a residential customer, their website laied it all out. As a commercial customer I got a guy who didn't know the trade. He's since...err... left the company. I'm sure the rest are more knowledgeable.
Tech Support: I only call when I need network support, not PC support. And they have never left a question unanswered. The shift manager or on-call engineer is always competent.
In the end, I still recommend Bestweb. They're able to provide more esoteric services (who'da thunk that subnets and DNS would be esoteric!?) and do a decent job at it.
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Review by laarrry
UPDATED: 6.6 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 746 visits, last login: 265 days ago
Ardsley,Westchester,NY
$50 per month (12 month contract)
about 60 days
Verizon
CLEC party: Verizon
"Solid Connection with Few Time Outs"
"They want to squeeze former customers wallets"
"Avoid at all Costs"
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BestWeb was my ISP for 1 1/2 years
They provided me with steady DSL service. (748/128)
I never required much tech support
Optimum Online came to my neighborhood with 10 times the speed, and
was less costly.
I received a letter from the president of Bestweb, Andrew Dickey,
that I owed them for all the uncollected taxes on my service for the last
year and a half, after I notified the of my termination of their service.
I will probably pay them the $110.00, to make them go away.
Bottom Line: Good service- Poor administration
Look Elsewhere
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Review by bob777
Posted: 6.7 years ago
member for 6.7 years, 0 visits, last login: 6.7 years ago
Elmsford,Westchester,NY
$49 per month (12 month contract)
Verizon
"dhcp"
"connectivity was 50%; they seemed to be afraid of verizon"
"bestweb sucks"
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besweb just decided I need to pay them more, THEY cancelled my dsl service months ago but now via some tax crap excuse they want additional funds, what are they kidding? Didn't they pay their taxes? Or notify me of the issue. Why is verizon cheaper then bestweb(not including the new 'tax') And now they want more $'s.....as I'm confused or are they? I now have verizon for $10 less then bestweb
I had an agreement with Bestweb for $39 a month but they upped my cost to $49, for a verizon supply issue midway throught the contract. Since my contract was at $39 for 12 months, I thought this was an issue but they said my contract @39 was meaningless and I had to pay $49 to continue to receive service.
I can see why now they are trying to get additional 'tax' money, as we become dependant on the service providers but bestweb is wrong......
I was too 'easy' then but not now.....are your?
After all the crap I put up with, the ONLY way I'll pay them $0.000001 is a contempt of court order after being handcuffed. I'll sign the check then yea right! Hey bubba....
I want to expose them for their incompetence and/or their failure to deal effectively with verizon.
I got booted BY them months ago, once I told them/andy i was going to contact the psc if my service did not improve(see issues below), they cut me off the next day, no talk, just your cutoff and they were 'excercising' part of 'my' agreement. 'anyone who would report us to the psc should not be a customer'...actually I agree with that statement but it was their issue and they did not deal with it properly. The cutoff was abrupt and un-professional.
Now I'm mad again and am looking to see if other people went though the same issues. Maybe I should have contacted the psc but i think cable is going to wipe them out anyway, garden hose vs fire hose, so i moved on but the letter requesting payment brings back my contempt for bestweb and andy.
Issues:
I had a very bad time with them, I work at home one day a week, so that's when I mainly use the service.
My uptime was about 50%. When service was down, I would call and they would tell me that verizon would take care of it and usually in a few days it would work again but only for about a week or two.
Customer service was usually very nice and I requested refunds and got some promises that I would get credit for when the dsl was down but that never happened. They said I did not call them with the status of the service often enough and closed the verizon calls, What? So, I have a life and may only use the service one day a week, should I have checked and complained every day, it appears so. I thought they could monitor the status of my dsl modem, since I usually left the modem on but they later said that was not possible and refused a refund.
I fought them for the refund but they told me that my home/consumer service had a no/zero service level agreement, glad ConEd does not have the same policy.
I replied that bestweb can take my $49 and not provide any service(zero uptime); they said yes, that was part of 'my' agreement.
So, now I'm mad and again. Anyone else?
Once I told them I was going to contact the psc they canceled my service, not that it affected me since dial up via att was my alternative, but that was rude and unprofessional.
I have the numerous emails to/from them and if you have a similar issue, let me know. I was hesitant to contact the psc as my grandiose visions had them going out of business and job losses and I did not want that for what was PERHAPS an issue that was not in their control.
Aftermath:
now I use verizon and pay $10 less and my uptime is now about 100% but once cable comes online, bestweb and verizon better up the speed or they are toast.
From what I'm reading, they are hard to cancel, so just email andy@bestweb and say 'psc'.
I tried to temper my anger for the lack of customer appreciation by worstweb; I'm glad I had dialup via att for work, otherwise no work at home last summer and to pay $49 for that would really be sad. (It was $39 till they told me it was upped to $49, I replied I have a contract for 12 months @$39, sorry...should have booted them then and now they want some more $'s after they booted me, likely not.....my credit rating is 100% and I'll mess with them w/lawyers and spend way more then what issue is worth before that changes or i give them $0.000001...Listening andy, please reply).
Later worstweb, your days seem to be numbered, maybe your strategy is to 'milk it' before cable crushes you but I don't think you are that smart.
As for me I'm boiling but they are not worth my time but please reply if you have a similar issue and want to elevate it to the psc......bob777@hotmail.com.
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Review by poulo
Posted: 6.7 years ago
member for 7.9 years, 16 visits, last login: 4.1 years ago
Carmel,Putnam,NY
$56 per month
"Responsive front end for VZ DSL"
"Techies not all totally on the ball"
"Good, solid, local"
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I've had DSL from Bestweb here in Carmel since it was first offered, and their dialup for some 5 years before that. I'm sorry so many here have had bad experiences, but mine have been good. Occasionally I'll get a techie who knows less than me, but that's due to youth; mostly they are consciencous and knowledgeable. The worst was a woman once who wanted to nail me for spamming. I showed her the mail in question was a spam _report_ I had sent in to their own abuse department! She promised to get back to me...
We lost service for quite a while due to the 9/11 attacks, but like almost all DSL issues I've had with BW, that was a VZ problem. Usually it is a pleasure to deal with BW; I imagine dealing directly with VZ wouldn't be nearly so smooth.
I can understand how some decry that BW holds to rigid contractual terms. I had a touch of that myself regarding an auto renewal of my yearly dialup plan that snuck up on me. BW reps wouldn't budge, so I wrote to Andy, company president, politely explaining that there was a misunderstanding, that I indeed had attempted to serve notice that I might be leaving and needed to go month-to-month. He wrote back not only granting my request, but extending extra gratuities to me. After I tried RCN, which totally bombed, I went back to BW and have been there for some 3 years.
Speeds also are fine. I often download at some 720kb; uploads are of course much slower. The price recently raised due to a tax ruling, but again that was completely out of BW's hands.
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Review by pdog3
Posted: 7.3 years ago
member for 8.7 years, 89 visits, last login: 5.7 years ago
Atchison,Atchison,KS
$41 per month (month by month)
about 10 days
"Decent speeds"
"Bad installation coordination"
"Good value for the money"
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Originally had Sprint Broadband. Was one of the fortunate ones who actually had reasonably good luck with them - must not have been too many people in this sector.
Anyway, when my yearly contract expired, Sprint decided to up the monthly fee $10/month, and only $5/mo if we ditched earthlink as our news/mail provider - all in all close to $60/month. Of course this didn't sit to well with me, so decided to check out other options in the area. Earthlink was running a $41.95/mo, no installation, modem, or contract fees (think this may be a nation wide promotion - where available, of course). Decided to try them out. The sales rep indicated that would be contacted by the cable provider in 24 to 48 hours.
In this area, Time Warner is the cable provider for the service. Encountered a few problems with the coordination of the installation. They didn't call to set up an appointment. When I called back earthlink to ask for their help, the customer svc. rep. put me on hold on and off for 20 minutes as they tried to find out where my order got dropped on Time Warner's end. This went on for nearly two weeks, when finally someone came out and installed the service. (Perhaps I was too patient, though was not completely betting the farm the the installation hassle was going to be indicative of the internet service).
Once the installation was completed, it has been reasonably smooth sailing. Download peak speeds are not quite as fast as I had with SBB, however, the downloads are more repeatable without the packet loss (800 - 1200 kb/s). Uploads are considerably faster, too (200-500 kb/s) (anyone familiar with SBB knows this is certainly an issue).
All in all, earthlink has been good value for the money. Being a hick from OZ, kinda disappointed that the KS based Sprint let me down...in the end, Adam Smith could have foretold the future of this experience.
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Review by yonah
Posted: 7.3 years ago
member for 7.4 years, 43 visits, last login: 1 year ago
White Plains,Westchester,NY
$40 per month (12 month contract)
Verizon
CLEC party: Verizon
"Reliable Connection, close to promised B/W, Quick Install"
"Cancelation procedures"
"A Good value, if you don't need the tech support"
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I was shocked to find so many bad reports
about BestWeb. I had their service for about 13 months, and had no
problems whatsoever, save 2:
- My original contract entitled me to a Static IP, but I didn't
request one until after their pricing changed. They wanted me to pay an additional $5/mo. for a static ip. After a quick call to billing dept where I pointed out that it was included in my contact, they fixed the problem, and reversed the charges.
- I recently cancelled my service with them, because I want to get
AT&T Local phone service and I need to order DSL with AT&T. My contract
ended June 8th, but when I called in late May, they told me I need to
give them 30 days cancellation notification. I then offered to cancel
immediately, thinking that my cancellation date would be beyond my
contract - but they wouldn't let me do this, so I just waited.
Other than those two problems, I have had no problems with them. My
downstream was a promised 640k, and I consistently averaged 400K
according to C|Net's download test, which isn't really perfect. The only
outages I have had were planned outages that I was informed of in
advance.
I even reccomended them to other people, including my brother-in-law
who continues to use them free of problems. Although many complained
about tech support issues, I really didn't have much need for them, as I
am an IT professional.
I hope that AT&T gives me service that is just as good.
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Review by emmix
Posted: 7.4 years ago
member for 7.4 years, 359 visits, last login: 4 days ago
New York,New York,NY
$39 per month (12 month contract)
about 45 days
"Worst customer service I’ve ever seen, no respect for the customers and improper billing practices."
"Bestweb must be stopped."
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In February 2001 I've contracted Bestweb to provide DSL service for the 39.95$ a month. In February 2002 my 1 Year contract expired. I've called the company and rep assured me that I'm going to continue receiving services for the same price 39.95 a month. In appx. April 2002 I received a bill from bestweb for 49.95. Few days after I've received a bill for another ~40 or 45$ retroactively charging me an additional 10$ for months February through May (February was prorated). When I've called the company, the answer was... just price increase. They've claimed that a letter informing about an increase was sent long ago and I should have received it, which I never did!(either by mail or e-mail). Couple of weeks later I called the bestweb and asked representative to cancel my account, but it wasn't the end of it... Bestweb continued to bill and eventually sent me a letter that my account will go to collections. I've called the billing department on 6/28/02 and different representative (whose name I've already wrote down) told me that according to the contract, no oral cancellations will be accepted and my account will not be cancelled until they will receive it in writing, which I did on the same date. As a result, bestweb charged me with a late fees, interest, two additional months of service, and retroactive price increase back to February....and my account is in collections.
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Review by benanav
Posted: 7.4 years ago
member for 5.5 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.5 years ago
Yorktown Heights,Westchester,NY
$54 per month
Verizon
"This service sucks. Watch out for these guys"
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Watch out for this company! If you have an problems whatsover they will not
give you any kind of refund of service. I have cancelled my contract and they are trying to say that they will still charge me for an additional month because I need to give 30 days notice. My initial contract says no such thing and terms of agreement on the site say exactly the opposite. The following is the excerpt from the site:
"In the event of cancellation, you will not receive a refund for any unused time on your account, but you will not be charged for further services."
The technical support cannot help you with anything but the most obvious things. If you have any problems they cannot help you. I finally made the switch to verizon and haven't had any problems. Plus the speed of the connection is %50 faster!
My service hasn't been working for 2 months and they still want to charge me!
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Review by gallde6
Posted: 7.6 years ago
member for 7.6 years, 7 visits, last login: 185 days ago
Tarrytown,Westchester,NY
$40 per month (12 month contract)
about 100 days
Verizon
CLEC party: Verizon
"Good value, reliable, easy reach to tech support."
"Weak customer-relationship handling, usual troubles with ILEC."
"Worth waiting out startup delays"
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Ordered March 2001, started service in June. They were first to supply DSL to me after Telocity/NorthPoint and Flashcom both dropped me. Verizon said no service yet available in my area (two blocks from my CO), but BestWeb said they could provide it. Then, just as they were going to connect, Verizon told BestWeb there was no more circuit space in their DSLAM, but they were going to add more "Real Soon Now". I walked over to my CO, and asked a guy there, and he said there was plenty of space, that they had just qualified new equipment. I told BestWeb, and they confronted Verizon, and suddenly were able to get me a connection.
There were other Verizon-based problems, too, with a "backup" DSL order I had placed on another incoming line and then cancelled getting confused with the BestWeb order and getting disconnected as well. At one point, I had two working DSL connections, then suddenly none until they discovered the screwup. This happens when several bureaucarcies are involved.
A month later, BestWeb announced that Verizon has asked them to put customers on a dynamic IP schedule, but I needed a static one to connect from work, so I called BestWeb and they assigned me one, no problem.
A few short outages, but none long enough to be memorable. Consistent speed approaching the "theoretical" 768/128 for my account.
Tech Support Reps are very young, but I can always talk to one within a couple minuted of calling, even late at night They're enthusiastic and they know how to get answers/action when needed. Some -- including me -- have experienced non-callbacks from escalated events, but you can call them to remind them and they'll get back to you.
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