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 Review by cowboy 
UPDATED: 2 days ago
member for 9.3 years, 2864 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
 $45 per month (12 month contract)
 Verizon (ex GTE)
 "Quick & easy ordering, techs on dslr, static IP, no port blocks..."
 "Website doesn't always play well with Mozilla/Firefox"
 "Thus far, a great value for the $!"
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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2009-06-23 Wow, almost 5 years ... A lot has changed:
+ I moved houses and wound up in a rural Verizon area, but kept DSL Extreme 
+ Wound up with 8 IPs, 3M/768 for $57.83 (inclusive)
This week, I was notified that I had until 2009-08-01 to move my service to the new plans - none of which include static IPs (on of the biggest reasons I chose them) 
After alot of searching, I wound up paying *alot* more for COVAD - using the same DSLAM that DSL Extreme wouldn't move me to for some reason (they wont say).
After the new dry-run is shaken out, I'll consider Speak Easy or other rational players (cheaper, but by alot) - but thought for initial setup, the fewer players, the better.
I've dropped DSL Extreme's rating somewhat due to this issue, it remains to be seen if it a fight with COVAD, or a harbinger of further changes to come at DSL Extreme.
I would still highly recommend them for the average user, but will no longer do that for the more technically include, or power user.
Original review:
$42.95+fee Promo deal on 1500-3000/384-416, 2 static IPs, providing my own modem (Netopia 3574W). I'm fairly far from the CO, and just hope I can actually get close to those speeds.
2004-07-02 Got home last night and while doing the final modem updates, noticed I had SYNC (and even Surf) I'm not yet sure about the profile, but I'm SYNCing at the published rate.
Side note: Its hard to see any improvement in speed when one is using traffic shaping set at the older (1.5/256) rates !!! A quick change to the script, and things are *MUCH* better
2004-07-01 Waiting ever so impatiently for SBC/PacBell to activate the line.
2004-07-01 Spent too much time reading the DSL Extreme forum to find some nice info -
* They have a good presence in the dslextreme forum
* It was trivial to add the second IP via their website
* It is as easy to remove the outbound port 25 (smtp/mail) block
* They'll do RDNS for a $25 setup fee (per order, not IP)
2004-06-30 Tried to check my order status via their website, but only received an error popup I mailed their support and was quickly notified that they were working on it and it would be fixed by the next morning (actually corrected a few hours later ). I did, however, shortly thereafter receive (via email and phone call) an install date of 2004-07-07. The mail info included everything I needed to setup my own modem in bridged mode for one of the static IPs.
2004-06-29 Ordered service via website after spending alot of time perusing DSLR and calling the local providers (including Covad - bad phone staff) and MegaPath... DSLExtreme seems to have a very nice niche betwixt the cheap and luser based ISP/ILEC and the nicer, but much more expensive CLEC.
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 Review by jadinolf
UPDATED: 2 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 2196 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Ojai,Ventura,CA
$24 per month (12 month contract)
 about 14 days
AT&T
"Reliability and tech support"
"No dialup included in price"
"Fantastic"
| Pre Sales information:
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Ordered 384/1500 for $12.95
Install was nice and clean
2Wire 1800HG, 2Wire USB adapter, 2Wire HPNA adapter. (5 computers)
Sorry, I don't know all the buzz words so I can't answer everything..
All I know is that all is perfect with DSL Extreme.
I have been with DSL Extreme for a little over a month now and have had absolutely no problems nor do I anticipate any.
Update 03/05/07:
I have been with DSLX for almost 9 months now and all is still well. There have been only two minor outages during this period.
Very close to 11 months with DSLX and all continues to be well. No problems at all. (5/11/2007)
I year of DSLX now and I have renewed my contract. All continues to be well.
8-21-2007 I was just thinking today, when is the last time you sent an IM to the general manager of your ISP and received a reply? Did you ever do it with AT&T?
I can do it any day of the week with DSLX. A great reason to sign up with them or... isn't that important to you? It is to me and I love it.
1-8-2008 Still running fine. So happy I stayed with DSL Extreme.
5-1-2008 Here I am again. Have just renewed for the third year and am very happy with my monthly cost as well as the reliability of my DSL.
I recommend DSL Extreme to anyone not happy with their present ISP..
6-7-2008 Back again. I have been helping friends who have AT&T with their Internet problems. When they call tech support, they get shuttled off to some foreign country and on many occasions, the tech support people are difficult or impossible to understand. Not so with DSL Extreme where the people speak North American. What a pleasure.
Well, I "reenlisted" on July 1 and all continues to be great. New monthly cost is $23.83. Bear in mind that I'm a guy who is on line probably 18 hours or more a day so if anyone would notice problems, I would. No complaints at all.
9-18-2008 No loss of DSL at all.
Finding my way through the new email setup. I will resolve the unusual things I have observed. For the record, I am usually not resistant to change but I prefer the old way this time.
June 1, 2009
I got my renewal notice this morning. With a contract, my monthly cost remains the same ($23.83) so I re-enlisted.
I am very satisfied with the service I get from DSLX. Have only had a few very minor email problems and that's about it.
Again, I encourage anyone who is not happy with their current ISP to give DSL Extreme a try.
7/2/2009
Well, here we go with another year with DSL Extreme. Hopefully, this year will be as uneventful as the previous years.
I sometimes wonder why people have so many problems with DSLX. as reported on their forum. I also wonder why they don't call tech support instead of taking a shot at the ISP on line. Oh well.
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 Review by timburke
UPDATED: 23 days ago
member for 4 years, 376 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Plainfield,Will,IL
$32 per month (12 month contract)
about 13 days
AT&T
"Great price, fast for the money."
"Not very reliable, connection will often drop out."
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Signed up for service in mid-April, was working about 2 weeks later, only due to AT&T having a lock on my account, as I used to have DSL through AT&T.
I'm using my old Speedstream 5100B from when I was using AT&T DSL, and it seems to be working good.
From what I can see, DSLX is using AT&T's backbone for everything - my IP is an AT&T DSL IP. Latency is good, ~10ms to a dedicated server I have in Chicago.
However, at times, the connection will drop out, I'm guessing that's because of my distance from the CO though.
All in all, good value, well worth the $30/month.
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Review by whocares256
UPDATED: 30 days ago
member for 7.3 years, 59 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Plano,Collin,TX
$62 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
"Verizon Fios with out the Verizon Billing Issues."
"None Yet."
"FIOS IT Just works."
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I have had DSLExtreme Fiber Package since 5/12. Is is rock solid. I have just requested an upgrade to the 20/20 which is the next step up.(Better bang for the buck. Only $5 more than 20/5.) I already had an ONT from when I was with Verizon. When my install day arrived the tech came in and checked to make sure everything worked. I had a router and network already set up and hooked up. One bad thing with Verizon is they want to give you their equipment past the ONT (router). My internet was working even before Verizon stopped by, All I had to do was move the network cable from my cable modem to the ONT.
Upgrading services with DSLExtreme is easy. DSLExtreme mentioned that I was one of the first customers to get Fiber. I saw DSLExtreme Internet here on DSL Reports.
»DSL Extreme Launches Rebranded FiOS
Followup comments:  ikko
join:2003-10-25
| How about speed test ? Hello
It's good. I am thinking to change ISP from Verizon FIOS, too. Then let me know how much fast on it. Please do speed test.
When I did speed test from Verizon FIOS to DSLExtreme site as below, »speedtest.dslextreme.com/
I only always got around 5Mbit/s on my FIOS 10/2 package.
Thank you. | |
| whocares256
join:2002-03-10
Plano, TX
 ·DSL EXTREME
| Speedtest
ATT Speedtest |
Depending on which speed test site you go through you will get a different result. I can get 20mbps down, if you do not get your full speed rating that you have it is more than likely that you are going through a bottleneck somewhere between the server and your isp. That is my situation. I can down Linux off of a Linux mirror and max out my bandwidth. It just depends on the route of you connection and who your internet provider is.
Regards, | |
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 Review by DavePR
UPDATED: 33 days ago
member for 1 year, 218 visits, last login: 8 days ago
Canyon Country,Los Angeles,CA
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
AT&T
"Security, Uptime, BBR Forum Presence"
"Help sometimes hard to find"
"Squeaky wheel gets the grease, Bobby."
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Smooth sailing for the past few months. I am updating the review at the behest of BBR. I generally am invisible unless I am whining. I do lurk.
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Review by Randypinball
UPDATED: 35 days ago
member for 79 days, 16 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Chatsworth,Los Angeles,CA
$34 per month
about 14 days
"Fantastic tech support, good people, great prices, so far so good."
"Well nothing about DSLEXTREME its just that ATT makes it very difficult for DSLEX to get things going quickly and smoothly."
"After having to wait over 2 weeks due to AT&T NOT DSLEX I am Very happy that I fired Time Warner."
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So far after one full month of full service I am very pleased and impressed with DSLEXTREME, It feels like im back in the late 90's when ISP's really cared about getting their customers up and running on the internet. Their tech support staff have been great, always answering my questions and not bssing me, they never sugarcoated anything they always said what was up and explained why A ERROR 50 came up saying that at&t has to install a link between them and dslextreme a leasing line etc... Anyway it took 2 weeks and I was ok with it, I knew it wasn't dslextremes fault and i trust Leo Laporte anyway who recommended them. Finally the day came I got my Modem, insructions and within 15 minutes i was on the internet, the speeds were as stated almost 6000/768 mines about 5100/650 which is fine for me, because most sites limit you to 1mb or less download speeds anyway. And My theory about Just because Road runner gave me speeds of 25000/1.2up it didnt mean I got even near 2mb to ever use it and I am also noticing that my downloads are fast clean very little pausing at all. It seems to me that DSL is a better way to go to save $$ get great speeds and consistant accurate speeds, unlike cable internet which i had since it came out in 1999 in the Valley of Los Angeles. Kudos to the way DSLextreme runs its business. SO Far so good....... ill update..
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 Review by zbestwun2001
UPDATED: 36 days ago
member for 3.5 years, 515 visits, last login: 11 days ago
Van Nuys,Los Angeles,CA
$34 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
SBC
"Realiabily, Price and bang for the buck."
"Long hold time for phone support/ The DSLX forum is faster!"
"Go for it"
| Pre Sales information:
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UPDATE: May 29, 2009
I still think DSL rocks!
I have not one complaint.!
George and the crew rock, thank you for your service.
Steve
__________________________________________________________
I have been with DSL Extreme going into my third year.
I have no complaints really, occasional glitches etc. but that is normal.
A great deal and much better than SBC ....I get 5 megs. consistently down and 634 up also. With that great upload speed my VOIP line works so well.
What do I have to complain about?
SBC (AT&T now) was ok when I started with them but after a while, the service started to deteriorate.
I began to be on first name basis with ASI techs they were here so much.
Then they tried to pull some shenanigans when I didn't renew my contract.
Tried and tried to talk me into signing back up.
I just couldn't put up with them any longer..
As far as DSL X:
I see no drawbacks to this ISP in anyway...They are polite, and this board is extremely helpful...
The DSL Reports forum for DLSX is extremely useful the the techs are quick to get to you.
George the GM is on the board all day long to assist.
I'd get it!!!
Steve
Followup comments: 
Cheatedby DSLX
@dslextreme.com
| DSL Extreme's dishonesty I have been a DSL Extreme customer for about 5 years. The service is adequate, but the company is rather unscrupulous. I recently found out that in the period of time I have been using them, they have significantly lowered their rates. That's a good thing. The only trouble is that they never informed me. When I called them about it, they immediately gave me the new rate, but insisted that it was okay to overcharge me before then because I did not know I was being overcharged. They therefore refused any refund. They did admit that they would have notified me if their rates had gone up! Find a provider that is less sneaky. | |
| |
Arty
@dslextreme.com | Re: DSL Extreme's dishonesty Similar experience. Annoying but I don't have time to deal with it. | |
| |
Anon Name
@dslextreme.com
| when you signed up for the service you agreed to pay the monthly payment. its your responsibility to keep up with price decreases/lower monthly deals. ive never seen a business go out of their way to make less money. same thing happened to me, but i have no negative opinion about it.
in general, lower prices are to attract new customers (i.e. when a certain plan is a low price but only for the first x amount of months). by you already being a customer means they did their job and you justified the price for the service at the time. be happy that they lower their prices and allow current subscribers to downgrade, ive seen isps that make you sign up all over again to do that. | |
|
USC_Rob
@dslextreme.com
| The exact same thing happened to me I not at all happy that I was not informed of the lower rates, but somehow the knowledge that the same thing happened to others makes it sting a little less. Otherwise I am looking forward to a faster connection, while paying roughly half what I have been paying for dsl. | |
| |
zbestwun2001
join:2005-12-08
Van Nuys, CA | Re: The exact same thing happened to me I think I am paying four or five bucks more a month for the same plan that I did on my first year.
If you pay for the whole year upfront you do get a better deal also.
zb1 | |
|
boomerich
@rr.com
| Beware! DSL Extereme got the best of me.. I payed a year in advance because I am out of town a lot and when in town need the internet,now.
I was turned off after the year with no notice,I called service to get back on line and was told that I owed two months service,because of the dependability needed I switched to cable.
Six months later I received a bill for one hundred seventy seven dollars,I called and complained to a superviser and she told me that if they didn't receive their payment they would ruin my credit.
I payed but will stear clear of this company. I hope that this will help others that may be thinking of DSL Extreme.BEWARE... | |
|
year 7 but then
@dslextreme.com
| service yea service has been fine, dsl connection & tech support wise, but service from the dsl extreme biz office is a bit murky & confusing, especially those invoices.
i've been with them for 7 years but the simple request to renew for another entire year & pay for it in advance, I couldn't get a price quote from them this time around.
So, I'm giving up and will give att a try. gosh, att they want the biz...they're quite eager to switch me over. hey they own the line anyway, so I'll give em a try & not have to deal with dsl's invoices.
not sure where george is, he is/was like the most helpful manager at dsl. | |
| | 
dslx_gm
Premium,VIP
join:2002-12-26
Winnetka, CA
| Re: service I am still here. 
If you are having an issue with your invoices please let me know. We have a support forum here on BBR that I visit frequently and DSLExtreme employees provide support through. I am sure we can quickly resolve any issues you are having.
The link to our forum is: »DSL Extreme
--
George
General Manager
DSL Extreme
Will work for reviews.  | |
| Devil 2 U
join:2004-06-14
North Hollywood, CA
·DSL EXTREME
| Don't blame DSL Extreme if you don't manage your A/C If you dont bother to keep tabs on your account (like finding out when your contract is up for renewal), do not place the blame on DSL Extreme for charging you the same. Do you think AT&T or Verizon would automatically give your the lower pricing? I don't think so. All you had to do was login to your account and check your invoice history to see when your 1 year contact was up. Simply select a new contract to get the best deal.
That said, the person who stated that DSL Extreme turned their service off after the 1 year pre-payment deal does have a legit gribe. Did DSL Extreme send an email to your address on file before the expiration? If so, oh well, you did not act. If not, DSL Extreme needs to remey that situation with better communication.
I have been a customer for about 4 years and am very happy with the connection, technical support, service, and price.
| |
| DataPump
join:2002-02-27
Gardena, CA
1 edit | So far so good I've been with DSLextreme for quite a while, probably since around 2000 (I think they started up in 1999). So far not too many problems (knock wood). A couple outages, but that's going to happen with any ADSL, cable, T1, OC1, satellite data, etc. service (seen it happen and have had to deal with it, even $20,000/month SONET data service can get stuck). Other than that the data moves, DSLextreme sends me a bill, I pay it, they don't bug me and I don't bug them. That reliability plus the fact the two (I think) times I had to call about a problem I didn't have to speak to someone in another country reading off a script asking if my monitor was plugged in and I got to speak directly to an actual network engineer who had r/w enable on the routers.
I think that method of dealing with contracts is pretty common. Similar strategies with mobile phones, certificates of deposit, satellite radio, etc. You sign up for a contract and when that contract ends depending on what the contract said if you don't contact them they either auto-renew a contract or switch to month-to-month. If the contracts ends and they aren't contacted or paid and can't contact you, then the service is disconnected, etc. I guess it would be nice if DSLextreme had one of those auto-dialer things like XM Radio has that calls you every day when the contract is up to bug remind you to call them.
I agree that type of arrangement can be a hassle sometimes but I think that's the just the way most businesses operate these days. When a contract is up it's best to contact which ever company even if you just want to cancel (and that might mean a chat with "customer retention" at some companies) or you might be dinged one way or another.
EDIT: Clarified who the "they" I was talking about, etc. is to minimize the confusion. | |
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Review by Johncal
UPDATED: 37 days ago
member for 40 days, 6 visits, last login: 18 days ago
San Pedro,Los Angeles,CA
$21 per month
about 5 days
AT&T
"Good technical support. More helpful than local phone company."
"Limited by deficiencies in local phone company's wiring in my area."
"Best option for my location."
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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In San Pedro, CA, my options for high speed internet are Cox Cable, DSL Extreme and AT&T. I had Cox a few years ago, but its cost was too high for the so-so speed and unpredictable pauses that I experienced. I switched over to SBC (now AT&T) DSL, and performance was as good or better than the Cox cable, but cost only 1/3 as much.
After moving to a new neighborhood 3 years ago, AT&T/SBC said that it could not or would not connect DSL at the new address because the connection was too poor and did not meet their standards. End of story - no further explanation was available. After hearing a radio advertisement, I signed up with DSL Extreme, and promptly received DSL service at the address that AT&T said was impossible to connect to DSL. And, of course, it was provided over AT&T's own wiring. This illustrates DSL Extreme's primary advantage, in my opinion: customer service.
Apparently, the phone service in my area is somewhat antiquated, and the best download speed that I can get is about 640 kbps. Last month, DSL Extreme tried to get AT&T to switch my phone service from a Central Office connection to a Remote Terminal, which is a neighborhood box with a fiber-optic connection to the phone office. However, AT&T was not able to do that. One day, I tried for a couple of hours to find someone in AT&T who could explain the hardware limitations that prevent getting a better connection, but there were no answers. The AT&T customer service people were nice enough, but they just did not know anything, and they did not have access to the type of information that I was seeking. This illustrates DSL Extreme's biggest disadvantage: they can get the phone company to cooperate up to a point, but ultimately, they are limited by the local phone service.
Some editorializing: A recent news story said that more people in the US have cell phone service without a land line than vice versa. Based on my recent experience with my local phone company, I think that this trend is bound to continue. Internet service is a business where land lines could have an advantage over cell phones, but it seems that AT&T is indifferent to that market in my area. Other communities in the Los Angeles area, with other phone and cable companies, have fiber optic service, and people can obtain internet speeds up to 15Mbps - but not where I live. According to news stories on the internet, AT&T is spending lots of money to upgrading its wireless network. Land line upgrades do not seem to have as much priority.
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Review by mike_f
UPDATED: 39 days ago
member for 2.4 years, 156 visits, last login: 30 days ago
Hawthorne,Los Angeles,CA
$23 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
AT&T
"Quick self serve install, solid connection, decent services"
"Inconsistent tech support"
"Still better than the other DSL alternatives"
| Pre Sales information:
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Due to the high cost of cable internet access I only considered AT&T, Sonic.net and DSLExtreme in my area (metropolitan Los Angeles). Sonic.net had good reviews but some cost issue, AT&T is now the arrogant monopoly so I went with DSLX at the basic 768k service (upgraded to 1.5m).
The modem arrived by overnight shipping, plugged it in and it synced IMMEDIATELY - impressively fast provisioning! I chose not to install the provided software, and no PPPoE 'dialer' is needed since they use DHCP. Set up a LAN connection (after my firewall s/w was verified) and was online quickly.
Email service was OK but I use another provider (fastmail) for that; DSLX uses Google hosting now which I'm leery of. Personal web site hosting is basic - code your own HTML and upload it. UseNet access is above average, not too hard for that rating since all the big boys are eliminating the alt. groups or UseNet entirely.
I've only been disconnected (lost sync) a few times for short periods. Unfortunately tech support insists on reading their scripts, invoking the obvious (reboot your modem) and often refuses to escalate for more esoteric issues like excessive packet loss or latency.
Billing has been reliable but occasionally inscrutable - the descriptions on the invoice may not be helpful.
The company is very smart to participate in the forums here - more complex issues can get explained or resolved much better.
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Review by j0eco0l
Posted: 46 days ago
member for 2.9 years, 8 visits, last login: 46 days ago
Glendale,Los Angeles,CA
$35 per month (12 month contract)
AT&T
"Fast services, good hook ups"
"constant disconnects from services"
"Its okay at first then slowly dies off"
| Pre Sales information:
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When i first had dsl extreme it was very smooth and fast, but about a year later it got a lot disconnects and i am still getting them where it says the server could not find the host address or something, and when i called customer service all they said was that it was a problem with AT&T, my phone company, and so they said it would just go away, but even today it keeps on disconnecting my internet and im starting to wonder if this is dsl extreme's fault.
Followup comments: hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | 3rd Party ISPS this is the problem with 3rd Party ISPs they can pass the buck and you'd never know unless you signed up with ATT directly or another 3rd party ISP. | |
|
dslx_gm
Premium,VIP
join:2002-12-26
Winnetka, CA
| I would like to review your account. I apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced. I would like to review your account and see if I can assist.
Please feel free to send me a PM with your DSL Extreme account info.
Thanks
--
George
General Manager
DSL Extreme
Will work for reviews. | |
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