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 Review by Chester2 
member for 12.6 years, 1117 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 1.6 years ago
 Menlo Park,San Mateo,CA
 $55 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 6 days SBC "Super easy to set up." "Not as fast as my old cable modem." "NO LONGER Recommended!"
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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I recently moved. Previously I had @home-->ATT cable internet service. I was very happy with my cable service but for some reason they don't offer it in my new city. There are so many DSL choices and just as many horror stories I wasn't sure who to choose. Thanks to DSLreports for helping me narrow the field to the point where I just had to pick one. I went with DSLextreme. Their web site is faily informative and you can get their rate plans without having to send them an email.
I put in my order online Thursday evening. I received an email and a phone call the next day. I was told I would receive my self-install kit the following week and that my service would be turned on a week from Sunday. On Monday I received a call that my service would be active on Friday. My self-install kit arrived on Tuesday, I was out of town and found it at my door on Wednesday. I plugged the modem and settings into my computer and I had a connection to the 'Net.
I upload a lot of updates to my web server so I bumped the upload speed and got the 1500/256 service. Speed tests show I get 1300/244 fairly consistantly. My connection has been up 100% of the time for the 2 months I have been using the service.
The DSL Extreme news server has the largest number of groups I have seen and they keep posts for quite a while before they expire. The service is severely throttled so don't expect to download a lot of binaries.
I like playing games online with my friends so I enjoy the static IP.
The modem was free with a 12 month contract and since I did the self-install I didn't have to pay anything except the monthly service charges.
I highly recommed DSL Extreme. I liked my old cable modem better as it downloaded faster and didn't require any contract, but if you are like me and need DSL give DSL Extreme a look.
UPDATE 8/16/2011:
After 9 years with DSLExtreme I've moved on. I've been paying $54.95 a month for 3000/512 service with 5 static IPs. For the most part the service has worked well but the support has gone down hill. Support calls now go to India. I need more speed and have been thinking of cable internet as I've got the fastest service that DSLExtreme can offer me. The final straw was that port 25 became blocked and my servers could not send any mail. There is a simple check box in the DSLExtreme website to unblock port 25 but any time I clicked it my DSL service immediately stopped. Calls to India restored my service after making me jump through hoops for several hours of testing. I never did get port 25 restored as they didn't know what I was talking about. I've updated my ratings of DSLExtreme and can no longer recommend them.
I now have Comcast Business Class 12000/2000 service. It is a little more expensive at $74.95 for service with 5 static IPs but it is 4 times faster. I'll write a new review on this service.
Comments:
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Review by mattozan
member for 12.6 years, 92 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
lodged 1.7 years ago
- Sacramento,Sacramento,CA
- $27 per month
- (12 month contract)
- AT&T
- "Used to be a good, cheap broadband alternative"
- "Recent offshoring of call center has made it nightmarishly bad"
- "Can no longer recommend"
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Had 1500/384 mbps service with them for the last four years. Service was adequate the whole time. Three years ago my DSL modem stopped working (it was leftover from my previous ISP, Sonic.net, when I switched to DSLExtreme's service). Tech support helped me isolate the issue and I bought a new D-Link modem when that was shown to be the problem.
Just canceled service and things went downhill quite rapidly. Billing said I couldn't cancel until the end of my contract, otherwise I'd incur an early termination penalty. So on the day my contract expired, I went to cancel only to be told it can take up to THREE WEEKS (which will be billed!)
Then I received an email saying I had to return my leased DSL modem, or they would bill me $109. I didn't receive a modem from DSLExtreme when I first signed up, but they claim to have sent me one three years ago when tech support help me troubleshoot my dead Sonic.net modem.
No other ISP I know of requires the return of equipment that is three years old. Sonic.net didn't ask for their modem back, and it had only been one year! And to value a three-year-old DSL modem at $109 is just ridiculous. I didn't even ask for or agree to lease a modem from them--it was sent to resolve an issue I had already resolved myself!
Trying to call and talk about these multiple issues was an exercise in futility. As all call center operations (Billing, Sales, Tech Support) were moved from California to overseas in March 2011, no one could tell me anything useful or refer me to anyone more helpful (a glaring difference from the helpful tech support experience I had three years prior!)
This abysmal customer service has eclipsed their years of stalwart service. I can no longer recommend DSLExtreme, especially now that they've gutted their tech support and billing departments. Problems will no longer be resolved quickly and efficiently, but rather mired in call-tree and scripted-response hell.
I went from a satisfied customer of several years to a disappointed and disgruntled customer in just several days. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Comments:
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Review by mwrixton
member for 7.5 years, 50 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
lodged 1.7 years ago
- Salinas,Monterey,CA
- $23 per month
- (12 month contract)
- AT&T
- "Everything"
- "Nothing"
- "Excellent value"
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I recently renewed the contract. This will be the third year I have had service with DSL Extreme. 1500/384 package
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Review by protographer
member for 1.7 years, 17 visits, last login: 1.7 years ago
updated 1.7 years ago
- Oakland,Alameda,CA
- $18 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 30 days
- AT&T
- "Attractive price"
- "Still no internet service 26 days after order was placed."
- "DSL Extreme was unable to provide DSL after 26 days. Atrocious customer support will cost you time and leave you frustrated."
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I had been a loyal DSL Extreme customer for 3 years and recently moved. DSL Extreme has been unable to provide me with service after 26 days of waiting.
For the full thread of my issues, you can visit here: »[DSL] No DSL service after processing a move to a new apartment
DSL Extreme had worked decently for me in the past, and I was previously a satisfied customer. However, after dealing with trying to change service, I can no longer recommend their service and would go even further to warn potential customers to stay away and not waste time and money on this company. Apparently in March, most of the support staff in the USA was laid off and replaced by poorly-trained outsourced counterparts. I believe that the level of service that I have recently received is what a potential customer can expect from DSL Extreme and I think other reviews on dslreports.com confirm this.
I've wasted countless hours with DSL Extreme's customer support department and the lack of organizational and individual knowledge and coordination have left them incapable of troubleshooting and fulfilling the very basic request of providing DSL over a leased telephone line.
* DSL EXTREME CUSTOMER SUPPORT REPRESENTATIVES PROVIDED MISINFORMATION: I was misinformed several times in my communications with DSL Extreme's customer support staff.
- A Tier 2 representative told me that the DSL connection travels on a separate line once it is outside of my apartment. This seems to contradict reality. Isn't the whole point of DSL to make use of unused bandwidth on a telephone line outside of the normal voice frequencies?
- On multiple occasions, a Tier 1 representative said a Tier 2 representative would call within 30 minutes. This did not happen. I once waited about 24 hours to receive a call back. As one can imagine, it can be inconvenient to wait multiple times for a telephone call that does not arrive within the specified time window.
- A DSL Extreme representative said he'd place an order with their billing department for me. I waited 4 days for this order to be completed, but grew suspicious when I did not see a ticket for the order. The order was never placed by the DSL Extreme representative.
* DSL EXTREME CUSTOMER SUPPORT REPRESENTATIVES CANNOT UNDERSTAND REQUESTS
- I tried to confirm whether a disconnect/reconnect order had been placed on my account by a DSL Extreme representative who I had previously spoken with. The technical support representative interpreted this as a "NO SYNC" complaint and attempted to proceed with basic troubleshooting (power-cycle modem, etc)
* DSL EXTREME OPERATES SLOWLY: Records with AT&T, my local telephone provider, show a lag in 3 days between orders placed by DSL Extreme. There's no good reason for this time delay.
* DSL EXTREME CUSTOMER SUPPORT LACKS ORGANIZATION:
- Simply put, there's no coordination between customer incidents. Every time I contact the support department, I need to reconfirm basic account information - name, address, telephone number, account number. They also ask me for a callback number, even though it is listed on my account and I have provided this NUMEROUS times in previous trouble tickets. DSL Extreme's customer support staff is barely able to use information from other trouble tickets.
* DSL EXTREME'S DISORGANIZATION AND LACK OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE PREVENTS THEM FROM BEING ABLE TO TROUBLESHOOT ROUTINE PROBLEMS
- More than 45% (which is actually shockingly low) of American households have some sort of broadband service. I assume that DSL Extreme has many customers in California. Though there may be strange things going on in my case, given the pool of customers out there, I doubt that whatever issue is preventing me from connecting to the internet is unique. Supplying someone with a DSL connection is not rocket science, and DSL Extreme should have ample experience in this area. Yet somehow, due to a combination of individual and organizational ineptitude on DSL Extreme's behalf, I still do not have DSL after 26 days of waiting.
- DSL Extreme has not been able to determine a root cause of why I don't have a DSL connection.
CONCLUSION:
I have no doubt that the few local, California-based DSL Extreme employees on this board (I've dealt with Ivan and Steve) are doing the best that they can. They are, unfortunately, a small portion of DSL Extreme's customer support network and ultimately that network has failed to provide the most routine of services that DSL Extreme provides. I think that DSL Extreme's parent company, Ikano, made a grab for short term profitability in their bungled effort to cut costs by reducing support staff without considering long-term consequences. It's one thing to oursource, but it's another thing to outsource without preparing your Filipino colleagues with useful information or a system for actually solving your customer's problems.
DSL Extreme and Ikano are trying to push towards offering cloud computing services for businesses, but they can't even get past offering an internet connection. How are businesses going to compute in the cloud if they can't even connect to it?
Comments:
 | | RE:Still no internet service 26 days after order was place I started to refuse to go through the whole confirmation game.
I already gave you the phone # (why do I enter the phone # into the system and then get asked what my phone # is anyways??) and the support ticket #. | |
| | | Similar experience Same experience for me. Move was a disaster. Service was out for a month. Misinformation the whole way. First person that I spoke to never even logged my call. Things tanked after they off-shored support, as far as I can tell. | |
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Review by Yavatar
member for 1.7 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
lodged 1.7 years ago
- Mentone,San Bernardino,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- (12 month contract)
- Verizon
- "Stable. Customer service used to be great and U.S. based."
- "Long phone wait times. Pain to get escalation."
- "Service has gone down hill dramatically. Management doesn't get customer service."
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After talking to a manager yesterday who doesn't UNDERSTAND their customer service gave really crappy customer service, I'm leaving a negative review along with my experiences.
The following is taken from a complaint I had filled with the BBB because after two weeks of constantly calling them I was REALLY mad that they had repeatedly dropped the ball in reestablishing my DSL plus they had billed me even though my service was out.
(Note that BBB only allows a certain number of characters when filing online, thus this will seem artificially compact.)
On 7/28, after modem reset was unable to connect to DSLX network although I had a solid light indicating my DSL line was up. Contacted DSL Extreme by phone and despite my repeated explanations that the problem was with my modem, the tech ran me through a series of configurations with Windows. After approximately an hour I asked him if he could verify what the modem settings. Read off modem settings which were verified ok. I finally forcibly (tech wanted to continue troubleshoot) requested that I be put in touch someone who could troubleshoot issue with my modem. I was given a ticket # and informed my ticket would be escalated & Tier 2 would be in touch with me. Talked to Mike briefly on Friday & again Saturday. Told Verizon had did something to circuit due to phone line canceled/out of service. Line never was. Finally said he would have to have service reprovisioned. Assumed that would be taken care of & waited for new service date. On 8/2, still no call or e-mail on new service date. Contacted DSLX again to find out date. Found out no info on this in system & have to wait for Tier 2 tech to call me. Someone called back, do not know if he was Tier 2. Told me DSL reorder was never processed by Mike, would reorder. Followed up again on 4th and 5th as still no updates. On 5th, contacted billing. DSLX apologized and promised call within 1 hour. Tech called 3-4 hrs later. Requested refund today this month's charges as no service/info. Refuse. Demanded Mgr call me. NO CALL.
Talked to Katherine, who is a manager, yesterday (8/29). (I will give points at least that she tried to reach me more than once although this should have happened much sooner.) I rehashed the situation that occurred. I REPEATEDLY mentioned the crappy customer service during the conversation. I never received an apology from her. The only thing she offered was a credit of the time my service was out. She had access to all of the history of the multiple tickets (every time I contacted DSL Extreme, they would give me ANOTHER ticket DESPITE my mentioning my open ticket!?) but still, no apologies. I SPECIFICALLY asked about receiving compensation for the crappy service and having to repeatedly contact them. All she kept repeating was I would get a credit for the downtime and that would be applied to NEXT MONTH's billing. I can see where their priority is...
I originally signed up with DSL Extreme because they had GREAT customer service reviews. Having dropped to a 'B' rating, you think they would take a page from Starbucks who realized growth without focus on customer service does not equal success. Try visiting Home Depot sometime to get a clue on customer service DSLX. They aren't turning a profit just by selling a lot of stuff... it is because the employees are empowered to give great customer service which is the >#1 focus.
If you are looking to sign up with DSL Extreme. I would not until they figure out what their priority should be. Find somebody else or just go straight to Verizon. I dare say their support is better when you get to the point you are cussing them out even if you shouldn't have gotten that far.
Comments:
| | Wow I'm sorry to hear of your experience with DSL Extreme, but it sounds eerily similar to mine. Intensely frustrating. | |
| | Reviews:
 ·DSL EXTREME
| Re: Wow I had this problem once before. Supposedly something on Verizon's side was showing I modified something on my phone service. Bullsquishy. I haven't modified anything on the line.
DSLX was really great then about taking care of me though... So sad to see their service gone so far downhill. | |
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Review by vbeauchamp
member for 1.7 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
lodged 1.7 years ago
- Pasadena,Los Angeles,CA
- $20 per month
- (12 month contract)
- AT&T
- "NOTHING"
- "THE ABSOLUTE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH"
- "BEWARE, AVOID, STAY AWAY!!!"
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In a simple attempt to save a few dollars per month I have bought myself tons of headaches with literally the worst company I have ever dealt with. Customer service is non-existent with endless "tiers" based in the Philippines. Seeing this "where our clients matter most" makes me sick!!!
AT&T accidentally shut off my phone line two weeks ago and had it back up the same day: I let DSL Extreme know and instead of reconnecting they said it would be TWO WEEKS to reconnect (while AT&T could reconnect the same day). Now two weeks has past and I still have no service and when I call tech support or billing they say there is an "error 50" or (crowded line) so they can't turn it on and they can't tell me when it will be on again! I have asked them repeatedly to PLEASE just release me from my contract so that I can reestablish my service with AT&T and get back to business (I don't even want a refund of the unused month) but they refuse stating that I will have a prepayment penalty. I am at my wits end, if I do not get resolution quickly I will reconnect with AT&T and sue DSL Extreme for damages in small claims court (assuming I can actually find a corporate agent to in the States to serve).
STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY!!!
Comments:
| | LOL Damages? On what? A $30 a month connection? Have you reviewed the terms of the contract? Of course not. If you had you'd know the maximum liability is... $30
Pay your phone bill on time and you won't have this problem. | |
| | | AT&T This is more of AT&T's fault | |
| | | RE: Error 50 Hi vbeauchamp,
I'm sorry for the re-connection trouble that you're experiencing. Could you please PM me you account info, so that I can research this with our Ordering Department and see if there's anything that can be done to expedite the connection? Thank you.
Best regards,
Ivan D.
DSL Extreme Technical Support | |
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Review by joe.lahood
(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 1.7 years ago
- Oak Park,Ventura,CA
- $33 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 10 days
- AT&T
- "Cancellation issue"
- "They disconnected me before the contract date"
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I went on line to cancel my service and I specifically stated it should be disconnected on 9/1/11. I came home from work and found out the service had been disconnected. They even admitted my order was correct
Ticket ID: 4598986
Time Created: Aug 24 2011 2:17PM
Issue: Joseph Lahood called in and told me requested that his account will cancel on September 1, 2011, however He is asking why his account was cancelled already.
Resolution (if completed): I checked on X tools and the service activation of the cancellation was on August 23, 2011 but he requested it on September 1, 2011. Offer him a callback need to verified to higher department.
They indicated there was nothing they could do. Beware when you cancel your service.
Comments:
| | Cancellation trouble Hi joe.lahood,
I know that you're cancelling your account but I wanted to thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. This premature cancellation should not have happened. I checked your account and everything seemed to be initiated correctly in order not to disable the DSL service until your desired date of September 1st, 2011. Unfortunately, it appears that this particular part of the cancellation process didn't happen correctly. I will investigate this issue and take action to prevent it from occurring in the future. I realize that this doesn't help you, specifically, but I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to make us aware of this problem so that we can correct it.
Best regards,
Ivan D.
DSL Extreme Technical Support | |
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Review by m6wuz
member for 10 years, 192 visits, last login: 1 days ago
lodged 1.7 years ago
- Westminster,Orange,CA
- $47 per month
- (12 month contract)
- Verizon (ex GTE)
- "Have used DSL Extreme for years."
- "Overall, good."
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The recent decision to off-shore tech support is disquieting, but overall I
would rather deal with DSL Extreme than directly with Verizon! Almost
all of my problems over the years have been caused by problems in
Verizon-land. DSL Extreme has more clout than I do!
Comments:
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Review by jerkyspace
member for 4.8 years, 55 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
updated 1.7 years ago
- Alameda,Alameda,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- about 20 days
- AT&T
- "it works sometimes"
- "if it doesn't then you are in big trouble because customer support is a joke"
- "things were bad before...it looks like they outsourced their tech and now it is much worse"
| Pre Sales information:
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This says it all:
"we ha read your mail for more assistance please call ask @ 86-491-7221 or email your your contact number for us to call you back"
This was the actual response from the company to my telling DSL Extreme that their website was not working. Earlier this year they updated their website and in doing so forced some users off in the process. The old website worked fine...now the fancy coding of the new website triggers the well know "Object Moved Here Bug".
DSLX has refused to acknowledge this for MONTHS now. Some people cannot Log-In/access their Member account, others cannot even load the web page. The last three versions of Opera and Internet Explorer do not work with their website for me and others.
Here is another "professional" DSLX response"
"Hi,
Please be informed that our website »www.dslextreme.com is made of javascripts and html codes. Please make sure that Java plug is properly installed in your computer and we don't have any problems in our end with the website. We had already encountered issues like yours and what they did was to re install the application and it fixed the problem. Otherwise, if your Java is not properly installed or working then browser cannot pull up our web page.
Thanks, "
The only answers I have been given (in whatever form of English you call that) are to either use Firefox or re-install Java (the java plug?). Three major browsers, three recent to latest versions ALL pass JAVA home test. Their site still does not work. I have responded back about the bug and given specific examples and links. You see how they replied...
DSLX continues to embarrass itself with these responses. I have put up with DSLX dropping the ball for years. They cannot even handle the most basic problems. Their people are very poorly trained. Some people may have been lucky and have had no problems, but I have had nothing but headaches and whenever anything goes wrong expect some very lacking customer service. If you can even call it that now. It generally takes a month or more and much effort on my part to resolve any trouble. In the end like any DSL ISP it always goes back to the telco who owns the lines...we should stop paying these incompetent middle men who can't fix the problem anyway.
If you think these responses are appropriate then sign right up and get what you pay for...others beware. Fair warning. I gave them far to many years and just thought people should know how bad things have gotten at DSLX...and everywhere else for that matter. There is no good alternative:
Dear Americans:
Wake up. Average download in Paris is 28 mbps. Korea is like 35+. Can any American City (forget about the cable internet burbs) even boast 10 mbps?
"The average Internet download speed in the U.S. is slower than that in 27 other countries, according to a new report by the Communications Workers of America.
Web surfing in the U.S. averages around 5.1 megabits per second (mbps), lagging far behind top-ranked South Korea, where speeds average more than 20 mbps. In 2007, the U.S. download speed was 3.5 mbps, inching up only 1.6 mbps since then. At that rate, notes the report, it will take the U.S. 15 years to catch up with South Korea."
Go ahead and keep paying companies like DSLX hard earned money for inferior technology and bad service.
*Update *
...and then to FIX things DSLX tried to called me back today. I could not figure out how to record the message they left but this is a very true representation from my notes:
"...alot of people having same issue..."
er em er
browser flush cache okay yes...
er er
i dont know...don't know
um you try the firefox
but it does no work
er
i dont know what to say
er you ask call us back okay
"
...very heavy accent and sounded like he was reading the notes and talking to himself aloud as he talked to me at the same time...if you are going to send the jobs away then the people who take them for less money had better be able to do them competently.
Would anyone from DSLX care to comment publicly on how you think any of these three separate examples are acceptable? Do you think you should take money from people when you offer service this poor and incompetent? How is it that your own members cannot even access your own website? For months now...and you only offer the same weak "jiggle the cord" "turn the power off and on" cue card answers while the problem goes unresolved.
Just Google "Object Moved to Here" and .ASP. Microsoft and all the other links I already gave you make it clear how the bug is triggered and how it can be coded around. That would be fixing the problem: instead you are asking your users to install browsers that end up not even working on the site at all (btw does Firefox/Mozilla throw you a penny every time you make a user use their browser to solve a problem you cannot figure out?). Just offering the same lame unworkable solutions for weeks and weeks is pathetic...but typical and no different than several of my past experiences.
*UPDATE*
DSLX never followed up. DSLX never fixed their own website problem. After previous techs confirmed the problem, the GM tried to pretend it did not exists because they could not replicate it (after detailed conversations with their previous French tech support). This company is a total SCAM. They offer terrible service ON PURPOSE, in an effort to make more money off fighting contract cancellations. Your so called trouble ticket will just sit round for 72 hours and then expire. DSLX has no intention of following up. THEY NEVER DO. When your ticket expires it is back to square one. DSLX will not follow up on it and just assume that the problem magically fixed itself. THIS IS COMPANY POLICY confirmed by one of their own "reps".
STAY AWAY FROM DSLX.
YOU WILL REGRET TRYING TO DO BUSINESS WITH THESE INCOMPETENT SCAM ARTISTS.
I moved to ATT with almost no hassles, for half the price and got twice the speed. Ditch ALL of these piggyback ISP SCAM companies. If you are not dealing with the actual OWNER of the WIRE giving you the internet..then you are wasting your time and money.
Comments:
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 Review by sded
member for 10.5 years, 5068 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
updated 1.7 years ago
- San Diego,San Diego,CA
- $26 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 5 days
- AT&T
- "Great service, great online support, great prices,antivirus, spam blocker, firewall, DHCP"
- "An excellent choice if they service your area"
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Update 8/17/11
Everything still working perfectly.
Update 1/23/11
Resynch problems got better and worse at various times since last review.
Had a power outage a month or so ago that required the electric company to replace some wiring up at the pole, near the phone lines. After they had finished, DSL SNR improved by 15dB, no more dropouts at least in the past month. Now very stable with no issues, including with incoming Fax on the line. IMAP access to Spam now works. So I cranked up the ratings, even though they didn't fix the line-it wasn't their line anyway, after all.
Update 3/28/2009
Got a new line in a recent upgrade, so the circuit has been much more stable-only one outage in the past month. New mail service not quite as convenient as old (folders, for example, and IMAP access to Spam are both missing-not supported by Gmail). Harder to get ahold of also, but issues are also down. Otherwise still a great choice.
Update 9/23/08
No changes in service or support since last update. Working through the issues of the new mail service and new news service, but seem to be toward the better overall once a few quirks are ironed out. Better spam filtering from Gmail. Still waiting for AT&T to earn their cut.
Update 3/22/08
In the Winter the line is a little better, so things are working pretty well until it gets warmer. Still occasional synch problems; sometimes down for a period of hours due to interferors on the line that AT&T refuses to do anything about. Fortunately have a couple of neighbors with open wifi. DSLX sent out a free modem to try; works fine but still have the resynch problem. Provides more complete statistics to monitor, though. Upgraded my rate to 3008/512 since the interference is pretty much independent of rate and resynchs occur anyway. At least the usable time is at a higher rate for only $5 more/month. Still great service except from AT&T. Maybe an improved line someday. 
Update 9/17/07
Line still sucks, even after SBC became AT&T. Had 30-40 resynchs a day during recent hot spell; at least part of the problem is thermal effects on the old crappy lines to the CO. Now that things are cooler, resynchs are down to a reasonable level. I was out of the country for 6 months over the Winter (Mexico) so can't comment on how cool weather performance fared. Price has gone up, service is still good. Still highly recommended; just renewed for another year.
Update 10/23/2006
No change to service quality, but DSLX helped me move service to the other phone line to take advantage of the $12.95/month promotional rate. It is also the fax line, so there are fewer incoming calls to interfere with the DSL signal during periods of poor line quality from ATT. They also sent out an ATT DSL technician when lines were changed to see if anything could be done to improve quality-no such luck! Inside wiring is fine, outside is at the mercy of the other ATT customers in the bundle and outside interference on their lines.
Update 4/21/06
Still humming along after 6 more months with DSLX. Line still resynchs more than desirable, but no longer monitoring-it is the best it will get unless SBC puts in a RT. Seems to be better in the winter (thermal?). Other services working fine, even after the buyout. Redirection of misspellings was not an issue for me. Hope they don't take the forum private, but that is the only new concern I have seen. Only additional feature I would like is secure logon to the news servers-I use wireless sometimes, and do not want to expose my password. So I subscribe to an alternate news service for 10 Euros/year. Otherwise, keep up the good work.
Update 10/14/05
Tried to upgrade to 3M rate, but SBC/ASI refused-too many line problems at the time. As soon as this happened, the line miraculously improved quite a bit. But I am still sticking with the 1.5M. Switched service from second line to primary line in anticipation of cancelling the second telephone line; DSLX managed to get the new line up early so I could compare them, and, of course, no outage in the switch. Both new line and old line were much improved already (SBC/ASI miracle), but I added a splitter and dedicated cat5 line anyway. Still occasional resynchs during the day, but seem to be much more isolated than before. Also saving $10/month by moving to the other line, since DSLX was able to get me the new customer rate there. DSLX added more online service tech help, so even better than before.
Update 5/16/2005
Still some periods of line interference, but obviously much less impact at the lower rate. Lots of free upgrades by DSLX. Now using DHCP instead of PPPOE, removing a failure-prone protocol from the system--I often got PPP failures; now no problems. Rarely see virii now, since most are filtered out by the DSLX server. Spam blocker catches a fair amount of stuff, but doesn't seem to get updated often enough to be really effective. Firewall is new (beta) and has only a few settable levels so far, but blocks the obvious port traffic and pings-upgrades are planned, but not announced yet. And the price just went down, although customers need to wait to the end of their current contracts to take advantage of it. Service still great, especially via forum. Lots of patience shown with customers whose problems really have nothing to do with DSL Extreme; DSLX tries to work them anyway. Will continue to watch line characteristics to decide whether to upgrade to 3K for $8/mo or stay the same and save $2/mo when current contract is up. By far the best choice in Southern California.
Update 11/16/2004
Finally gave up on the high rate service and downgraded to 1536/384 and PPPOE-Save $38/month for a $50 downgrade charge and only miss the higher rates occasionally. Never found a solution to the intermittent line problems. Lots of technical support from DSLX to chase it down though. DSLX had ASI send a truck out to test internal/external wiring and they found no problems. Thye also wired in a new NID for me to be sure the interface was OK. But there are still periods with higher attenuation and poorer performance with associated dropout/resynch, just not as severe at the lower speeds and higher margins. DSLX even tried to get my circuit path rerouted to the CO to avoid external interferors, but there just wasn't a bundle that supported an alternate route. So the price is great, service and support can't be beat, line is more stable now. Have some problems with PPP disconnects every 4 hours while the system is idle, but not a real issue since it generally doesn't occur while I am up and using the circuit. Tried different modem brands without impacting the PPP problem; switching to bridge mode and using an external router to support PPPOE seemed to be the only thing that solved the problem. For now I am happy just getting new IPs while I sleep and letting the modem reconnect. So DSLX seems to have done everything they can to optimize my service, even though I pay them less now. BTW, the ASI tech who came out and tested my lines measured my distance from the CO as 11K ft, so I will probably never be able to upgrade again. And I still hope SBC will finish undergrounding the lines someday or put in an RT.
Update 9/17/2004
Have been generally happy with the upgraded 6016/608 service, except for line interference frequently causing resynchs and dropouts. The actual line quality seems fine; it looks like the problems are caused by external noise sources-streetlights, generators, SBC is even undergrounding lines in my area-attenuation will suddenly go up for a while (minutes to tens of minutes), then back down, or with adequate SNR margins there will be high CRC error rates and eventual resynch. Discussions with DSLX haven't uncovered any solution. Since I am 9100 feet out, I expected some problems, but have been surprised by the volatility. Most of the time service is 5Mbps are better, but there are fairly often (daily to few days) periods (minutes to tens of minutes) of nearly continuous resynch, as well as times when even 1536 Kbps has lots of errors. Decided not to cap or downgrade, since most of the time the rates are fine-the errors appear to be burst noise, and even occur at 1536 Kbps. Tech support and services have been great, and DSLX is a good value even with the problems. And maybe SBC will finally finish working on the lines or install an RT.
Update 3/20/04
Just upgraded to the 6016/608 service after being very pleased with the regular 1536/256 service. Transition took about a week, with no outage. Originally I could not get the higher speed service since I was over 7500 ft from the CO, but near the end of the offer SBC relented and allowed up to 9500 ft to be offered by DSLX-I am about 9150 ft according to SBC. At first I was profiled at a fixed rate of 4032/384, which worked flawlessly but was not top speed. I did a few things to clean up my line, and asked George to put me on the rate adaptive profile. I was able to synch at the full 6016/608 rate, and things worked well. Had to switch to a wired Westell 2200 connection, since the rates were too much for my wireless B NIC. After a day or so I started getting unexplained PPPOE errors, so George switched me to a static IP at no charge, and the errors went away. I am still trying to understand some of the line errors, but service has been both reliable and blazingly fast (5156/520) and online support has been really terrific. Being able to interact directly and quickly with DSLX online is a real advantage of DSLX. I also have made great use of a couple of my 25MB websites, which were one of the original swingers for choosing DSLX over SBC/Yahoo. Thanks again, George and DSLX.
11/03 Review
Looked for a new DSL provider after a year when rates went down, and my previous ISPs service went down but rates didn't. DSLX provided a good price, a well rated service, and rapid online support through DSLR as well as on their own. I was very pleased when service was turned on early at the maximum rates provided for in my contract. I have already re-setup my website, and mail and news are working just fine. I ordered PPPOE at 384-1536/128-256 and got provisioned at 1536/256, actuals around 1300/220 (I am about 9000 ft from the CO), I use a Speedstream 5660 DSL router with a WAP, and have seen good support online from DSLX for home network configurations, although I had no problems-just changed the logon and the DNSs and everything worked. 7 days from order to transition with zero outage. George (who must never sleep) along with chat and email support kept me up to date on what was happening and what I needed to do. An excellent choice if they service your area.
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billing verry bad
customer service very bad. save yourself the head eke find another company. or learn the hard way like i did. I dont like paying more but i do like to have internet with no hassle. trust me skip this company or in a year or so you will be writing this kind of comment. after they up your price or close your account tack on fees , or tell you your modem is bad to lease you a new one. this company is dead to me. if you use them you will be sorry in the long run. 
