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Review by dsplscam2 
Posted: 293 days ago
member for 5.1 years, 1 visits, last login: 293 days ago
 Eaton,Weld,CO
 Contract price not specified.
 "Fast Speeds"
 "None"
 "Great speeds and service"
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I've had US Cable for about 3 months and so far, it's been great !!! No outages, no issues !!!
I am not 100% convinced I am truly getting the speeds they claim, but it's still much much faster than anything I have ever gotten from Qwest....
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Review by DmD6
UPDATED: 350 days ago
member for 4.3 years, 1 visits, last login: 350 days ago
Saint Francis,Anoka,MN
$45 per month
 about 4 days
"Fast installation (30 mins), alternate option to 1.5 DSL, Zero Contracts"
"Although downstream is 6mbps, it still beats DSL"
"Great company serving rural north suburbs, very friendly CSI"
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We initially were going to give DSL a try since we've been a Comcast customer for 4 years while we lived in the cities. The fastest DSL speeds that were offered in our area were 1.5 mbps for $42.99/m (without tv, month2month). We gave it a test run for 7 days, and the 1.5mbps just didn't cut it for 3 desktops. I went ahead and cancelled our Qwest account and returned the modem. Before the cancellation, I was provided with the number for US Cable. I called and went ahead with the closest installation date (1 week ahead of the day I called for service). The CSI explained to me over the phone the service was 6mbps downstream, and 500 kbps upstream and they called this tier "Sonic" broadband. I figured ok, it's a rural area, and I can deal with it. I also asked about their price of $42/month, if that was with or without tv included, she stated it was without tv. Ending the service call, I felt satisfied with the order. A week goes by, and the tech comes 35 mins earlier than expected (the appt was setup 1pm-4pm on 12/10/08), that never happens right? So anyway, he turns out to be very friendly, and knows what he is doing. We leave him be for 20 mins, he comes back inside for me to sign the paperwork and COD. I timed him and he finished 35 mins on the dot! Before the tech left, he explained to us some terms and billing dates, also ran a speedtest to confirm the signal. As for capping users for downstream, in their AUP they don't seem to confirm it. Almost 5 days have passed since installation, and we nothing but good word about the service so far. We will be customers for many years to come (hopefully), and we had already referred the company to some family and friends in the same area. As for bad experiences, we have none! If anyone else lives in the same area and knows of a faster speed, please let us know. Thanks!
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Review by dedwards66
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 5.2 years, 6 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Johnstown,Weld,CO
$50 per month
about 14 days
"High Speed internet at a moderate price. Don't appear to thottle peer-to-peer."
"Outside ports 25, 80, & 443 blocked. Service & speed drop happen enough to annoy"
"Typical cable company service. Nothing faster in the area for the price."
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I have had them for four years now. Customer service is lacking. I had my service shut off for failure to pay. I had to print out copies of the checks they cashed before they restored service. Turned out they were crediting a different account with my checks. Service dropouts happen every month or two for short periods of time.
I have the highest speed package 1.5/8mb they offer and most of the time get 80% of the downspeed or better. Up speed tops out at .8mb and never really higher then that.
I have vonage for voip and it works pretty well with them. The appear to allow peer-to-peer, I get pretty good downloads on the latest Ubuntu and OpenOffice downloads.
They actively block a lot of ports. Downloading email over pop requires using alternet ports except for the warpdriveonline email. 25, 80, & 443 show up as blocked among others when checked with grc.com's Shields Up. Took me a while to figure out why my home server was not working.
If all you want to do is hook up your XBox/Wii/PS3 to the internet, it's not a bad choice. But if your like me and use your internet for VOIP, downloading AppleTV and Amazon.com content be on the lookout for something better. Right now I have not been able to find anything at the same speed elsewhere, but I am actively looking.
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Review by DarkBlade337
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 51 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Isanti,Isanti,MN
$42 per month
about 2 days
"Low cost , good customer service, great install process."
"Low speed for cable."
"Nice friendly people, but the 1-2 mb speed is kind of a deal breaker"
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Warpdrive Online is the Internet division of US Cable. I picked up Warpdrive just shortly after my nightmare with DirecWay. 2 days after the call, the installer was in my house and had me up and running in about 30 minutes.
Now I know there are other cable companies that are delivering speeds faster than Warpdrive, but Comcast and Road Runner are not here. But for the now 4Mb/s, I only pay $40 a month and I DON'T have cable tv. When I had comcast before I moved, Comcast would charge $65 for a cable modem with out Cable TV and $50 if you had Cable TV.
I have had a small problem with some email not getting through on their server. I contacted them and they never really got around to fixing it. Not a big deal because I have 3 web-based email services as well as my work mail. But it is annoying to not get all my mail. They tried to tell me that it was my junk mail filter when it wasn't. I knew this because I checked the web mail service through warpdrive and the messages I sent to my self were not getting through from another email.
a few problems stop this service from being stellar but it is the best and fastest and most affordable option in a small rural community.
»www.warpdriveonline.com
Update: It has been just over a year since my DirecWay now HughsNet Fiasco. After the DirecWay installer removed the dish from my roof, I called US Cable (the company the provides Warpdrive Online) and scheduled an installer to come out. He came 2 days after the dish came down worked for about 25 minutes and I was up and running with my cable modem.
The modem does go out once every 6 months or so, but that is less frequent that it was when I had comcast in a big city.
The largest problem I still have is that not all of my mail gets delivered to me through the email server. I have called them and they have made little progress in correcting the issue. They keep telling me it is my junk mail program even though I can check my inbox via the web and it still doesn't show up. This is a headache but email is not a huge problem as I have a hotmail, Gmail, work email, and other ways of getting email.
Other than this email problem, no big issues.
One more thing. I kept my dish tv service and did not go with cable for tv as well. I expected to be charged an addition $15 a month for having the cable modem without cable tv. US Cable DID NOT charge me extra. The installer said it was $40 a month whether I had cable TV or not. I don't know what current policies are on most cable companies, but I believe that this is a departure from standard billing practices.
Quick update. Email issues have been resolved and now works great!
This company rescued me from direcway about 4 years ago. They are easy to work with and they have fair price, however they do have periodic outages and have made relatively few service upgrades in this period of time. My biggest complaint is that after 4 years I still do not get speeds above 2mb/s, Comcast is offering service at 7mb/s I would like to see US Cable (Warpdrive Online) get to 5 mb/s.
Added Aug. 14, 2008: Well I had an awful experience this past week-end with the service going out at their end repeatedly. I called and got busy signal after busy signal and when I finally did get through, I got an automated message saying they were too busy to take my call. After running several speed tests and seeing that the speeds were less than 1 Mb down, we decided to go and give Qwest DSL a try. I am getting the 7 Mb down and ~ 1 mb up service. Hopefully this will be better. The line should be installed by this afternoon. The DSL service price is only $5 more than what I was spending for the cable line.
Looking through all the other US Cable reviews, looks like good marks for every state where they do business except MN.
Followup comments:  charter_tech
Premium
join:2005-03-13
Mankato, MN
 ·Mediacom
| Speeds. Might want to check with US Cable. When i was in Becker, MN which was only 6 months ago, I had 8/1. I have a buddy in Cambridge that gets 10/1...says he just noticed the speeds a few days ago. Could be wrong, but most of there Minnesota cities should be upgraded. | |
| | DarkBlade337
join:2001-01-11
Isanti, MN | Re: Speeds. Just tested several Locations, Chicago being the fastest, I am still at 1.9 mb/s. | |
| jarthur31
join:2006-04-14
Carlsbad, NM
| Had a similar prob. I was setting up a buddy's E-mail account and it didn't appear he was getting his E-mail. He paid for the service in person and gave them a username and password at the local office but the girl screwed up. Instead of the letter O in his username she put a 0 (zero). I was sending messages to an account that didn't exist!!! No wonder it didn't look like he wasn't getting his mail.
They wouldn't change that primary account so we created a new one with the correct characters in it. | |
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Review by obriens2
Posted: 1.3 years ago
member for 3 years, 10 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Forest Lake,Washington,MN
$42 per month
about 10 days
"Reliable service without the Time Warner corporate governance."
"Knowledge of support staff and feature set is lacking - need info on simple web service, but they tell you nothing."
"Overall, good for the price and can't complain. Been good to us."
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US Cable has been good to us so far and I don't have complaints. The only thing I'd like to know if how to utilize their service and access my home server remotely. I believe they are blocking port 80 & 443 for home users, but they don't tell you about it.
Overall - with all of my downloads, Netflix realtime content, and hulu usage - it's been a good service.
Followup comments: jarthur31
join:2006-04-14
Carlsbad, NM
| Usenet... They also tell you that you get unlimited speeds in the newsgroups which is a lie! At least be upfront about it and don't piss off your customers.
One week after I contacted their tech support line with this issue they stopped offering "Usenet support". I'm sure they got a lot of complaints. They kept telling me it was on my end.
I use Xnews and for 3 years prior to this I had no speed issues even tho I was given only a 2 GB monthly allotment with another ISP. I hadn't changed any settings in that newsreader so it wasn't anything I did. And I had consulted their newsreader setup pages before contacting them. | |
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Review by DewKnight
Posted: 1.6 years ago
member for 4.1 years, 45 visits, last login: 6 days ago
Woodland Park,Teller,CO
$40 per month (12 month contract)
"Very fast"
"power outages in town cause it to go down"
"Fast internet, and a company that does seem to care"
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Starting back around November (or even earlier) I started to have many weird problems with my cable internet service that I get from US Cable. There would be high ping times, dropped packets, and generally just weirdness. At first I thought it might have been my router, but I tried a new one and even bypassing the router and had the same weirdness. I called the Warp Drive Online support number probably 10 times to tell them that my internet was either out or behaving oddly. I used to sell this service and do know mostly how it all works so I was able to provide them with a ton of information as well as go through most of the diagnostics before I called them.
Unfortunately none of the people I called seemed to be able to help, or even cared to help. They were nice on the phone and I’m sure they used all the tools they could, but each time they just said that nothing looked wrong from their end. They suggested my router or cable modem could be bad. They said they could send somebody out to test the modem, but if it needed replacing I would have to pay for it (This is their equipment that they installed when they put in the internet, and that I must give back if I cancel). They never tried to escalate my calls to somebody higher up that might be able to help, despite the numerous times I called.
I got really fed up with this about a month ago and was very close to canceling. I decided to make one last attempt to get it fixed and sent them an email through their website explaining what had been happening. The next day I got an email from somebody and then a phone call. The person told me that he wanted to help find out what the problem was, and he would be working on it and call me back.
It turned out that there was something wrong with a whole node in my town. This problem had been affecting numerous people in my town, causing just weirdness with everybody’s internet service. He was able to see this because he had the tools available. He took the time to find out what my problem was, offered to send a technician out at no charge if it was needed, and even credited my account for the problems. I was ready to cancel my service because it seemed like the company didn’t care, but this guy turned it around.
While the people I talked to in tech support months before this were nice, they never really seemed to care. I’m glad that this was resolved and that some people at US Cable do seem to care. I only wish that some of the lower level people would look more into an issue. Look into the history of the issue when I call, see that a problem keeps happening and try to fix it, or try to refer me to the person that can fix it. US Cable has redeemed itself for the problems and I still recommend them for great internet service.
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Review by Steffan
UPDATED: 1.7 years ago
member for 1.7 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
Wyoming,Chisago,MN
$42 per month
about 7 days
"Good quality, rare degradation. Much friendlier/better CSRs than Qwest."
"ping times faster on average, but less constant than Qwest DSL."
"Good value for money; best available in this area."
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I've had everything here -- dialup, microwave wireless, DSL and cable. The DSL was fine, and very stable; I didn't have too bad an experience with Qwest, but it was expensive given the speed (1.5). Part of my motivation for switching to cable as soon as it was available was to ditch the Qwest line altogether. I've been on cable and Skype only since 3/07. I've saved hundreds, even after paying for some dedicated Skype hardware.
I ordered 5/512, and that's about what I am getting. It was $30 for 6 months, $42 regular since then. Ordering and installing was trouble-free and very quick (a few days as I recall). CSR and install tech were very pleasant and the tech upgraded some of the junk connectors inside my house for nothing. Modem is a SMC-branded (Motorola?) unit. It's been trouble-free although I reboot it on the very rare occasions I perceive a drop in QoS.
Overall, dialup was painful, wireless was very problematic and an eventual failure, DSL was just fine, but US Cable has been by far the best.
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Review by jarthur31
Posted: 2.5 years ago
member for 3.6 years, 835 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Carlsbad,Eddy,NM
$30 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
"Super fast speed! More than advertised. Better than DSL here."
"None so far."
"Signed up for a year at $30/month and well worth the price."
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I live in the Carlsbad, NM area and can't believe I get close to 8.0 Mb/s down ( 560 kb/s up) when I originally ordered the Sonic package which advertised for 5.0 down. After the 12 month deal is up, the price will revert to $40/month but that isn't bad because that's what DSL charges and the fastest they have is 3.0 down.
I haven't had any down time that I'm aware of except once during a major storm but that happened during the middle of the night.
I can't complain about the service except their Usenet offering which is buggy. You don't have to log in for that service but half the time my newsreader tells me that "authentication is required" and won't allow any downloading. Plus, it's very slow and averages 35 kb/s on each connection.
Needless to say, I won't be going back to DSL unless the phone company brings FTTH here or something that can compete with the speed of cable.
Followup comments: morrisj
join:2003-08-13
Carlsbad, NM | US Cable Carlsbad, NM For the past month I have been getting less than 50 Kb/s. horrible speeds. I used to get in upwards of 5 mb/s, no longer. The help desk indicates that there are several power outages here in Carlsbad. How long does it take to correct these? | |
| | jarthur31
join:2006-04-14
Carlsbad, NM
| Re: US Cable Carlsbad, NM I've only experienced one such incident in the past 8 months and I'm not sure how long it took since it happened late at night as I was going to bed. Everything was ok in the morning, however.
Their service is reliable and has been for the 2 years I've had them. I don't know why you're only getting 50 kb/s down now. That only happens to me when I get on Usenet not when I surf or download elsewhere. | |
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Review by charter_tech
Posted: 2.5 years ago
member for 4.7 years, 376 visits, last login: 292 days ago
Becker,Sherburne,MN
$121 per month
about 14 days
"Good customer service, fast speeds, no outages"
"dont need it but would like 10/1"
"Best service in this area by far"
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Was actually surprised by how well the internet works. Ordered 5/512 and I get close to 5.8/690. Tv service is clear and crisp, DVR box works well, and internet has good pings.. Only complaint is I wish they had boomerang. My kids loved it. Other then that I am very pleased. Now only time will tell. Was unhappy with US Cable in Cambridge...so we will see how it goes here in Becker..
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Review by cali373
Posted: 5.4 years ago
member for 5.4 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.4 years ago
Palisades Park,Bergen,NJ
$34 per month
about 7 days
"Have not had any disconnects or service reliability issues"
"I do not like their eamil program"
"Good enough for the money"
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My Warpdrive online ( US cable) service has been fine since I got it. No issues and I do not notice the difference in service compared to optimum online. Customer service could be a little bit friendlier though.
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