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 Review by mbarys 
Posted: 60 days ago
member for 5.8 years, 1771 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Bolingbrook,Will,IL
 Business customer
 $650 per month (12 month contract)
 about 14 days
 "Very good speed and latency for a business T1 (bonded)"
 "None"
 "If you are looking for a reliable T1 solution for your business and great tech support. These are the guys to go with."
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We are currently running two T1's bonded for 3mbits/sec at my company with an ISDN backup. I've been here over four years and the service has been excellent. They even gave me a dedicated 800 number to call in for support if needed.
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Review by salbrecht
UPDATED: 249 days ago
member for 4.2 years, 20 visits, last login: 3.2 years ago
Algonquin,Mchenry,IL
$50 per month
"Offer fast download and upload speeds; friendly techincal support"
"Real performance disappointing"
"Look elsewhere first."
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Review DLS Internet Services
950 Oak Street, Lake in the Hills, Illinois 60156
Unhappy Customer
DLS continues its downhill spiral. Originally signed up a few years ago
in 2004 for their 10 Mbps up/down service. Had installation issues
which I certainly hope have since been worked out. Speed was between
3-5 Mbps with a best recorded download of 6.5 Mbps. This deteriorated
to around 2 Mbps down/up. Called support multiple times and they
eventually just said the tower I use is incapable of providing a faster
connection. Interesting since they sell the 10/10 package to people
using that tower even though they offer a lesser package that is still
faster than 2 Mbps up/down. For this reason, I downgraded to the middle
tier package. No noticeable changes with typical down/up speeds around
2 Mbps but as low as 100-500 Kbps.
Note: latency has always been an issue. DLS claims that when pulling
data, latency times are fine. My testing indicated that there was some
truth to this. Regardless, connections that tested out better in terms
of latency also felt "snappier". My guess is that regular browsing did
not request data continuously enough to maintain the improved ping time
which was still slower than my IDSL connection from Speakeasy.
It's also important to note that DLS's service went down fairly
regularly. Outages were generally short but there were some multiple
day outages. DLS did not credit my account for those days. In
comparison, I had almost no outages with Speakeasy's IDSL service.
My recommendation is to try Comcast cable or a DSL service first.
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 Review by Moe Diddley
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 6.1 years, 1294 visits, last login: a few hours ago
North Aurora,Kane,IL
$65 per month
about 14 days
"Great when it woks."
"Radio is in attic, pain to reset when needed. SLOW"
"Best thing available..til cable/dsl"
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Well, honeymoon was over a long time ago. I was posting updates as things changed, but it became a p.i.t.a! They were no longer able to provide service to my house effectively. Things went south so fast I just said forget about them and ordered Comcast. They were, to my knowledge the first to offer *cough.. high speed internet in the area so I was going to stick with them through rocky times. Ah well, on the bright side Comcast is working well. I was heavily into gaming but DLS.net kinda killed it for me. Now I'm thinking of going cheap on dsl.
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Review by plote
Posted: 1.2 years ago
member for 1.2 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Mchenry,Mchenry,IL
$50 per month
about 5 days
"Excellent customer service,"
"Not reliable"
"Look around for a more reliable provider"
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I have been a three year customer at DLS internet services based in Lake In The Hills Illinois.
I use the McHenry Illinois tower(when it works) for my basic Internet needs(PPPoE), I am not really interested in a super fast internet connection, but something faster than dial up. I use my internet for light business and the rest for surfing. Anyways the long and the short of it would be, random tower problems, and firmware issues. Most recently a five day "firmware issue" that shut down my internet use for the full five days, DLS made no effort to get me to a dial up line or any other sources, DLS tech state's cold weather as the problem???.
If DEPENDABILITY is important you may want to look elsewhere,
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 Review by n0mad
UPDATED: 1.3 years ago
member for 5.4 years, 2033 visits, last login: 242 days ago
Pearl,Rankin,MS
$45 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
"Fast, Stable, Reliable Speeds-Good Support in my Experiance"
"Restrictive AUP, No Static IP for Residentual customers"
"Good Service, I got what I wanted and what they advertised"
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What speed did I order- 1500k/256k
What speed I am attaining-1275k/218 
What Price- $45.00/month
Install-Self-installed-Went great Really easy
Home Equiptment-Went with the USB Alcatel Stingray, which in my experiance was a mistake. May not have been equiptment's fault though. Tech services had me reinstalling the drivers (that seemed to be all they knew what to do), they did line checks which showed line was ok. Later proved to be a radio filter installed at NI about 5 years before to fix bleed through problem at that time. I had to buy a Speed Touch Home Ethernet modem from Bellsouth, only complaint was that I was not offered oppertunity to return the USB modem and no break on the Price of the Ethernet Modem. I also had to pay for a homerun which increased my speed. I got speeds of 375k/200k for almost a year with numerous synch problems. Now I have 1275k/218k, and it is Rock Steady.
IP-Dynamic only for residential, I hope this will change
Overal rating is- Would recommend FastAccess to anyone .
Update- 01/02/2007- I have discontinued my DSL service with Bellsouth or ATT if you prefer. Their Ultra Service (1.5meg down/256k /up) was rock solid. Only problem I had was with the Copper phone line service. Took too many trouble calls to fix the problem that took my phone offline and DSL everytime it rained. The Techs they sent out twice just wanted to say it was inside wiring, even charged me when they came in to verify that I only had one jack active. The Final Tech. they sent out found the problem right off the bat. Junction Box (sack in line at pole where connections are made was leaking at two spots). I told them that it sure was strange that DSL and Telephone Pots service went down everytime it rained. Have switched over to Comcast Cable.
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Review by dan1rulz
UPDATED: 1.6 years ago
member for 6 years, 2011 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Crystal Lake,Mchenry,IL
$65 per month
about 30 days
"!"
"!"
"!"
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too old
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Review by Mydnyte2
UPDATED: 2.3 years ago
member for 3.4 years, 3 visits, last login: 2.3 years ago
Lake In The Hills,Mchenry,IL
$55 per month
"Excellent staff, excellent service, excellent bandwidth"
"Since it's broadband, it's shared"
"Best-of-breed in this area."
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Updated 2006.01.23:
Just recently, DLS lowered their wireless broadband rates to get closer to the ever-changing competition from the local phone provider (SBC, now the "new" AT&T) and local cable (Comcast). They've also added VOIP, which I am going to start the signup process on in just a few days. As an FYI, I use the DLS "fixed" line-of-sight broadband connection - and I will admit that I'm less than one linear mile to their nearest wireless antenna. The number of wireless antennas on rooftops in my subdivision has almost doubled, so they continue to grow. My performance has improved, and I continue to be impressed with DLS. And to make a comment about something seen in another review, ANY internet provider has the complete right to monitor your activities, just like any place of business has a right to read any and all e-mails sent by you through the company e-mail system. It doesn't concern me in the least, because I'm not doing anything that would fail what I would call the "headline" test.
Original Review:
I've been a very, very longtime customer of DLS Internet Services, dating back to dialup days in the mid 90s. I was very pleased with the response time and bandwidth when I had DLS' dialup service, and their customer service was exemplary.
Ever since then, I was an early adopter for DLS' 1.5mbps fixed wireless service when they started offering it, and have since upgraded to the full 10mbps service.
My most recent bandwidth test produced the following:
2004-12-05 12:59:00 EST: 7015 / 5599
Your download speed : 7184154 bps, or 7015 kbps.
A 876.9 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 5733397 bps, or 5599 kbps.
I'm not going to complain that these bandwidth rates aren't closer to the full 10mbps capacity since broadband, by definition, is a shared connection and it's highly unlikely that I'd ever achieve a full 10/10 unless I was the only person connected to my tower and conditions were optimal. This is MORE than enough for everyone in my home and actually much faster than my internet connection at the office.
Their installers, both at 1.5 install and 10 install, were prompt, courteous and helpful. I added an 802.11 connection to the house later and was easily able to configure it to share the connection with other computers in the home.
Anytime I've had the occasion to contact DLS' technical support (and I've contacted them a few times over the years) they've been prompt and helpful. There was even one time where I was hospitalized in critical condition and DLS actually went the extra mile for me, saving my emails until I returned home after several weeks. These people show that they care - would Comcast or SBC have done this? I sincerely doubt it.
Speaking of Comcast and SBC, my area wasn't served by SBC (and may still not be) due to technical restrictions, and after the experience of other family members with SBC and DSL, I wouldn't go anywhere near it. Some of my family have Comcast and are happy with it for their needs, but I'm not terribly pleased with any cable companies' history of raising rates over the years and really don't want to invite them to take even more of my money. Sure, they offer an attractive teaser rate for several months, but it's just that - a teaser rate. 3mbps max for $45 vs 10mbps for $65? Wasn't even a choice.
On the technical side, my wireless connection has NEVER been affected by any sort of weather conditions, whether they be heavy rain, fog, snow or otherwise. I have always used a dynamic PPPoE connection and have not had any problems with it.
I can't recommend DLS enough to anyone in their service area considering any sort of broadband connection - after watching their growth over the past years, they have to be doing something right. Companies don't grow the way DLS has without continuing to offer exemplary products and service. I've been steadily watching their rooftop antennas propagate in my neighborhood almost as fast as the small satellite dishes have.
Keep it up, DLS! I can't wait to see what they're going to come up with next.
Followup comments:  kenney
join:2003-04-22
Crystal Lake, IL
| DLS COMMENT I am a 3 year DLS customer and agree with the previous comments. While I am not quite as fast since I am about 4 miles from the CL Train station tower, it is certainly quite fast enough.
DLS is niche premium service I feel for higher technical users. The casual internet user should go to Comcast, and I agree that some of these users are not worth DLS's trouble to retain. The advantage of synchoronous connections is something that will be quite difficult for a cable or DSL provider to overcome without reducing their business rates substantially. No hassles with upload speed and trouble free VPN are advantages why I stay with DLS. Their tech support far exceeds anything else I have seen, and I am a network admin for what I do as a living.
Long story short, DLS is a quality ISP and I will also be planning to stay with them for the foreseeable future. | |
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Review by jldet52005
Posted: 2.5 years ago
member for 2.9 years, 3 visits, last login: 2.5 years ago
Algonquin,Mchenry,IL
$55 per month
"Very fast, low latency, Recommend!"
"none"
"Excellent ISP"
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I've had DLS for a number of months now and have always had fast service with only 1 30 minute interruption. Initially I had the 10Mbps however that is a burst speed I was told and rarely saw much over 5 Mbps. So I went down to the 3 Mbps and really could not tell that much of a difference between the two. Changing to the 3 Mbps caused an initial problem on their end however they were very quick to fix the problem.
I am now in the process of porting / converting to their VOIP service. Initial ATA adapter unit was bad but as usual they were very quick to fix and replace the unit.
After my nightmares with Ameritch and SBC DSL this is welcome relief.
Highly Recommend.
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Review by psubill78
UPDATED: 3.1 years ago
member for 5.3 years, 388 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Round Lake,Lake,IL
$65 per month
"Speeds are good - as long as the stars are in alignment..."
"Outside interference out of everyone's control, and the USER suffers"
"Great.... while it lasts.... but be careful investing $$ on installs..."
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[General Comments]
The speeds are great. Very fast - I see over 7000kbps down at time - which is great at this price point...
Mildly disappointed w/ billing systems, no credits for downtime. In addition - email service has had inssues. Multiple outages. The most recent lasting 12 hours. No break in cost for signing up for year (no contracts available, gives the subscriber maximum flexability - but also gets DLS out of committment to solve problems).
Overall - things have been good - Tech support has occasional long hold times - but the support folks are generally pretty good - though just appear to work of cookie-cutter scripts (like any support area).
********* [Update 1/20/05] (still in progress)
I've had DLS since April 2003, while I had the normal pains of any internet ISP (outages related to email, etc, etc) they were pretty good. Speed tests and actual downloads showed approximately 5000kbps to 8000kbps downstream, and about the same upstream. Bandwidth was a-plenty
Starting late in the week of January 10th, I starting seeing extremely slow download speeds. My downstream was now in the 50kbps to 300kbps range (a decrease of over 90% to what was experienced over the past year+.) I called DLS tech support on Thursday 1/13, and their techs indicated a "small decrease in signal" - and dispatched a tech to my home on Monday 1/17 to realign my antenna. During this service call the technician decided to add another mast to my roof (penetrating the roof again) and put the antenna about 3' higher than it previously was. Tested, then left. For the record, no consent was given on my end to re-penetrate the roof with another mast.
I tested the connection and found the speeds were no better, so I called support again. Another tech came out same day (impressive on DLS part) and tinkered on the roof some more. No improvement. I told the tech he wasn't leaving until it was back to normal. The onsite tech called DLS support rep "Sid" and "Sid" told him that there were "tower issues" between towers serving my area. The onsite tech indicated I would receive a call back with status.
I called the next day (after never receiving status) - and they looked into my account again. I was told in the evening of the 18th that "my connection has degraded so much that DLS can't provide me satisfactory wireless service anymore." Also - there was apparently no "tower issue" - and I also got many conflicting stories as to if my radio was replaced to test that scenario. Naturally, I question this - and escalated within DLS. One common issue throughout this experience is that they never updated me. I was always the one doing the calling, even when I was told I'd get a call back.
The very next day I receive an email from a higher level tech that my connection "is working within DLS guarantees" (which is 256kbps). I am told that I am still seeing packet loss - which is why my speeds are slow.
I do this type of stuff for a living, so I question their analysis further. There are other DLS subscribers in my neighborhood. I asked them to look into that... to see if there are problems there too. I mean, how is it possible that it's only my house receiving this "interference" considering another 10 meg wireless DLS user has worse line of sight, and many roof tops between their home and the DLS tower (not to mention further!)
I asked DLS management that if this is unable to be restored back to the level of service DLS has provided since April 2003, and if I have to cancel because of poor quality service - were we able to work out a compromise for my $399 investment for the installation. I feel this is a legitimate question since I did not cause the degradation of service and that if I do cancel, DLS will simply reuse the equipment on my roof for another subscriber. I wasn't asking for a full refund, but merely a compromise. It was denied - saying that install fees are non-refundable. I feel this isn't appropriate. Even worse, my guess is that if I was a new subscriber, they would be doing more to research the problem - or not even install me. In that case, saving the person the install fee.
This whole scenario is still in progress.... more to come for sure...
********* [Update 1/21/05]
DLS is making a legitimate attempt at resolving the issue... send a tech out today, still believe it's an RF issue, although the tech did point to an issue with the radio itself. Time will tell... More to come...
********* [Update 1/26/05]
Technicians came out to install another radio and slightly larger dish. Speeds appear better. Will monitor over next few days to see if there is improvement.
********* [Update 2/2/05]
Speeds have been back to normal since the replacement radio. Why this wasn't done in the first place is beyond me, but we are back to working. Thanks DLS.
********* [Update 3/30/05]
Well, after messing with poor connections for a few weeks, I finally submitted my request to DLS to uninstall. I've moved to Comcast HSI, their 6000/768 package at 39.99 a month (non-cable subscriber). I'm mildly disappointed with DLS and their inability to really find the root of the problems. Hopefully they can figure out where this mystical interference is coming from.
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Review by forkboy78
Posted: 3.3 years ago
member for 4.6 years, 4 visits, last login: 3.3 years ago
Woodstock,Mchenry,IL
$65 per month
about 10 days
" Super Fast, realiable"
"just a few bumps when satrting service."
"Great deal if you can't get anything else,( even if I could I would still use them)"
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I signed up for DLS in October, glad I did seeing they charge for installation again. I purchased the 10/10 with the Voice service, I will admit there was a few bumps in the road, but they were very quick to get them fixed and since then not a problem at. As far as price goes 95 bucks a month for high speed internet and phone is a pretty good deal considering I was paying 66 just for phone.
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