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Review by Jhanc 
UPDATED: 3.1 years ago
member for 8.3 years, 281 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
 Bent Mountain,Roanoke,VA
 $45 per month
 about 23 days
 "Get what you pay for, thats it."
 "Read review."
 "Mediocre WISP."
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I initally heard about B2X while browsing BBR. I was moving on top of Bent Mountain, and I had heard that B2X provided wireless high-speed internet in the area. I decided to give B2X a call to see if my home was within reach of their towers, they told me it was not. I was a little discouraged, but living on top of a rural moutain doesn't give you many options for broadband. I did some research on their wireless system, and discovered that the signal reception is actually better then most other wireless systems. I figured the next day I would call back and insist that someone come to my house and do a signal test.
Ironically, I also opted for wireless cable television through a local company called Air Cable. They use the same towers as B2X, and are in partnership with them as well (they resell their internet). During the install, I asked if they knew anything about the signal strength from my house to the tower (for both the internet and the television). They tested both, and I was told that the signal was extremely strong, and that I should have no problem at all having the wireless internet installed. I asked them how long it would be before they could send someone up to install the equipment and I was told somewhere around a week. I was fine with this so I told them to go ahead and schedule an install.
After a week went by, I had heard nothing from Air Cable, so I called them to ask what the hold up was. They told me they had to order the equipment from overseas and that it should be there by the end of next week. I told them that was fine, just to call me when everything was ready. Another week went by, so I called them again, and they told me that they were scheduling that upcoming Monday, so I told them to give me a call. Monday came, I got a phone call from their manager (he does the installs for them), and I was set to be up and ready on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the Air Cable people came, and after 3 hours, had installed the equipment. We decided it would be best to put the dish above the already installed dish for our cable television out in the front yard. We ran a line from the yard (about 30 feet away) to the house, and up to my second floor. After a little confusion with B2X on the phone about MAC addresses, they had things figured out. I was very pleased with the service Air Cable did, and their employees are very friendly.
Now then, I would like to comment on the service itself. I really enjoy the service ( I signed up for the residential service instead of the business, which is a little slower), the speeds are consistently 1mbit up and downstream. The pings are excellent, my first hop to their tower is around 30-40ms. I can't seem to do any pings outbound outside of b2xonline.com which makes me believe they filter outbound and incoming ping requests (ICMP). I'm still not certain if it's actually them doing the filtering, because I don't have a second router to do furthur testing on. I was also unsuccessful in setting up a game server for Counter-Strike: Source, which also makes me think they are doing some sort of port filtering. This may be on my end, but I have yet to find anything that points to my router as being the source of the problems.
I will also comment on online gaming as well. My pings ingame are excellent, going as low as 50ms to some servers but on average around 70-80ms. Since I can't set up my own server for friends to play on, I can't really comment on it, but I might call their support to see if it's anything on their end or mine.
I have also used newsgroups to check out how fast the speeds are, and for the most part, they are excellent. Using Newshosting.com as my provider, I was able to get over 120KB/s constantly with no drops in speed.
Here is a speed test using Speakeasy's utility, connecting to their DC server.
Download Speed: 1051 kbps (131.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1143 kbps (142.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
My only complaints with the service would be the sales services of B2X, since I originally called, and was told I could not get the service. This showed that they were not willing to check (because I was not in the service range pictured on their website, I have a clear view of their tower), I'm not sure. I have yet to try their customer support (they have phone and email support), so I can't comment. Also, setting up an email with them seems to be more trouble then it's worth. As stated on their website (somewhat hidden away, in a PDF file), you must set up Outlook to access email, but in order to have an email with them, they have to pre-approve the email address. After the install, I was given an acceptable use policy, and a terms of agreement (nothing else, which should be due to the 3rd party reseller). As an ISP, I am quite pleased overall with the service. If I figure out the issues I mentioned above, I will do a follow-up.
*Edit* 9/28/2005
As a follow up, I would like to confirm my suspicions. They filter all incoming and outgoing ICMP pings, making it impossible to ping out onto the internet or to receive a ping. Also, in order to run your own type of server, be it game/http/ftp, you must pay an additional $10 a month for a static IP. I am fine with this, and I will probably do this, but I wish this would have been clearly stated on their website.
Also, setting up an email with them isn't too difficult. I contacted their tech. support by email, and asked a few questions, and I had an answer the following day, after they verified I was a customer. In order to set up an email, you can just call their office and have one set up, or just email tech support, verify, and then request an email address. It might be a little more of a hassle, but not much.
Update 10/18/2006
As of last month, I switched over to COX HSI Premiere after a long hassle with Cox. All I can say is, I should have switched sooner. B2X was a mediocre service in comparrison to Cox. Although B2X is wireless and for people who usually can't get any other form of high-speed internet, it sure isn't the best. After the entire sham incident I had with B2X, I would never return as their customer again.
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Review by Wanker3
Posted: 4.4 years ago
member for 6.1 years, 12 visits, last login: 3.2 years ago
Rocky Mount,Franklin,VA
$40 per month
about 14 days
"Kick Ass!"
"None"
"Around 1.4 up and down no matter what the weather."
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Great company with extremely good tech support. Never had a problem and always fast. Highly reccomended.
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Review by gpfountz
Posted: 6.3 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 50 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
Bent Mountain,Roanoke,VA
$60 per month (month by month)
about 7 days
"High speed both upload and download"
"none"
"I am happy customer"
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Very happy with this ISP. Their people are knowledgable and very helpful. No problems from the time of install until now. I consistantly get 1 mbs up and down, just as promised. Ping times are very fast.
They install a small dish on the side of my house pointed at one of their towers with a small ethernet cable running from the dish to my router.
I initially called them because I could not get cable or dsl, but even if I could, B2X Online is the better ISP.
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B2X Online, Inc
