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Review by kalanic00 
UPDATED: 57 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 320 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Eagle River,Anchorage,AK
 $29 per month
 "Easy Self-install, instant provisioning, in-store face-to-face ordering"
 "Long hold times for tech/cust support, monthly caps with no bundle, over-priced in relation to comparable markets elsewhere."
 "Better value over local telco."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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Being a telecom guy, I'm biased about using cable. But the value, compared to the other services available in the area, is better. The face-to-face ordering in the GCI store is wonderful and something companies down in the "lower-48" can learn from. There were no upfront costs, and equipment was given without a deposit.
Once I got home, I was up and running in minutes.
There seems to be times where I have to click the re-fresh button, or re-submit a form to kick the internet back on...almost like it freezes for a moment.
Over-all, a wonderful and seamless set-up, but not quite used to 2m/548k for $29.99 (soon to be $49.99) - seems like price gouging, being that there is no competition up here at all.
***Update
I forgot to mention ISPs in Alaska have monthly allowance caps on usage! How far behind the rest of the U.S. is this state?
I turned in my modem, and cancelled the service because I was charged for overage - I surpassed my 10Gig monthly cap. I was charged $0.005 per Meg.
I tested the meter they provide on GCI.net by physically unplugging the modem from power from 7pm 9/13 to 7pm 9/15. However, once they ever so slow meter caught up about a week later, it indicated 500+ Meg of usage for 9/14. How can this be?
I called customer support once I got my bill to dispute the accuracy of the method they use to track usage, and I got the same thing from everyone, "Your wireless router opens your connection, and if it isn't secure, someone else could be using it." Or, "Even though you unplugged the modem, your router is still on, and that explains the additional usage." Did they not hear what I was saying to them? Again, the modulator/demodulator (modem) was unplugged from power!! I was so surprised by the lack of comprehension from everyone I spoke to, I just closed the account.
After over an hour on hold, I was given a "courtesy" credit, but they insisted the additional usage was valid. What idiots!
Bottom line, if you don't get a bundle, be very very weary on extra usage charges. Chances are the usage is inaccurate.
Followup comments:  
anon
@gci.net
| Better than MTA in Valley I got enough MTA BS and switced to GCI couple years ago. Very happy to get 12Mbps (really tested) download speed and no limits. If they could go down about $20/ month I would be 100% happy with service. I pay now Internet portion of package $99 per month. Also GCI doesn't have latency issues like MTA had, at least here in Wasilla where I live. | |
| | noname10
join:2009-10-14
| Re: Better than MTA in Valley said by anon :
I got enough MTA BS and switced to GCI couple years ago. Very happy to get 12Mbps (really tested) download speed and no limits. If they could go down about $20/ month I would be 100% happy with service. I pay now Internet portion of package $99 per month. Also GCI doesn't have latency issues like MTA had, at least here in Wasilla where I live.
Latency issues? Are you kidding, or ignorant? The latency across GCI's network is about as low as the laws of physics allow. Did you forget you are in Alaska? the latency between Wasilla and Seattle VIA GCI is superb.
You need to read up on the speed of light and the laws of propagation. there is nothing that can be done to improve latency from Alaska. NOTHING. Unless you know how to break the laws of physics and make light travel faster than the speed of light. Do you? | |
| bmialone
Premium
join:2009-08-15
Anchorage, AK
 ·Clearwire Wireless
3 edits | "Its Alaska" excuse for high pricing" I've been told "Its Alaska" as an excuse for the high pricing of everything, and lousy service for just about everything. One would think Alaskans were not living in the 21st century, given even backwater places in third world countries are getting better internet speeds and service, as well as a myriad other services the rest of the country manages to get better for less money. Alaskans are paying more for less - not more for the same, but more for less, for Everything. Low standards.
We had GCI but were really unhappy with how slow our supposed high speeds were, and disgusted by the price gouging, including extra charging for unlimited. In two other states, we were never charged like that. Plus GCI charges more for cable television, and provides fewer included without an extra charge cable boxes than did our past cable companies.
When we bought a home and moved, we went to Clearwire as our ISP, but its speeds are even worse.
It took GCI over a month just to get a working dial tone for our landline telephone line! In addition to their other techs, one very unprofessional tech was here twice (his buddies showed up just to hang around my house while he worked, twice!). The company is ridiculous about installing only so many phone and cable lines per appointment and refusing to install cable outlets on interior walls (Never ran into either of those things in other states!). Then the company pressured us, harassed us with phone calls, and even lied about why we Had to switch to their digital phone service (we didn't).
Can't stand GCI but may go back to them for internet in the end because Clearwire is slower than our old dial-up 15 years ago. | |
| |
BrockWilliam
@bresnan.net
| Re: "Its Alaska" excuse for high pricing" I work for a Communication company in the "lower 48" and we only install 4 active outlets per initial installation. That means you have 4 locations within your home that are currently wired activated. Anything more requires an additional appointment. Also, we do not wire internal walls. We don't have the equipment or time to fish walls. | |
| | noname10
join:2009-10-14
| said by bmialone :I've been told "Its Alaska" as an excuse for the high pricing of everything, and lousy service for just about everything. One would think Alaskans were not living in the 21st century, given even backwater places in third world countries are getting better internet speeds and service, as well as a myriad other services the rest of the country manages to get better for less money. Alaskans are paying more for less - not more for the same, but more for less, for Everything. Low standards. We had GCI but were really unhappy with how slow our supposed high speeds were, and disgusted by the price gouging, including extra charging for unlimited. In two other states, we were never charged like that. Plus GCI charges more for cable television, and provides fewer included without an extra charge cable boxes than did our past cable companies. When we bought a home and moved, we went to Clearwire as our ISP, but its speeds are even worse. It took GCI over a month just to get a working dial tone for our landline telephone line! In addition to their other techs, one very unprofessional tech was here twice (his buddies showed up just to hang around my house while he worked, twice!). The company is ridiculous about installing only so many phone and cable lines per appointment and refusing to install cable outlets on interior walls (Never ran into either of those things in other states!). Then the company pressured us, harassed us with phone calls, and even lied about why we Had to switch to their digital phone service (we didn't). Can't stand GCI but may go back to them for internet in the end because Clearwire is slower than our old dial-up 15 years ago. Alaska is an excuse for higher prices. Only a child could think otherwise. You truly show your ignorance here. You obviously know nothing about telecommunications. I've only been in Alaska for 3 years and I am totally impressed at what GCI has done with so little. This isn't the lower 48, I don't know how GCI can provide what they can without charging more for it. They have they own undersea fiber optic cables that carry everything down to Seattle and then they have to pay other people to take if from there. That is a hell of a different business model than say Comcast service in San jose. People like you make me sick. | |
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Review by ColdSmoke
UPDATED: 1.8 years ago
member for 2.9 years, 6 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago
Anchorage,Anchorage,AK
Contract price not specified.
"No traffic shaping-Consistent speed"
"Pricey but you can get better deals with a package"
"If you use P2P applications get GCI"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
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3mbs/256kbbs here. I've had service with GCI for over 6 years. I have IP, telco and cable TV in one package. I am a heavy BT P2P user and GCI does not throttle or shape BT traffic. I am able to get 700K+ download speeds on GCI while being able to surf the web and run other applications at normal speeds. The Ultimate package permits unlimited download cap. I've had a couple bad experiences with the other IP provider here in Anchorage. The company I was with at Ft. Richardson was using ACS DSL. For about 2 months their service became shaky with a lot of outages. ACS never addressed the problem (even after 2 months) and provided us with a spotty IP connection. I suggested we change our IP provider to GCI and they came out and installed us in 2 days. Man, what a difference. Also, we needed an additional phone line installed from ACS. ACS assigns an account representative to business. You can't get an upgrade unless you talk to your account representative. The problem was we couldn't get in touch with him for over 6 WEEKS. He was either sick, on vacation or they moved in another guy and he would not get in touch with us. ACS is the only telco provider on Ft. Rich.
GCI QOS is getting better. A year ago they had maybe a 98% uptime. They had a lot of outages but I cut them some slack as they were upgrading their network. In 2007 I had ONE outage that lasted 4 hours. Tech support is great even the low level tech's know what they are doing and offer great support. Also like other cable companies that package internet with cable TV be sure to check for new deals and promotions as you can save a few bucks. I can't comment on ACS DSL as it was never an option for me but a friend has it and uses it for surfing and email. He is not a heavy internet user but he likes it OK.
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Review by kakarot_11
UPDATED: 5.1 years ago
member for 5.1 years, 5 visits, last login: 4.1 years ago
Palmer,Matanuska Susitna,AK
$25 per month
"Very Lousy ISP"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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They consider 64/32k to be way faster. 64k is faster than dial-up, but not much better. 32k, what kind of cable connection rate is that? Fact: dial-up can go up to about 45-50k. Unless you're on a 28k at the most, 64k is not way, way faster than dial-up. They finally put the download rate up to 128k. They say "free lite speed" is the greatest internet deal in history, I would be surprised if it wasn't within the top 5 worst. Plus, their connections seem to often drop. If you want high speed access, I would strongly recommend a different provider if they are available in your area. Unless you barely ever download anything, and mostly just use your connection for e-mail, and you already have their qualifying products and are actually satisfied, I would not recommend their "free lite speed." MTA or ACS seem like decent providers. For businesses, DSL with GCI is without a doubt, a rip off. When you first order installation, they often say it can't be done for a few days. A good friend of mine said the person from GCI should up at his place at least a week late. When it comes to giving you service, it seems they want to make you wait. When you go to cancel your service, they cancel everything practically as soon as you confirm you want to cancel. They charged at least 3 times the price on our first bill and they were acting like they were completely innocent when we know for a fact that had a fair size fault. The only good part about their service was the technician for installation, actually showed up hours befor expected, in our case a really good thing.
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