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Review by twgbf 
UPDATED: 44 days ago
member for 2.3 years, 1023 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Utica,Oneida,NY
 $30 per month (12 month contract)
 about 21 days
 Verizon
 "Stable connection"
 "Top speed for me is only 1.5"
 "Still good value for the money"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
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(ratings above consensus)
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10/15/09 update:
My dsl is still going strong. No outages or slowdowns. I added Direct TV service for a triple bundle and said goodbye to Time Warner. We're very happy with this setup.
5/28/09 update:
My phone discounts expired in December so I changed my service to a double freedom bundle and my download speed was increased to 1.5. My dsl has always been solid...no down time since I've been with Verizon. The few times I've called tech support this year have been positive so I gave them a little better rating.
Rumor has it FIOS will be in Whitesboro (a suburb) later this year and shortly after that in Utica. I've noticed different wiring on the telephone poles around town and some large tan boxes on some of those poles. Sure hope that FIOS.
11/27/08
Called and got an upgrade to the 1.0 speed. I had to change from the $14.99/month for life to $19.99/month with a one year commitment...still a great deal for an always on connection. Speeds are very steady with a better upload and it's never been down since I got it. The fastest dsl speed in my area is 1.5 for $29.99 so the 1.0 speed is definitely the better deal. Unfortunately FIOS will not be here very soon.
1/10/2008 update:
I was able to get the price for life online. Took several tries though.
1/8/2008 update:
My dsl has been solid since I got it. No down time...steady speeds...all I really need in an internet connection.
After setting up my mother-in-law's computer for the $14.99 for life 768 speed dsl I was impressed with it's performance and price. I just do email and surf...no heavy downloading. I could very easily live with the slower speed. And for $14.99 a month? Great price for what you get.
I called Verizon billing to see if I could downgrade my speed to the 768/128 from my current 1.5 speed for the for-life price. They told me that offer was for new customers only but they could give it to me for $19.99 a month which I declined. Since I was not on a contract I told them I would rather cancel my dsl (I'm still on Roadrunner). They transferred me to the cancellations department. I spoke with a very nice lady who offered me the 768 service at 14.99 with a 1 year contract. She also gave me a reduced price on my phone service for 6 months. I accepted that and plan on calling them again when each offer is up. Too bad you have to play these games with them.
Roadrunner has gotten their act together and also finally gave us a speed increase this month to 10/1 but at about $45 a month. I called them to cancel a few months ago and they immediately offered me $29.99 a month for a year to stay which I also accepted. I still have the kids living here and they like the higher speeds. I use the dsl and the kids use the cable...every one is happy. When they move out and if the Verizon connection is still steady I will just go with that and cancel the Roadrunner. Probably will have to haggle with Verizon every 6 months or so to keep the price low.
Original review:
I have been a long time cable user (Adelphia and then Roadrunner) but the switch over to Roadrunner was a bad experience in the Utica, NY area. We would lose connection or it would be dial-up slow and my voip (ViaTalk) would not work. I decided to switch back to Verizon for phone service and also decided to look into dsl as a backup connection. Since I was also getting phone service it took a little time to be activated. I've been on Verizon dsl a little over a month and it's been a stable connection with no down time. I have a Westell 327W modem/router. It took a few calls to tech support and a few visits from a technician but now I'm getting a consistent 1.5 down (too far to get 3.0). I don't notice much of a difference doing what I do over the internet vs Roadrunner (about 3.5 down). Cost for dsl is $19.99 for 6 months (then 29.99 after that). I also went with a Freedom Essentials plan for $24.99 for six months. After six months it'll change to a Double Freedom plan. If the connection remains stable I'll drop Roadrunner and just go with Verizon. I may not be saving any money with a Double Freedom over a cable/voip setup, but I have a stable internet connection and reliable phone service and that's what I want.
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Review by HarryH3
UPDATED: 44 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 1301 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Georgetown,Williamson,TX
$22 per month (12 month contract)
about 20 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
"Cheap, reliable DSL"
"Bait and switch speed/price - See text"
"Meets my needs"
| Pre Sales information:
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See Update at bottom:
I called and ordered their advertised 768k/128k service for $14.95/mo. First I was shocked to find out what a ridiculously long time it would take for them to get it installed on my line. When the service was installed, I was getting 3Mbps download speeds. Pretty cool, until I got the bill and found out that they were charging me over $30/mo for that speed. However, when I requested that they downgrade my service to the 768k plan that I had originally ordered, they absolutely REFUSED to honor the $14.95/mo price that they had advertised, since I was no longer a "new" customer. Instead I got $17.95/mo plus all the crap fees that they tack on.
The installer was great. Friendly, efficient, and even knew what he was doing. 
Their phone support is abysmal, especially their "support" for Verizon-provided MSN. Blech!
The good thing is that my speed always tests very close to the advertised 768k down/128k up and has been extremely reliable.
Update 01/10/2009: Just upgraded to the new bottom speed tier of 1M/384k. The modem provisioning changed while I was still on the phone with the customer service rep! Price had creeped up over the last 2+ years, but this new "upgrade" dropped my DSL bill back to $19.99.
Now my browsing isn't killed when my kids are watching stuff on YouTube in the other room
Update: Oct. 2009. Switched to FastPath mode to reduce ping times. This made online gaming work better for my son. I didn't notice any difference for my use.
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 Review by onDvine
UPDATED: 45 days ago
member for 4.8 years, 2384 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
$29 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
"The connection has been reliable"
"Occasionally the modem needs to be powered off and on again"
"We're satisfied with it"
| Pre Sales information:
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We switched from Time Warner Cable's (formerly Comcast) broadband to Verizon DSL about 2½ years ago because it was more economical and friends said it worked fine for them. We're at the lowest tier, but don't notice it being slower than TWC's service was.
About a month ago we lost our connection for 4-5 hours. The tech support person was pleasant during half an hour spent trying to fix it before learning there was an outage in our area.
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Review by kmcheng
UPDATED: 45 days ago
member for 7.7 years, 548 visits, last login: 6 days ago
Elmhurst,Queens,NY
$43 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
Verizon
"good customer service, reliable service so far"
"login access, a little slow, and need one year agreement"
"given the super speed drop of cable at night, DSL ain't bad"
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10/14/09
Verizon is pretty caring in this case, gave me two automated calls yesterday to tell me the line status, then a guy called in today to verify if everything is ok now. I don't know if they lost too many customers, and so they want to make sure the current ones are happy.
PS: really hate to deal with those outsourced CS in India, most of them are pretty bad. I mean, billing CS is still ok, they just deal with general stuffs. It is the tech support that will kill you, you feel like you are talking to a bunch of idiotic robots who are just reading off the script without knowing anything...
In comparison, the direct support here is A LOT better, give you real help. Thumbs up for the guy!
10/13/09
I reached the direct support here yesterday, the guy issued a ticket, a tech guy come this morning. He is very nice, and patient (dealt with tons of errors). It is practically the same conclusion - my home is too far away from the CO, so the modem can barely keep up with the 6.5mb speed, and so any bad lining or filtering will further decreases the speed. It probably has nothing to do with the big wind on the 6th, just a coincident. And since I just use one filter for two phones (and one of the line may be a bit bad), that appears to be the problem.
I take out the last additional filter so that it is now one filter each phone, the problem seems to be gone, back to 6.5mb. Now the official speed on the modem's page is still 7616kb, but the real speed is just 6.5mb, a bit short of the top speed. Then again, my home is far away from the CO, so it is a little bit out of 7.1's range.
Whatever, at least it is a stable speed throughout the day, and that's the reason I switched from cable. Man, I hope I can get fios soon. I asked the tech guy, he said fios won't be here for another 6-12 months...
10/09/09
Since the big wind on 10/6, My download speed is down from 6.5mb to 5.5mb. I tried to reset stuffs, but didn't work, chat and phone support can't help either (most of them are CS who are just reading off the script anyway). I don't think the problem is on my side, probably the big wind affected it in some way. I will see when will verizon going to fix it.
03/19/09
called verizon's billing dept, the lady said the $75 rebate offer now is only available for the new comers starting in March...
Yes, it is unfortunate, but I don't want to stay two more months in cable. I like DSL's stable speed now.
02/23/09
The bill this time is HUGE. two months of service, plus shipping and activation fee ($15), plus the modem fee ($40). Called verizon, the lady from billing dept said these fees are waived if I apply online. Man...
I never know I can waive the activation and modem fee by applying online (my friend told me this, but not from verizon when I talk to the lady on phone.) If I was clear on this, I would definitely apply online... 
02/12/09
First outage after a month of use, started in the morning, until nearly 4PM, half a day. The connection is not totally dead. the signal is there, but the connection is VERY slow. They said the outage is in the 718 area. Drives me crazy try to restart modem, router, directly connect to the modem, nothing helps.
I talked to the tech support in the morning for a few minutes, and than nearly 50 minutes in the afternoon. He wants remote control my desktop to see what's wrong. But download the remote software itself took forever. Then, all of the sudden, after the signal is dropped, it finally come back up again.
Now it is back to normal, hope it won't go crazy again.
(01/13/09)
tried the relatively rare live chat support for the first time today, it is pretty good, except it takes the CSR a long while (2 minutes or more each) to response, which is too slow.
And if verizon is smart, it should give this option of CS by chatting with a faster response time more so that may be less customers call them for support (I myself prefer chatting if the problem is not too serious or urgent).
(01/12/09)
Verizon left a message on Friday (9) evening, said that the system is ready. I wait till today anyway (installed the filters). I just plug in the power and connect the phone line, then switch on the modem (model is 6100F, only three lights). The DSL light keep blinking. Called tech support, they said it means the modem can't find the DSL signal, and after trial and errors, he said he is going to send out a technician later on.
Ends up, it is my own fault. I assume DSL works like cable, that it needs to able to detect a signal first. The problem is solved by my friend's advice that I need to use the Verizon's CD to activate the line.
I do so, setup the account name and password, also other stuffs. When the program is detecting the line, I can see the DSL light becomes solid, and the internet light is on later on. After a while, the whole activation finished, and I am good to go.
The speed: the modem states as 7616kb downstream, 896 upstream. The actually speed is about 6500kb (about 800 KB) down and 710kb (about 80, faster than cable) up. My plan is 7.1mb down, but of course I know it won't be completely 7.1, it would be 6 something. I am right - 6.5. It is a little slower than cable's around 9mb tops. But given the super speed drop in peak hour, DSL is actually better now. And, this down/up speed is constant in any time of the day. I have a long time haven't have a constant speed like this. This is what a broadband is supposed to be like.
One downside is, I need to change the modem from PPPoE to bridge mode, also disable the DHCP function, in order to use my own router (and I need to enter the name and password in the router to do login). And by this, I won't be able to access the modem anymore (also no internet light, only data and dsl line this way). I did some research, people said that in this PPP point, one point is the ISP, another is my router, so the modem in between would be "disappeared". DSL system is indeed different than cable system. I have been using cable for years, never use DSL before, so all these are new to me.
Well, it is just my first day of using the DSL, but so far the service is good, the speed is stable. After a few days of use to make sure, if the whole thing looks good, I am going to return the cable modem to TW and cancel the cable internet service. I will just wait a few days - I am still paying for cable until I cancel the service.
Though I still hope fios will come soon. And by the way, Verizon said if fios comes in the middle of the agreement time, i don't need to wait till the agreement to end to use fios. I can just do a plan change. Good.
Last, I realize that the requirement of in house line is not as hard as cable system. For cable, when you put in a splitter, it deceases the signal strength. But for phone line, it's ok. Whether you connect the modem direct to the phone hack, or have a couple of couplers and splitters (like mine) in between, it doesn't really matter, the speed is the same.
the bad news is Verizon is going to charge me $20 activation fee
I heard that Verizon's customer service is horrible. But so far either the CS, the billing lady, and the tech support guy today are pretty good.
(01/08/09)
ordered the verizon 7.1mb dsl on 1/6 (since I am really fed up with the cable's super speed drop in peak hour), dsl kit shipping in 7, got it today. The system will be ready on 12.
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Review by Megawho
Posted: 45 days ago
member for 46 days, 1 visits, last login: 46 days ago
Houston,Harris,TX
 Business customer
Contract price not specified.
"None"
"Terrible Latency from 5pm to 11pm CST in North Texas"
"Tested 5 days in a row, latencey avg 1850+ each night"
| Pre Sales information:
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I am what is commonly refered to as a road warrior, different hotels, different weeks, but the one thing that remains consistant is the terrible latencey I get wether using Verizon's services.
[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]»www.speedtest.net/result/5915724···G][/URL]
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Review by dsl4ever
UPDATED: 47 days ago
member for 266 days, 59 visits, last login: 3 days ago
Whitewright,Grayson,TX
$37 per month
about 3 days
"Reliability-consistency-value"
"Website hard to navigate"
"Will never go back to cable unless caps are implemented"
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Had cable internet from local provider. Service was good, consistent, and a fair value. Then came the download caps.
Was hesitant to even try DSL, was told that it was unreliable, buggy..etc.
Got a great deal from Verizon, 6 mos free 3 meg DSL with a one year commitment (i think). My experience with the 3 meg was great...I haven't had a single outage or slowdown since I ordered it. Setup was easy (as was cable).
After my 6 mos free period was up I ordered the new 7.1. After a 4 day delay, I find out that not only do I not have internet, my phone no longer works! However, Verizon quickly found and resolved the problem at local CO and phone outage was less than 24 hours. I've had the new 7.1 for about a month now and I love it. I get consistent 6500kbps on speedtest. No outages as of yet (I was concerned about reliability after making the upgrade). The hardware I got is top-notch, modem and wireless router all in one small unit. I use my wireless-capable laptop and have had no problems with the wireless router. My speedtest results are the same on my laptop as on my desktop.
Update 10-12-09:
I have had verizon dsl for approx 14 months with no service breaks that i can remember. Speed is still around 6600 KBps on speedtest. RELIABLE is the key word. I'm very impressed with the hardware (7500 i think). DSL modem/router-wireless router all in one relatively small package. I may have had to reboot router maybe once in the past year or so. Still very happy.
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Review by acuariano
UPDATED: 48 days ago
member for 5 years, 768 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Woodside,Queens,NY
$29 per month
"the first 4 weeks was ok"
"since dec20-04,,very slow browsing.lasting untill today 23rd...don't know when the'll fix this problem"
"should improve connection and specially in tech support"
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was good in the beginning but...now..
but mow forget about it...at least here in queens new york there is a lousy service,,my plan is 3.0/768 but i'm geting dialup service at night from 6,7pm throught 12-midnight..
phone support=don't exist,they don't know what they're doing..
looking for another alternative than this poor service.
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 Review by BloodRoses
UPDATED: 48 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 2237 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Worcester,Worcester,MA
$29 per month (12 month contract)
about 24 days
Verizon
"Low Latency, Consistent"
"Order to Live Slow, Complicated"
"Good for the money."
| Pre Sales information:
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Pre-Sales Information: Pretty good, I knew what speeds my line could handle, what package I wanted, price and contract obligations. I ordered online, but I did call to confirm some information.
Install Coordination: It was otherwise good, but as usual with Verizon the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. I ordered 3.0/768 DSL, but was informed that they had me set for 1.5/384. I had changed this on June 2nd, but upon setting up my account on June 10th, I found my speed was still set for their 1.5/384 tier. Also, they did not send the modem I was expecting (and read they would send off their website) and they got my address wrong (missing apartment number) to top it off.
Edit: It was because of the plan I supposedly got, the one I ordered online was the annual plan which included a Westell 327W, but when it was changed to put me on the 3Mbps tier I ordered, I was put on a "Consumer Plan" and thus received a Westell 2200. Both plans are identical in every way, the only thing that differs are the modems. It makes absolutely no sense to me.
Connection Reliability: I've only had it for a day up until now but so far it's been good, I rated this neutral.
Tech Support: Some of their support staff is very knowledgeable, but you will get someone from India from time to time. Usually the Indian staff are understandable, but some of them you really have to concentrate and if you're lucky you'll understand 2 or 3 words they said and can sort of make out what they're on about... sometimes. Points added for a few that were very helpful, however.
Services: I'm going to rate this neutral because the only service I *really* care about is a good reliable connection, the rest I can care less about with the exception of newsgroups (I may review them further at a later date).
Value For The Money: If I could give this a 4.5 I would, it is definitely cost effective. Even comparing to Comcast, it was 52.95$ even if I had cable for more or less the same upload speed that I have now. Verizon comes out to about the same with a phone line, and I get the added benefit of being able to have a backup dialup account. I also get newsgroup access which (depending how good Verizons servers are) could save me 25$/mo. I was paying Giganews on Comcast. Charter does not offer any similar services so I will not count them, however Charter's newsgroup access is more or less useless.
Okay, and now onto what I said about the good, and the bad.
The Good
-
Low Latency: From my initial testing, I get pings lower than 30ms (averaging approximately 26ms) to the West Coast. In comparison Charter here averages about 60ms to those same servers.
Consistency: I'm not provisioned for what I'm supposed to be at, but testing and retesting comes back at 1505/388kbps every single time. I even tested my download 15 times in a row from the same server and got the same exact result. Beautiful. Hopefully 3.0/768 will be exactly twice as much.
Good Upload: 768kbps for 29.95$ is probably one of the best offers you'll find in the US. Comcast offers the same amount, but at a much stiffer price. Charter offers no such speeds unless you go with business class (5/1 for $399.99).
The Bad
-
Order to Live Slow: I ordered DSL on Wednesday, May 18th. My DSL went live on Friday, June 10th. That's 24 days. I'm not the most patient of people, granted. But 24 days is simply unacceptable in my personal opinion. Verizon may argue my phone needed to be installed (which it was Thursday, May 26th), but there were wall plate filters left in the apartment when I moved in leading me to believe a previous customer had DSL and also I was pre-approved for their highest tier. This is still 2 weeks at best after I got my phone line installed. Most cable providers can usually come out within a week, so this is certainly something to work on if they want to be more competitive.
Complicated: This is really just a warning to some that in order to configure the DSL router to work in exactly the way I wanted I did have to spend a bit of time configuring things, and had I not understood how everything works I feel I might have been a bit confused by it. On the other hand, I personally kind of like the complexity of the technology so take this one with a grain of salt.
___
Edit 15.06.05: Just a quick update to say I called Monday and have now received the correct modem that I was expecting. They said wait 5 to 6 business days to receive return packaging for the 2200. Still waiting for my speeds to be set to what they should be.
Edit 23.06.05: Still trying to obtain the 3.0/768 service that Verizon and every CLEC I know says I quality for (In fact, I qualify for 7 Megabits!). From what I know of my signal levels they look beautiful, even people on the forums say they do (I had to confirm, just because...). Spoke to someone in MSN support after being transferred around like 7 times (most bureaucratic company I've ever dealt with!). She was finally someone worth talking to, and seems dedicated to getting this fixed. My 30 days are running out and if I don't get the service I'm told I'm able to receive, I'm canceling before I'm bound to a contract. We'll see how things go... by the way Verizon's NNTP Servers are good.
Edit 30.06.05: Yay!! Woke up this morning, reset my router and found I was finally provisioned correctly! Running beautifully using Verizon's "official" infospeed speedtest I get 2842.9Kbits / 355.4KBytes. Upload coming pretty close to what I'm supposed to be at too (using a different test). Good enough for me. Pings still at 26ms to the West Coast. Verizon has just earned themselves a new customer, calling Charter Communications now to tell them where they can go.
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 Review by Grail Knight
UPDATED: 49 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 3258 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Erie,Erie,PA
$21 per month (12 month contract)
about 8 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
"Faster than dialup and cheaper then cable."
"Phone tag, one hand does not know what the other is doing, poor follow up"
"Only get Verizon DSL if you have no other options available."
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Connection is stable service unless it is raining then the connection drops in and out. This remains true to this day. Too busy deploying FIOS to other areas and neglecting their copper.
Good luck with the lower tier support staff. I would be amazed if they got it right the first time. Lower tier support reminds me of cashiers that can not do the math if the power goes out. To much reliance on their on-screen prompts and software help guides then actually understanding the technology.
If you are given a ticket number for repair you have to jump through the same voice prompts again. There is no direct number given by Verizon Tech Support to reach the Repair Supervisor which is just plain bad business and unacceptable for a communications company.
Maintenance Support knows their job but the inability of support to share information amongst the Departments means wasting time describing the issue over and over again. For a communication company this is unacceptable.
Update:
Speeds have been bumped a bit nothing else has changed except the names and the year. Road Runner looks to be my new broadband provider starting the first half of 2010.
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Review by giorgosc
UPDATED: 50 days ago
member for 7.6 years, 45 visits, last login: 5 days ago
Bronx,Bronx,NY
$29 per month
| Pre Sales information:
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I ordered the high version and it worked ok.
But now I have a weird problem. Constantly it connects and disconnects. The problem is not with the computer but it shows with the IOIp.I use an Ooma and it constantly disconnects and connects. I contacted the people at Ooma and they said it was the Internet that gives me the problem. I didn't contact them (Verizon) and I wanted an opinion from you first.
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Verizon Online DSL
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![www.speedtest.net/result/5915724···G][/URL]](http://www.speedtest.net/result/591572435.png[/IMG][/URL]){kind=link}