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Review by witherspoon
Posted: 9 years ago
(review was emailed from domain vdot.state.va.us)
 Richmond,Henrico,VA
 $76 per month
CLEC party: Cavalier
 "Service has been exceptional. It's fast and highly reliable"
 "PreInstall information and coordination,and interface with Verizon (Bell Atlantic) was a nightmare"
 "Don't even think about Verizon. Get Cavalier!!!!!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I reviewed Cavalier Telephone for preinstall back in June.
That review was totally negative, and justifiably so.
I would now like to provide a post install review.
I've had the service for 5 months now.
The service has been fast and extremely reliable. Anyone who has a choice
between Cavalier and Verizon should do themselves a favor and get Cavalier.
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Review by jcastle3
Posted: 9.3 years ago
(review was emailed from domain hotmail.com)
Virginia Beach,Virginia Beach City,VA
$77 per month
"Unbeatable price, no contracts, courteous techs."
"4 to 6 week install period."
"Don't be fooled by the cheap prices, these guys know what they're doing."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
If you live in the Virginia area and want DSL, CAVALIER TELEPHONE is one to
consider. I searched for a provider that would be able to provide DSL at
18,000 feet from CO. I realized I was pushing my luck. I heard a radio ad
for Cavalier and decided to try them. This was after I finally gave up on
COVAD. I waited 2 months with them, and no luck.
June 11, 2000 setup call to Cavalier. I had to switch my phone service over
from Bell Atlantic. No problem there. Cavalier's package deal is
unbeatable. I was a bit skeptic, but now I'm a believer. They use a
technology from Paradyne. Hotwire MVL (multi-virtual line) SDSL. Offered
in 192K, 384K, and 768K. Prices are $65, $77, and $110, respectively. And
that includes phone service (dial tone).
July 22, 2000 up and running with SDSL. Tests from mulitple speed test
sites have me at 350K - 400K up and downstream. I opted for the 384K. I'm
a big gamer, Rogue Spear, and if anyone knows that game, it just about
requires a T1 to host the max amount of players (16). My DSL line was
flawless, no problems hosting. There was an issue with my voice line having
some static, but a technician came out and installed a filter. Problem
resolved.
The people at Cavalier were very courteous, never rude. They seemed to be
very knowledgable. The biggest hold up was getting BA to give Cavalier my
line. If you want to know whether or not your line has been switched from
BA to Cavalier dial 311. If you're on Cavalier lines you'll get a phone
number confirmation. If your home wiring is fine, you shouldn't experience
any other hold ups. Cavalier does NOT do any internal home wiring.
Luckily, I've played around with my phone lines before and knew my lines
were good to go. The actual field technician came out twice. The first
time, I wasn't home, but he left the SDSL Modem on my porch. I was able to
hook it up and get it going with a Cavalier Tech over the phone. The second
time a field tech came out was to install the filter and ensure I had my DSL
line up and running. No problems since then. Up and solid for 5 days
straight.
A couple people I'd like to thank over at Cavalier. Daniel, the Sales
Engineer that sold me on the idea and took the time to explain to me why
Cavalier could reach me when other DSL providers could not. Amy, the
dispatch lady who was very patient with me and seemed to have genuine
concern (actually got a call after everything was setup to ensure everything
was running good). The techs: Brent, Yung, Elizabeth, and Brad... they
never got irritated at the fact that I kept calling to check on my DSL
status. They say 30 days for installation period, go easy on them if it
takes one more week. They want to ensure your setup is done correctly. It
was well worth the wait. And last but not least Mike, the field tech for
installing the filter to clear up the static on my voice line. He had no
problems with me looking over his shoulder, he even took the time to explain
to me the wiring setup.
After cancelling my 56k ISP, and my BA phone service. I'm paying less for
more! So if you live in the Virginia Beach area, or in VA for that matter,
and want broadband, check out Cavalier. Check them out even if you don't
want DSL. Their phone line rates are much cheaper than BA. If you're not happy with Cavalier after the switch, they said they'd switch me back to BA for free. They don't make you sign a contract, but if you want DSL you have to buy the Paradyne modem at $150.00.
Here are some useful sites if interested:
www.cavtel.com
www.paradyne.com/products/mvl_data_sheet.html
Jess C.
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Review by mjmgraphix 
Posted: 9.5 years ago
member for 9.5 years, 5 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
Virginia Beach,Virginia Beach City,VA
$76 per month
"On-time and friendly staff"
"DSL is out occasionally, expensive"
"Good service, wish the price would drop though."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Hello,
This review of of Cavalier's DSL installation and service.
On April 18, 2000 I called Cavalier after hearing a commercial for their
local phone service in Virginia Beach. I asked the rep who answered if they
offered DSL, he said yes and transferred me to Brent, who answered all of my
questions quite well. I proceeded to place my order for 384k DSL connection
and to have one dial tone from Cavalier and to disconnect all services from
Bell Atlantic. He said the wait for DSL would be from 45-60 days. I
agreed...
On Tuesday, may 16 I called cavalier to check the status of my order, and
they told me that I was scheduled for DSL installation during the week of
May 19-26. I was pleasantly surprised at the accelerated date in comparison
to the time frame I was given.
Friday, May 19 arrived and 2 Bell Atlantic Techs came to my door explaining
that they were prepping the lines for Cavalier to install DSL on my lines.
Monday, May 22: 2 Cavalier Techs arrived and spent about 15 minutes
installing my DSL modem and hooking up the necessary lines to the NID. Being
that I am using a Mac, the NIC is built in...
The techs said within 5 minutes I would receive a call from Jason who would
walk me through configuring my Mac to utilize the DSL connection. Sure
enough I received the phone call, Jason provided me with the necessary info
and I was up and running instantly.
After getting set-up, I still didn't have the information necessary to
configure my eMail, so I called tech support and they provided the info with
no problem.
My dealings with Cavalier have been excellent and I am happy with the
overall customer service. After using the DSL for a few hours, I noticed
that occasionally I would get a few minutes of down time with no server
response. I called tech and explained it to them, and they sent a Tech out
who replaced the modem, and luckily before he left the same problem
occured... So they have told me to monitor this problem and to let them know
how often and when it goes out... I am logging this as well as using the DSL
reports monitoring service to be able to provide more accurate info.
The only problem I ended up having was that the noise filter option I chose,
was to have a NID filder installed, rather than an individual filter on each
of my phones. The tech installed this on the second visit, it took a little
while for them to figure out, as they said it was the first time they had
had this option chosen. They were apologetic for having to return a second
time and spending nearly an hour trying to figure out how to fix the noise
filter, and ended up rewiring the DSL to another line.
Later, after surfing the net I noticed that the service I was paying $76 a
month for was now $85 a month and there was no longer any charge for
installation (which I paid $99 for and no charge for the $149 DSL modem). I
called Cavalier and they said I could switch to the new program, but it
required a 2 year contract, I declined, but the operator said she would go
ahead and wave the installation fee ($99).
Overall I am satisfied with their efforts and I am happy with the service,
however I am somewhat dissapointed that the price for a 384k (43K)
connection is so expensive. and since they rewired my DSL to another phone
line, I no longer need the noice filter, so I intend to have the $50 charge
for it refunded.
The people I dealt with a quite nice and I am looking forward to good
service from Cavalier.. I will keep you updated.
Mike Martin
Virginia Beach, VA
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Review by witherspoon
Posted: 9.5 years ago
(review was emailed from domain vdot.state.va.us)
Richmond,Henrico,VA
$76 per month
"Did not get the opportunity to discover any"
"After months of reading here ,about Bell Atlantic, I thought Cavalier would be a Blessing. Wrong!! Wrong!! Wrong!!!"
"I can't speak for the actual DSL service. I never got it. Their customer service is the worse I've ever had the misfortune of e"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
(ratings well below consensus)
|
Note : If I could have , I would have rated Pre Sales and Install coordination
-X, not one star. Pre Sales information wasn't lacking. It was merely full of lies. Dslreports should consider providing a "No Stars' rating, or better yet a negative (some appropriate symbol) rating.
Warning !!! This is a very long and painful story. Basically it is a log of my
attempt to get DSL service from Cavalier Telephone in Richmond Va.
Everyone says that because DSL is a "New technology, we must expect problems with the organizations attempting to implement it. What follows here, occurred not because of "technological infancy", but it occurred because of bad business
practices and processes, and just plain horrible customer service. These people are all too willing to blame Bell Atlantic (who may or may not share some blame), for their screwups. Their processes and problem communication methods are unbelievably horrid, and until the very end (when I talked with MR. Niedhammer, I didn't encounter anyone who seemed to recognize this, or care. With the exception of Mr. Niedhammer, everyone I dealt with was more interested in making excuses, and passing blame, than with fixing the problems, or the processes that led to the problems.
Late September 1999-
Cavalier starts advertising in Richmond Va. Since the internet via cable is
not available in my area , and Bell Atlantic won't provide DSL, I contact
Cavalier. They tell me that they will probably provide DSL to my area in
late November.
Early December 1999-
I contact Cavalier again. They tell me DSL will be available in
Mid-January. In Mid -January I call again and they say it will be available
soon.
Feb 5, 2000
I'm at a computer show and Cavalier is there. I ask when DSL will be
available in my area. They enter my zip code and reply that it is available
NOW! I tell them that if it's possible, I would like to get 192 kbps service
($65 per month). They tell me that I can get 384kbps service for $75 per
month, with 3 email addresses and internet sharing permitted. I tell them
that according to DSLREPORTS, I'm 16542 feet from the CO, and I didn't think
that I could get 384kpbs, at that distance. They assure me that it's no
problem getting 384 Kbps at distances much further than 16542 feet. They say
they have installed many customers farther than 16542 feet with absolutely
no problems. I tell them that my lines are rather noisy, and may need
conditioning. Again, they tell me that it won't be a problem. I ask "What
about dealing with Bell Atlantic. They won't make things easy for you." They
replied," That was a problem initially, but now we've developed ways to deal
with BA. Your DSL will be installed within 30 business days of your order
with us. No Problem!!!". I asked if the DSL modem must be purchased from
Cavalier, or could I buy a DSL modem from another source. They replied, "The
modem must be purchased from us."
Feb 8,2000- I place order with Cavalier. Pay $250 up front ( $99 install,
$150 DSL modem)
Feb 11,2000- Cavalier cashed my check.
Feb 14 2000- I call Cavalier to learn if I got the 3 email address, that I
requested, or whether I would have to pick another username for the email
address. I spoke with a Chris Woody. He said He couldn't find any record of
my order. I told him that Cavalier had cashed my check on the 11th. He said
I'll check into it and I'll call you back.
Feb 16,2000- Chris Woody didn't call me back. I call Chris Woody back.
He says "We have your order. I don't know why I didn't see it. You got the
email addresses you requested. The installation will take place within the
next 25 days.
March 10, 2000- I call Cavalier because I've received nothing from them,
confirming anything. The party I spoke with tells me, that "There is a
problem. Bell Atlantic says your lines need to be reconditioned, and it will
take another 30 business days." I asked her "Why am I just hearing about
this now. You guys knew, before I placed the order that there was a strong
possibility that the lines would need reconditioning. I told you!! You've
had my money for a month and have done absolutely nothing." She then said
that Cavalier had been sent a letter explaining this and that they would
refund my money and bill me after the service is installed. I told her that
I hadn't received any letter, and I asked her when it had been sent. She
replied, "I don't know exactly, sometime last week, I think". I asked to
speak to her supervisor. After a ten minute wait, I explained everything
to a supervisor named Monica. She apologized profusely and said it was all
Bell Atlantic's fault.
March 15,2000- I receive a letter from Cavalier postmarked March 13,2000.
The letter is not dated (I wonder why) Here are it's contents:
Dear Mr. Witherspoon
Due to technical difficulties Cavalier anticipates a delay in delivering DSL
service to your residence. In an effort to ease any inconvenience this delay
may cause Cavalier will refund the cost of the modem as well as waive the
installation charge. The cost of the modem will be charged to the first
month's phone bill after DSL service is rendered.
Cavalier will continue to work to establish DSL service to your residence,
however in the case where our "Best Effort Service" cannot be delivered we
will notify you as soon as possible.
Please feel free to contact us with any further questions regarding your DSL
account at (804) 422-4400.
Cavalier appreciates your patience and understanding.
Sincerely
Monica Redwood
Cavalier Residential DSL Sales Representative
Note that thus far, Cavalier's "Best Effort Service", consists of cashing
my check on Feb 11, promptly losing my order, and informing me by mail of a
delay, after I made the inquiry about nothing happening.
March 21,2000- I called to ask where my refund was and when did the "NEW 30
Day wait begin, as the letter did not indicate any time frame.
Michelle asked me why am I in such a hurry, She says, " You didn't order DSL
until Feb 24, 2000." I tell her that I placed the order on Feb 8,2000, and
Cavalier cashed the check on Feb 11,2000. She tells me that the order wasn't
entered until Feb 24,2000 (interesting to say the least). She says the
reconditioning order wasn't placed until March 13, 2000. I ask to speak to
her supervisor. Monica gets on the line and tells me that Cavalier only
learned about the lines needing to be reconditioned 2 weeks ago, and that
the 30 Business days begins 3-13-2000. I ask her how is it that they only
learned about the lines needing reconditioning 2 weeks ago, when I told them
that was a possibility before I placed the order. She had no answer. I begin
to ask explicit questions about Cavaliers "processes and time frames".
Monica gives very Vague answers. I ask "Where is my refund that I was told
on March 10,2000, had been sent possibly a week ago. Monica replied that the
refund had been sent. She knew this because she was looking at the memo of
the list of names, to whom the refund had been sent. I asked her what was
the date on the memo. She said it wasn't dated. (curious) Monica again
apologized profusely. She again placed the blame at Bell Atlantic's door.
I told her that Bell Atlantic didn't lose my order and try to cover it up.
That Bell Atlantic didn't inform me that there was a problem only after I
inquired about inactivity, and claim that they had sent me a letter, which
they hadn't sent ( or a check ,but I didn't know this for certain yet).
Cavalier had done those things and that the amounted to very poor customer
service thus far. I asked to be kept informed of any problems, because I had
ordered the service from Cavalier with enough time to have it installed and
running, before my current ISP contract ended. The timing for changing to
Cavalier's service and email addresses was critical, and Cavalier's
communications blunder's were beginning to make what should have been ample
time (my contract with my current ISP would end on April 28), limited time.
She assured me that any future problems would be communicated to me as soon
as they were known.
March 24, 2000- Cavalier should have finished installing DSL. They haven't
even begun the process!!!!
March 31,2000- I wait 6.5 minutes to speak with Brent. He "assures me" that
I will receive DSL service in the next 15 business days.
April 13, 2000 10:42 AM- I call Cavalier to check on the status. I reach
Jason at 10:58 AM. He checks, and then tells me that everything is in order
and that all that needs to be done is for him to transfer me to Amy, so that
she can schedule the tech to do the actual install. I got Amy's phone mail,
and left a message. I then got the operator, who transferred me to Janet,
who said she would have Amy call me as soon as Amy got off of the phone. By
1:25 PM, Amy had not called. I called Jason. He said he would have her call
me. It's 3:20 PM and Amy has not called. I called Jason. He's going over to
her desk. I waited 9.5 minutes. Amy says Cavalier is not yet prepared to
provide the service. She says she doesn't know who told me that everything
was ready, but it's not. I tell her that Jason (who just put her on the
line) told me. I ask for her supervisor. She puts Chris Roy on the line.
Chris apologizes for the mistakes. He tells me that I have been placed in a
"NEW SPECIAL GROUP of 10 PEOPLE" who are the to be the first to use a new
process that Cavalier has developed with Bell Atlantic. This new process
will definitely have me active and using DSL by the end of April. I asked
him if that was a guarantee, and he said it was. I told him that my current
ISP contract ends April 28, 2000 and that Cavalier was cutting it awfully
close for my arranging new email addresses, and notifying people of the new
email addresses. Chris had Brent set me up with Cavalier's 56K service until
the DSL installation could be completed. He said if I had any further
problems to contact either him or Brent, and they would take care of them.
April 26, 2000- I've not received any info from Cavalier and unless they
schedule installs on Sunday, then I'm not going to have DSL by the end of
April as Chris guaranteed. I'm not surprised, I didn't get it within 30
days, within 30 business days, within 15 days of March 26 nor will I get it
by April 30, 2000. I call Brent at 1:20 PM He said they still don't have
things set up. I ask to speak to Chris Roy. Brent says he will have Chris
call me back today. 4:20 PM, Neither Brent nor Chris have called back. I
call Cavalier again. I get Deanie (who I'm told is Chris' replacement, Chris
left the group 2 weeks ago (wouldn't that be before April 13, when I asked
for Amy's supervisor)). Deanie says there is no information about any of my
past calls, or any of the past situations regarding my order, on the screens
that she is viewing. She asked me to wait while she got information from
Brent, who was on the phone speaking with someone. 20 minutes pass. She
comes back saying she's still waiting. She gives me the option of continuing
to wait, or having her call me back. I tell her, " Thus far no one from
Cavalier has ever called back , when they said they would, so no offense,
but I'll wait". 31 minutes pass. Brent tells me, that "It's been escalated
again". I should expect an answer tomorrow. I will be notified by phone and
email. I ask Brent what happened to that NEW SPECIAL Group of 10 People, you
know, the first to use the NEW PROCESS that Cavalier developed with Bell
Atlantic that would assure that I would be Active and Installed by the end
of April.
Brent Stammers. It is now, that I learn that Deanie is not Chris'
replacement. Chris was never in the DSL Group. They just put someone on the
line pretending to be Amy's supervisor in the DSL Group.
I bring Deanie up to speed on everything that has transpired up to this
point in time. She apologizes. Brent says that the Incident with Jason
should never have happened. "Jason is new, and he didn't know what he was
doing". I told them, that "No one at Cavalier seems to know what they're
doing.
April 28,2000- Called Brent at 4:00 PM left message. Called again at 5:00
PM. the contract with my current ISP ends today.
May 2,2000 I have called Brent a number of times over the last couple of
days. Always got a message that he was unavailable. It finally dawns on me
that he is using Caller ID to screen my calls. I call him from my phone
(786-XXXX) he's unavailable. I immediately call him from my co-workers phone
225-XXXX, he picks up immediately. He has no information for me.
May 4, 2000- Brent leaves me a message. I call him back. He tells me "I've
got some good news, and some good news to give you. Which do you want to
hear, first? I tell him "Give me the good news and follow that with the
good news." He says everything is OK. Some work is scheduled to take place
on May 11, 2000 and that we can schedule a time on May 12, 2000 for the
Cavalier tech to finally install the DSL service. He suggest that we
schedule time in the afternoon, so that if there are any problems on the
11th, there will be adequate time to get them straightened out. He says I
need to be at home from 1:00 PM -4:00 PM on May 12,2000, to allow the tech
to complete the DSL installation. I ask him if I could be sent any
instructions prior to the tech coming out so that I could familiarize myself
with what was needed. He said he didn't know, but he would check and get
back with me. I asked him, if I would need a NIC (I knew that I would), and
if there were any specific ones, that I should avoid. He answered that a NIC
was required but he didn't know about any specific ones to avoid. He said he
would get back to me on that also. I confirmed the time with him once more
and told him I would get off work to be at home during that period.
May 10, 2000- Went to Circuit city and purchased a Netgear USB NIC to
connect with Cavalier's DSL Modem.
May 11, 2000- Brent never called back with the answers to any of the
questions, that I asked him, on May 4, 2000. At 2:00 PM I called Brent to
confirm the DSL install by the Cavalier tech tomorrow, between 1:00 PM and
4:00 PM.
I left a message stating to please contact me if anything was amiss, because
I could not afford to lose valuable time at work, for nothing (I'm a
computer consultant. I get paid by the hour). Brent never called me back, so
I called Cavalier at 4:54 PM, to check that the install is still on. Demetri
says "Everything is still a go". I ask him to please have someone notify me
if anything changes, because I don't want to be waiting around for no one
and losing income.
May 12, 2000- I leave work at 12:30 . I arrive home at 12:46 PM to wait for
Cavalier's tech to install the DSL. By 4:30 PM no one had showed up to
perform the DSL Install. I call Brent. He checks and discovers what I
already know, that no one has come to do the install. My question to him is
why haven't they come? He doesn't know. No one was dispatched. I ask to
speak to his supervisor. Monica, doesn't know what is going on. She has
Brent do some more checking. Brent discovers no one was dispatched to
install DSL for me, because on May 8, 2000, Bell Atlantic informed Cavalier
that it is not possible to have DSL on my phone line, because it is an
integrated line. That being the case Cavalier didn't send a tech to do the
install. I ask "Why wasn't I informed of this before now". The answer I
received was that they didn't know.
When I called at 4:54 PM on May 11, 2000, why didn't Demetri tell me this?
If it can't be done because my phone line is an integrated line, wasn't
my line an integrated line back in February. It's the same line that it was
on March 10,2000 when Cavalier suddenly discovered that it needed
reconditioning, so how is it that Cavalier didn't know that it is an
integrated line (a SLIC or DLC), on which DSL can't be installed, when being
able to provide DSL was the reason it need to be reconditioned, in the first
place.
Trying to minimize the absurdity of what had happened, Monica tells me
that Cavalier has many occurrences where the line turns out to be
integrated. I say " If you have many occurrences of this, then it happens
with some frequency and you should have a process for dealing with it, and
notifying your customers in a timely fashion." Monica replies, " I didn't
say that it occurred with some frequency". I replied, "If you have MANY
occurences, then there is some frequency, Yes or No?" Monica then says,
"We've had it happen 3 or 4 times". I asked, " So let me get this
straight. You people have jerked me around for 3 months, and you just had me
miss 4 hours of work, to wait at home for a service that you can't deliver,
and should have told me you couldn't deliver at least two months ago."
"You had me purchase a NIC that I now, can't use, and you don't see why I
have a Problem with this". Their reply "Were sorry Mr. Witherspoon".
I told them that they would be hearing from me again and that I would make
public what had transpired. Monica replied that, "They couldn't stop me form
exercising my Free Speech Rights. That was the end of the conversation.
At 5:30PM, I started trying to reach Monica to demand a refund for the pay I
lost, waiting for the Tech to come do the install, and for the cost of the
NIC that I now had no use for. I finally reached (many calls later) Brent at
6:00 PM. He said that Monica wasn't in, but she would be in tomorrow. I told
him that I was headed out of town, and that I expected to be reimbursed for
"pay lost". I asked him to have Monica call me on Monday, May 15, 2000. He
said that he would have her call me on Monday, May 15, 2000
May 16,2000- I've received no call from Monica.
May 17, 2000- A Don Niedhammer (4224181) called and left a message on my
home answering machine . This is the message:
" This is a phone call for Mr. Witherspoon. Mr. Witherspoon, this is Don
Niedhammer. I'm Director of Operations for Cavalier Telephone. My number is
4224181. I'm calling in reference to your request for DSL service and phone
service with Cavalier telephone. I'm sorry to say that we are unable to
provide you with service due to the fact, that you are on what's called an
integrated SLIC, which does not allow us to use Bell Atlantic's facilities
to provide you with DSL or with dial tone. I've been informed of this by
Bell Atlantic and asked to give you a phone call, to let you know that we
are unable to do this. So we'll cancel your order and if you have any
questions, feel free to call me at 4224181."
May 18,2000 called Mr. Don Niedhammer 4 Times between 8:30 AM and 11:45 AM.
I left two messages for him. His phone message says he's in the office until
Noon, then, he will be in Norfolk, Va.
May 19, 2000- Called Mr. Don Niedhammer at 8:50 AM, 9:37 AM, 10:32 AM, 12:13
PM. I get Thursday's phone message each time. At about 1:00 PM Mr. Don
Niedhammer calls me. I bring him up to date on what has transpired.
He says, that he will investigate what I've told him. He will check with all
the players, and if things were as I've described, then I will be made
whole. He said, that I can expect to hear from him on Monday , May 22, 2000.
I asked if there truly was a "Special Group of 10 People " for whom they had
developed a Special Accelerated Process with Bell Atlantic ,to provide DSL
service. He answered that it did truly exist. He asked me to email my
documentation to him. He said he would investigate and call me on Monday, May 22, 2000.
May 22, 2000 4:?? PM - Mr. Niedhammer calls me. Says he's read this log,
and that I will be compensated for my "lost pay". He admitted that the problems detailed here were problems inherent in Cavlier's current business processes, which they are in the midst of attempting to change.
This log while extremely long, does not even begin to convey the the time lost and pain endured, all for nothing.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 9.5 years ago
(review was emailed from domain altavista.com)
Richmond,Richmond City,VA
$65 per month
"Reliable, always-on connection."
"No dial-up service included. Inexperienced and clueless tech support."
"Fair value if you don't need dial-up access. Tech support really isn't needed much anyway."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I decided to go with Cavalier after having been with Bell Atlantic for several months. I opted for the 192k basic service. It was never a problem getting in touch with the sales staff and installation went very smoothly. But tech support is another matter entirely.
After the hookup, my DSL service ran fine. It was/is slower than Bell Atlantic but at least it's always up. That's definitely a plus. The first thing I wanted to know was whether my DSL package also included dial-up access. I was interested in dial-up access for two reasons: to check email from the road and primarily to test the functionality of my web server. Cavalier has no problem with you running a web server/site but how can you check it out unless you can connect like a regular user, right?
I emailed tech support with my question. No response. I called tech support and the phone person didn't know the answer and transferred me to another person who didn't know the answer. But they took my name/number with a promise to return my call within the next 15 minutes. No return call that day. Went through the same thing the next 2 days trying to get a simple question answered. On the third day I was finally told that "as far as I know, we do not offer dial-up access to DSL accounts". Fine. But is that the answer or is it just the operator's guess? I still don't know.
In general, I think you'll find that when talking to anyone at Cavalier they will tend to end their sentences with the word "dude" more often than just about anyone else you know. These are friendly people but they are unreliable, unprofessional and fairly clueless. However, given the choice between Cavalier and Bell Atlantic I'd have to go with Cavalier. This really isn't much of a compliment considering that Bell Atlantic has the lowest consumer rating of any telco.
To sum: Cavalier provides a reliable "always on" connection. It's a bit slow but faster than dial-up. They do not offer dial-up service as part of their DSL package so if their DSL service goes down, if you're on the road or if you want to test your web server you are SOL. Dial-up service is an additional $19.95/month.
Mike Boss,
Richmond, VA
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Review by jrn
Posted: 9.6 years ago
member for 9.6 years, 164 visits, last login: 3.9 years ago
Milwaukee,Milwaukee,WI
$150 per month (month by month)
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings above consensus)
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I decided to order Megapath DSL after reading all the positive, glowing reviews for Megapath.
I am absolutely amazed at the level of service.
The installation took about 3 weeks. Which seems pretty amazing considering that I was warned that it could take as long as 1 - 1 1/2 months. I was told that Ameritech was not reliable. But even they came when they said they would, was on time, and even installed my circuit correctly the first time.
Northpoint communications needs to get a round of applause as well. Brad came in and did an excellent job with the inside wiring. Only one minor problem occurred with the install, but that was quickly taken care of on a Saturday.
As far as the tech support and customer service provided by Megapath, all I can say is EXCELLENT!!
I requested a domain name to be routed through my router, that was taken care of quickly and without problem. I also requested a block of static routeable addresses. This also was taken care of quickly and without problem.
The tech support people always are courteous and very knowledgeable.
My sales person Pamela was very helpful and nice to deal with.
My service is SDSL 416/416 with a Netopia DSL router. Very nice piece of equipment. The speed of the connection is good and stable.
The only area that could use some improvement is the News server. It appears that they go through Supernews. It isn't always the fastest. But still quite acceptable.
I will recommend Megapath to all of my friends.
Jim Norton
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Review by ccioffi
Posted: 9.6 years ago
(review was emailed from domain iname.com)
Richmond,Richmond City,VA
$80 per month (12 month contract)
| Pre Sales information:
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(ratings match consensus)
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I did my research... Read what I could... I was ready for DSL. I expected
install hassles, here's what I got
Chris' DSL Report
12/17/1999 (Friday)
Got my XMas bonus check! Called Cavalier and ordered my 384k DSL line.
Paid the $368 ($269 for modem, $99 for install). They said that install
would take about 30 business days (putting install date at about 1/31/00)
1/24/2000 (Monday)
9 am - called to check on status. They couldn't give me a status right
away, and I was told they would call me back. I gave them my number, but
never heard back.
1/26/2000 (Wednesday)
12:27pm - called to follow up why I wasn't called back. Talked with Wayne.
They're waiting on Bell Atlantic. I'm supposed to be called if it will go
over the 30 business days I was quoted.
Also, I checked their web site after I got off the phone with Wayne, and see
that the modem price has gone down to $149. I'll e-mail the rep I had been
dealing with and ask about a partial refund.
3:30 - David had called and left a message asking me to call him back. When
I did, he said there was some confusion with BA. They had disconnected (!?)
the numbers he said. (Not so, I was able to use my phone normally.)
We talked briefly, and he said that things were mostly set, and he was
hoping for later this week or early next week.
I asked about the $150 modem offer. That was a special promotion. I asked
if I could get a refund of the difference and he said he would look into it.
David was very polite and I hope his good words are translated into good
actions.
6:30 pm - when I got home this evening, a also had a message from David
asking that I call him to deal with the BA issue that came up.
1/31/2000 Monday
Ok we're at the 30 business day mark.
10:30 (or so) I called and asked for David. Her wasn't in, so I talked with
? instead. BA still says that the number was totally disconnected. I asked
if they were aware that I was already a Cavalier customer? (i.e.: my dial
tone was through Cavalier, so BA shouldn't be needed) I was asked for my
phone number, and told I would be called back.
2/2/2000 Wednesday
New tactic: the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
2:15 Called Cav. Chris answered and tried to transfer me to David. After
about 30 seconds on hold, Chris came back on to say that David was still on
his line. He then identified himself as the person I spoke with Monday (he
had done so Monday as well...I just didn't write his name down). He said
that due to the BA mess-up my order had to be reprocessed. Before I could
say anything, he went on to say that he and David were working with Sedrick
(?) in another department to expedite the matter.
He asked that if I didn't hear from them by 4pm to call them back. He said
that he and David were there until 5 pm.
2/3/2000 Thursday
I didn't hear back from David or Chris yesterday, and work prevented me from
calling them.
11:23 Called and spoke with Dimitri (?). She said that David was on the
phone and offered to help. I gave her my name and she said that the person
handling the order was expecting to hear from BA today.
2/7/2000 Monday
Didn't get a chance to follow up Friday.
2:10 Called and spoke with Chris. Still no word from Cedrick. I was told
I'd get a call back within 30 minutes.
2/8/2000 Tuesday
Never heard back yesterday.
8:57 am Chris called and left a message on my voice mail at work. Asked me
to call his personal extension, he had good news for me.
9:10 am I called Chris and spoke with him. The date was set for the 15th to
switch the circuit my line was on. Even though I already had Cavalier for
dial tone, they needed to switch me to a DSL enabled circuit.
I asked about the $150 modem. Chris said no problem, I'd get the $119
refund. I was to call them on the 15th to schedule the time for the actual
install of the DSL stuff in the house.
2/15/2000 Tuesday
Circuit switch to DSL line. Now I just need to call for CPE installation.
2:44 pm Called Chris, but he wasn't in, so asked for David. David said that
Chris had it backwards, they would call me to setup schedule. He thanked me
for my patience, and checked my order status. He said it looked like the
techs were switching my line at the time, and he would call the dispatch
department to make sure I got a call today. [He did *not* sound like he was
just yanking my chain.]
I checked my messages at home...
12:37 pm Joanne had called to say we needed to schedule a time.
3:20 pm I called and spoke with Joanne. We set it up for as late in the day
as possible for 2/16. They will call me about 1 hr before they are going to
show up.
2/16/2000 Wednesday
4:30 pm I called Joanne and told her I was on my way home, and that the guy
could come by anytime after 5.
6:00 pm Cavalier phone tech showed up! We go to my computer, and
plug everything up...and nothing. We go through a few troubleshooting steps
(checking to make sure I wired the line right, that I had wired the right
line, etc.) and we also checked to see if the DSL signal was getting to the
house.
It wasn't. Cavalier hadn't qualified my line since I live about 3 blocks
away from the CO and we all thought, 'No problem' for DSL. Well, now they
have to go out and qualify the line.
I wish I could blame someone here, but I can't. Everyone thought that being
as close as I was we'd be fine for DSL. Living in an area where the phone
lines may have been run 50 years ago, though, might be what's causing the
problem.
The tech called his supervisor, Elizabeth, and she said that we'd be going
out at least another week. :-
__________________________________________________
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Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
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Review by tatochip
Posted: 9.7 years ago
member for 9.7 years, 4 visits, last login: 9.6 years ago
Richmond,Richmond City,VA
$109 per month
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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Recently, DSL has come into my area. Cavalier was the first service here, and being that it was a "new" company, i was a bit hesitant at first to sign on. i had had very good service from BellAtlantic, insomuch as their phone service was concerned. Good customer support, everything.
Yest, i began to hear about BA not being so cooperative with their DSL customers, downtime being very high, and installation nightmares. So i decided to sign up with Cavalier.
Let me begin by saying that i work on the net as a web developer, and my roommate is a network administrator. To put it bluntly, we knew the hassles DSL could provide. Thus, when we began to speak with Cav, we asked to speak to someone technical, and within a minute were on the phone with an internet technician who knew every answer to every question we had.
The installation process was quite painless. Cav also offers phone service in our area, so we signed up for both (the $109 monthly charges include local phone service, with all the trimmings). They were a bit late with their turn-on, but this can be attributed to the fact that once users began to hear about BA's non-success, Cav's customer base grew sharply and quickly.
They turned on our phone on a Wednesday, and on Thursday came out to turn on the DSL. The tech who came came around 6:15 pm, about an hour later than was scheduled. Once he got the modem installed, he placed a call to get the static IP addresses we had ordered, and no one was in the office. I doubt this can serve as a "strike" against them, seeing as how he came after hours just to make sure we were set up!
The next day and one phone call later, we had our IP addresses, were up and running.
Cav provides us with 768/768 SDSL. The slowest our tests have indicated we were running at 218, but think about this - when this test was run, we had 6 connections to the ShoutCast server we have running! NOT BAD, actually, quite good indeed. So far, we have ordered 3 static IP addresses (and have gotten them all, at a cost of .75 a month! And, we can get as many as we want!), we set up a ShoutCast server, a Web Server, and a network. We haven't had a moment of downtime in three weeks.
If i have had to call Cav for any reason (phone OR DSL), they have answered my questions within 15 minutes, hold time included.
The only issue that i have for Cav is this: i understand that at one point in time, they offered a speed faster than 768. Being that we are running so many upload processes, faster would be nice, but for the average (and even technically saavy) user, 768 is WAY cool.
Compared to BA's charges of 49.95 a month for 640/90, Cav seems a wee bit pricey at first glance. Yet, when you consider the excellent service i have received, high speeds that remain consistently high, and (so far) speedy turnaround on all tech calls, the value really becomes obvious. Not to mention the fact that they allow you to serve web/mp3 content from your house, without any charges for bandwidth uses.
My bottom line? If you are within Cav's service area, sign up for them. You WILL be satisfied with what you get.
tatochip
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Review by dbm7w
Posted: 9.9 years ago
(review was emailed from domain cavtel.net)
Richmond,Richmond City,VA
$79 per month
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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Tech Support:
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Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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I've had DSL (384kb) from Cavalier Telephone for a little over a month.
It's great.
Our local phone company in Richmond, VA is Bell Atlantic. They've
been dragging their feet on DSL for *years* now. So, when I heard
that the new local phone company, Cavalier Telephone was getting
ready to roll out DSL, I called immediately.
I signed up on October 18th. The installation was done on November 10th.
Everything went smoothly even though I was one of their first few
installations. The tech plugged in the modem, I connected my Linux
laptop, and that was pretty much it. (The CO had to reset the modem
once before things clicked.)
Cavalier's default setup is to use dynamic IP addresses. I chose to
get a static address for an additional $0.75 per month.
The DSL line replaced both a POTS line and an ISDN line. I'm getting
more bandwidth for less money, and I especially like the fact
that it's always on.
For more info, contact:
Cavalier Telephone
Richmond, VA
804-422-4000
»www.cavtel.com/
Dan McDaniel, satisfied customer of Cavalier Telephone.
dbm@sevenby24.com
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Review by jontru
Posted: 10 years ago
member for 10 years, 0 visits, last login: 10 years ago
Richmond,Henrico,VA
Contract price not specified.
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John Stephens. I ordered DSL from Cavalier in mid-October and was told it would take 30 days to get it installed. I was happy just to hear that I could get DSL in my area since BellAtlantic is taking forever to offer it. In a little over a week I got a postcard from Cavaier telling me they would be switching my phone service from BellAtlantic to Cavalier during the week of 11/01. This was part of my order. On 11/03 the tech. came to my house and installed the DSL. I had it going in about an hour. I puchased the 192K package and I am very happy with it so far. Cavalier has been very helpful and responsive to needs and questions. They told me I was one of their first residential DSL installations and even with that inexperience, they delivered great service!
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