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Review by uarf 
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 3.6 years, 1 visits, last login: 1 year ago
 Virginia Beach,Virginia Beach City,VA
 $29 per month
 about 90 days
 Cavalier
 "its better than dail up - but not much"
 "Speed goes up and down and drags"
 "very poor service for streaming - hard with netflick ,customer service poor"
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Modem needs to be re-booted often.
Speed drops to a crawl.
No response via email from customer service.
Telephone hold time to customer service is forever.
Tech people are un knowledgeable - seem to follow a script - don't listen to what you are saying.
They never use aspirin as that requires a brain to be effective.
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Review by Phillysim
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 1 year, 3 visits, last login: 217 days ago
Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
$63 per month (12 month contract)
about 8 days
Cavalier
"Good value. Easy install"
"DSL Speed not near the advertised 8 Mbps"
"Good value, for 3.5 to 4.0 Mbps DSL + phone"
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I had to switch my ISP from DCA Net (an excellent service) as they are getting out of the residential market. So I chose the Cavalier C2 plan (DSL, free local phone, & free long distance) at $50.
Presales service was good. Questions were answered, though I was not told about the $13.14 fees for End User Access and End User Common Line.
Modem arrived within 5 days of order. DSL was switched from DCA Net to Cavalier at 8 days. Switch was painless. I continued to use my DCA Net supplied modem (Speedstream 5100) which is set in "bridge mode". All I had to do was alter my Netgear router (FR114P) DNS setting to Automatic and that was it.
After two months of service there have been no interruptions. DSL Download speed is typically from 3.5 to 4.0 Mbps. Slowest has been 2.3, fastest time was 4.3. Speed is the same if I measure at the phone company NID/demarcation box. Upload time is a fairly constant 600 to 700 Kbps. I do not know how far I am from the Central Office, though Cavalier runs on Verizon phone lines (I think).
The IP number is listed by Cavalier as dynamic, but has not changed in 2 months (nice). I have had no trouble with VOIP (Skype & iChat AV).
Verizon charges $50 for similar phone + DSL service but with a speed of only up to 1 Mbps. For phone + 3 Mbps DSL Verizon charges $70/mo.
Overall Cavalier service as been trouble free. Recommended.
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Review by JBE
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 1.4 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
Hampton,Hampton City,VA
$75 per month (24 month contract)
"Pre-Sales and Billing"
"Tech Support, and upload speed (50% of even what is advertised)"
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Grades
A Download speeds are consistent and as advertised
C Our DSL upload speeds are consistently 1/2 of what they advertise
and we are rather close to (much less
than 1 mile from) the serving DSLAM
D in trying to resolve the upload speed inconsistency, Cavtel merely
points to the best efforts of DSL. We all know that there are no
service level guarantees with DSL but come-on! A 1.5M meg upload
advertisement that consistently is 768K is not acceptable. Speeds are
the same regardless of time of day and traffic loading.
F Cavtel Tech support services are spotty at best....I've had some
knowledgeable techs, others are "read-the-script" types with seemingly little or no
diagnostic experience;very frustrating for those of us with some
datacom experience and savvy . There was one occassion where I had to insist that the tech do a Bit Error Rate test on the loop. He insisted there was nothing wrong with the service. While
this is technically true (VZ owns the loop) It remains a Cavtel service
issue. Come on! Get some folks in there who know what they are doing. By the way, the loop was at fault with a high BER
F Wait times for support are way too long. Cavtel Management needs
to get a grip on customer tech support or they will continue to
experience high churn. Haven't any of these telecom companies learned
their lessons about churn? Hey guys, understand this...it costs a bit
of money to run this kind of business. Yes margins are thin due to
competition, but this is the business you are in and and your reason
for being as a CLEC. Otherwise we can just stay with VZ or whoever.
CLECs need to be good service providers not just a thorn in the
sides of the incumbent. Your business is as much about customer
service and support as it is about technology. Does anyone there
understand that?
* BTW . Wait times on Sales and billing lines are practically non
existant...What does this tell you about pre and post sales activities
A Pricing, is good.
Summary
A Presales
F Post Sales
C Service performance
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Review by dbarnett
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 8 years, 416 visits, last login: 251 days ago
Richmond,Richmond City,VA
Contract price not specified.
"Static IP, fast downloads, low price"
"Inconsistent customer service"
"Flexibility, good value"
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I have been a Cavalier Telephone customer for over ten years, both residential and business services. Overall, I have been very satisfied and find their customer service agents to be responsive and quick to move you up to a higher level if you ask. For $50 a month, I have a POTS line, including local and long-distance services, and a static IP address. I get around 12mbps down and 1.2 mbps up.
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Review by joey_rogo
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.1 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Buffalo,Erie,NY
$58 per month
"cheap"
"long wait for customer service, 45minutes - 1 hour. DSL drops and slow speed"
"I moved to timer warner, too inconsistant"
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I had the g3 package. They could not get over 768 on the line and there was frequent drops. They don't respond via email and if you call it is about an hour wait. NOT WORTH IT. I'm switching to time warner.
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Review by nightfireivy
Posted: 1.2 years ago
member for 1.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Lakewood,Cuyahoga,OH
$50 per month
Cavalier
"Fast internet, Not a lot of money like Cable ISPs."
"Connection works half or less of the time. Huge pain to get internet to work. Technicians are clueless and can't solve problems."
"Great speed, Price, but only worth it if you can get a solid Connection without any disconnecting losses."
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Cavalier was a good idea at first. 8 Mpbs at $30 plus telephone charges. No contract.
However the connection only works half of the time. You could be surfing on the internet or streaming a video and it constantly stops due to the internet disconnecting or losing connection about 5-10 times per hour, twice as bad in the mornings. Sometimes it likes to disconnect and come back on 30 minutes later. Horrible connection.
The modem is a Paradyne mostly used by Cavalier, it's very small. It has the Power light, Status light, Activity light, Lan light, and USB light like many other modems.
The Technicians are an extremely clueless group of people. If the world was going to end there was no way you can depend on them. Anyways, basically when you call for one, you have to wait sometimes 30 minutes or more until someone gets a hold of you. At least they aren't all in India like what AT&T has. However the Technicians don't know much about the disconnecting problem .... even though that's the main reason why Cavalier customers call the tech support. I've called about 5 times within the week and nobody really solved it.
So overall. Cavalier is only good if you can get the internet connection to be solid and great which is almost impossible and a pain in the behind. It's fast, and it's price is great. However I was very disappointed by the connection losses and the bad technicians. I am at the moment going to join COX HSI.
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Review by impeccable1
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Pontiac,Oakland,MI
$50 per month
Cavalier
"When you have a solid connection... FAST & CHEAP!"
"You only have that connection 1/4th of the time."
"Good when it works... which isn't much"
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I recently signed up for c2 from Cavalier for $50 going up to 8 megs. I received a free modem & all that jazz, and I figured it would be great since we've had Cavalier before (after the change from Talk America in 48341) and it was nothing but great but now to the beef of the review.
Installation
I've had high speed internet since 7th grade and installed it for my family each time but twice (2 times with Comcast), so I figured "It's only DSL I can install it."
Well I ran the setup which was fine until I got to the registration portion.
The registration called for the account number on the welcome letter & your zip code.
I looked and guess what? NO NUMBER! I tried the phone number... NOTHING!
So I called the tech line & because it was sync'd to the network he told me to just close out the registration and register a screen name through the phone. So great now I installed DSL without the repair & analysis program that comes with it. I figure "Ok. I rarely used it with AT&T, Comcast or Cavalier." BIG MISTAKE
Usage
I have not had a solid 24 hours of usage without a loss of connection.
Most days I have to power cycle my modem at least 3 times (literally. not a joke) and I don't get anywhere near 8 megs.
I average 1 meg & at it's highest yesterday at 3.2 megs, and at night times like now when boredom ensues and I need youtube videos & radio streaming can't be done because I only get 800-900 kbps.
Also if you get C2 you better memorize 866-221-1063 because tonight alone I've called customer service 3 times because of speeds slower than dial up (It's bad when google doesn't load!!) and my service continuously dropping at random and technicians "fixing" it only to malfunction 50 minutes later.
When you have a solid connection, it is excellent, impeccable to say the least but getting it to work is the major issue and can be a major pain!
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 Review by hsindogg
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 7.4 years, 2809 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
Baltimore,Baltimore City,MD
$65 per month (12 month contract)
about 95 days
Cavalier
"Good value for the price."
"Took forever to get installed, bad communication, bad customer support."
"If you're looking for a good package for a very good price...they can't be beat, but you'll pay the price for support."
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I placed the order for Cavtel on June 17th, and was told it could take up to 30 days to install/switchover from Verizon. So, after a month, with no information at all from Cavtel, I called their support line. They said that my CO didn't have the available equipment and that I had to wait, and to call the following week. So I did, and this time they told me that Verizon hasn't released my line, which was probably true because they were about to strike and were in labor negotiations, so I'm sure they weren't in any hurry to fulfill their work orders. So now it's early September, I call and they say they still don't have the equipment at the CO, so at this point I basically give up and then maybe a week later, in mid September, our voicemail system no longer works, so I called Cavtel, and low and behold, our POTS line was switched over. So now it's just up to waiting for the DSL line to be provisioned. I wait a few weeks, and on Sept. 25th I called to see what the status was because their automated telephone service said the product was suppose to be delivered between Sept 8th and Sept 22nd. The support person told me, that due to Hurricane Isabel, their work orders were behind and they're going down a list of work orders to ship out modems. Well, we did have a hurricane, so I went with that story. Well, I get home, and what do you know...there's a Fedex package waiting for me. The modem arrived that day, and I call tech support for the static IP, gateway, and DNS and I get it up and running in an hour.
I signed up for the Unlimited Local/Long Distance and Hotwire DSL package at $74.95/month. They advertise speeds from 4Mbps/1Mbps, but so far my speeds are more like 650kbps/550kbps. I'm going to call them to have them check my loop because when we had Verizon, we reached speeds of 1400kbps/200kbps. But so far I can't complain, mainly because I finally have internet service after 3 months!
Overall: B- for lack of communication and a long long wait, but a very good product for the money.
Update:
I ordererd in mid-June and at the time, the DSL service speed was offered at 768/768. Since then they've upgraded to 960/960, but unless you've ordered just recently, older service might not have been upgraded. I made a quick call to tech support who confirmed my DSL service was at 768/768, and I made another quick call to customer support who sent out a service order to upgrade it to 960/960. And if you're lucky enough, you'll qualify for their new RADSL service, which has speeds up to 4mbps if you're within 4000 feet of the CO and 2mbps for within 8000 feet.
I've had a line monitor on my DSL line for a week, and the pings and packet loss are excellent. I think their service is top notch for the price.
Update:
I switched to Phonom/Cavtel VoIP. Switchover was easy, since Cavalier supplies the DSL, and Phonom operates under Cavalier. The problem relates to customer service, and what appropriate DSL service I should be receiving. I was told many things, and after days and days of trying to get some resolution/truth, I may finally be getting the appropriate ADSL service. Basically, I was lied to on several occasions by customer support, it seems that all they want you to do is hang up, but they don't understand that we have real problems that need to be fixed.
Service/Price is great, but their support is really making their image terrible.
Update 12/12/07:
It's been a while since I updated this, but for about 24 I've had pretty reliable service and never had to contact Customer Support.
2 weeks ago, my VoIP service went out, I put in the dreaded Customer Support call, and for the last 2 weeks I've gotten no where. Called last night to Tech Support instead of Customer Support, and of course......Cavtel had switched me over to PoTS, instead of VoIP.. Now there's a ticket to switch my service back to VoIP. Why they switched my service to PoTS is unknown. I estimate it will take at least 2 more weeks to get it fixed.
Update 7/30/08:
Well after 3 years of having pretty good service, my DSL line grinded to a halt (40-60% packet loss) and Cavalier wasn't able to repair the line. I gave them 7 business days (10 overall), and even troubleshot the line for them. My packet loss was between my IP and the Gateway IP. I ran a new homerun line, and changed the cat5e cable from the DSL modem. I tested it with 4 machines to make sure it wasn't my desktop NIC...same result for all 4 machines. It had to be outside from my NID to the CO or wherever the Gateway IP hardware was located. It may have even been my DSL router, which they refused to send me a new one even after we had exhausted days of trying new things and trouble shooting.
I cancelled today and ordered Verizon DSL.
8/7/08 - See my Verizon review - »Review of Verizon Online DSL by hsindogg
Cancelled with them as well as their support/installation was horrible.
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Review by teminutemail
UPDATED: 1.3 years ago
member for 1.3 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
$40 per month
about 15 days
Verizon
"Great Deal"
"Blocked ports"
"Good if you don't have specific tech needs"
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I had to cancel Cavalier a few days after setup. They block a bunch of ports including 1433 and 1434 which are used for MS SQL Server.
When you finally get through to tech support they are very informative but everyone else (Sales, Customer Service, etc.) have no idea what a port is and/or will claim they "do not block ports" until you mention that you've already talked to tech support.
Someone in Business Care said they 'might' be able to allow those ports if I ordered a T1 line.
I wanted to use them because their package is a great deal.
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Review by markd9
Posted: 1.3 years ago
member for 1.3 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
Detroit,Wayne,MI
$40 per month
about 8 days
"Technician visit was friendly. Static IP."
"Long wait for equipment, sales rep lies, worst "broadband" service ever!"
"Not even if you're desperate to intertron."
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If you're in Detroit (not suburbs, the city), you've seen the many ads during local programming (mostly sports) for Cavalier Telephone (formerly known as LDMI), and their alleged 8.0 mbps ADSL2.0. I live in an area that Comcast has yet to provide broadband to (and it's not the "hood" either), and had ATT dry-line DSL which was only getting me about 130k/s down and 35k/s up max. Plus, my IP would change seemingly every 30 minutes. Kinda sucks when you're making secure IP based connections to places like work, etc and would have to re-sign in because your IP would change in the middle of your session. I kept seeing Cavalier's ads, but couldn't think it was possible to get faster DSL service since I know that ATT owns the telco, so no matter what company was offering the service, you still had to deal with ATT's connection. With today's downloads being larger and larger, I finally gave in and thought I'd try to see what Cavalier was all about.
The sales rep was friendly and somewhat knowledgeable of the verbage I was asking him (dry-line, ADSL2.0, etc), looked up my address and then got me excited by telling me I was very close to "Cavalier's" telco and would definitely be getting at least close to the 8.0mbps that they claim they offer. He also told me that they own their own telco in the area and were independent of ATT. So that means that Cavalier has gone through the city and dropped their own lines and boxes on the poles. Sounded improbable, but I had to press on. Plus, I have seen Cavalier's trucks driving through the city from time to time. Anything had to be faster than what I was getting and they said they had me all taken care of. Had to give an $80 deposit because my credit isn't stellar - I don't quite understand service providers that do this. I can see why DTE Energy would do this for electric service, or a cell phone provider because you have the potential to run up an enormous bill by usage, but for something like Internet or Cable/Satellite TV, you can't accrue a usage bill, and failure to pay should simply mean termination of service. But nonetheless, I paid it.
About two days later, I received a "welcome" mailing from Cavalier telling me my account number and introducing me to the company, and then about three days later my modem came via UPS. On the same day my modem arrived, the tech came out to switch my line over from ATT to Cavalier. And of course, the person that did it was an ATT technician, ATT marked vehicle, ATT identification and all. He was very nice too and just kinda smiled at me when I asked how come ATT was switching me over if Cavalier owns their own boxes and drops.
Inside the house, none of the phone drops seemed to have the right wiring for DSL, so I ran the phone line out the window, directly into the box on the back of the house (plus, that would surely get me the best service as there would be no inside interference - a direct connect from box to modem). Hooked up the modem, plugged it all into the PC (I had a router running OpenWRT, but thought I'd do the direct to PC thing in case their "software" had to do some sort of registration and I know they didn't provide a linux/OpenWRT based installation - of course the modem bound to the MAC address of my PC, but that was easily handled with the OpenWRT interface by masking the router's MAC as the PC's MAC later). Turns out, all their software did was install their own version of the "Internet Technician" that would annoy you everytime you tried to bring up a page that was slow to respond or whatever).
Got everything setup and online and of course the first thing I did was hit up a speedtest site, anxiously and eagerly. Talk about disappointment! After running through three different speedtest sites, the most I got was off of Toast, at 94k/s down and again around 30k/s up. I started to boil. Not only were they jacking off ATT, their stuff was way slower than ATT. And I forgot to mention, I had to cancel the ATT before they could come hook me up, so it wasn't like I could just switch back over. After about two hours, I called Cavalier and was told that my "order" hadn't even been completed yet, so call back within 24 hours if I am still getting the same results, as if their computers would have to "open my line up" to get the ADSL2.0 speeds. And of course, it stayed the same for over 90 days until they finally disconnected me because from day one, I just refused to pay.
In summary, if you're forced to have DSL, stick with ATT, as Cavalier lies about their service in order to get you to sign up. They cannot avoid ATT's telco, no matter what they tell you. They also charge you fees up the wazoo for something simply as making an electronic payment (another reason why I refused to pay - how can an online & phone provider company charge you a fee for making an online or phone payment?!?!), and they just overall suck.
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Cavalier Telephone
(12)
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No problems here, either
The most horrible service ever.
Basically, Cavalier High Speed Internet is fast and cheap but it doesn't work most of the time. I get disconnected about 7 times in an hour. If you can the internet to work then it's great.
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