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DL & UL 12 hours later have gone from good back to worse, in between dial up and 1mb. It appears that at certain times of the day is when these problems arise. You don't suppose Windstream needs upgrades or something? See added comments 10-28-2009 The forum Tech Support is awesome! They were able to get things up and running, no problems. Thanks guys! Followup comments:
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Update (3/24/2004) Well, it's been a couple of months and the connection is rock stable. Alltel recently upgraded their tier1 to 1500/128 so it is a better value for the money. Called tech support a couple of times (DNS problems) and in all cases the wait was under 10 minutes. The techs were helpful and admitted that there was a problem right away. Try that with Adelphia! Update (11/22/2004) Recent upload upgrade (to 384) makes it very competitive. In addition, I was able to lock the monthly rate at $34.95 for another year. The best ISP I've had so far. Still rock stable. Update (7/18/2006) Upgraded to 3000/384 package for $29.95 which makes it an excellent value. One wish: naked DSL so I could ditch the local phone. Other than that the service is very reliable. Update (12/25/2007) Still rock solid. I wish they would upped the upload though. Update (1/10/2008) Big thumbs down for implementing DNS redirection. Also, forget what I said above about good technical support. It's been outsourced to India and you know what that means. Non-English speaking people reading of scrips. Update (1/14/2008) The DNS redirection issue has been resolved and WS now offers clean DNS servers: nsvip05.windstream.net 166.102.165.32 nsvip06.windstream.net 207.91.5.32 The (1st level) support is still horrendous but if you manage to get transferred to the level 2, they usually know their stuff. On a positive note - the connection (and speed) is still very stable. Update (7/22/2008) Got Windstreamgram in mail to upgrade to 12Mbps service. My first reply got lost somewhere in marketing blackhole. I called and upgraded by phone with no problems. When I received new modem (SS4200) I called again for instructions to switch it to bridge mode. It took about half an hour with support in India to discover that they didn't know how. Called the same evening - got somebody in US and in 2 minutes I was surfing... Overall, the service is still great (sans the Indian support) Update (2/9/2009) Still working pretty good. I did noticed though that the reliability went down a little. Not a big deal if you're surfing but if you have VOIP it gets annoying. I may have to downgrade to 6M... Update (2/16/2009) Reliability of 12000/768 package went down so much that I had to downgrade to 6Mbps tier. I wish WS had 6000/768 tier... Update (10/27/2009) My wishes came true and Windstream increased upload to 768kbps. Followup comments:
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April17 2005 Have had a couple of bad days with alltel I couldn't connect to there server said my system had and issue in the dns and was refusing my connection a couple of days later i was back up seems strange that my connection was refused anyway speed still around the same 1200/306 i wont fuss to much anything beats dial up. May 16 2005 Alls well here in SE KY Alltel has been a blessing so far speed has remained consistent and have had only one outage since install. never will go back to dial up maybe cable if prices continue to drop. April 16 2007 Since the switch from Alltel to Windstream no problems actually a little better download speed from 1250 to about 1325 still a great bargain for the lower tier dsl i am satisfied. Just a update on the Windstream Folks for the last two weeks my DSL connection had been dropping around every 7 minutes or so It was driving me crazy I thought maybe the problem was on my end since this had never happened before always had stable connection hardly any outage but I called Windstream got quick service looked at my line and said must be a bad line tech showed up the next day replaced all my filters with one on box filter ran a new line from box to jack in which modem was on. absolutely great service and have not had any problems since. Kudos to Windstream. Sept 26 2009 I recently upgraded to the 3 MB service so far connection has been great no drops or problems. Since my last review I have hardly had any problem at all still good service and good customer support and the twitter feed is awesome if you have any questions or need help. Thanks Windstream Followup comments:
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Recently had issues with bad ping and it took about a month of cajoling to get the problem resolved. This is the first time in the past five years that I've had an issue with the DSL service, and that's pretty darn good. Followup comments:
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»www.speedtest.net/result/515275401.png Current setup is a D-Link DSL-2540B (synced at 14973/766, 20012/800max, SNR 14.9/13.5, Attn 22.5/8.8, Interleaved depth 1/1 Delay 0/0msec) Running PPPoA giving the public IP (via DHCP, "PPP IP extension") to a WRTSL54GS running Tomato 1.25 with QOS off for the speed test, Test was run a Windows 7 x64 Build 7100 with Wired 10/100. Update 05-23-09: Really nothing to report service is still great. We did have a storm roll though one night and a tree took out phone lines and power for probably about 40 houses, but Windstream had a repair crew out the next day at about 8am working straight till about 8pm working on restringing and splicing cables and service is still great. Update 08-09-08: We have 12meg ADSL2+ Greenstreak service ($50 a mounth) )now provisioned at 14973kbps Down and 766kbps up and have very very very stable service low pings 20ms - 40ms to the east coast and 80ms - 100ms to the west, with a limited use phone line (Greenstreak) free inbound calling 10c/min outbound to local and long distance with free 800 number outbound. We are currently useing VOIP as our primary phone but thanks to greenstreak I have the Linksys SPA3102 connected to the windstream phoneline providing lifeline service to 911 even when the power is out. Update 10-31-07: We have 6Meg for about 9 months now and it's Trained at 7.2Meg so i get the 6Megs, good ping about 40-50ms to the east cost west coast is about 100ms minimum.Just wish i could get more upload stuck at 386Kbit. 08-??-05 We ordered 3/386 and been getting it every speed test i do. Other then that Tech support in Very friendly not the most knowledgeable but they do their best. And the People before us already had DSL so when we received the Modem (which was before we were even moved in) i plugged it up and it sycnd the first time. Followup comments:
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UPDATE: 29 Mar 08 Windstream still only game in town. No upgrade to Ultimate 6M pkg yet. Can't complain; connection is usually rock solid. The speed sometimes fade in the Evenings or Weekends. I get 2.4m up .320m down during off peak periods. During heavy usage periods my up leg will fade to 1.5-1.8m. I would pay more for additional bandwidth and can only dream of fiber to the home. UPDATE: Alltel sold to Windstream. Speed still OK but not great. Windstream refuses to upgrade to 6M speeds. I can't complain; It has rarely failed to work. UPDATE: 27 Dec 04. Alltel Still OK Beats Direcway. Some DNS issues and modem power cycles required to fix occaisional slow connection. promo rate wore off now its $49/month. would like more upload speed, the 108 that i'm getting sucks. I've been a direcway SRS customer for 11 months after using dial-up for 8 years. When Alltel announced DSL in my exchange, I said that I would ride out my d-way contract and make the switch. However, d-way has really been terrible as of late and I decided to jump early. The initial sales staff couldn't find my address for a pre qual check. Told me to check back in a few days. On the third attempt about 10 days later, I was told that my line would work. The next day I got the speed stream 5200 VIA UPS RedLabel even though my service would not start for five days. On my live date, all work well. I got a call from the installer at the co. I synch up and all has been well for the last week. Speed is advertised at 768 /128 and I've been averaging 615 /110. Direcway was faster but not consistant. I'd be downloading at 150K and drop to 30K back up to 110K back to 15K. Alltel DSL is a steady 80K download so far. Ping times range about 60-80ms. Service is dynamic IP but mine hasn't changed in a week despite modem resets when I was configuring my router. Direcway was good at first too so I'm hoping for continuity of service with Alltel. I'll provide updates as I experience issues both good and bad. Followup comments:
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So far the connection has been reliable with speeds of 1100 to 1200 up (1500 advertised) and 200 up (128 advertised). The Modem is a Speedstream 5200 setup for PPPoE with dynamic IP. They say they will give out static IP if requested, I believe there is no extra charge. update August 5. 2005 Appears that I was incorrect about no charge for static IP, another poster corrected this and is right. In my area they want an additional $40/month for the Static IP for a total of $79. In spite of their ads the Ultra Tier (3000 download) is not yet available here. They did bump the upload to 384 on 14 July 2005. My area has no real competition for Alltel, they have exclusive phone and cable services. I guess I have to satisfied with what I have, it is reliable but a little overpriced. update 17 July, 2006 A couple of months ago my area qualified for the Ultra (3K download) service. I called to do the upgrade and found that there some new options that allowed me to bundle the upgrade and change to the flat rate long distance plan by Alltel. Their LD plan was cheaper than AT&T and the bundle allowed me to get the higher DSL speed at a cheaper price also. Since I have no alternate choice for broadband service (Alltel is also my CATV carrier and does not offer cable internet) it does not make sense to use VOIP. Therefore I took the bundle offer until some other options are available. On the plus side we almost never loose connectivity or speed. On the down side I still wish they would raise the upload cap from 384K to 1000K or even 512K Update 22 May 2008 DSL drops periodically after upgrade from 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps Have be using Windstream (formerly Alltel) DSL at the 3 Mbps rate since it became available in my area (July 2006). SNR was about 21 and Attn 25. Service was reliable and often ran for weeks, even months without loss or drop out of service. Provisioning was at 3084/384 (I believe) and set for Interleave. Recently was told that my area was eligible for upgrade to 6 Mbps service for ~$5/month more. requested the upgrade and after a few days and a few calls the service was re-provisioned at 7200/384, set for FAST and speed tests indicated it was working ok. A check of SNR indicated it varied from about 8 to 12 with an average of ~10, Attn was steady at 26.5. All was fine for about 4 days when internet connection was lost. SNR was displayed a -4. Rebooting the modem (SS 4200 f/w 004-D241-A83) corrected the problem. The SNR had dropped to 6 just before the loss of service. Drop outs have continued on a somewhat regular basis (3 to 4 days). Tried using a different SS 4200 and a Netgear DG384 with the same results. There is a whole house splitter at the NID with a dedicated Cat5e run to the Modem. Some questions; 1. Is the current SNR/Attn sufficient to support 6 Mbps service? If not can SNR be improved? 2. I realize that this problem may be minor compared to others reporting here but is it too much to ask that the 6 Mbps service be a reliable as the 3 Mbps service was? 3. Since the CSRs in India(?) have not been much help who should be contacted, if anyone? 4. Should I just pack it in and and ask that my service be reset to 3 Mbps? The main reason I don't want to have to reboot ever 3-4 days is that I often want make use of remote desktop login when away from home. PS; have checked connections at NID and in house, all seem secure. Update 6 June 2008 After some investigation and testing by local Windstream tech reps have decided to go back to the 3 meg service. Rather have a solid reliable connection at 3 meg than an unreliable one at 6 meg. See the thread I started on this here; »DSL drops periodically after upgrde from 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps Update 4 Feb 2009 After running at 3 Meg decided to switch back to the 6 Meg service again on August 2008. Since then have had good experience with SNR consistently at 11 to 12 db and attenuation 21 db on the downstream side. Have had good to excellent service with few drop outs. I am using a Netgear DG834 Modem/Firewall/Router combo unit. Also have installed a freeware program compatible with this router called Routerstats that allows monitoring the line conditions. This program can also be used to select an automatic reboot if there are drop outs. This program is unfortunately not compatable with all modems. It is available at; »www.vwlowen.co.uk/internet/files.htm Update 25 August 2009 12 mbps/768 kbps service became available in my area. Put in order on 8/19 and was upgraded on 8/21. Had problems with upload speeds, download speed was great. Reported this via phone to Windstream customer service and on the Windstream forum here on DSLreports, see thread for details; »Switched to 12 Meg, upload provisioning wrong? To summarize a Windstream tech rep came on 8/22 (Saturday!) and after removing a faulty/incompatible phone line surge protector the problem was corrected! Now get consistently fast down/up (12.7 M/.66M) speeds and signal strength with no dropouts so far. This is fast excellent service and hope is a sign of things to come for Windstream. I think that reporting the problem on the Windstream forum here greatly contributed to the fast repair service. Unfortunately most customers are not aware of this forum and do not get this advantage but those reviewing/posting here should be aware and take advantage. Followup comments:
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Windstream
(32)
(33)
(14)
Waco,York,NE
$34 per month
about 30 days
"Tech support on these forums"
"Lots of talk and empty promises, connections drop, usually provide 1/2 speed promised"
"If there was another provider I would have switched a long time ago"
Update
AllTel
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Windstream problems everywhere