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Review by Griobhtha 
UPDATED: 2 years ago
member for 2 years, 0 visits, last login: 2 years ago
 Jackson,Jackson,MI
 $59 per month (24 month contract)
 about 35 days
 AT&T
 "They're not AT&T"
 "Truly egregious & sucky management/support"
 "Yet another ISP who will lose another customer at contract end, unless..."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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I live in the Jackson service area. After 5 years of Ameritech -> SBC -> AT&T disservice, and when the AT&T/NSA information rape became public, I searched for an alternate provider. ACD's DSL prices are simply comparable, & a little worse if phone bundling is not taken into account. Though they advertise a reduced price for some initial months, their accounting needs a nudge to get it set up correctly.
I ordered ACD 5/512&750 DSL & phone bundle 15 days prior to moving to a new home. After 10 days ACD notified me that AT&T had installed and VERIFIED a working DSL/POTS line at the new address. When inspecting the premises I found that AT&T had terminated the line in an existing splice block (NOT a Network Interface) at the roof line, TWENTY feet from the ground. I complained to ACD only to be told that AT&T wasn't required to install an NI (in a pig's eye!). I told them if they didn't get an NI the contract would be terminated for breach. They promised to "interface" with AT&T and find their story. No one contacted me for several days, and no rework had been done, and no service had yet been provided, however, ACD charged my credit card. What's more, they charged me the full price, not the marketed price. To their accounting department's credit , they did return the payment and suspend account charges until the NI issue was resolved. And indeed, if not for their accounting department (who seems to be the only entity at ACD realizing that they need to provide services in order to make money) the NI issue may never have been noticed within the company.
Fearing the loss of revenue, they got AT&T to place an NI. Unfortunately, the AT&T tech (out of stupidity or spite) placed the NI where the splice box had been -- TWENTY feet off the ground, and the interface was left without a ground wire connection. I contacted ACD and the tech told me that there is no requirement for AT&T to place an NI, let alone where to place it (the pig's other eye!). I told him that AT&T's own policies and the National Electrical Code state in no uncertain terms where NI's are to be placed, and that they must be grounded. The ACD tech seemed ignorant and lazy beyond belief, and tried the old he's doing me a favor listening to me routine, and he told me they have no control over AT&T even if they are ACD's regulated contractor. At this point (which was going on 25 days since ordering the service) I asked to speak with his supervisor. He asked me to hang on, then he returned to the line and told me he would "go out of [his] way" and make a complaint to AT&T and the MPSC even though he wasn't "obligated", and he said, "I PROMISE I'll get back with you today!" I never heard from him again.
I was sorely tempted to dump ACD right then and go back to AT&T (there's not much choice here), but I knew that AT&T can provide similar frustration. Lucky for me, in forwarding all communications to ACD's accounting, at least some movement was happening there. In the meantime, I filed an MPSC compaint. Usually the MPSC is the useless whore of the utility industries, but they did do a pit bull routine on ACD, and stated that no one in all of the MPSC's years and offices had EVER seen an NI placed by the roof line TWENTY feet from the ground. ACD sent a technician out to check the NI position and give an opinion. He conceded that it "present[ed] a hazard" because it had been placed only inches from the power supply drop line splices, but he said nothing concerning its location otherwise. The MPSC contacted AT&T business office reps who said that they could easily move the NI down and ground it, ACD simply had to call and ask (see where this is centering around ACD's competence, expertise, and management).
Finally, after 34 days, the AT&T business offices ordered the same AT&T tech who put the NI TWENTY feet up and another tech (both highly paid cable repair technicians) AND their supervisor (a highly paid manager) to move it down and ground it. They were angry for having to redo the work, did not apologize, and would not look me in the eyes. When they left the "supervisor" stated, "Your all set", and they left immediately.
You might wonder if that is the end. Ha HA! You might think that an AT&T "supervisor" would be wise enough to follow the Cardinal Rule of Installation and Repair for telco technicians -- CHECK FOR DIAL TONE AT THE NETWORK INTERFACE. Ha HA!
The "supervisor", who had helped by doing the wiring in the box... hooked up the wrong drop wire pair. They left without checking DSL or dial tone. Having done this work before, I located the service on the other drop wire pair, but hell, even being SO CLOSE, I wasn't going to let ACD off the hook. I made another complaint and the next day the previous ACD tech came out and switched the regulated drop wire pair. All this in only 35 days and less than a mile from the Central Office.
And you think THAT is the end? Ha HA HAAA! ACD provided a Zhone (formerly Paradyne) wireless gateway router (6218-I2-xxx). This is a quality product with good performance but the documentation for this product is minimalistic. If you follow the instructions and let the product do an automatic "Quick Setup" on ACD's line, you will connect to the internet, but it will set itself up in Bridge mode and disable NAT and Firewall functionality. If you're into home networking, you know that this setup is impossible for LAN functioning (file & print sharing and LAN SSH), as even if you can connect up to four machines to the internet, the addresses are all exterior and dynamic making it impossible to communicate with other machines in the (now non-existent) local network. ACD "Tech Support" reps had "no clue" (THEIR words) whatsoever about how to utilize the product for LAN functions. They actually told people to forget about using the LAN functions or to use the product solely as a modem and buy another SOHO router to run behind it! A huge waste of resources!
Ha HA Ha HAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Zhone tech support is helpful if you can get through to them. Unfortunately, Zhone's business model is that ACD is their customer, and you, the end user, are NOT their customer. To try and help though, Zhone reps wrote emails and made calls to ACD , both tech support and the Owner of ACD. They received no replies whatsoever. ACD's support site (and don't even get me started on their Phone service's indefinitely beta web site!) apparently hasn't been updated since Ameritech was the local Bell (before SBC bought them and later bought AT&T) -- 5 years at least. You will not find ANY, AT ALL, current and relevant information. You WILL get a laugh where they say the "Techs" get asked by people all the time about the best equipment to use (the pig's bum!!). You will not find ANY information concerning the technical details for setting up DSL provisions in a modem or gateway (and it is not for the average customer to figure out these things). Interestingly enough, I was able to use my former 2Wire gateway router (provided by AT&T - sheesh!) to discover the correct DSL settings for ACD (at least in Jackson):
1) Update the firmware from the Zhone support site
2) Delete any WAN setup the product has set up
3) Set up a new WAN connection with VP/VCI 0-35, UBR w/o PCR, QoS,
MAC Encapsulation Routing (MER), LLC-Snap Bridging, obtain all addressing
(unless you bought a static address), enable NAT & Firewall & IGMP & WAN,
Service Name pppoe_0_35_1
4) Save & Reboot the Zhone
You can then configure your NAT, Firewall, & LAN functions.
To summarize, while the DSL & phone services themselves are fairly stable, the DSL service is not the fastest that it could be for the money. The majority of ACD service personnel are ignorant of their products and services. Even though I loath AT&T, you can get bundled 7+ DSL for $10 less per month than ACD. ACD doesn't commit itself to improving functions; and it's interesting to note that while they sell DSL claimed at 10 and 20, they only bundle phone service with 3 & 5. ACD's management and tech support, for the most part, are ignorant, rude, and atrocious -- and that's being generous. I had hoped to start a long term relationship with a company that wasn't AT&T, but the owner doesn't seem to be interested in this, and ACD's manner and performance reveal this. One more note on the age of their web site information... One might get the impression that ACD is still the broadband provider for Michigan State University. They LOST that contract some time ago, and the reason(s) seem fairly obvious. If ACD doesn't turn around and start to kiss my Customer's bum, I'll be switching at the end of term.
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Review by haydenth
Posted: 3.8 years ago
member for 3.8 years, 1 visits, last login: 3.5 years ago
East Lansing,Ingham,MI
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 16 days
"Very High Speeds especially from Univ. Networks, good price"
"Highly unreliable, no 24/7 tech support"
"They are a small operation that can provide good service, but just don't follow through"
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I signed up with ACD.net in summer of 2005 for the MSU DSL plan, offering 10mbps. After signing up, they had SBC come out and install the telephone line almost immediately. However, after that install, they fell off the face of the planet and I could not reach anyone. I stopped by their office and learned that they had mailed me the modem and self-setup kit. I received it the following day and installed everything, but things still did not work. I called ACD.net back and they sent out a tech on a Saturday (!) - I was starting to be impressed. He told me, we'd get 9mbps and we were good to go. Life was good.
During the entire summer we had horrible connectivity issues and ACD.net. We could not play any games because after approx. 15 minutes of usage the connection would drop and have to reconnect. I called many many times and they always told me it was fixed, but it never was. Fortunately, I got Rusty Allswede's (their DSL guru) email address and telephone number. I called him and he seemed to fix my reliability issues.
It was too good to last. Now, about every 2-3 weeks, i have to call/email Rusty to get him to fix my connection after it reverts into this 15 minutes of usage/goes down pattern. Of course, I can't call him at night or on weekends (which is ALWAYS when it goes down). Frankly, I'm just fed up at this point. On Christmas Eve, I could not use my internet connection. I'm trying to run server applications through my connection and I just can't take it anymore.
I really really WANT to see ACD.net do well and I really really WANT to support a small local company. I've been patient and understanding, but I need to get business done and I just can't do it with ACD.net. They could solve so many of their problems by just having a tech (or an MSU intern) work during the nights and make sure their servers stay up.
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Review by murph12
UPDATED: 4.1 years ago
member for 5.8 years, 47 visits, last login: 8 days ago
East Lansing,Ingham,MI
Contract price not specified.
"crap service, crap speed, don't sign up you'll regret it"
"crap service, crap speed, don't sign up you'll regret it"
"crap service, crap speed, don't sign up you'll regret it"
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their service was not, is not, and seems like it NEVER will be worth the cost. They treat new customers nice, till you sign the contract, then the become crap and do some of the most abusive, outrageous things I have ever seen a business do. If you join ACD.net you are going to be sorry, real fast!! DON"T BELEIVE THEM, GO ELSEWHERE IF YOU WANT SPEED AS ACD DOES NOT HAVE IT!
As example, they advertise 5-10, even 20MB service, but cannot even deliver 5MB service in Jackson, and thats to a house in the city only a few hundrad yards from the CO!!
If you sign thier 1 yr. contract, or any contract, then watch out --- their tactics now are when its up a year later, to cancel they make their customers WRITE THEM A PAPER LETTER and SEND IT SNAIL MAIL to give them "30 days notice" (didn't they have 365 days notice to start with on a year contract?) that you want to end DSL service (and they will continue charging until they get the letter, having to write a letter to CC Company to reverse the charges the made illegally)!Utterly amazing tactic (must be a dying company if they have to risk lawsuits and criminal charges of unauthorized charges to delay a customer from bolting to their competitors)!!!
Gosh, I thought a one-year contract ended one year later, why would you have to send a letter? But ACD.net is trying to con people into "until you send us a letter the contract is not up" crap. See what I mean by crap? This is an illegal matter and has been brought to the attention of the approiate Governmental people so it should end soon I would think,if not, they will get sued)!
Another thing, their existing customers ARE CRAP TO THEM, as they give better deals to NEW customers who by the false advertising on download speeds (we will get to that, as they are so overbook, their DSL acts like dial-up) and then ACD either won't give it to them (see above issue with "contracts) or cannot, either way, you do NOT get what you are paying for!
Finally, and what most of us want with DSL, SPEED, and the speeds advertised are a joke and I have never, ever, seen anything close to what they say. If the speeds are not what was bought, They simply blame the customer's equipment or set up, or anything but they cannot deliver it --- I just saw an ad saying they had 20meg service! Yeah right, I've had 5MB service and I am LUCKY to get near 1MB (and thats at midnight, during the day it is dialup speeds). I think they give MSU good service (And the bill till they get chargebacks) as that has to be a cashcow for them, but if your not at MSU, forget ACD!
To all those that say they have good service from them, I do not know if you use your system more than to get email (text is speedy) or what, but your experience is rarity in SE MICHIGAN with DSL from ACD.net, as most people with ACD cannot wait to dump them (for SBC $14.95) and even of they (SBC) doubles their price, its better than ACD simply because of service which is the last comment! It sucks, either they do not know what they are talking about and try to baffle, or they simply ignore the complaints, or they lie.
ACD is the worst ISP I have seen in many years, if you are thinking about buying service from them DON'T!!!!!!!!
Finally, I liked ACD to start. They support some organizations I support, which was a good point as I donate money to the organization noted, but if they cannot deliver what the say, use excuses, and then use tactics that scare most companies (because eventually someone will sue, or complain to the Gov. and then its over) then they simply do not get it --- and treating already existing customers like crap and they new ones "nice" until the got them in the contract woes, well, in the end you fail --- someone will convince a Jury your lying and slam you with a million dollar verdict (or worse)!
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Review by msuguy71
Posted: 4.3 years ago
member for 4.3 years, 194 visits, last login: 21 days ago
Haslett,Ingham,MI
$39 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
Ameritech
"Quick install - may have had previous DSL user at this address"
"Mandatory auto credit card payment, must have contract"
"Good service and value for the money for students"
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Sick of Comcast's crap and increasing prices with decreasing quality I ordered ACD.net's newest deal for MSU students. They offer a 10Mb connection directly to MSU with MSU as the ISP. It is just like being on campus. The deal was 19.95 for 6 months then 39.95 for the remainder of the contract. Speeds are close to advertised. I get well over 10Mb when d/l from sites like Microsoft and I get some that are way slower, it all depends on the traffic out on the web. To get the great speeds I had to rewire my home phone lines with CAT 5 but it was worth it. The install was fast. I ordered online and received my equipment in 2 days. Plugged it in and got a status light. Don't know if it is because the previous owners of my house had DSL or not (I just bought this house 2 years ago) but they may have. Had to contact ACD after installing because speeds were really slow. They checked and said they had to dial me up. They did and away I went. After rewiring the house the speeds increased even more. Other than the one call to tech support no other problems. That call went well and the tech was polite and friendly. Occassional outages that last between 5 minutes and 30 minutes but don't happen often. Difficult to tell if outages are related to MSU or ACD. ACD will also send out emails notifying users of service outages due to service or equipment upgrades.
Don't like that I have to have auto credit card payment as I like to pay with various sources (ie: checking, savings, credit card) depending on my circumstances that month. Also don't like having to sign contracts. Cable modem did not require a contract.
All in all a very good company and a good service to get.
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 Review by quetwo
Posted: 4.6 years ago
member for 5.1 years, 1706 visits, last login: a few hours ago
East Lansing,Ingham,MI
$59 per month
about 30 days
Ameritech
"Reliable, Solid connection, Good"
"Downloads can be "slow""
"Overall, great local company that really wants to do good for your business"
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When I first moved to the area, I decided to go with DSL because (then) ATTBI was completely over-subscribed in the area I lived in. I think it was something like 500+ student homes to one node..
Installation didn't go smooth, but ACD kept me in the loop to let me know what was going on... SBC apparently screwed up the order and installed my line across the street. S* (The one responsible for new orders and reapir tickets for DSL) was very friendly, and got the job done. About a week later I had my DSL service installed.
ACD uses Paradyne equipment, which in my opinion, seems to perform better than most others out there.
As far as reliability, I personally haven't seen the service go down for more than 5 minutes at a time. It's happened mabe a dozen times in the past two years, which I think is a pretty good track record for residental service. My next-door neighbor has Comcast, and their connection goes down about once a week for about an hour, at least. SBC seems to kick others out every 24 hours because of their PPPoE setup.
Ping times are kinda-high for what I've seen with other services. Pings seem to jump as soon as you get on their backbone, reaching about 50ms - 70ms as soon as you leave their office.
Upload speed is FAST. I subscribe as a 960/960 SDSL, and average about 1800kbits upload. When at work (T1) and downloading files using Remote Desktop, I average about 100k/s to 150k/s. Impressive.
Unfortunatly, download speeds are not nearly as quick. Depending on the time of day, downstream speeds average about 500kbits to 700kbits. In my tests, this averages to about 70k/s to 80k/s. Mind you, this is still better than what else is available, but I was hoping for better, since i'm only 1,800 feet from the CO.
Current offerings from ACD.NET include ASDL2+, with up to 5MB, or 10MB service to MSU's Campus. From what I've heard, people were unhappy with the MSU Campus option, because MSU's campus is bandwidth deprived, an chalk full of viruses.
This past year, I also subscribed to the ACD.NET VoIP service, and have been VERY pleased. For less than half of my bill at TDS Metrocom, I am able to get two lines, each crystal clear. Besides a small snafu porting my number (might have been my fault), everything is going great with that service. A*L*, and the entire VoIP team is very knowledgable and makes every effort to provide excellent service.
I plan on moving to South Lansing in May, and I hope to take ACD.NET with me. Unfortunatly, I think I'm going to be at the theoritical limits of reliable DSL at 18,000 feet, so I may have to investigate other options, but ACD.NET will be the first company I am going to call to see if they can provide me service in the future.
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Review by scottwn
Posted: 4.7 years ago
member for 5.4 years, 820 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Holt,Ingham,MI
$55 per month (12 month contract)
about 15 days
Ameritech
"First 6 months are only $19.99 a month plus modem rental, no forced bundling."
"I was not contacted about my order status as promised, ping times to their gateway are excessive."
"It's a good choice if you want high-speed Internet in the Lansing area without forced bundling."
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I was unsatisfied with the constant outages I was having with Comcast HSI and the fact that I would have to pay about $65 a month for internet service once their promotional period is up so I kept my options opened.
After seeing about 5,000 of their billboards and finding out that ADSL2 was finally available in Holt, I decided to give them a try. I ordered about 2.5 weeks ago online and the confirmation page said I should get an e-mail within 5-10 business days to let me know when I was ready to go. On the 11th business day, I called them and they said SBC set me up yesterday and that they were going to mail me my modem that day. I told them I'd come pick it up so I could play with it that day. I first checked my Demarc outside of the building; there was no sign of recent activity in with no tags, tons of cobwebs and tons of dead bugs so I was nervous that they ran the line to the other demarc that serves the other half of the duplex. I looked in the other demarc and it looked like it was recently opened and had some incoherant tags on one of the lines so I was agitated.
To make a long story short, I got the modem, plugged it in to the jack and right away got a status light. I plugged it into my router and after changing a couple settings, it worked right away. The service was real slow, though at first. I called their tech support and the tech was prompt and polite and told me they by default set all accounts to be 128k/128k until you call in. It would of been nice if I was aware of that before hand. I'm on the 5mb/256k ADSL2 package and I'm getting about 3.5mb/220k, which isn't too bad but it should be about 4.35mb down and the upload is about normal if you factor in overhead traffic.
This is the second full day that I've been on the DSL connection and so far, so good. The service has been acceptible and our Packet8 line works great with it even with the high ping times. On that note, all pings from my router to their gateway are constantly 40-50ms so this service may not be desirable for online gamers but so far our VoIP service works just as well as it did with Comcast.
Assuming that everything goes smoothly this weekend, I'll be dumping off my Comcast modem back to them on Monday. After taking over a week to get me to work after they brought me the modem due to a misconfiguration on some server of theirs and weather-related outages (yes, cable can be affected by the weather, especially if their equipment isn't sealed on the utility poles) and having techs out at least once month since I've had it, I'm hoping that ACD is a better alternative. Since I'm a happy VoIP user, I have no need for a POTS line and don't want to pay for it and I didn't like having to pay extra to Comcast since I don't want their cable TV. (I'm a happy DISH Network subscriber)
All in all, this should be adequate for us since we're not online gamers and the ping times have been good enough for VoIP but you may want Comcast or SBC if you need the ultra-fast pings.
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Review by corporateart
Posted: 5.1 years ago
member for 5.1 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.1 years ago
Lansing,Ingham,MI
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 45 days
Ameritech
"cheap for 6 months"
"awful tech support, lots of disconnections, slow speeds"
"cheap but you pay for it with bad tech support, iffy speeds, etc"
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i first had acd.net service in a different house for 2 years. the first year, every single weekend for 6 weekends in a row the service would go out from friday night to monday morning because they have NO ONE on call all weekend long. they kept blaming everyone else and it was really irritating. they gave us one month for free after i complained a LOT. then, after about 3 months of problems it was working, and it worked fine and well until I moved.
I thought that perhaps the earlier problems I had were now fixed and it was all good, so i signed up for their MSU plan. fast speeds, cheap rates for 6 months, then a rate hike... ok thats fine, no problem right? right...
things seemed to be working ok using an ACD.net temporary IP address until I could get reconnected with an MSU one, but the speeds were really really low. I chalked it up to the temp IP. Then I got a notice from another ACD customer informing me that there was no security on the ACD routers and that everything that all the people on the network did was being rebroadcast to everyone on the network. holy shit! that means that anyone connected to the same DSLAM as me could see everything I did online! websites visited, instant messages sent, emails, credit cards, passwords, EVERYTHING! So i called and complained, I checked out what I was told and he was right, everything was there for the viewing. When I spoke to the tech support people I always had to wait on hold for at least 10 minutes, usually longer, which is shitty since I am using a cell phone and the only time they are open is during the day, they have no night or weekend tech support. here it is over a month after it was installed and the problems are still ongoing, speeds still are slow as hell, but sometimes fast. there are random disconnections, and they love to blame other people for the problems. I was told that someone on the network had a virus, and they even told me a name of someone who they said was doing it. thats funny since it turns out he was an ex-coworker of mine and I know that he is very very competent and he doesnt have a virus, especially when they said it was a virus for linux, which he doesnt even use!
of course Im sure that they would tell people that it is my fault, that my computer is messed up, that I am doing something wrong, etc, but they would be wrong. the same computer that had no problems when it was on another loop now has all sorts of problems.
liars, idiots, or jerks? which best describe acd? I used to think just they were just idiots, now think they are all of them.
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Review by sloughwi
UPDATED: 5.1 years ago
member for 8.1 years, 124 visits, last login: 264 days ago
Lansing,Ingham,MI
$55 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
Ameritech
"Fast speeds"
"Unreliable speeds, poor routing and unpredictable service, long contracts with expensive cancellation fees"
"Fast speeds if your lucky, if your not your stuck paying for sub-par service."
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I've been an ACD customer for around 3 years. I've reviewed them every so often since then, but I'll just summarize my experiences up to this point. 3 years ago ACD was the only broadband provider that could reach my apartment in Haslett. I signed the 2 year contract to get the setup and modem for free. A year later I purchased a home in Lansing and I had my ACD service transferred there. Up to this point I had no problems, with the exception of a short dispute over whether I should pay $50/month for 512 while new customers paid the same for 960. ACD finally allowed existing customers to get the going rate and so I was overall happy with the service.
The fall of 2001 I signed a new 2 year contract for 2MB up/down service through MSU. After a week of downtime my new line was installed, but when I tested my speeds I realized I was only getting 800/512. ACD sent out techs who reported my attenuation at around 40 up and down. They had no explanation for the below normal speeds and said there was nothing they could do about it. I was disappointed, but settled for having my contract price adjusted down to 960/960.
The winter of 2002 the real trouble started. First of all MSU had serious trouble controlling the virus population on its campus (which was in no way ACD's fault). However, ACD began having serious hardware problems at the CO. I would loose my line light on a Saturday night (after tech support closed) and would be stranded without internet the rest of the weekend. The line light would randomly go off every few days until someone reset the port. This lasted for around 2 months until ACD finally fixed the problem. I was frustrated, but ACD was nice enough to switch me onto their network so that I wouldn't have to deal with the virus issues at MSU on top of everything else.
Another year and a half passed and I was beginning to feel alright with ACD again. Comcast came out with their 3MB service. SBC began offering 1.5 (w/ up to 4MB if you are close enough to the CO). Then ACD came out with their 10MB up/down plan through MSU.
Originally I was skeptical. I talked to a person at ACD, who was really nice and showed me the rates other people were getting. Most were at 6-8MB and seemed to be pretty happy. I asked him if running a new loop would solve my strange "mystery cap" on my speeds. He said it might, but there were no guarantees. He also placed me at 15,000', which meant I should get around 5-6MB. I knew it was risky. I should have known better given my poor luck with ACD in the past. But the temptation of a 10MB connection was just too much. I signed for another 2 years. I thought: "What's the worst that could happen? 3000/3000? that's still better then I would get at Comcast, plus I will be helping a local company."
A week later, my new loop was installed. I plugged in my modem to find I was getting 720/256. I called ACD and they sent out a tech to look at the line. He reported 63 attenuation up and down. He was a nice guy and got SBC to come out, who said there was a bridge tap causing the high attenuation. He told me that SBC had no legal obligation to remove the tap, so instead ACD was going to order me a second loop. While I was waiting for this second loop, I realized all was not right with this new modem.
The activity light ran constantly, even without the network cable plugged in and after multiple power cycles. I reported the problem and tried changing modems, but ACD shrugged the problem off at first. I then began watching the firmware on my modem screen and realized that the modem was actually receiving packets. A protocol analyzer showed that all the traffic on the same ACD router as me was being sent to everyone else on the router. In addition, my modem firmware screen was displaying other customer's modem stats. I immediately reported this high security threat.
The next week my second loop was installed. 2MB down 1MB up. Still 63 attenuation up and down. I resisted my urge to bail at this point and decided to let ACD fix the obvious hardware problems to see if it made any difference.
I sent my protocol analyzer logs to ACD. I was shocked to then get an email from ACD accusing me of causing the problem. They claimed my linux machine was infected with the Millennium virus and "hammering some poor soul on the comcast network". Of course, I don't have a linux box. In addition, the logs I sent clearly showed the activity was from some sort of P2P application someone else on the network was running, transferring a file from someone with a comcast connection. After another email (to which got no immediate reply) ACD began updating the firmware on their hardware at the Lansing CO.
Watching the AIM packets hitting my modem, I was able to find a person I knew and contacted them. Same speeds as me, same attenuations. I contacted a few other people I didn't know (but saw their AIM packets). Same problems: 63 attenuation and slow speeds. Some were even losing their connection for days at a time.
Two weeks pass. During this time I realized that I wasn't just able to see other modem screens...I could actually control other modems. I immediately called ACD to report this. I also reported that they could temporarily fix the problem by assigning each modem a unique local LAN IP (they all share 192.168.1.1 by default). I called the Friday before Labor Day weekend at around 2:30pm. No upper management who could deal with the problem was there. Apparently they had gone home early for the holiday. I also learned that the line to MSU's network from the Lansing main wasn't even installed yet and that my slow speed ticket had been closed because my loop is REALLY at 18,000' (not 15,000, like when I first signed up).
I did not sign up so I could beta test ACD's new connection for $55/month. The hardware problem had been going on for over three weeks with minimal communcation and no apparent progress. No one seems to be taking the security threats seriously. My speeds were far below my expectations. Thus, I canceled my contract for $150 and cut my losses.
That same day I went to Best Buy and got a D-Link cable modem. Go here for my review of Comcast: »Review of Comcast Formerly ATT Broadband by sloughwi
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 5.3 years ago
(review was emailed from domain umapinc.com)
Lansing,Ingham,MI
$25 per month (24 month contract)
Ameritech
"Reliability, Low Cost"
"Took multiple service calls to get circuit up and running"
"Lowest cost broadband alternative; decent speed"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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I have to wonder about the reviews attempting
to slam ACD. I've had both Comcast Cable Modem service and now ACD
DSL, and I will never go back to Comcast. Comcast has a history of
arbitrarily canceling lucratively priced cable tv packages (they came in
and bought out the AT&T cable in Lansing and canceled, without any
'grandfather clause', a lucrative package which gave you TNT and a couple
of other stations for only $11/month, for example). Now I have to
pay $45/month to get the 2 or 3 cable channels that I really want above
the broadcast channels, most of which I would have had on the $11/mo plan.
My ACD dsl service was slow to get up
and running, but this was due to improper setup by SBC's engineer on the
phone line, not ACD. In my experience on the job with T-1 circuits,
it is common for them to have a problem or two before they're up and running,
and that's exactly what happened with the DSL Circuit. Now, I haven't
had a.n.y. interruptions in service since the circuit has been up, and
my speeds are meeting or exceeding what was promised. And my monthly
charge is below SBC's cheapest DSL plan, and far below Comcast's cable
modem service. And the Comcast cable modem did have periodic outages
and necessary 'power cycles' of the cable modem. People have posted
not being able to get ACD on the phone - I was on the phone with them frequently
when getting the circuit up and had no problem getting a tech to come out.
The way I see it - cable modems are
now faster - way faster than DSL with the 3MB speeds. If that's what
you're into and you spend all day gaming online in your basement, quit
whining and call Comcast. If you want reliable broadband service
with decent speed at the cheapest price, call ACD.....
Al Yarrington
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Review by NickFridd
Posted: 5.7 years ago
member for 6.5 years, 5 visits, last login: 5.7 years ago
Spring Arbor,Jackson,MI
$70 per month
"STAY AWAY FROM THESE INCOMPETENT IDIOTS"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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Tech Support:
Services:
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"ACD.net utilizes connections to multiple backbones to ensure that data reaches the end-user in the fastest, most efficient manner possible. We also have peering agreements with local ISPs to allow fast delivery of packets when possible."
I'll do a little tracert on a HIGH QUALITY Game Server used for Counter-Strike that is in Dallas. **Note: Friends with cable less than a mile away ping 50's with Comcast cable. You be the judge...
1 14 ms 15 ms 12 ms 207.179.96.129
2 16 ms 16 ms 16 ms 207.179.78.17
3 18 ms 20 ms 17 ms 207.179.64.117
4 51 ms 50 ms 49 ms d3-0-0-7.a02.chcgil01.us.ra.verio.net [129.250.2
23.145]
5 50 ms 50 ms 49 ms ge-1-0-0-4.r02.chcgil01.us.bb.verio.net [129.250
.27.113]
6 49 ms 49 ms 49 ms p16-3-0-0.r00.chcgil06.us.bb.verio.net [129.250.
5.114]
7 79 ms 77 ms 79 ms sl-st21-chi-6-3.sprintlink.net [144.232.9.21]
8 79 ms 79 ms 81 ms sl-bb20-chi-11-3.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.79]
9 76 ms 77 ms 79 ms sl-bb21-fw-10-1.sprintlink.net [144.232.18.58]
10 78 ms 83 ms 79 ms sl-bb24-fw-11-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.11.22]
11 80 ms 80 ms 80 ms sl-bb27-fw-14-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.11.74]
12 78 ms 78 ms 78 ms sl-st20-dal-1-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.9.136]
13 78 ms 78 ms 80 ms sl-internap-105-0.sprintlink.net [144.228.250.90
]
14 99 ms 79 ms 79 ms border1.ge4-1-bbnet2.ext1a.dal.pnap.net [216.52.
191.84]
15 79 ms 77 ms 79 ms prohosting-11.border1.ext1a.dal.pnap.net [216.52
.189.42]
16 82 ms 80 ms 79 ms soul-69-12-9-126.tx.us.gamedaemons.net [69.12.9.
126]
50 ping to chicago makes me laugh. So there you have it, 80 ping to texas, in which when your in the game, you have to use rate settings, which makes you ping 90 in the game. 90 ping is unacceptable, and even 50-70 ping to chicago.. If you live in Jackson - FIND SOMTHING ELSE ...
**Oh and I called them numerous times asking to please fix it, do somthing? And there comment time and time again, "Pign is low priority to us and we dont deal with ping complaints sorry"
"ACD.net utilizes connections to multiple backbones to ensure that data reaches the end-user in the fastest, most efficient manner possible. We also have peering agreements with local ISPs to allow fast delivery of packets when possible."
PLEASE - Your the slowest thing Ive ever seen... and especially for 70$ a month. I hope this turns many people away from getting your service.
-Nick
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