Questions about everyone's experience with Consolidated Communications

Submitted by numetalbeatsjazz t3_yqtuhb in vermont

Hey all. I'm one of the lucky people who live outside a populated area and am stuck with only one option for internet: Consolidated Communications DSL. What excitement it is to wake up in the morning and not know if I will have a connection better than .05 MBPS! Such joy!

But other than a giant bitch fest that this will no doubtedly become, let me ask you some questions to make sure it's not just me and to confirm that I am indeed getting gaslit by a fucking ISP every time I call to complain.

About once a day I get drops in speed. Like severe drops. Right now, after resetting my router for the hundredth time today, I'm getting what I pay for: ~20 down and 2 up. But that seems to be the anomaly. And it's not like I'm testing at peak times. I can see some moderate slow downs at like 7 pm. But I wake up in the morning and check emails and find I'm at 1 MBPS or less most days. Is this what everyone else gets. At some point it jumps back up around 10 am. Then fucks off around lunch time. Back at 3. Fucks back off at 5.

Does this sound familiar to you? Let me hear your experiences.

What is everyone's experience with Starlink? I've heard reports that it is crazy fast but also drops out occasionally due to the rotation of the satellites. Is this the case? Is the cost worth it?

Thanks everyone! Now commence bitching

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whaletacochamp t1_ivq742c wrote

Get starlink and only go to /r/starlink for advice on mounting and to answer little questions here and there. That sub is the bitch fest - there are TONS of people with much better options who got starlink just to be part of the craze, and now spend all of their time complaining about little inconsequential things. Starlink also makes it TOO easy to track things like speeds and outages, so you get people who are all fired up simply over the numbers their app is showing them, meanwhile their service is totally 100% fine.

Our only options were consolidated or hughesnet. Consolidated is well known to be awful, and hughesnet sold us some pretty solid lies, so we went two years with Hughesnet. I paid $200/mo for 25mbps and 25gb data. I NEVER had more than 8mbps, my data would run out in a week, and we would be throttled down to 3mbps. It would be another $50/mo to get enough data to not be throttled.

Switched to starlink and speeds haven't been what was promised (promised 100mbps or more at first and I run right around 60 most of the time) but the system has worked completely flawlessly for me. We couldn't stream ANYTHING before and now we have had three devices streaming at once with no issues on multiple occasions. My dish is in a spot with some obstructions - the app says to expect an outage every two minutes. Outages certainly occur, but most are less than 2 seconds and are completely unnoticeable. The longer ones are completely unnoticeable unless im on a video meeting in which case it will be a small lag that quickly catches up. I have only had one major outage for about an hour and it ended up being an issue that affected users world wide.

TLDR: I pay half as much for 10x better internet through starlink. Take what that sub says with a grain of salt. We are also one of the lucky areas of the country that isn't over capacity yet, so I would order soon.

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quickly t1_ivrcf4z wrote

Starlink is legit. We have it up in the middle of nowhere in the Adirondacks and I’m amazed at how good it works.

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RetiscentSun t1_ivw1l3q wrote

Yea, starlink has been a game changer for me as well. It makes WFH actually viable, and ridiculous situations like not being able to take a FaceTime call from my niece because somebody else is doing a video call already.

I will say I’m not looking forward to the Fair Use Policy update in December but it probably doesn’t affect most people.

Also sadly it’s not currently open all over VT now: https://i.imgur.com/Z3fE6EE.jpg although I think you could just op for the best effort service or whatever in places where it’s not currently open.

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whaletacochamp t1_ivw2mae wrote

Yeah it has been getting popular in VT.

I won’t ever use anywhere near 1tb so I don’t care much about the fair use policy in practice but I agree about it being not cool in principle

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qwarfujj t1_ivq7ns2 wrote

Is your connection a bonded pair connection? I had their service on the 25/2 plan a couple years ago and that's what it used. I had issues initially until the third tech came out and actually checked the lines from the DSLAM to my house at my urging. Found out that 1 of the lines traveled another half mile at the corner and then looped back. In order for a bonded pair to work correctly it requires the lines to be in sync so the extra distance on one line was causing issues. Once he fixed that I was good.

I've heard the same about starlink from a friend that lives in the south. It's good for downloading data or streaming since it can buffer but expect a few drop outs during the day that can affect things like a VPN connection. They've also just implemented a data cap set to go in effect next month I believe. 1TB of data between 7am and 11pm. You can pay for extra by the GB I believe. Still probably be faster than what you're getting though.

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numetalbeatsjazz OP t1_ivq82lq wrote

I just switched from 10/1 to 25/2 like a month ago and it has been less consistent than my previous connection. One of the techs mentioned something along the lines of what you're saying. They keep saying they are sending a tech and they only come out maybe 25% of the time. What exactly should I be asking for? Sorry, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to technical stuff like that?

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qwarfujj t1_ivq8utq wrote

It was a number of years ago but I paid special attention to my modem settings. In there, and I can't tell you where because I've forgotten, there is a way to see the line stats for each line. They were labeled line 0 and line 1. I could watch the stats on line 0 drop in real time until is lost connection and have to restart the modem. If you can get the tech to help you get into the modem admin screens and show you were on there you can view the line stats it may help you convince them to do a more in depth bit of troubleshooting.

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Just-Rub-6746 t1_ivr2z9b wrote

Consolidated is absolutely terrible. Particularly in rural areas where they are the only option, not only is the connection intermittent and the speed half what you pay for (at best), they also have terrible customer service. The techs are good people and want to help, but the business is poorly run and you cannot talk to anyone local on the phone.

Only reasonable solution -Starlink. Works great and speeds are many times what Consolidated can offer.

Drawbacks: expensive- $500ish for equipment and $110/mo for service Signal loss during very heavy rain events. No experience with snow yet.

Pros: No aggravation. It just works. And it is fast (avg 150 down, 50 up) Never have to deal with Consolidated again.

Overall - well worth it.

Note: I am not sure if Musk is a megalomaniac lunatic or not, but Starlink is great.

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numetalbeatsjazz OP t1_ivtbx5n wrote

How long have you had it? Price and weather are my two concerns. I used to have sattelite TV back in the day and remember losing it during bad weather which is when I'd be most likely to use it since I'd be stuck inside.

I'm also concerned with Musk being an unhinged narcissist.

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Just-Rub-6746 t1_ivuvhjs wrote

I've had it since spring 2022. Only experienced interruption a few times due to rain, and only for a few minutes at a time. It is likely accumulated water on the antenna face itself that causes the issue. Antenna looks nearly due north from my place (Fairfax) and the face is not at a steep angle. I need to install it on my roof so that may change the angle and fix it anyway. Not sure how it will perform in a three day blizzard, but I suspect quite well as long as the antenna remains clear of ice/snow. It could also be signal strength not making it through the cloud cover, but I doubt it.

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bobcat1911 t1_ivsppoh wrote

It's not a data cap per se, your speeds might be deprioritized in congested cells, download speeds could possibly be the same as the "Best effort" or RV dishes, which judging by recent comments are not too bad, somewhere in the 20gb to 50 gb download speeds.

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Decweb t1_ivqsqgs wrote

I've had Consolidated (and their predecessors) for 13 years. In the early years there were problems with reliability. But the last 10 years or so it's been pretty solid. (See caveats below).

I'm at the end of the road and wire. That means I get 8 Mbps down, and 1 Mbps up, and I have no options to improve that except to pay for a second line.

Here's the thing I've learned to watch out for. Uploads. You can bash your downloads all you want, everything works fine. But if you actually upload and peg your 1Mbps up, the connection becomes utterly unusable for any other purpose until that upload is done.

And while I upload photos regularly, I know when I'm uploading them. The big problem with the uploads-killing-internet-for-the-whole-house cames from the Apple ecosystem.

Every person who visits with their 2.5 Apple devices, ipads, watches, phones (especially phones), computers, all trying to exchange cat photos and share them to the cloud. Oy.

Someone plugs in their iphone to charge, that's when it decides to upload/sync to the cloud. House internet dies as 400MB of cat or baby videos get uploaded.

I finally solved the problem by getting a router that let's me police bandwidth. So now all those iphones and other devices can only upload at about 30% of the upload max bandwidth, leaving the network working.

Maybe that's what's getting you, maybe not, but worth keeping in mind if you have CC DSL.

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chesbyiii t1_ivrkm67 wrote

Yeah- this is a pretty simple fix with a little QOS.

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numetalbeatsjazz OP t1_ivtcjel wrote

I've had this issue too. My computer kept trying to upload all my shit to One Drive which killed all speeds. I fixed that and things were fine for a bit but quickly started to downgrade. I've had some techs willing to do diagnostic shit. One even stayed on the line with me while I turned off and back on every device until we found the one that was the culprit. But that's another gripe I have with them: some techs are amazing, others just say "Huh, that sucks. Anyway, we're sending a tech out, but we can't tell you when and if they show up while you're not home, that's on you."

It's gotten to the point where I actively tell the person on the phone that I know a call ticket isn't going to fix anything, but I'm hoping to waste everyone's time and resources enough for CC to actually do something useful.

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VermontArmyBrat t1_ivr5x4h wrote

I had consolidated for years, only option available. It was terrible. I rarely got the speed I was paying for. Had to restart router frequently. Hated it. I had 25 with the two lines paired. I rarely saw that down speed and the up was often around 2-5.

I’ve been on Starlink for about two years now. Compared to consolidated I love it. If fiber is ever an option I would choose that in a second. Until then Starlink is great.

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numetalbeatsjazz OP t1_ivtbl9x wrote

Yeah I'm restarting my router daily. I just wish CC would come out say that this is just what happens instead of gaslighting me and telling me that 1. things are fine or 2. we're send a tech out (to not do shit)

It's just weird that sometimes a tech will come and things will work fine for a few weeks. maybe it's just coincidence?

Anyway, it sounds like you're saying Starlink is good enough. Is it a connectivity issues? I've heard from a friend that it cuts out occasionally bc satellites not lining up. Is this your experience?

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VermontArmyBrat t1_ivthr3r wrote

CC - to expand on what I said before. I used my own router for wifi and had the cc router wifi disbaled - connected to my router by ethernet. My parents live down the road and also had one option for "broadband" - they used the CC provided router for wifi. We both had continuous issues, usually fixed by rebooting.

I thought my connection was "good enough" until I started working from home. My son was also doing college remotely. I would frequently get dropped from calls.

Starlink - first, OMG the setup process was so easy! reminds me of most of my Apple products. From unboxing to it working was maybe 10 minutes - with the dish sitting on the ground and the wiring running through an open door.

My initial set up did have issues with the signal being blocked by trees. Once I was convinced the service worked and I was going to keep it, I moved the dish to my garage roof.

If you have not already done so, you can download the Starlink app. Go to a spot in your yard you are thinking about using for the dish and in the app follow the steps to check visibility. It will show you any obstructions. Using that you can tell if it is going to work in a particular spot. My yard has tree covered hill in the back yard, which also happens to be the direction my dish points. I have a two story house, garage is single story. Putting the dish on my garage roof was sufficient and I have zero obstructions for the last 18 months.

The signal does drop during intense weather - heavy rain or snow.

Ive heard customer service is bad and it is hard to reach them - I have not needed to so can not comment.

Elon is a shit show - so there is that factor.

They raised the price after I signed up, that was annoying. Started at $99/month and now it is $110/month. Although in my case I was paying CC about $60/month and that is gone so.

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Twombls t1_ivrc3tk wrote

business good Residential absolute shit

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kmbpa t1_ivrc8ir wrote

1000% get Starlink.

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Effinehright t1_ivq75qn wrote

when I had paid for 15 down and 3-5 up I was regularly 6-8 down and a consistent 1.4 up. But the consistency overall was terrible I called everyday for like two solid weeks and they never sent a tech. I did rewire from the "box" to the phone jack inside and that helped a little.

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xrareformx t1_ivr6a0r wrote

I live in rural Colorado ( I just like u guys ) and we have CC here as well, it's total garbage. We don't have much of a choice with the area we're in. And we recently had to sign another contract with them for more money per month for the same shit service. My internet is super slow, And I feel like there's always one day out of the week where it doesn't work at all. Anyway, Hi from Colorado just wanted to say you're not crazy

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DeliriousBlues t1_ivtt3bu wrote

Starlink is your answer. Went from CC massive speed of 1 Mbps on days it worked to 100 Mbps on Starlink.

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