Toledo's Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
Well this is kind of old technology working their way to Toledo
finally. Don't confuse ISDN with DSL, it basically looks and feels
the same way, but ISDN is a lot slower and costly. See dial-up
for ISDN. DSL is only available if you live within a certain radius
of a Ameritech building or station.
I have managed to reach 5 companies starting out in Northwest
Ohio; Internet Direct, Inc. (www.idiamerica.com), ToastNet
(www.toast.net), ToledoLink (www.toledolink.com), and NextStepDSL (www.nextstepdsl.com). They all basically resell Ameritech's lines, so
no matter who you get it will be the same.
Basically the more you pay, the faster your service is. But Internet
Direct, Inc. just wants you to pay and feed you crap. ToastNet has
a very good menu of choices. And ToledoLink only has 1 package.
Basic Speed: 1.5m download 256k upload (Ameritech)
768k download 128k upload (Internet Direct)
512k download 256k upload (ToastNet)
768k download 128k upload (ToledoLink)
768k download 128k upload (NextStepDSL)
Ameritech offers both 1.5m ($59.99) and 768k ($39.99) and can
easily be reached at 1-800-201-7575. Local places just use
Ameritech service, so shop a little.
Price: 59.95 with $200 install and 1 year contract. (Ameritech)
49.95 with $150 install and 1 year contract. (Internet Direct)
59.95 with $350 install and 1 year contract. (ToastNET)
49.95 with $200 install (1 year contract or $125)(ToledoLink)
49.95 with $200 install (1 year contract or $125)(NextStepDSL)
Service: Varies
Internet Direct basically drops off the stuff and says "Here Ya Go!". Tech support just runs you in circles and no one has a clue on what their doing, cause they got your money weather you like it or not. But ToastNET
has grade "A" support and tech service, but for $200 more, they should.
ToledoLink is mostly has web-based support, but their sales men are so much nicer. NextStepDSL I've never tried or contacted, but the prices are exactly the same as the others. But they do have double the speed at 3x the cost.
History:
One day I E-Mailed 3 companies on their competition against
Buckeye-Cable. ToastNET and ToledoLink were very supportive and I
have no complaints against them as they got very into detail on what their
plans were. On the other hand Internet Direct got very nasty and started
to call me names, to see for yourself click here.
Got Ameritech 1.5 package and had no problems setting it up.
I get twice the speed of cable for the same cost. Had to call tech
support twice on installation and took only 5 minutes to talk with
someone. Smooth sailing....
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