Notifications
Clear all
Topic starter
I had read some negative experiences about Innovative so I thought I should post my very positive first experience with them.
I arrived here on the island 2 weeks ago today and was put up in temporary corporate housing for the next few months. I decided to use Innovative for phone, cable, and internet purely because they already had connections in the house (with intention to switch to something different when we move into our permanent place this summer.) I arrived with my family at Innovative's office around 4:15 on a weekday last week (closing time is 5:00.) By 5:15 I had done the paperwork for the cable and phone, received a cable box and DSL modem, and made payments/deposits separately for the phone and cable (and the staff was very accomodating about working after closing time.) By the time I got home later around 6 or 6:30 the cable was working and the phone came on a few minutes later.
I returned the next day to drop off the DSL application (couldn't complete it the first day as I needed the home phone number first and ran out of time before closing.) I was told it would probably be the better part of 8 or 9 days based on the weekly cut-off for orders before the DSL was activated. Much to my surprise it was on and working less than 3 days later.
I don't know if my experience is an abberation or if things have turned around at Innovative but I've been very impressed with their people and service so far and thought I should share.
Thanks.
Posted : April 18, 2008 6:58 pm
what kind of speed were you able to get with DSL?
Posted : April 19, 2008 6:59 am
Topic starter
I should take some more snapshots throughout the day but I just did a quick check using www.speedtest.net (and selected the suggested Dominican Republic server) and ended up with 236 kb/s download and 397 kb/s upload speed. I then re-ran the test with a Miami server and got 236 kb/s download and 504 kb/s upload.
I'll check again tonight.
Posted : April 19, 2008 2:15 pm
try miami and new york if you don't mind. the dominican server is the worst anyhow. i get the same speed you do so i'm not sure if they have a fiber link to the mainland.
Posted : April 19, 2008 3:38 pm
Topic starter
Miami seems to have fallen off-line but I just did a night-time test with the New York server at got 236 up and 486 down.
Posted : April 20, 2008 1:53 am
are you on DSL or WDSL? I am wondering because your upload speed should always equal or less than your download speed. it seems yours are upside down.
Posted : April 20, 2008 1:05 pm
Innovative DSL is asymmetrical. The download speed is faster than the upload speed. BroadbandVI is at least 4 times faster. I have both.
I used to use VIPowernet as my only ISP but two years ago they let me down and that prompted me to add BroadbandVI. On the Thursday before Easter in 06 my email stopped working. I called Innovative to find out what was going on. No one was in the office to take the call. I called multiple times everyday from Thursday until the Monday after Easter. No one was home to take the call. All of this time all of their customers email was unavailable. You could still connect to the Internet using them as your ISP but you could not send or receive email.
Everyone at VIPowernet/Innovative was on holiday for Easter. The problem was caused by VIPowernet not renewing their domain name. Now you must understand that the person responsible had been receiving email about their domain name expiring for 90 days before it expired but had taken no action. The Thursday before Easter all of the DNS servers dropped vipowernet.net from their databases and no longer resolved that name. No one at Innovative was around to deal with the problem. Believe me I tried hard to find someone.
Now anyone who has a domain name knows how cheap it is to renew and how easy it is. For $1000 you can register a name for 100 years. Now I got calls of apology from Vice Presidents and even the President of Innovative but I no longer had confidence in using them as my only provider.
Posted : April 20, 2008 9:47 pm
I was wondering if anyone knew what kind of upload and download speed they offer in STX? I need an upload speed of 256 kbps and a download speed of 1 mbps for my job. I work from home as a nurse, but the company I work for requires these minimum speeds. Any info would be great!!!
Thanks
B&J
Posted : April 23, 2008 10:38 am
I have both Innovative DSL and BroadbandVI
Tests run to server in ny,ny from STX.
Via Innovative DSL 440 kb/s down 216kb/s up
Via BroadbandVI 1957 kb/s down 931kb/s up
Posted : April 23, 2008 2:48 pm
The high speeds for VI Broadband on speed test is because they give your a 40 second burst at 2mbs. After that the service is sold as a 500mbs service. The offer a 1mbs service for $99.
Jim
Posted : April 23, 2008 4:47 pm
My connection speed is depressing. When I moved to STT my only broadband option was wireless DSL, which I currently use (from Choice). To get any signal I have to place the receiver in a very awkward place. I pay $99/month for the following *blazing* speeds (tested on Speakeasy to/from the New York server):
down: 300 kbps (tested this morning and is actually faster than most of the prior tests I've run)
up: 75 kbps
Sigh.
Wired DSL from Innovative is now an option for me but I'm reluctant to use this since my phone service has been very unreliable.
Posted : April 24, 2008 9:57 am
You were BLESSED my Friend.
Posted : April 27, 2008 2:19 am
Topic starter
You have NO idea how BLESSED I truly am.
A quick additional story.
About 10 days ago on a Friday (4/18) I get a call from the service that is shipping my household goods from Washington state. They had picked up a truck I bought for the island several days earlier so I thought it was on the way. I get a call saying they need certain documentation before they can ship the truck out of the country. Amongst the things they needed were:
1) copy of registration and license plate number (I didn't have it because I was waiting on registration from the dealership when I left Seattle earlier this month.)
2) copy of paper title (I didn't have title - the truck is financed through Ford)
3) proof that insurance will cover the truck while in transit including while on the water
4) social security number (yes I know this one 🙂 )
Given this all happened in the span of 6 hours on that Friday you know I am BLESSED:
- the shipping company was able to intercept the truck, dig through the stuff my wife had put in the glove box when registration came in, and scanned the registration and emailed me a copy!
- I almost had a heart attack when the shipping company told me that as of 3 weeks ago U.S. Customs stopped accepting letters from lien holders granting permission to ship. They would only accept copies of actual paper title. I called Ford Credit and they said they didn't have it - must be still with the dealer since I had just purchased the truck. I called the dealer and they said they didn't have it - they had sent it to the state about a week earlier. I called the state and their automated service said it takes 8-10 weeks to process a request for a copy of a title! When I got a human on the phone I learned the state could no longer give me a copy as they had just switched over to electronic titles (apparently other states including PA have done this recently so why they are out of synch with U.S. Customs I don't know.) The shipping company (Paxton) went to bat and expedited a request with U.S. Customs and got me an exception so now I just needed...
-A letter from the lien holder granting permission to ship out of U.S.. Of course they wouldn't do this until they had confirmation of...
-Details in writing from the insurance company (Liberty Mutual) showing coverage of the vehicle from port to port. Would you believe Liberty Mutual faxed the letter to Ford within 10 minutes of me getting off the phone with them?
-Ford in turn wrote up the permission letter on their letterhead and got it to the shipper less than an hour later by fax!
Now tell me this shouldn't have taken a week or more under normal circumstances!
Am I blessed or what 🙂
Posted : April 28, 2008 10:11 pm
If you don't think you have used up your stock of good luck yet you should go buy a lottery ticket. Great truck story! -- I cannot believe the combination of individuals who helped in such a wonderful way.
Posted : April 28, 2008 10:33 pm
luck doesn't exist. it is merely what happens when preparation meets opportunity. blessings do exist and we all receive them. God bless each and every one of you!
Posted : April 29, 2008 2:34 am
Oh, luck exists all right.
Posted : April 29, 2008 9:59 am
