Instaconnect

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[WWW]http://www.instaconnect.net

Instaconnect is a WiFi Internet service provided by Aria Communications sometimes.

Free access is also available to the public at the following locations:

It is available free to the residents of the following apartment complexes:

It is offered for a monthly fee at the following complexes:

Monthly rates depend on how long of a contract you sign up for, as follows (includes all applicable taxes and regulatory fees):

If you want to pre-pay the term of your contract, there is a $5 per month discount.

Accounts are usually activated on the same day.

Speeds might be up to 4Mbps, but it varies depending on network load, the wireless adapter you're using, and the signal quality. As of 6/2/09, one editor has not seen anything faster than 9900 kpbs in months and speeds of 2000 kbps or less are typical.

Some Instaconnect hot spots are using so-called "[wikipedia]captive portals." This means that to access the Internet you need to first view a webpage and click a button that says "Continue" (There's no login for public access points). To access the captive portal simply go to any URL in your web browser.

Captive portals are currently being rolled out to Instaconnect apartment complexes. Logins are required every two weeks, or when your computer is disconnected for more then a few minutes, whichever is later. (i.e. it isn't supposed to pop up on you while you're doing something else, but unfortunately this does sometimes happen). Online sign up and account management is available through the portal.

The Instaconnect-offered WiFi is less expensive than purchasing your own Internet through one of the Internet providers out there. However, it may be more reliable to use an Internet provider directly. This is due to a number of factors: many use the Instaconnect access points, while only your apartment will use your dedicated internet; wireless (802.11) is not as dependable, signal-wise, as regular wired-Internet.

You don't need to purchase the Instaconnect plans to get wireless Internet in your apartment. With your service provider of choice, you can get a wireless router at a place like Fry's Electronics for around $30 and hook it up to your DSL or cable modem. The signal generated by your own wireless router is likely to be stronger than the Instaconnect signal because it doesn't have to pass through concrete, etc.

The convenience of not setting up Internet and the low price Instaconnect plans may be worth it for some people.

Although the convenience is compromised by the fact that pretty much everything about Instaconnect, itself, is consistently inconsistent. Low signals along with frequent network congestion are two of the most cited recurring complaints. Also, it would be appropriate to note that customer service support is not available after normal business hours or on weekends. Furthermore, attaining quality customer service even during normal hours is a task in and of itself. Expect to have your call ignored or brushed off by the Aria communications staff who(with a few exceptions) can't/won't/don't want to do anything to help alleviate the problem. Overall, if convenience is your deciding factor, at least two editors of this page would recommend seriously evaluating these points of interest beforehand.

Comments:

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2005-08-30 19:53:18   FYI, I work for Aria Communications —RyanCastellucci

2005-08-30 20:52:33   Signal strength is usualy pretty good, we use 200mW APs with 5.5 dBi antennas instead of the 30mW to 50mW with a 2.2 dBi antenna most SOHO WiFi gear uses. I'm in one of the apartments at Brush Creek Apartments in the back next to clubside and I get around 85% signal from one of the AP's over there. —RyanCastellucci

2005-09-16 11:45:21   I'm not sure how this is cheaper than other broadband options. I've been paying less for my SBC DSL for more than a year. (I don't even have the option of Instaconnect, I'm just trying to include more information. —MattCzarnowski

2006-01-22 21:28:13   If you never plan to use a land line, you can get an SBC option that only costs about 4$, making their rates approx 18$/mo at 1yr/contract —MichaelGiardina

2006-01-22 21:42:33   We used to have Instaconnect in The Trees complex, but it was by most accounts pretty shoddy — eventually management canned them and got wireless service from someone else, throwing in free landlines as well to make it up to us for our suffering. —KrisFricke

2006-12-01 17:58:27   Having worked in the industry myself, I was impressed by the overall installation done by Instaconnect at Le Tournesol Apartments. —ChrisThompson

2006-12-11 18:37:28   I currently have Instaconnect and have been less than satisfied. They only are available 9-6, M-F so if your internet goes down, don't expect 24-7 help - you will be lucky if you get help the next business day. If you want help at night, you have to schedule it days in advance. Our service has been spotty all fall and we have been trying to contact the company, but have received no responses for over a month. While I would prefer to support a local company, I also want to get what I am paying for - INTERNET! —JennyMoffitt

2007-01-15 16:23:19   I have been at Viking Apartments since September and the only thing worse than the Internet service has been the customer service. I have called several times to complain about low signals, slow speeds and recurring drop-offs, and usually the representative said someone would come over to do a "power cycle", which is just turning the system off and on again. When that didn't work I called again and was told there were no known issues at my apartment, but that someone would call me back, and of course nobody did. I called a third time and nobody even answered the phone, even during business hours. After about five days of nobody even picking up the phone, I finally got someone to set up an appointment to come to my apartment. Of course nobody showed up and apparently someone called, but did not leave a message, so I did not even know they had tried to contact me. Someone should hopefully be coming out tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath. —MattStauffer

2007-01-31 07:49:01   Most of the instaconnect APs I see only use MAC address filtering to verify your account, therefor it's easy to steal access by using a MAC spoofer, doing this also messes up the access of the legitimate user. basically what i'm trying to say is, I don't recommend this service since it's very unsecure —JoeCool

2007-01-31 22:52:45   Instaconnect sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's unstable and the service is not the same as what they advertised. Even if there is a problem and you call them for help, they cannot really help you. Service is crappy and slow. If you can get it for free, I guess it's okay. But if you need to pay for it, might as well find another company. —CarlieYang

2007-02-09 19:00:33   Instaconnect is horrible!!!!! there were days that our service was out for three days straight..a whole weekend! and two of my roomates hardly ever got service at all. When they called instaconnect to ask about it they said it was their computers' problem not the service. That is when they actually picked up the phone, i have their answering service memorized.. The only time they even offered to have anyone come out here to check out the problem was when we said we wanted to cancel, which by the way, you must pay a ONE HUNDRED FIFTY dollar cancellation fee that they don't tell you about when you sign up in order to cancel early. And it's slow as hell. —SaraNetto

2007-02-25 13:37:05   The free wireless service supplied by Instaconnect at Greenbriar Apartments has been either very slow or nonfunctioning for a month now. I called Instaconnect to complain twice. The first time, the support tech told me that they would fix the problem at the end of the day, but I saw no improvement. I called again about a week later, but no one answered the phone at 1 PM. —NerdUp

2007-03-06 14:04:31   I currently use Instaconnect at Alvarado Sunset Apartments. The internet here has been incredibly slow for a month and a half and I have had to call nearly twice to three times a week to even find out what is happening with the internet. Their customer service is awful. Although I will be staying in this complex next year THERE IS NO WAY I am keeping my Instaconnect service. —JeremyGimbel

2007-07-08 16:27:45   Instaconnect offers subpar service. Sometimes the connection suddenly becomes extremely slow. Sometimes all access points just disappear (no connection). When that sorta thing happens, there is not much you can do, even though the blackout periods have lasted up to 4 days in the past. But perhaps the most infuriating part was to have been deprived of internet the day before dead day, dead day and the first day of finals for Fall, Winter and Spring Quarters. Yes, all three. I guess that's when everyone starts browsing the web for information. Still, unacceptable. If you want to get a C on you final because your internet was down and you wasted 2 hours the night before your test, get Instaconnect. —PaulWilburn

2007-07-11 16:02:51   Well, it certainly sounds like everyone has been having problems with instaconnect, and complaining about them far more eloquently than I could. I called them to complain today - they claim that ALL of their wireless access points have been working perfectly, EXCEPT AT MY APARTMENT COMPLEX!!! They snottily implied that somehow it was my fault for living in a place where 'stuff' keeps happening to their access points. Just fyi, my service went down on July 5th, tech support voicemail was full, and monday morning I got a call saying their staff had gone home for the 'holiday weekend.' What kind of company doesn't have customer service on weekends? So anyways, I am interested in hearing everyone's Instaconnect horror stories - you can post em here or email me: sursurrus@yahoo.com

Also, just FYI, anyone buying the pre-paid year's service - they WILL double bill your credit card! I paid it all up front, yet I still have been getting $28 charges to my credit card every month. I think this is part of their dishonest business practice to defraud unsuspecting customers (particularly those who have parents who pay for their internet service). Know your legal rights - you may demand interest to be paid on any fake charges to your credit card.

Anyways, if you too feel like you are getting an unacceptable level of service, contact me. I worked for a crooked telemarketing company that STILL provided better customer service than instaconnect!! Also, to maximize your chances of speaking to a real person, when you call the instaconnect number (530-7591570) enter the extension for 'new account activation' (I believe it is #4). They only are interested in talking to you when taking your money =)

I'd like to thank everyone for sharing their stories about this deplorable company. I'd like to go down to their office with all their dissatisfied customers in person! Also, I notice that for the last year or so (since 2006) Mr Ryan Castellucci has had no response to any of the customer complaints. Ryan, this comment is directed at you or any other instaconnect employee who reads this. What kind of crooks are you? How can you even pretend to compete with legitimate businesses such as Comcast and Verizon DSL? —davisGeek

2007-07-11 17:43:02   They are the worst internet provider I have ever met!!!!! The internet is VERY SLOW AND UNSTABLE. The worst thing is that, everytime you complain they promise you they will fix it but they ignore it.
I do also have the weird problem about the service, by which I can't open any page. I can log in to their service but I can't open other pages, everytime I try to open to page it keep bringing me back to their front page!!! THIS IS FRUSTATING PLEASE DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE UNTIL THEY IMPROVE. —UCDgrad

2007-07-11 18:34:13   I want to say I'm in painful to this instaconnect provider. Even it is very cheap compared to other providers but I always feel bad about the connection. The signal is always unstable and have problem all the time. From my experience, I could not use internet almost 1 week a month, I did believe me. Icalled service center to solve the problem and they said they will fix it for me but nothing happened!!!!!. I can't see ANY reason for the existance for instaconnect's technical service anymore. —mac

2007-07-11 23:11:33   When using Instaconnect's public wifi services in/near downtown Davis, I've noticed unreliability similar to what some on this page have complained about - e.g. being redirected to the captive portal page mere minutes after seeing it, even though I maintained a constant connection during that time.

However, I find the recent nasty pseudonymous reviews very difficult to credit. They'd have a lot more credibility if they maintained a more respectful, balanced tone and used their real names. As it stands, I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them were competitors or otherwise acting in bad faith. —GrahamFreeman

2007-07-12 01:41:31   My experience with Instaconnect was positive. I lived at College Town Commons apartments for more than a year and Instaconnect was included with the rent. (One of the few good things I can say about those apartments.)

There was an access point mounted just outside my apartment. I had a strong reliable connection for over a year. The one time I couldn't connect I got through to Customer Service almost immediately and she made some adjustments on her end that took care of the problem over the phone.

Maybe I had such good luck because the access point was right outside my apartment. But really I had no complaints and especially not for free. I left Davis six months ago and maybe things have changed. —SteveGreen

2007-07-12 22:30:04   Also, last I knew, Ryan no longer works for Aria/Instaconnect. It's highly likely no one there has any idea what's being discussed here —TarZxf

Having worked for a WISP I can say that having everybody in an apartment complex maintain an acceptable level of service is quite a task. In fact, we only did it once, because it's such a pain in the ass. You can have a signal pushing the FCC limit, multiple access points and lots of bandwidth and still have tons of problems. Unless you have very expensive tools you cannot track the source of interference and even if you could track it, you can't control it. Other people have the right to run wifi routers, microwaves, cordless phones, etc. These things can effectively DoS an entire network...and you'd be surprised how far away a microwave can be and still interfere. If your internet goes out every time somebody in your complex uses a microwave, you're not gonna have very stable internet. The point of this is that while I would agree that Instaconnect is definitely not an ideal solution, that doesn't mean they're just ignoring you and not trying to fix the problem. That doesn't mean they're not, either. It could be that they're not answering the phone cause they're out working on the problem. Who knows. I don't think a lot of people understand how wireless connections and internet access work. Basically, the chances of a it being reliable in an apartment complex are very close to none. I do not understand why there is any demand for this type of service at all, but for some reason there is. If there is a demand for it, people are going to be trying to make money off of it. I'm VERY surprised that this whole wireless apartment thing still exists. Cafes, restaurants and stuff are a whole different story. Right, so the point is that Instaconnect probably does have you unhappy, but that doesn't mean they're out to fuck you. I actually don't doubt that they're trying to fix the problems that people are having. That doesn't mean the problem will get fixed though. They're just trying to provide a service that for some reason there is a demand for. If people had researched this a little more before they subscribed, I'm sure they would have strongly considered a different service. However, maybe they didn't have the information, which is what I hope this message will give them...even though it is kinda long and messy. —BradBenedict

2007-07-17 11:35:04   Great point, Brad. Learned something about wireless from yer post. So basically by not having staff on weekends they're almost guaranteeing outages, since all those things you mentioned could screw up the connection, and the fix is to reboot the wireless APs. As far as them not being out to fuck me: I *feel* fucked whenever I've got something important (like bills, work etc) and the connection goes down, and tech support's voicemail is so full I can't even leave a message. I think a lot of people in Davis are very nice and slow to assume malice where it could just be stupidity/incompetence — I'm not one of them! Bottom line is they should make it very clear what you're getting with the service. —davisGeek

2007-07-27 19:36:40   you have to keep in mind, the professional network link strives for 99.9 percent uptime, it would appear that aria doesn't come close =/ —StevenDaubert

2007-08-02 15:29:05   Instaconnect at College Town Commons has been okay for the last few months - I can remember more than once in the last year though that they "upgraded" the APs or the network just went down, and it took an entire week talking to customer service to get it fixed - they either weren't there, their hours suck, they have no idea what's going on OR they just lie to get you off the phone. (And if internet goes out on Friday, you're screwed until Monday!) Only once when I called for a tech problems do I feel like I got an actual tech and not just a receptionist. Overall it's okay but when I move I'm getting DSL again; students need something reliable... and if they really do roll out "captive portals" at apartments I will be switching the day I see one.. —AshleyRummel

2007-08-22 17:25:33   I've been unable to use any public Instaconnect hotspots all summer. I used to get the login page in my browser and continue on successfully, but now I never see the login page. I tried logging onto their [WWW]support site, but it won't load. I tried e-mailing their support address, but it bounced. I tried calling their support, and got routed into a loop back and forth to a non-existent receptionist. Does this company even exist anymore? If so, do they support Macs? —RobWestergaard

2007-08-22 20:04:07   I've got a huge complaint to add to this ever expanding list. I started using Instaconnect in late June signing a three-month contract with them just for summer session. The service was dreadfully slow to begin with and it was frustrating to do the simplest things like researching information, etc. About four weeks ago, at the end of July, one of the access points at the Sycamore Lane Garden Apartments, mysteriously disappeared. I dismissed it as the first day went by just saying that the internet must have been out and Instaconnect would send a tech out immediately to fix it.

When our internet was still out after two days of no service, my roommate called, demanding to know what was wrong with the service. They responded that they knew about the problem—as others had complained about it—and would send a tech out to fix it. A week and a half went by without any blip of service whatsoever.

My roommate and I were told that our service was "disconnected" for absolutely no reason and they had "turned it back on" for us. I had thought this was kind of weird and it didn't seem like she knew what was going on at all with our internet—despite being part of the technical support staff—and just said that someone would come to fix it.

They also took this opportunity to lie to us and tell us a tech was sent out to resolve the problem that day. But, like I said before, nothing had changed. By day five, I started calling them more frequently and talked to someone named "Stephanie." She told me she would look into getting me a refund and would get back to me. Every single time I called and spoke with "Stephanie," she always told me the problem was being looked into, the problem was being looked into, etc, etc, etc.

Finally, I guess enough people complained and Instaconnect sent someone to deal with the problem. The tech simply reset the access point and it began to work. After a week and half of having no service, we were awarded with subpar internet. Finally, I decided to pursue my refund. "Stephanie" told me she would look into getting a refund for me and get back to me. After about one week of waiting for a response, I finally decided to call again and ask her what had happened. She told me, she would look into a refund for me. I was surprised that she hadn't even decided to do anything about it in the first place.

At the end of it, today, I finally got ahold of her again and told demanded to speak to someone who could tell me about a refund. She told me that she had the details of the refund worked out. I was going to be refunded $18.

Do not get this service. Stick with DSL or comcast, service is always slow and signal strength (at least in my apartment) is subpar. This is just a shoddy company who is highly disorganized and willing to allow a problem to fester before taking care of it. —CalvinCheng

2007-08-27 18:48:26   I suspect they use a caching proxy server, on at least some of their systems. Many people have intermittent problems authenticating to UC Davis websites while on instaconnect. [WWW]http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3143 —TheodoreSuryapurnama

2007-08-27 19:21:17   you know, a buddy of mine and his friends lived in Jstreet appts and used instaconnect, it was reliable to the point where they had no complaints... —StevenDaubert

2007-08-30 20:53:40   After weeks of customer service hell they finally refunded about 4 months of service (about $100). Unfortunately I had to threaten them with small claims court, and spend hours of my time being lied to. PLEASE THREATEN THEM WITH SMALL CLAIMS IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET A REFUND. Anyone who regularly has outages should persue this. Don't even bother with customer service — talk directly to Evan Grey, call the instaconnect number and then hit extension 20 or email <egray@solisys.com>. He will lie to you, but stand your ground. Maybe if enough people do this it will force this blatantly dishonest company out of business. —BillSimms

2007-08-30 20:55:19   Don't believe Castelluci's lies, nothing's changed —BillSimms

2007-10-02 01:47:31   I signed up for one month and checked the "do not renew" option. But they charged me for another month. Now I have to dispute the charge. Sigh. —AndreyGoder

2007-10-08 22:08:17   i'm using instaconnect at university commons right now, where it's provided free. the service died over the weekend (no response from the wireless spots though they were up) and no one i know here can connect to any ***.ucdavis.edu site (though it was fine a couple weeks ago, the past week it has stopped connecting to any ucdavis site *shrugs*). it's also painfully slow during "peak hours" during evenings . i've decided to resort to purchasing comcast's special of $19.99 for 6 months going on right now. —MiranPark

2007-10-09 19:02:44   DO NOT USE INSTACONNECT. They are complete LIARS and the internet is totally shitty. DON'T DO IT. —LizzEhrenpreis

2007-11-17 13:24:47   Don't get Instaconnect. The speed is abysmal, and getting them on the phone to cancel your subscription is nearly impossible. Plus, I told them about how I could only connect to the net 3-5 times during the three weeks that I used it, they said they would refund me, then never did. Attempts to contact them later were entirely unsuccessful. These people have shady business practices, and I can't imagine they'll remain in business much longer. It is truly amazing that no one ever answers the phone, and when it goes to the answering machine, the machine is full since they never check it. A very bad experience, and I got charged for an extra month that I didn't even request. —digweed014

2007-11-19 12:46:48   Simply put: Instaconnect blows at Arbors, all the time. —jefffy

2007-11-24 18:46:24   The wireless at Greenbriar Apartments has been flaky for several weeks now. Sometimes it works fine, but frequently connections time out. The apartment manager called Instaconnect to complain, and the customer service representative tried to convince the manager that the age of her computer was the true culprit. I'm no network engineer, but I don't see how the age of a computer causes connections to time out. Apparently, the age of the apartment manager's computer also somehow influences the terrible service that the rest of the apartment residents experience. The quality of Instaconnect's internet service is abysmal, and their customer support staff do not seem interested in remedying the problem. If you have a choice of going with another ISP, do it. —NerdUp

2007-11-27 14:23:47   How do you cancel your Instaconnect account? I cannot find a way to do so on the Instaconnect website, and I am able to access an Instaconnect hot-spot because I am abroad right now. My account has been billed $40 a month ever since I left my apartment in the beginning of August. I selected a two month temporary contract, so it should have been automatically canceled. But apparently if you read the fine print, your account remains active even after the contract. This is a dirty trick to make money. I have written e-mails asking to have my account canceled, and I received an e-mail saying that I was being billed because my account was not selected to be terminated, but that this problem had been corrected and that I would be receiving a refund for the months that I did not use the service. However, about two months after that e-mail, I have been charged each month, and just recently, twice this month! I have received no refund either, so my account is still clearly active. What terrible service, I hope I don't have to sue this company for extortion.

If anyone can figure out how to cancel an account either on the Aria Communications website or the Instaconnect website, please help! —Marrs487

2007-11-29 21:43:15   It is true, Instaconnect does suck. But, they are improving!! I hated their services until about a month or two ago. And while the phones are not always answered, I have been getting calls back. I was billed twice, I called, left a message and it was taken care of almost right away. The people were helpful and friendly (despite popular belief). Sorry that others had a bad experience, but I like it! —sarahk

2007-12-24 21:08:25   instaconnect is unusable @ university commons. But I don't really care since I'm using comcast, just letting everyone know don't pay for it when their service is so bad —acidicbase

2008-02-09 15:36:29   I live in Greenbriar Apartments, so I have Instaconnect service. I noticed that bittorrent downloads frequently saturate my wireless adapter, while I almost never see a comparable download rate when I'm downloading a large file over ftp or http. (It was an Ubuntu install disc image) Anyway, it seems to me that if several people are downloading torrents and saturating the wireless router's bandwidth, then users who are just surfing the web will have a less than stellar experience. Is this a possible explanation as to why Instaconnect's service at Greenbriar Apartments is so terrible? —NerdUp

2008-02-14 00:53:56   We had a HORRIBLE experience with Instaconnect for the one month that we had it. The internet was down almost every other day and they had to "fix" it about 4 times, but every time it was fixed we had something comparable to 56k, at least 56k is consistent, but we were promised minimum of 3M. Finally after calling for about 2 weeks straight and dealing with their HORRID customer service we were PROMISED a refund (mind you, we recorded all the conversations). Well, it's about 6 months later, our credit money that went to paying Instaconnect is collecting interest and we STILL haven't received our refund. We used to call about every week with promises of being called back or of getting our refund, but we've excepted that it's NEVER going to happen unless we file suit, which, what college student can? RUN AWAY, DO NOT GET INSTACONNECT. They're THIEVES. —tuckerm

2008-05-27 18:37:16   It's so disappointing to say this because I was incredibly impressed with instaconnect's service when we first signed up. An outage here and there, but not worse than comcast. Now I have to say it's a piece of crap and everyone should think long and hard about whether the lower price is worth the hassle.

I will say I've found the customer service to be ok, if you can manage to get in touch with them. I don't want to repeat other complaints that are already here (although I share many - ESPECIALLY the outages), but I'll add a new one: When customers are getting logged out multiple times per day (as is happening recently: 2 logouts in 2 hours so far today), the very least an internet company could do is have a login page that works on the first time, every time instead of getting error messages over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. —AmandaGarrison

2008-09-13 20:07:59   I'm currently at the Viking and have had to suffer through this garbage service. 75% of the time, the internet doesn't work. This is actually a better percentage of the time than the customer service "live chat" purportedly offered by their "Online Help Desk" is available, which is zero. The signal is incredibly intermittent and weak, leading to the problem of the no internet. Comcast is dropping by on Friday to install their service, and I cannot wait. If you are moving into an apartment with this awful service, have another ISP ready to drop by and install; this service is incredibly lackluster. —AlexChiang

2008-09-30 17:12:04   Slow. So slow. So very very slow.

However the login page is working now. But at this point I'd still never recommend instaconnect to anyone.

More fun on 1/29/2009: Instaconnect is so slow at the moment that the DavisWiki front page took 1 minute and 13 seconds to load.

—AmandaGarrison

2008-12-09 11:47:25   Instaconnect is a nightmare. I am calling for all customers to leave them. I am calling for the dissolution of the company. I have never been able to log in. Recently, the place where I access through one of their ports had them change from a free access point to one that requires a free account. Elsewhere, in two years of trying I never was able to log into one of their downtown ports. All the emails I sent to them to ask how to log in went unanswered. The log in sent me back to the initial page in an endless loop. Now I was forced to try to use them because of this change, and their page said I was logged in but couldn't connect because my computer wasn't authorized. It was very unclear how to get the machine authorized, and I think I did it but it still said the same thing. So I called and this very nice woman tried to help and kept calling me back but never fixed the problem. They called back and told me to delete my cookies but to no avail. I called in later and got a guy named Tay, who was helpful at first and said he'd delete my account and then I could log in. I told him I wanted to give him some constructive crticism, that their user interface was about the most user-unfriendly I had ever encountered. Most ever company I've given advice to seems to appreciate it, but not Tay. He got real short with me as if I'd insulted him personally and hung up on me. Over the weekend I tried to re-register my account and the interface froze. When I tried later to log in, the interface said my account was locked out. I tried later, same thing. So I called in today and got Tay again, who recognized me and dismissively said "Oh, you're the guy with the free account." Hey, I'm just trying to access the internet at my coffee shop of choice. If you consider free accounts to be for a lower-class of freeloaders, don't offer 'free' accounts, as your free service has never given me anything—I have never once been able to log on to your so-called free service, and I sure as hell wouldn't give your company money for anything when your promotional service and customer service sucks donkey meat. So anyway Tay tells me that the "locked out" comment comes when you try to enter your password too many times, which isn't what I did. Then he gets really short with me and tells me he hadn't deleted my account so I could re-create it like I thought he had, only that he had requested that it be deleted. He got really testy that I hadn't picked up on this important difference, you see, I was supposed to know that my account had not actually been deleted, but only that it was in process for deletion. Do you understand, sir? Well, I guess I do now. So I ask when it will be deleted and he tells me he doesn't know so I ask how I will know and he says he could call me. I said it sounds like I should just set up another account and he starts going "blah, blah, blah" and I don't know what because when he was done he hung up on me again. If you want to really piss me off, hang up on me. So because I'm pissed off, I'm calling for everyone who pays for instaconnect to stop paying them, and for any places that use them to stop using them, and for anyone who has a hot spot in their business to unplug the port and call them to pick it up. It's time for the people of Davis to put this sorry ass company out of its own and everyone else's misery. I will gladly remove this comment when the head of instaconnect calls me to apologize and gets my freeloader account working. I'm in the book. —AlanMiller

2009-02-04 22:52:48   I'm sorry, I have got to agree with the majority here, Instaconnect seriously SUCKS ASS. I live in campus manor apartments across the street from campus, and pretty much everyday, I after I log into my account, I ALWAYS have to see some "internal error" page when I try to view any other webpage. And most of the time, if I click on a different url, it finally works. But every week or so, it just DOES NOT WORK, and I need to go online to do my work. This is especially frustrating around finals week, when I need to access crucial information (study guides, lecture slides, practice exams, etc) in order to do well. Fortunately, there is always moobilenet that I can turn to when this happens, but the campus internet is extremely slow from my apartment, so alot of the time, I am unable to download the larger pdf files that I so desperately need.

On the plus side, when the internet actually works, its pretty fast.

Update:
So, In the past two weeks, instaconnect has failed me...TWICE. It was down the entire weekend two weekends ago, and now it is down again. I called the company and asked them if they were aware of the problem and they said they were and that some technician would be out shortly to fix it. Well, it has been nearly 24 hours since it has been down, and the problem has not been fixed. What is the definition of shortly?? For sure within 24 hours right? I need to get online to get notes and other research to do my studying, but I cant do that very simple thing in my very own apartment.
—jfong252

2009-04-21 22:23:16   I have to agree with the majority here. We have Instaconnect El Macero Village and it is terribly SLOW... when it actually works. It has a tendency to (commonly) go down on Friday nights and the office isn't open on weekends. I've always been put on hold for over ten minutes whenever I call for the customer service rep to just say "We'll put your name on the call list and get back to you when it's working." It's extremely unreliable! —CParker

2009-04-22 17:37:20   Instaconnect is one VERY small step above dial-up. And I emphasize the word very and small. —patrick82

2009-05-03 15:59:26   Horrible. Awful. Terrible. Words like these are not strong enough to convey the universe of frustration that is Instaconnect.

The internet stops working at random times, maybe for 5 minutes, maybe over the weekend, maybe when you have to submit an essay online. Or it might be horribly slow, and frequently stop halfway while loading a page. Want to check the weather forecast for later tonight? By the time you can get to Davis on weather.com, you may as well just look out your window, because it will already be 'later tonight'.

Oh, and it's always exciting when you open the internet and their log-in page pops up randomly. Enter your password and see if it will let you go to your normal homepage, or stick you in the endless cycle of logging in, clicking "view requested page" and going back to the login page.

If you're sick of doing things online in a timely fashion, sign up for Instaconnect. If you only need functional internet a few days out of the week, sign up for Instaconnect, as long as you don't care which days. BUT if you actually have stuff to do, and expect to get the reliable, functioning service that you are PAYING for, take your money elsewhere.

2009-10-05 10:20:23   John Reedy is the slimiest owner imaginable. Do not let InstaConnect have your credit card number! They continued to charge my account after I had cancelled the service and deployed to Iraq without access or knowledge of the charges. Lie after lie to my face and months and months of calling and leaving messages I have given up on the promised refund. This is no business! This is a racket for defrauding Davis students —reidgardner

I have Instaconnect at Greenbriar Apartments. Their service is really spotty, and not exactly impressive as far as speed goes. The thing that annoys me the most is that when you call them (oh, and I have called them on average once a week about the internet being down) you only ever get an answering machine. I would like to at least ask them how long the internet is going to be down, how long before they can fix it. But you can't ask questions of an answering machine. I would like to know if I need to go all the way back to campus to be able to do my homework (that I need the internet to do) that is due the next day, or if it is magically going to turn itself back on, like it usually does after a few hours of frustration. My goodness, are they so cheap that they can't hire a receptionist -a la Pam from "The Office"- for minimum wage to answer the phones and relay their non-existent repair plans to the poor saps that are shelling out money for their shoddy so-called internet service? — Borax

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