Internet Consulting Services
235 Alexander Ave, Ames, IA 50010
Reviews
09/17/2015
Other reviews are on point. ICS is absolute garbage. Worst ISP in Ames. I am typically the laziest consumer ever but ICS' horrible incompetence at providing me internet (The only job of an ISP) has made it my mission to find every review site possible to give them one star.
11/18/2014
Well, I would say MOST of the time the internet is up... and running at slower speeds than ICS claimed. But at least once a week, probably more they have issues with slow/non-existent internet. ICS has one job, ONE and that's to keep the internet available at the very least.
08/18/2014
Ran as far away from this company as you can. Unless you enjoy the time focused around why your Internet doesn't work and why no one will call you back.
10/14/2013
Most unreliable internet service I've ever had. I'm writing this from my phone because once again my internet is down.
03/26/2013
I'll begin by saying I've been disappointed with my internet speed from day one. My apartment covers basic internet through ICS, but I play Xbox online, so I decided to pay the difference to have my internet speed increased to the maximum they offer. I have NEVER noticed even the slightest difference in speed. I have called ICS about half a dozen times asking why I'm not seeing a difference, and EVERY TIME they seem clueless as to the cause of the problem, and either say "we'll have our engineers look into it" or "we'll have a technician contact you tomorrow", BUT THEY NEVER GET BACK TO ME OR FIX ANYTHING. This has happened at least three different times. They seem unable to even fathom a problem on their end, even if you tell them you have run every test possible, including trying other people's internet and computers.Finally, after everyone's internet in the apartment complex dropped to d/l speeds between 0.05 Mbps and 0.2 Mbps, the property manager decided to contact ICS. Guess what they discovered.... Apparently the property has been paying for bandwidth that ICS has never followed through with providing. So THANK GOD we're changing internet providers, hopefully to an ISP that actually knows how to treat customers.
08/27/2012
ICS exists for two purposes, neither of which benefit the customers.ICS aggressively underbids other ISPs and offers low prices to the owners of apartments in Ames allowing those owners to advertise "free high-speed internet." With that worthless tagline out of the way on their advertisements, the owners do not care about the quality of what the advertise. Before moving on it is important to note that ICS provides shoddy internet that is unreliable, slow, and the worst quality of any ISP in Ames. Now that they already exist for all of the renters as a purported source of "high speed internet," they try to upsell the individual renters for a monthly fee to "better, faster" internet. This, however, is merely an attempt to extort cash from those who do not do thorough comparisons of both cost and quality. The prices charged for upselling to "faster" internet are higher than other ISPs charge for better quality internet. That's right, ICS charges more and provides less for even a baseline level of quality. It is commonplace in the West Ames Apartments for most of the tenants to have a second ISP simply because ICS is unusable.Do yourself a favor and do not use ICS. If your landlord is advertising "free high speed internet" check to see if it is ICS. If it is, don't forget to factor in an additional monthly cost for internet before signing a lease.
09/15/2011
I have had ICS for over 2 years in Ames & have been very happy with them. I know they don't have 24/7 technical support, but they so say they they have 24/7 emergency support. Those things are totally different - I'm in customer service for my job with a utility company we do the same. But if you have total outage, you can leave a message & a service tech will call you back. This summer when our building was hit by lightning, I called, left a message & within 25-30 minutes I got a call back from a very nice tech who had been helping other customers affected by the storm. Regarding the review about the blocked ports . . I totally understand why. I wanted to use a file sharing program. When I called tech support to ask about it, they told me that ICS used to have those ports open, & those file sharing services used TONS of bandwith slowing down everything else for everyone. I get it - they said they do that in student markets where it happens alot. besides, its usually illegal.
07/04/2011
ICS is constantly going out. It happens every week! I have done speed tests on the Internet and it is constantly running slower than what is being paid for. I have called numerous times to complain. There is no one who ever answers the internet support line on weekends even though they claim to have 24 hour support. I have called numerous times and they are unhelpful at best. They have said they would call me to let me know when they fix the downed internet and ofcourse they never follow through. I give them an F rating.
04/09/2011
Nope no 24/7 support lose 1 day every week due to outage and no one in the office from 9-11pm saturday to 8 am monday. also speed was a lot lower than i was paying for untill i ran speed tests and called 3-4 times.
10/20/2010
This place is a gigantic piece of crap. My apartment building uses these jokers because there's no one else around. If you have to use them, get ready for your internet to drop out every time it rains outside. Absolutely ridiculous. Their support is poor as well. They say they have a 24 answered phone for emergency outages... no one ever answers!!!! I hate you ICS!!!!
07/01/2009
This company has a policy to block certain ports on every website. This effectively limits parts of the internet including ones that were vital for my work. This policy isn't advertised nor disclosed in the fine print. While it may be legal, it is sleazy at best. The reason the blocks exist to to force you to pay for other services that ICS provides when any full Internet provider would allow access.Look elsewhere for Internet if you want to do anything beyond web page surfing.
More Business Info
- BBB Rating
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- Regular Hours
Mon - Fri: - Extra Phones
Fax: 515-232-4472
TollFree: 877-504-7618
Phone: 515-268-4000
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- South Ames Business
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Internet Counseling Svc
Internet Consulting Services LLC
Internet Counseling Services
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- Internet Service Providers (ISP), Computer & Equipment Dealers, Computer Network Design & Systems, Computer Software & Services, Computers & Computer Equipment-Service & Repair, Internet Products & Services