It's painfully obvious that the people here have no idea how to run a business. No effort to try and make their customers happy, even when it is their fault! The service is spotty, and usually down, plus they will never discount your bill if there is extended outage due to their "routine maintenance". For years our family never achieved the speeds we were paying for, and later learned that we were on the "wrong equipment". This of course was after many attempts with the rude phone support team accusing us of doing something wrong... "Have you tried unplugging the modem?" "Have you turned off your firewall?" After they realized it was their fault a technician was finally scheduled to come out to our house. Instead of swapping out our old equipment, and maybe receiving a credit for the years we were overpaying (or even a mere apology?) we were charged for new equipment and for a tech to come out... The worst part about this was when I called and complained with the manager, he kept putting blame on the older company. He then proceeded to get angry and even yell at me! I wouldn't recommend their services to anyone! The only reason we still use crap(.)net is because there's not many other options for internet out here in El Dorado County... read more

This is one of those times where I wish you could give zero stars in a review. I've been with Central Valley Broadband since late 2011. They've been challenging to work with and their equipment was sub-par. But what I CAN say about them is that they were relatively responsive when I had problems and usually had things resolved in a day or two. Then in March they were acquired by Cal.net. By the end of April I'd gone from a stable service where I was getting between 9 and 12 Mbps down and 5 to 6 Mbps up to LESS THAN 1 Mbps down! Yes. I've been seeing speeds in the 500k or less range for the last three weeks! And the worst part is their support group is clueless. They blame CVB's equipment and can't even give me an ETR on fixing the issue! To top it off the billing department is threatening to cancel my "service" for non-payment because they screwed up the transfer of the credit card database from CVB. Wonder if they'll pay my out-of-control AT&T cell phone bill since I've been having to tether to my phone for the last 3 weeks just to get my job done (I'm a mobile, work-from-home employee)?? In my 43 years on this planet this is without question the WORST service that I've ever paid for and the WORST customer support I've ever experienced. I've been working in the networking industry for the last 20 years and know more about routing than anyone in their support group. While satellite Internet service has its drawbacks in terms of latency, I would recommend one of those providers over these jokers in a heartbeat. Avoid Cal.net at all costs. You will seriously regret it if you sign up for service with this company. STAY AWAY! read more

We signed up back when it was Sierra Advantage, before it was Cal.net, and at first the wireless broadband internet service worked well and we didn't have any problems. Now, more and more often, it slows to a crawl and barely works at all. It still seems to work OK at weird hours when no one else is on (i.e. early morning), but evenings and weekends -- peak hours for most home users -- it hardly ever works well anymore. You can wait for minutes to pull up a simple web page. It's like an old telephone dial-up modem. Forget about streaming, downloading or emailing attachments. I've called to complain several times and almost always get voice mail. There's no one there to talk to if you encounter problems evenings or weekends. Once I spoke with a representative who blamed the service problems on radio "interference" from unspecified sources. He denied that the service is oversubscribed, but that is my suspicion. There aren't many good options out here in rural El Dorado County around Placerville, California. This one used to be pretty good, but Cal.net has let it deteriorate to a point where it can't be depended upon and is practically useless when I most want to use it, and that's too bad. read more

I have had this service for about two months now and still get terrible internet. I just checked my speed on speedtest.net and saw I have 424 Ping and 0.28 mbps download. I pay for 4 mbps download and $85 a month at that and definitely dont pay that much money a month to get crap internet. Its sad this company will not work with you or help you regarding the internet other than telling me to unplug my router for a few minutes. How about a refund for the times during the month that I have crap service? Or a phone call with an apology stating "sorry guy, we lured you in by talking a good game then stuck it to you in the end". read more

Cal Net - This is their honest internet speed at 530pm on a Thursday. Notice the ping and the mbps download speed? I pay for 4mbs a second - Internet Service Providers Near Me - Shingle Springs, California

Simply put, we were loyal customers for far too long. Our internet was constantly having some sort of issue. It would go out randomly and was always slow. We called and were told it was our router and that we should probably buy a new one. We did and the same problems remained. We made sure that the router drivers and such were up to date. Then they said it was the modem and that if we wanted a new one that we would have to pay, even though the one we had was bought from them. Then when we all discovered the modem was not the issue, they blamed ATT. When ATT said their line test came out fine, they no longer had an answer. They simply didnt know what to tell me and stopped trying to address the issue. There's clearly no responsibility on their end. Then, our ATT bill got lost in the mail, so our line was shut off. Our line was turned back on, but still no internet. Cal.net said they would have to contact ATT to get the line back up and running. They said it could be about a week. A few days later, I called and canceled the service because comcast could provide us with faster internet, same price, and they could get the line up in one day. About three weeks later, I get a call from Cal.Net. They said they were now able to get our line hooked up. FOUR WEEKS later. I told them we canceled prior and they sounded surprised. Their staff are friendly, no doubt, but their customer service and ability to perform their duties are not up to par. At all. I would never use them again and I certainly won't ever recommend them. read more

We live rural with no high speed providers except for hughes net and exceed. Both companies cap the amount of data you can use at a high price. We moved from an urban place with limitless internet . . . the adjustment to data capped internet was a shock. Luckily, Cal.net upgraded their Mt. Aukum tower recently with some new tech. After putting a dish nearly 100 feet in a tree and digging a 200 ft trench to run the wires, Cal.net was able to then install and we now have unlimited high speed internet. Works almost as good as the internet we had in San Francisco. Sometimes it's slow to download but after data capped Hughes Net , I have no complaints. So glad to have streaming Netflix back! Even happier to be rid of hughes net . . . they're a horrible company! read more

Hello, I hope no one uses Cal.Net first of all I tried them again and to my disappointment it sucked so I upgrade to their bigger package for $79.00 a month. Nope internet still buffers and freezes I called multiple times to the tech department. They would say yup looks good your getting full 10mbs or whatever, when I would plug directly into my laptop bypassing their equipment I would get like 2.5-3. So I cancel I go to Frontier which works flawlessly with less upload and download speed it works. I get home tonight my internet doesn't work at all. When I canceled I told them their dish would be on the front porch Cal.Net came and removed my new internet providers dish off my roof and left their dish still on front porch. I call Cal.Net and expressed my dismay they could care less at by the way it was at 5:36 pm. These guys are a bunch of ASSHOLES!! I asked to have the owner call me. Cal.Net said he doesn't do public relations. I hope Cal.Net goes out of business you guys suck and you guys can eat a bag of DICKS. read more

- Emails disappearing - System speed bounces between kPBS and mBPS especially during high use periods - Calls for help can take hours to get a call back - If you're a Mac user you're told Mac products are the issue and you should switch back to Windows(Never! - Windows user for 20 years prior and will never go back) - Unfortunately our only choice right now but will switch when there's a choice! read more

If I could leave a zero then I would! Worst customer service ever! For over a month we have been unable to receive our voice mail messages on the VoIP service. We were told by Chris that it was all fixed two weeks in and of course it is not! Since then, my messages go unanswered and still not voice mail messages! Looking for another provider who knows the meaning of Customer Service! read more

When it works, it's great. It just never works. I realize they do not have any competition, and that is never a good thing. AT&T and Comcast refuse to serve a lot of the county, which basically leaves Cal.net or satellite and satellite sucks. I have been trying for 12 minutes this morning to pay my phone bill online and can't get my internet to work. Wish I could say this was unusual. They need to hire some actual engineers, I think they currently employ the neighbor's kid and some idiot relative of the owner to do their technical work. read more

Although; at first we had some problems, Cal.net was always willing to try to fix them, offer solutions and work things out. Their customer service has been wonderful, and for us, they did not stop until we had excellent internet service I really appreciate the care and concern shown not only by Calnet's customer service, but at the management level as well. They are making changes to their service towers and coming out with better equipment. It is nice to know that they keep trying to improve. Thank you Cal.net! Our service has been Fantastic and we are so grateful for everything you did. We are sure glad you are here in our rural area. :-) read more

THE WORST INTERNET PROVIDER I HAVE EVER HAD. so, so frustrating and so expensive. I would choose any other provider over CALNET if we had other providers up in the hills. SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. I paid for platinum protection so I could get support, but you can't get that on weekend evenings. Waste of money. Waste of time. Worst ever experience and I have suffered through Astound and Comcast in homes further down the hill. If I could give no stars I would. As I write this I have been on hold for over 10 minutes with "Platinum service" customer support. read more

Internet is slow, despite having a tower in line of site. Took several days for someone to come out and align to tower again and speed is no better. read more

So far, so good. Installation happened today after very easy phone conversation about scheduling. Speed of connection does not seem to be quite as fast as my prior provider, but it is more than sufficient. I. Will keep my fingers crossed! update: 6 months in with Cal.net and I am still pleased. The level of customer service is truly amazing in this day and age. They called (not automated voice) to tell me that they would be down for a short time (about 15 min) while updating their system. Sure, there has been an occasional loss of signal, but nothing to complain about. Still not as fast as cable, but more than sufficient for my needs. read more

Cal.net has provided Internet service for several of my homes. In each case all of the other ISPs were unable to provide adequate service. Their land based wireless system has no equal in my region. The customer service has been admirable. I highly recommend Calnette read more

Two days ago one of their company drivers was distracted driving and almost caused me great harm. At the bottom of Marshal Grade their driver was looking down and didn't realize they were in the oncoming traffic lane towards bottom of the grade. It was terrifying and a very close call. I spoke with one of the company dispatchers and requested the issue be acknowledged and asked that I receive a call back. This has not happened. This could have been deadly!!! Absolutely unsafe behavior, the concerning part is the lack of company concern. Do better to enhance the community and keep us safe as you go about business, this is serious! read more

Cal.net used to be OK as I could get 3Mbps early in the morning or later in the evening but in the 6 months I never get more than 1 Mbps and often much less. You call them and its always the same story, power cycle my equipment which has never improved anything. "Then they say I'll go try something and call you back", They never call back and the data rate never changes. For the last 5 years they have talked about a big upgrade but it never happens. If you have any other option I suggest you try it. This is for their "Velocity Wireless Internet" service, I don't know about their wired services. read more

I had CVB and the first year was great, except for their customer service people. After that things got iffy so we made the switch to Cal.net the 1st yr at Cal.net was great. After that I had constant issues with my download speed being consistently far less than I paid for or ping-ponging around like crazy. Their customer service people were very nice though so I let them talk me into try something new, which then turned into a new LTE product- STAY AWAY!!!!! It has been a few months now and my download speeds are great, but the upload speeds are so slow and erratic that I can't even browse a web site. And all I get from customer service is we are really sorry and, better yet, we are talking to the manufacturer tomorrow so we should have it fixed by tomorrow night. Now, they have given me about a months worth of credits, BUT I WANT TO USE THE INTERNET! I have officially asked to be moved to a different tower-no reply; to have my equipment checked for defects-no reply; to have my equipment changed back to the older stuff-no reply. If it wasn't for the fact that we might be moving in a few months I would give Rural Net a try. read more

Avoid, avoid, avoid : over the last two years they have had outages almost every week, including all fourth of july weekend. They never meet the speeds you pay for and now they are charging a "service fee" to cover their support costs above and beyond their already pricey access. read more

THE ABSOLUTE WORST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could give 100 negative stars.....The only reason that I use these idiots is because I HAVE NO CHOICE. They are completely incapable of delivering a consistent signal...they raise my rates consistently and "install new foolproof equipment" but when you get up in the morning NO GODDAMNED INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I have thrown away my money on these gameless thieves for over a decade....dont make the same mistake.....get satellite.....these idiots give El Dorado Countty a bad name.........NO CUSTOMER SERVICE AND NO INTERNET SERVICE. read more

I've been a customer for over a year now and no problems with service outside the usual, customer service was pretty good and the installer was courteous I have no complaints. read more

Excellent service! Dan & Robert were a huge help resolving our issue. Thanks again! Remy

I used cal.net for some time after abandoning unreliable and bandwidth limited satellite service and was happy. I lost the service when a tower went out of service and have been eagerly awaiting a return. As of last week it is here and I am very pleased. We now have the new Velocity service, which has been augmented specifically for our area in Mt. Aukum/D'Agostini Road area. It is fast, reliable, low-latency and has no bandwidth use cap. I will report back with more information when I have had the service for a longer time. Nathan and Jason, the installers, were very diligent and professional. read more

They never answer their phone when you need tech help. They give you voice mail. No support whatsoever once they have you as a customer. Do not use them. Plus, they are just rebranding AT&T and reselling it for at least a third again the price. read more

My neighbor recommended Calnet after I tried 3 others with little success. Ive been really happy overall with my service in Auburn. They've been responsive anytime I've called with an issue. I'm in an area where any other service has been very spotty and Calnet is almost always consistent. It also has boosted my cell reception. read more

Horrible internet service. Goes down randomly for random periods of time ranging from a minute to hours. Customer service consists of a voice mailbox. Recently conducted "routine maintenance" on a region in Placer County that took the internet down at 9 am and was scheduled to end at 1 pm. Instead, they managed to break their own internet service and it remained off the entire day. At 7 pm the office closed and the internet just stayed off for the night too. Scenarios like this have occurred intermittently for as long as I've had their service. The only reason I still have them is because no other provider covers my area. I'm moving and looking forward to it. Stay away from this worthless cut-rate provider unless you have literally no other option. read more

I had cal.net before I switched to Central Broadband. The Calnet people, from the installers to the office techs were incompetent to say the least. Then calnet bought central broadband. The one good thing about CVB was their field equipment has UPS, so they stayed up for the most part during a power outage. No such luck with calnet. When the power is off so are they. I was on the phone every other day with calnet and their "interference " issue. Their equipment cannot seem to function in the rain. Now dealing with the new calnet is even a more worse experience. They employ the most arrogent rude, disrespectful people. If they were not the only game in town I would fire them. PRAY for a fiber. read more

I just want to start off by saying, we have had nothing but issues from the start from cal.net. The main guy in the office is so rude and not helpful at all. We had the internet for a very short time. We couldn't get it working, so I did some research and realized I needed a router & went to best buy to get one. As I was at best buy, I needed to call cal.net to make sure I purchased the correct one, as I have no clue what I'm doing. I asked the guy at cal.net if he could guide me in the right direction because I was clueless. His response to me was, "My job is to get your internet set up only." He then went on to tell me that Best Buy is a joke and why would I ever buy something from them. The guy at best buy could hear the guy at cal.net through my phone because of how upset he was at me for asking for help. I told him I was sorry and I will figure it out. He ended the conversation with letting me know, again, that this is not his job and that I should not call them for help. Okay... I totally get that and I did not ever call them again because of that. I felt so uncomfortable. Even the guy at best buy was so uncomfortable because of the way the guy at cal.net was treating me. Anyway, after our service was not working a couple different times and not working again right now, we finally caved in and called them for help. They said they can come out and take a look but they would charge us $99 if it ended up being our fault. No problem. We asked that if it is NOT our fault and it's theirs, would they reimburse us for the past few weeks that it hasn't worked. They refused. All in all, the service is not worth the haggle that you have to go through just to get it working. Our neighbors have cal.net too and they are ending their service as well, for ALMOST the same exact thing. The customer service is terrible and it causes too much stress just to figure anything out with them. read more

simply put, they cannot provide service any better than two cans and a long string!

We never get the speeds that we are paying for and the outages are often and inconvenient. It is very frustrating to pay so much for Internet and rarely get the use of it. The company was friendly but doesn't seem to care about the speed issue. I believe they know they are the only option in my area, and so they aren't worried that we will leave them over these issues. One person even asked, "well do you have any other options?" It's a terrible way to do business because there will be a mass migration to the first competitor that installs in my area. So for now we are stuck paying for nothing. read more

Cal.net is by far the best ISP I've ever had. They were very accommodating and the signal strength was so good that we have a better and more reliable connection than we did in Silicon Valley. Cal.net is a must-have if you are in the Sierras and want the best of both worlds. Fast Internet...beautiful forest and mountains. The installation was a breeze and a very pleasant experience. Five Stars! Bravo! read more

We have been customers for many years, through name change after name change, mainly because we have no reasonable alternative. The service we experience is hit and miss. When service is down, I too am told to unplug my router. I know the drill. What made me write this review though has more to do with the customer service I receive from Chris, a very smart guy who comes off as impatient and short with me and I don't appreciate that. I do appreciate how many times over the years that they have helped me. I just wish I didn't need help and the service was more reliable. read more

A business partner and I purchased dedicated hosting from them. We bought one year in advance. Some things didn't work out as we had planned and it turns out we jumped the gun on the purchase. I called to see what their cancellation policy was and they offered to put our account on hold until we were ready to move forward. They even gave us the two months prior that we hadn't used! (which they didn't need to do by any means). There is one lady I've talked to on the phone that is a little short sometimes, but never rude. When it comes down to it in my experience they are very customer oriented and I am happy to give them business. I feel like they care. So far from what I've seen they are on top of it when it comes to the technical side of things, as well. They gave us a tour of the server room where the hosting servers are located. It was air-conditioned and seemed well-kept. read more

Had Central Valley Broadband for the last few years and was very happy with download speeds and rarely had outages. They recently got bought out by Cal.net and our internet is down a LOT and for no discernible reason. We are paying $90 a month for unreliable service which is maddening. I can only hope AT&T or Wave run their cables out this way and soon... As soon as another internet option is available we will be dropping this company. read more

The Wireless LAN service is not high speed internet. You cannot stream video like Netflix. You cannot use VoIP phone service, and you cannot maintain a VPN connection with an office or attend Virtual meetings with WebEx or GoToMeeting with ANY reliability or consistency. The service is horrible. On a crystal clear day you might get the speed your paying for or it might be down completely with no notice. If it is cloudy and or raining don't even bother. If you rely on Internet for anything other than entertainment this is NOT for you. Don't be fooled by the description! The other reviews must be for other services, or by non-power users... this wireless LAN is useless. 5/22/2017 : still having REGULAR issues with Cal.net, it never ends! their support is terrible and not available outside of standard business hours. You cant even report the service is down unless its during business hours. Sunny and Clear no service at my house for over 48 hours. No offer of a service credit, not even an apology. They support team hangs up on you if you get mad and tell them how you feel about your their randomly connected network of antennas that regularly fails for no apparent reason. Terrible experience. I wish i could give 0 stars. read more

I recently moved into the Placerville area and needed Internet. They set up an appointment right away and told me exactly when they were going to be there. They arrived on time and did a wonderful job installing the equipment. I insisted on using my own router and later found that I was having a lot of dropped sessions. They came back out right away and installed one of their routers and now I am getting wonderful service I really appreciated the support that I got and how helpful they were. Thank you Cal.net. read more

Seriously the worst internet service I've ever had. My connection barely works and I've called for the last 3 months and told them that I work from home and need the Internet. They've gave me the run around saying that they are "working" on the problem. Well, during this time I've been charged full price for a service that doesn't work. As well as paying for Netflix and other Apple TV stations I can't watch. I would not recommend this company, they will just lie to you about how they can provide you with high speed internet while taking your money and doing nothing in return. They don't care nor do they have any answers as to why the service just doesn't work. read more

Update! I was upgraded to the new LTE antennae, and I have to say that it has made a world of difference! The technician was prompt and did an excellent job with the installation. We are now receiving the speeds that we are paying for. This is huge!! I was contacted by Wayne regarding my frustration with my service and was very impressed that he actually wanted to assist us in finding a resolution! He was attentive and followed up with me to make sure I was satisfied. I wish the pricing was a bit more competitive, but all in all I am very pleased with Cal.net. read more

I tried to do business with these people. When they actually answered the phone the lady said I needed to talk to another person and that person would call me back. Guess what, no call back! This happened several times over a month. If this is how they do business initially I cannot imagine how they are if you are unlucky enough to actually have their service. Thanks for nothing Cal.net, you are truly worthless and I hope your business fails! read more

Called this place after moving to another area of el dorado county that is not serviced by Comcast. Cal.net has been just awesome thus far. We've had their service for a couple of months now. No issues whatsoever. Customer service was great and explained from the get go that they provide the internet and I do my own networking. So I researched about routers and bought a netgear nighthawk router from Best Buy, easy set-up and got my in-house network set up on my own. And I am by no means a tech kind of person. Just had to use an ethernet cord to plug in Cal.net directly into my router (no modem needed) and followed the instructions. The technician who installed everything was great, he surveyed the property to find the best signal strength and explained everything he was doing. Speed of internet is exactly what I'm paying for, which is nice. (I've downloaded the speed test app). No issues with throttling like I did with Comcast, and love the no data cap. Highly recommend trying them out if you can't get high speed internet through fiber optics. Have had no issues with signals during rain or cloudy times :) Thanks for your great customer service too. Very friendly. read more