USI Wireless in Minneapolis

[Dave In Minneapolis]

Well, Whoopsie.... it really does seem to depend - on a lot of factors. The biggest one is, how far are you from one of their radio nodes? (They're fairly easy to spot on phone poles, typically, but not always, at corners). Any trees with heavy foliage in the way? Buildings in the way? These all can interfere with the signal. What kind of construction is your residence? Stucco, with it's metal lath underneath, can also cause problems. Generally speaking, the signal travels about 600 feet or so before it degrades, so about a city block is about as far away as you can be from the radio node. Remember too, that your USI Wireless service will require purchase or rental of a modem, which will come with both a built-in and external desk mount antenna. This antenna must be positioned in or near a window to receive the signal. If you live in a single-family home or otherwise have access to a roof, an outdoor antenna or outdoor modem usually performs better. If you live in an apartment building, usually anything above the third floor doesn't get a good signal. Yes, in the case of USI Wireless (as opposed to television signals), higher is not necessarily better. As I said in a previous post, this service may not be for everyone, due to the installation requirements. However, having said that, I found that the USI Wireless people were very accommodating and willing to work with me on every issue.

For the price, you can't really beat it. It's more just a matter of getting a stable signal. For the average computer user, the very brief interruptions of signal probably wouldn't be noticed. If you plan on using your USI Wireless for VoIP telephone service or if you do a lot of video streaming, these interruptions can be quite annoying. In my case, they couldn't fix that issue, so I had to give up.

Do you travel around the City of Minneapolis with a laptop or hand-held wireless device like an iPhone or other "smart phone"? The wireless availability can be quite handy if that is of any value to you.

Everyone uses their internet service and computers differently, so it's hard to advise or say with any certainty if this would work for you... but, what have you got to lose? If it doesn't work for you, they'll refund the balance of your unused subscription (assuming you pay for a yearly account to get the best rate) and they'll also refund the cost of the modem/antenna or other equipment. I'd say it's worth a shot. You can qualify your address (if you haven't done so already) at:
https://secure.usiwireless.com/order...e=WebsitePromo

Their website also contains lots of other information about the service, pricing and so forth. And of course, you can always call them at (952) 253-3262 and inquire about the service and your address.

Sadly, it didn't work for me, but I believe they're a reputable, decent company, and they treated me well.

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes for you!

[RickSch]

Just tried USI for a few weeks and had to cancel and keep my Comcast service. Subscribed to their "up to 6mb/s" service. During daytime hours it worked great, and consistently got between 5 and 6mb/s download speed. Was very happy with it and excited that I could cancel Comcast and save a lot of money. But in the evening when usage in the neighborhood was heavy, it slowed down to a snail's pace. Was lucky if I could get over 1mb/s download anytime in the evening. Their tech support was helpful and tried to find solutions, but they finally gave up. Said it was a problem with too much traffic on one "node" and had no near-term solution (using the node in NE Mpls at Lowry and Johnson). If it had worked in the evening as good as it works during the day, I would have kept it. Service was very solid -- no dropped signal, no downtime at all in the period I used it. Their service was helpful and responsive, and I'm (supposedly) getting a full refund as soon as I return the modem. I'd recommend giving it a try, because it's just going to depend on where you are. I found very little value in the roaming coverage, though -- not useful on an iphone as you have to log in every time you want to connect, and even on a laptop I didn't find it easy to connect.

[colpk07]

I had USI wireless in '09 and it was a huge waste of money. The signal was very poor even though the hub on the lightpole was only 30 feet from my house. The connection constantly failed, and it was very common to have no service for a couple days at a time. When there was a signal, it was so slow that the connection would keep failing and I'd have to reload the web pages several times.

Also- in order to subscribe, USI said I was required to buy their modem, even though I had a brand new modern computer with a built-in modem. So I sucked it up and bought theirs; sure enough, it didn't work any better than the one in my computer...more wasted money.

I had paid for 1 year up front because I'd save more money that way; then when I tried to cancel at the end of the year, they tried to tell me I couldn't cancel because when you sign up for a year, you agree to pay another year at whatever the current price is. I wasn't told that up front, and I couldn't find it in any info I had from them. I had to cancel my credit cards to they couldn't charge me again, and after emails and phone calls to customer service for a few days, they finally agreed to let me cancel my service.

I'm back to Qwest- which works, but is obscenely overpriced.

[Dontbewillful]

I've had nothing but good experiences with USI Wireless. The signal can be touchy, but a tech came to our house and placed it in the best possible spot and since then it's been spotless. The customer service is bar none, and we couldn't be happier. Going on 2 or 3 years now, and we've saved a ton over Comcast. I wouldn't go back at all and am very satisfied.

[Duk123]

We've has USI Wireless for about a year and have had very few problems. We are about as far from a node as you can get in Minneapolis and our home is stucco and we've had less problems with USI then we had with Qwest for about half the price.