Review by poolek 
UPDATED: 1.7 years ago
member for 6 years, 1366 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Austin,Travis,TX
 $45 per month (12 month contract)
 about 14 days
 Southwestern Bell
 "Stability, Price"
 "I'm back, but may be leaving"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Updated 2/4/2008
ATT DSL continues to work well, but I'm definitely evaluating options. I'm stuck at 3mb down and the price is now higher than what I can get 7mb from my local cable provider. Uverse is in my 'hood, but not at my house - plus I really don't want their TV service. I also really dislike the idea of them 'filtering' my content. I don't do bit-torrent or anything, but I don't like the idea of ATT playing cop.
I'm currently living in the UK on a long-term business assignment. Here, with enforced local loop unbundling, I have about 15 different broadband providers I can choose from. The net result is I get a 24mb down /1.3mb up DSL connection for about $35/mth. It's both amazing and sad that I can't get something anywhere close to that in a supposedly technology savvy US city such as Austin. The providers need to step it up, or we need to force more competition through unbundling.
Updated 12/21/2006
Well, after about 11 months on cable, I'm back to DSL. The cable service worked ok, but there were a few hiccups with it occasionally losing the IP for some reason. We also just had a child, so I wanted to have 'real' 911 back in the house - and I was intrigued by the 'Homezone' thing - so we signed back up for a basic landline and DSL.
Pre Sales/Install Coordination:
ATT really needs to work on their website. I tried to sign up for a land line online. It kept erroring out, saying the driver's license number I'd provided wasn't valid (even though I'd double and triple checked it). To add insult to injury, each time it'd error out, it would wipe out -all- of the name/address/prior phone number info I'd entered - forcing me to start all over again. I tried about 5 times before finally giving up and going to ConnectMyPhone.com - where I was able to sign up in about 2 minutes. The phone line was active the next day.
Went to ATT.com again to sign up for DSL. The ATT site told me the phone number they'd just issued me was not an ATT phone number. Checked and rechecked - still wouldn't accept it. Went back to ConnectMyPhone.com and was able to sign up no problem. I ordered the 6mb package and the wireless gateway (because it was listed as a requirement for Homezone). Activation date was listed about 2 weeks later.
I received the modem/gateway the next day and the invoice in the box listed my activation date as the current date. I plugged everything in and the DSL wouldn't sync. Called ATT Support and they verified that the activation date listed on the invoice was incorrect and that the one originally quoted was correct.
Two weeks pass and I plug the modem back in and everything is working great - for about 20 hours. I come home from work the next day to find no dial tone and no DSL - everything was dead when tested at the NID. I try to submit a ticket through ATT's website (using a different internet provider, obviously), but the support site was down. Attempts to call in via a voip line were unsuccessful as the toll free number ATT uses is regional. I finally called in via my cell phone. The tech support agent ran some tests and told me everything checked out 100% so the error was on my side. I told her I didn't think that was the case as the phone was dead at the NID. She finally agreed to roll a truck if I'd agree to pay for the roll if the problem was indeed mine. 24 hours later, I got a call indicating they'd identified a problem at the switch and I should be good to go - which I was - but only for another 48 hours....
2 days later, DSL was out again. Still had dialtone this time, though - and ATT's support website was working (thank God I didn't cancel my cable account immediately). I submitted a ticket. 24 hours later got a call indicating they'd found a problem at the switch and I should be good to go. That was about a month ago, and It's been solid ever since.
I also found out I didn't qualify for the Elite package (though my modem stats indicate I should). Not a big deal as the 'pro' speeds are fine for me (and indistingushable from the 7/386 cable package I moved from) - but I'd still like to have it.
Connection Reliability:
Aside from the downtime during on-boarding, it's been fine. Not a single problem. The wireless gateway has been a bit flaky, but I just ended up using my old dsl modem and my current router and everything was great (I've since gotten some help from 2Wire support here and am using the gateway again (works better with the Homezone unit) and it seems to be working fine now). Speeds are 2.55 down, 460k up. DSL Diagnostics on the modem indicate I should be able to establish an 8/1mb connection despite being 'too far' away to qualify for the 6mb Elite package.
Given my prior experience with SBC DSL, I have every expectation that the service will be rock solid.
Tech Support:
It's been fine. Ideally, the best tech support is the kind you never use - but the folks I've interacted with have been friendly and helpful. I can't blame the one tech who was hesitant to roll a truck after her tests showed '100%' on my out-of-order line. The techs can only use the tools the company gives them, and she ended up escalating it eventually anyway. Support at this site from ATT Direct and 2wire (as well as another ATT employee) have been superb. Questions answered quickly and accurately.
Services:
Can't really comment as I don't really use them. They seem to work fine, though.
Value:
No complaints at all here. After factoring in the $75 gift card, free month for signing up for 12 months and 3 free months for switching from cable, it ends up costing me about $10.50 a month for internet access (excluding the pretty much mandatory land-line fee). Even at the regular price of $25/mth, it's a good value.
First round:
Updated 1/30/06
Kind of interesting to be prompted to update my review today, as I just called in earlier this morning to cancel my DSL service with SBC/ATT/Yahoo.
I've had DSL for going on 3 years now, using the 'Pro' package for 2 of those years and consistently getting 2.5mb up and 480k down. The connection has been absolutely stable and the price keeps dropping - the current monthly rate is something like $22. It hard to find anything bad to say about the service. I honestly can't remember a time when the connection wasn't working.
The only reason I'm leaving DSL is because I want to port the number associated with the line the DSL is active on to another device. I can't port the number with DSL active. To keep DSL, I'd have to get another phone line installed, activate DSL on that line, go through the ramp up period, cancel DSL on my old line, deal with jack wiring issues, etc. Too complicated and there were lots of little service charges along the way. The alternative solution was to call the local cable provider and have them install a cable connection for free, then cancel the DSL service and port the number (and the phone account associated with the number after the transfer). That was much easier and cheaper and was what I've ended up doing.
I wouldn't at all be suprised to be back on DSL one of these days. The cable connection (earthlink via time warner) was installed this morning and is working fine, but it's hard to imagine anything being more stable that what I've experienced with DSL the past couple of years. And even though the cable package is almost double the speed of my old DSL package (testing right at 4.7mb down, 380k up), I don't notice any difference in speed in the way I use connection (basic surfing/email, VPN, VoIP). SBC/ATT/Yahoo just need to make the process of moving phone numbers a bit easier to deal with.
My experience with SBC customer service has been very positive. They've been able to handle any questions or changes I've had quickly and without any hassle. Their price (excluding the mandatory landline) is very attractive. Speed was good and stable. It was everything a broadband connection should be.
Updated 3/23/05
So it's going on 2 years now with SBC DSL and things are still very good. I upgraded to the 'Pro' package a few months ago (which did require a post to the SBC Direct forum here to get activated, which is a bit of a pain) since we've been using multiple machines at home more frequently. I'm consistently downloading around 2.5mb/s and uploading around 460k/s. I don't notice that much of a difference between Pro and Express when browsing, but do notice less slow downs when we have several machines accessing the internet at once, and quicker downloads for larger files.
The service overall has been rock-solid. I did experience strange, random slow downs a few weeks ago, and a quick post to the Direct form resulted in the diagnoses that my modem was having some stability issues. I contacted the Sales line and signed up for another year. They sent a new modem and lowered my monthly charge to $29.99. Swapping out the modem fixed the problem and I've been stable @ 2.5 down ever since. The support I've recieved on the Direct forum has been superb, and the customer care folks I've spoken with on the phone have been very helpful and friendly.
I'm very pleased with my SBC DSL account. The speed is plenty adequate for me (though more is always better, I guess), it's rock solid from a stability standpoint (sans the bad modem, for which I don't fault SBC), the service has been good and the price represents a good value. I still can't find a combination of TV/Phone/Broadband that beats the pricing I have for my SBC/DirecTV combo for my usage/viewing patterns.
Original Review
I've been on broadband for the last 6 years, the first 5 were with RoadRunner. I never had any real problems with RR, but I didn't care for the selection and price of cable tv servce in my area so I installed a DirecTV system. I'd planned to switch over to Earthlink to avoid TimeWarner's $10 upcharge on broadband for non-cable tv subscribers when I heard an ad for SBC/Yahoo for $26 on the local radio. The packaged offers at that price was a 384k-1.5mb/128k package with free modem and a couple of free 'premium' Yahoo services.
I called in as opposed to signing up online as I also wanted to change some features on my landline phone. SBC's online sales site has very limited ability to change services (though you can add new stuff easily) - instead requiring you to call in and listen to tons of upsell pitches. It was a bit annoying, but the sales guy was friendly and the entire process only took 30 minutes or so.
I recieved the Speedstream 5100 modem in a couple of days and set it up the day service was to be activated. Setup was easy - I didn't use any of the included software - just made the needed adjustments on my router and was online in a few minutes.
First thing I did was go and test the speed to get a comparision to the Road Runner service. I was testing at about 1.0mb/sec with DSL on day 1, versus around 2.0 with RR. Over the 10 day 'ramp-up' period, I saw my speed increase to about 1.2-1.3 mb/sec and it has stayed at that range for the last year. So, throughput is definitely slower than RoadRunner (and apparently RR has bumped their bandwidth up to around 3.0mb since I changed services), and that difference is noticable when downloading large files. However, for basic browsing and email - which is what I do 99% of the time - I notice no difference in speed. Newsgroups are slower, but I believe that's more a function of SBC's servers than the connection.
The connection has been rock solid since installed. The only downtime I had was when we had a new alarm installed and the alarm folks disconnected the phone outlet in my office. I just moved the wireless router to another jack, stuck a USB 802.11b dongle on the desk top and was back up and running until the mess-up was fixed. I don't really use their email service often, but when I have, it's worked fine. The 500mb online 'locker' from Yahoo has been useful. I've had no need to call customer support during the year I've had the service, so I can't comment on the quality of that.
I'm up for renewal on the contract now and did a quick compare to see what else was avaliable. I wasn't able to find any combination of phone/broadband/long distance service that was any cheaper than what I'm currently getting from SBC, and I don't have to worry about interfacing the alarm with VoIP. I would need a pretty decent discount to justify switching from the stable setup I have now to the uncertain stability of a VoIP setup. Maybe next year...
All in all, it's slower than RR, but that reduction in speed isn't noticable for 99% of my usage patterns. It's also about 40% cheaper (and even cheaper when factoring cost savings on cable TV service and package deals on phone service) than RR and just as if not more stable. I'm quite pleased and will be renewing my contract.
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