 Review by saronian 
member for 13.7 years, 1774 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 1.6 years ago
 Oakland,Alameda,CA
 $24 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 10 days "Quick, Easy & Simple Self Install" "Hellish confusion between AT&T DSL & U-verse IP-DSLAM departments" "Only U-verse IP-DSLAM DSL, but good speed at a low price"
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I've been a satisfied AT&T DSL customer since 1996. Through four separate moves AT&T has continued to provide my home service with excellent reliability.
Our current house was built in 1937 and still has the original thick two-wire phone cable running directly from a pole across the street. The wire terminates under the house with some old splices running several lines out to some house jacks. There still no outside NID, but I did install a POTS Splitter and run new wire to a single indoor jack when we first installed DSL. We are 1200 ft from the Central Office.
This year (2010) in an attempt to cut back on expenses, we decided to drop our land-line service and switch to a dry-loop DSL. The first thing we discovered was that AT&T no longer offered standard DSL in our area (94601). We could drop our DSL and sign up for U-verse, which I assumed was a fiber service. After ordering I discovered we were really getting U-verse IP-DSLAM DSL. Although this service works for us, it's unfortunate that AT&T doesn't explain this more clearly in their promotional materials. The result is confusion for both consumers and customer service.
We were offered a self install with a compatible modem for $100 with $100 rebate. This was a AT&T U-verse Elite Package (up to 6016/768) $24.95. We actually wanted a slower and cheaper package, but this was only slightly more for much greater speed. The new service was connected quickly, about 7 days, but we did not receive the modem. It took about five hours on the phone with customer service, over three days for a service tech to drop off a modem. We later found out that the computer was canceling the order automatically because the 2Wire 2701HGV-B Gateway (software 5.29.135.28) was not part of U-verse inventory. Several weeks later we received a second modem which I tried to return. Once again U-verse wouldn't accept the return and credit our account because 2701HGV-B is not part of their inventory. And AT&T DSL wouldn't accept the modem because we were U-verse customers.
At this point I should say that everyone we talked with at AT&T customer service and tech support was really nice and tried to help. But with a flawed system we were stuck in a loop with no easy or quick resolution. AT&T did offer some compensation for our trouble, but I kept thinking of how much this simple transaction ended up costing AT&T in needless support time. And how other potential customers with little tech experience would have been overwhelmed by the process.
I had read of many problems with the 2Wire 2701HGV-B, and decided to set it up with wireless off and integrating an Apple AirPort Extreme for supplying 802.11n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, and USB printer sharing. It took a couple weeks of testing to get all the settings optimized. But now I have fast DNS, solid Back to my Mac, and dual-band wireless with excellent transfer speeds.
I'm disappointed that full U-verse service is not offered in this area, but the IP-DSLAM DSL is working reliably and I am saving a lot of money without the voice service.
UPDATE 10-14-2011
Once my 12 month contract was over, the monthly fee for Elite service was $40. I called AT&T to request ask about a new contract or lower cost service. The best offer was $35 per month for 6 months. I asked about getting Max Internet service for $40, but was told it wasn't offered in my area.
Too bad AT&T, I tried to remain a customer for a 16th year, but got a better offer from Sonic.net.
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