 Review by myosh 
UPDATED: 69 days ago
member for 7.3 years, 1567 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
 Cupertino,Santa Clara,CA
 $30 per month
 about 4 days
 SBC
 "Easy Installation, Very Good Download Speeds, Inexpensive compared to Comcast HSI"
 "No more promo pricing"
 "Switching from Cable to DSL was easier than I thought!"
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(ratings match consensus)
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I have been a cable internet subscriber since the late 90's when TCI was my local cable company and @Home was the service provider. Well, after a number of transitions (TCI@Home to AT&T@Home to ATTBI to Comcast HSI) and a number of price increases, I wanted to switch to DSL but it wasn't available where I lived.
In March of 2005, I got a flyer in the mail saying that DSL is now available in my area. I checked for availability using my phone number on the SBC website and it said I qualified for the Pro Package (3000/512) and the current promotion was $29.95 for a 12 month contract. Still leary about whether I would get the full 3 Mbit/s, I held off until I discovered the SBC Direct forum here on DSLReports.com. I put in a pre-qual request and within a day or two, a tech posted that I should be right at the 3 Mbit/s cap. With that resolved, the decision to order SBC DSL became a really easy one because by switching to DSL, I could save $13/month for the same speed I was getting from Comcast (3000/384, $43/mo).
In May of 2005, I placed my order through the SBC website for the free equipment and the free self-install kit. Within a week, I received a package from SBC containing my modem (SpeedStream 5100) and the self-install kit (filters, cables, software, etc). On the date my service was activated, I installed the modem and the software and I was up and running in no time.
The very first thing I did was run a speed test from DSLReports.com and I was surprised to see my connection test at 1200 Kbit/s which was less than half of what I was expecting. I asked the tech that helped me with the pre-qual why I was getting such a slow download speed. A little later that afternoon, I get a response from the tech stating that, for some odd reason, the modem was sent the wrong config file (Express package, 1500/128). He told me that he sent my modem the proper config file for the Pro package and that I should run another speed test which I did. To my relief, it tested at 2500/400. The last thing I did was to put a Linksys Wireless router/firewall between the DSL modem and my home network.
It gave me great pleasure to tell Comcast to cancel my cable modem service because their prices were too high. I still have their cable TV service.
January 2006 Update:
For the first time, I'm experiencing some download troubles. I ran a speed test and my download speed is around 200 Kbit/s. I'm waiting to see if this a temporary glitch or something more serious.
May 2006 Update:
With my initial contract up soon, I was able to get a new one-year contract from ATT/SBC. The new contract is for 1 year and my new monthly rate will be $24.99/month, a $5 savings!!! The whole process took about 30 minutes on the phone with customer service.
May 2007 Update:
With my second 1-year contract up soon, I was able to get a new 1-year contract from ATT/SBC at the same rate I was paying over the past year, $24.99/month. For committing for another year, I also get 1 month free. All of this was done online so it took less than 5 minutes to renew.
June 2008 Update:
My third 1-year contract expired in May and now I am month-to-month at $30/month. I have not tried to contact AT&T to see what they offer for another 1-year contract. Service has been pretty good with no major problems or outages.
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