Review by dragger 
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 7.4 years, 793 visits, last login: 5 days ago
 Festus,Jefferson,MO
 $37 per month
 about 14 days
 Southwestern Bell
 "Steady superior performance"
 "Resting on laurels - where are the speed upgrades?"
 "The best in the biz"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I have been waiting for DSL for a couple of years. It was available inside the city limits of my town but I lived about a mile outside. Numerous calls to customer service brought no info, nor any timetable.
Due to other reasons, I ended up moving less than 2 blocks away from the CO.
The first time I called for service, I got a really bad CSR. Not only did she get most of the details wrong, she evidently forgot to actually schedule the installation. Plus, she insisted that they had to UPS my equipment to my address of record (a PO Box) and that it would be no problem. I got disgusted and ended the call after getting a confirmation number.
The CSR I talked to the next day found no record of my service request. We did the whole thing over and I gave him the address that UPS could deliver to.
My equipment was due on a Friday but it didn't arrive. The installation was scheduled for the next Wednesday. I called customer service and they told me not to worry, the equipment would be there Monday or Tuesday. I don't think the rep even looked my case up as his answer was way too quick.
As of Tuesday, I had still not received anything. I called back and found out that the CSR that took my order got my street address one digit off -- 208 instead of 207. UPS had been holding the package since the previous Friday, which the other rep could have caught if he had simply pulled up my records. In this same contact, I found that my installation was now listed for Thursday, a day later.
I could not get the modem to synch, and called Tech Support. Since my installation was due for the next day, the rep more or less refused to help me and told me to call back later.
I called back the next day and got a very good tech person who had the modem synched in less than 5 minutes. I have been averaging 1158 ever since.
It was frustrating, but I'm happy now that it is up and running
Update:
The smooth, reliable SBC service I was so happy with seems to be sliding away. At home, it seems like I have to resynch my modem a least two or three times a month and it's usually on a Saturday morning. Never have figured that out.
At work, it's the Expert plus plan. When it works, it's killer as I consistently dl at 4500-4700. I am usually one of the fastest points in the db here for the STL area - which is NEVER as fast as Texas. Why is that, I wonder?
The worst thing at work is intermittent email problems in which the servers refuse my connection or time out. Numerous calls to CS might or might not have helped the problem since no one ever admits a problem nor a fix.
I rated the service high ONLY because of the great SBC support people on this site.
I'd love a choice of consistent speed and good newsgroup access. How hard can it be?
***UPDATE****
I have only compliments and no problems to report at this time. My previously highly coveted grandfathered 6K tier is now available to anyone and I switched to it a few months ago with no problems whatsoever. Even with switchover all went fine with both the upload and download switching to the new speeds with no need to contact tech support.
I can't remember the last time I've lost service.
06/21/08
OK, another update since the site keeps begging.
My service is absolutely stellar. I mentioned in the last update that I couldn't remember the last time my service was interrupted, and that still holds true. The only issue whatsoever is that my Netopia/Cayman gateway has a noise deterioration over time, but a simple reboot clears that up.
I haven't had any reason to contact tech support and that's compliment. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be any effort to increase the speed. I've been at 6016 for many years now but would pay a fair amount for an increase. Fiber is not available at my address the last time I checked, but honestly I wouldn't pay that prcie anyhow. It's more than a 50% increase for just a bit more speed and I'm happy with my Dish Network anyhow.
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AT&T Southwest
