 Review by thehyper1 
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 6.7 years, 2012 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Birmingham,Jefferson,AL
 $37 per month
 about 40 days
 BellSouth
 "Very consistent and reliable"
 "Not available everywhere"
 "If you can get it, it's great!!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I had tried for more than a year with no success to get DSL at my old address. I was just too far from the CO, on loaded cable, and no RT was planned.
After we moved, I decided to try at the new address. Success!! I qualified and placed the order and was given a three-week interval.
The day before my due date I was contacted by the customer service folks to say that my order had to be delayed. :-( It seems they were adding a new cable between my neighborhood and the RT and had to wait until that work was completed. This delay was about two more weeks.
I received my modem and very excitedly plugged it in. No sync. I contacted tech support. They were very helpful about stepping me through some things to eliminate inside wire, filters, etc. Eventually, I was directed to the NID. I took my modem outside and plugged it directly into the NID. Still no sync. Without hesitation, the tech said the problem must be in the provisioning or between me and the RT. He set up an appointment for a tech to visit. The first appointment date was about five days away (due to a weekend.)
Tech arrived promptly and proceeded to check things out at the NID. He agreed that there was something wrong between me and the RT since he had already been there and verified the provisioning and the sync at the first cross-box was good. He worked for several hours removing bridge taps and such and eventually even called in some engineering help. Together they discovered a single load coil that his test-set could not detect. Once that was removed, he had a strong signal and good sync at my NID.
The tech stuck around long enough to walk my wife (not a techie by any stretch) through the setup process to make sure that everything was working. When I got home from work, I did a few speed tests and got about 1150/210 without any tweaking. After a few adjustments, I now get about 1250/230 consistently. Once it was all working on the first machine, I added the router and linked up all of our boxes.
Current setup:
- Alcatel STH Ethernet Modem
- Linksys BEFSR41 DSL Router
- 3 Macs (two on OS 9.2, the other on 10.1.1)
- 1 NT 4.0 laptop
UPDATE 10/2006:
Upgraded to 3M/384k service about 2 years ago and connection has been rock solid with very few exceptions. Alcatel STH is still rocking along - although I understand I may need to replace it to get 6M service if I decide to upgrade.
Updated setup:
- Alcatel STH Ethernet Modem
- Linksys BEFSR41 DSL Router
- Airport Extreme wireless router
- 4 Macs (One on OS 9.2.2, three others on 10.4.8)
- 1 XP laptop (occasionally - from work)
UPDATE 4/2007:
Upgraded to the 6M/512k service last month and it has been just a solid as my previous services so far. When they changed my profile to 6M, my old STH (using G.DMT modulation) was able to get me up to about 4.8M/400k. But when I ordered the upgrade, they shipped me a replacement modem (Westel 6100) that will handle ADSL2+ modulation. When I connected it up, the DSLAM switched over to ADSL2+ and my speeds immediately increased to very near the advertised service level. So far, the Westel has been working great - although I'm keeping my old STH in the closet as a spare.
Updated cost: $38/mo.
Updated setup:
- Westel 6100 Modem/Router (bridge mode)
- Linksys BEFSR41 DSL Router
- Airport Extreme wireless router
- 4 Macs (One on OS 9.2.2, three others on 10.4.9)
- 1 XP laptop (occasionally - from work)
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AT&T Southeast
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