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UPDATE: 07/29/2006 Nothing much has changed... Same service... Support has gotten slightly worse since the last review, but the line is stable and there haven't been any outages other than would be normal for maintenance. UPDATE: 11/14/05 Just an update to say that Bellsouth is doing very well still... After Katrina, for example, DSL was out for less than one week in our area, an area that was hit pretty hard (lots of trees down, tons of roof damage, etc.). They recently reduced the price for the Ultra service... The only problem was that you had to call to ask for the new monthly rate instead of them automatically giving you the new rate. Not really a problem, just a minor inconvience. Their routing is excellent and they weren't affected by the Cogent/Level3 fiasco... Keep up the good work Bellsouth. The only thing they need to do right now is to up the sync rate on Ultra users to something like 1700 or 1800kbps in order to give us the full 1500kbps we pay for like they did with the Extreme users... UPDATE: 05/23/04 Okay, tech support is loosing some points in this review. Less than one week ago the internet here died during a thunderstorm and, as usual, it happened at the worst time. I was certain it wasn't related to the storm since we have been through far worse storms and the internet has remained connected. So its time to call support. The problem was that the DSL modem was able to sync and transmit, but was not receiving data back from the DSLAM. Problem sound familiar ? It should since its the problem in my previous update. Knowing that this should have been logged in our account, I told the tech to look it up. He refused to do so, but claimed there was nothing there (another tech verified at a later date that it was there) about the last problem. Huh ? Yes, he refused to look, but stated that nothing was there. So we go through the motions and reload the software and still no luck. That was it, tech decided without any other checks on the line (he only check the provisioning database) or the wiring in the CO that it was a bad modem and that we needed a new one. After reluctantly agreeing to the terms of getting a new modem (you have to stay with Bellsouth for another year or you get charged for the modem), he sends it. Three hours later, modem and connection are working fine. Apparently there was some line trouble (wow, big surprise there) based on some other problems we had (static). So now I have to waste time because one tech was lazy and, according to another tech I spoke to, did not follow procedure. However, the second tech I talked to about returning the modem was VERY helpful (thanks dude!)... Howeer, it doesn't matter really in the grander scheme because the first tech should have been on the ball. UPDATE: 11/06/03 Bellsouth honestly has some of the best support in the industry, especially compared to my old ISP, Cox. A few days ago there was a problem with my line which allowed it to sync, but it would not receive data, only transmit. The tech support rep and I worked on this at around midnight, with help from a deiligent C.O. tech who had it repaired under an hour. Any other provider would have made us wait until the next day to have the problem worked on if it was their equipment, but at around 12:10AM the C.O. tech repaired a loose connection on the crossconnect on the wiring frame. Yep, Bellsouth really has earned their awards for customer satisfaction. UPDATE: 9/27/03 Updating to put Bellsouth back as my ISP... Also, Bellsouth seems to have been tweaking their routes to use Level3 and UUnet. The inclusion of Level3 routes has greatly improved speed from some sites and lowered latency to others. Keep up the good work. UPDATE: 9/14/03 Bellsouth is still doing very well... The only problem we seem to be having is when people join our HalfLife games from the outside world and time out after playing for a few minutes. We're still trying to figure this out. -- ORIGINAL REVIEW -- I wasn't around for the install and ordering process, so I'm not going to be reviewing those. I do know that we signed up for a free (after rebate) modem (a Speedtouch Home ethernet, now hacked to Speedtouch Pro) with a 12 month contract. The connection is rated at 1500kbps / 256 kbps and we are averaging about 1300kbps / ~250 kbps. That speed has been very consistent, with no noticeable periods of slowdowns (such as with my previous provider). The line sync and IP connection have been EXTREMELY stable, with the only problems being when the PPPoE session reconnects. Tech support has been very knowledgable and VERY helpful. The last time I used them (several months ago) was with an intermittent sync loss (turned out to be a phone cable problem). The technician realized quickly that I have extensive networking experience and am fairly well versed on DSL. There was no "reboot the computer" garbage and I was treated with respect... I'm not using their mail servers for incoming mail and do all of my outgoing mail via SMTPS to my hosted sites. They have recently started allowing users to host server applications from their homes if you order a static IP package. Although it still uses PPPoE (bleh!), this is a step in the right direction for Bellsouth. More to come if need be, but so far all is good. And now, the numbers... Speed tests: www.speed.fastaccess.com: 1.3Mbps / ~256kbps atl.speakeasy.net: 1226 kbps / 216 kbps. dfw.speakeasy.net: 1237 kbps / 217 kbps. sea.speakeasy.net: 1198 kbps / 216 kbps. nyc.speakeasy.net: 1213 kbps / 214 kbps. member for 23 years, 2721 visits, last login: 13.6 years ago updated 17.6 years ago
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