 Review by FROSTY 
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 9.2 years, 2972 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Pinson,Jefferson,AL
 $40 per month (3 month contract)
 about 45 days
 BellSouth
 "24/7 solid connection and consistent performance"
 "Spam filtering needs improvement"
 "Great service"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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Hi all,
I signed up for Bellsouth's DSL service sometime during first week of July 2000. They told me I would receive my self-install kit by July 28. Although, the line test was never performed until August 7. I finally received my self-install kit on August 17. Nowadays, the process is much faster. I've seen friends order DSL, receive the kit the very next week, and the the service be 'live'.
During my first month of service, the DSL has been down for only one day. Amazingly, the tech I spoke with was more than willing to solve my problem. Considering everyone here says Bellsouth's tech support is horrible. The support tech contacted a line tech and they performed a truck load of diagnostics on my phone line. They came to the conclusion that my packets were reaching the CO, but the CO was sending packets that never reached my modem. "Interesting" the tech says. The tech then told me the problem was in the CO and they would have it fixed within 24 hours. Two hours later, my DSL service was working again. Not bad Bellsouth, not bad at all.
As I mentioned earlier, I really wanted the Alcatel SpeedTouch Home DSL modem but I refused to pay the $150. I found this modem for half the price Bellsouth wanted on Ebay. I still use the STH today, but it has since been converted to a STPro. In Pro mode, the modem can do PPPoA + NAT or PPPoA to DHCP Spoofing. Spoofing passes the WAN IP directly to a DHCP client, like a router set to 'Obtain IP Automatically' on the WAN.
UPDATE:
Basic Summary 11/28/01:
Have enjoyed BSFA for over 1 year and 4 months. First year was in another city, the CO had a Redback, and the DSL operation was flawless. Moved to a new city 4 months ago, the CO has a BBG, and was plagued with sync loss, PPPoE authentication errors, and etc. NetTech and a ST Tech removed several bridgetaps, which solved those problems. DSL service has been great ever since.
UPDATE:04/02/02
Heavy flooding this past weekend. No sync loss, no dropped IP. 
UPDATE: 10/22/02
It's official. I'm a home owner with DSL.
Moved into a house at the beginning of 10/2002
UPDATE: 02/12/03
It's been over 2 months since the new 'BRIB' (Bellsouth Regional Internet Backbone) was implemented. IMHO, it suxs. Routing has changed. Instead of being routed to Atlanta, GA for peering onto the Internet, now routed to New Orleans, THEN to Dallas or Houston for the peering.
UPDATE: 03/05/03
WOOHOO! Finally, routing has been changed back to Atlanta.
UPDATE: 10/09/03
The Bellsouth 'MailGaurd' SPAM filtering system has finally shown it's worth. IMHO, It works rather well. Routing is excellent as it should be. Combined with practically 0 (zero) downtime. BSFA is still the best ISP in my area.
UPDATE: 08/24/04
Still using the STPro in PPPoA to DHCP Spoofing with a Linksys SR81 router (WAN connection type set to DHCP). While I qualify for the new Extreme 3.0 Mbps service, I refuse to upgrade because of the manditory static IP. Which is nothing more than a sales/marketing requirement. Not a techincal requirement.
UPDATE: 05/05/05
Still working great. Static IP is now optional for the 3.0 service, yet I don't qualify anymore. LOL!
UPDATE: 08/23/07
Still working great. I've been on the 3.0M service for over a year now. I have the option for the 6.0M service. I do want more upload than 384k with the 3.0 service. Yet would have to pay for the 6.0 service just to get 512k upload. So, I'm still holding off on paying $5 more just for a 128K boost in upload cause more download is not my concern.
Current equipment is a Netopia 2241N modem in bridged ethernet mode coupled with a Linksys RVS4000 router in PPPoE mode.
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