Review by gust334 
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 7.5 years, 1012 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Round Lake,Lake,IL
 $35 per month
 Ameritech
 "SBC techs here on DSLR"
 "not recommended, too fragile to maintain"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Now it is Oct2008, and they did it again. I canceled an unrelated POTS fax line at my residence and AT&T nuked my DSL. They promised to restore it the next week, yet failed to do so.
While I was on hold trying to get AT&T to fix their mistake, I ordered and installed Comcast HSI. On a Saturday, from initial investigative call, including driving to local stores to buy a cable modem, splitter, and connectors and all installation, several calls to get to provisioning, to surfing the net... all while on hold with AT&T. And about 15 minutes after CC HSI was working, AT&T abruptly dropped my call to dialtone.
We also have a new apartment in the city this fall, which we ordered and installed "dry DSL" without phone service. It worked for a single week before failing. We have called every day since it went out, and AT&T gives us a different excuse each day. Worst, when we completely unplugged all cables from the DSL modem, AT&T testing still reported a live connection to the modem, no trouble found.
It is clear to me that AT&T is incapable of managing their DSL service in any way. Their internal systems are dinosaurs, and any employee you can reach is not empowered to do anything to help you. The business is too compartmentalized, and you as a customer have to take responsibility to coordinate between all of their departments. Nobody there will take the initiative to fix any problem. Their favorite response: "that's not my department, thanks for being an AT&T customer." If you make any change, no matter how subtle, you are at serious risk of losing everything. This was the situation in 2002, again in 2005, and again now in 2008. The only thing they ever change is their name (Ameritech/SBC/Yahoo/AT&T).
AT&T DSL is just too fragile to keep long-term. Which is really a shame, because their low-end packages are decent values, and as long as you don't make any changes the DSL service has been reliable. But their business is fundamentally broken, and the evidence suggests that will never change.
Stay away. Stay far away from AT&T.
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Now it is Aug2008, service continues to be reliable and fast. In March, I called to re-rate from $60 down to $35 and the CSR did a really passable job at imitating incredulity that I had not been re-rated automatically. It took a month to cycle through billing and I'm now being billed at the lower rate.
I remain unable to update to any faster service. I did investigate U-Verse briefly until I realized that the same sales person who was enthusiastically telling me the service was available to my house also enthusiastically told me I could receive four simultaneous HD streams to four HD TVs at the same time. Since the latter didn't appear to match reality as reported here on DSLR, I presume the former is questionable too.
Comcast continues to bombard me with ads to switch to their phone and internet service. Even though it might be faster, each time they call the house I remind them that during recent spring storms that hammered our neighborhood, their cable went out for over a day, power was out 13 hours, but our phone/internet service only went down for about a half-hour. (It was amusing to watch my wife surfing the net on her laptop, with the router/modem on the UPS, by candlelight.)
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Bump.
Now it is Feb2006, and the service continues to be reliable, fast, and presently a good deal. SBC allowed me to re-commit to a promotional contract, which lowered my monthly rate from $60. However, since they still bill me $60/mo and then apply a credit for the promotion, I'm leaving the monthly cost as it stands.
I have had no technical issues in recent memory with this connection. It just works like it is supposed to. I now have my parents and an aunt signed up on the same kind of service. My parents suffered through cable internet for two years, and are now coming up on a full year of SBC DSL and they are just thrilled with the change.
On the scary side, I recently installed ComCast digital cable to my residence so I could get HDTV service (E* wouldn't sell me their HDTV PVR?) and I get about two junk mails and a phone call a month offering to add cable internet to my package. I smile every time I say no. SBC DSL is great!
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Bump.
I ordered DSL in May 2002. It was installed and working fine until September 2002, at which point an error Ameritech made months earlier finally surfaced. Service was restored after about two weeks of mind-numbing, world-class pass-the-buck from various idiots employed by Ameritech, followed by quick, competent, and thorough actions by Ameritech/SBC/EPC staff that lurked here unofficially on this forum.
Since October 2002, the service has been very reliable, with excellent speed. Occasionally, my line/profile gets whacked by someone at SBC, but when that happens I contact the techs here and it gets fixed ASAP. Given that the techs here now have official support and endorsement from SBC, I feel that I can now recommend SBC DSL service to friends and family with no reservations.
I have Speedpath 1500/256 for $59.95/mo, PPPoE, other details below.
I tried to enter a second review (for my second installation by the same vendor) but this web site doesn't really permit that, so I'm amending my original review here.
=========================================Everything below is from 03/2003 or earlier
Good points: install was executed with submarine flaw
Bad points: worked for a while but didn't last
Bottom line: late 2002 Ameritech/SBC is as bad as Ameritech of 5 years ago
Errors by Ameritech in April and May 2002 didn't surface until August, and in September I found myself completely without DSL service. Ameritech acknowledges that they messed up, but they didn't do anything to reestablish service. They required me to order all new service again and would not do anything on their part to assist or rectify the situation.
===== the long version
I had existing ISDN as the only service to my IL residence for years. For those unfamiliar with Ameritech ISDN, the two B channels can be used independently for voice or 64kbps data; with the right equipment in your location and the right setup at the ISP, you can also bond both B channels together for a data call at 128kbps. An Ascend Pipeline 75 as the CPE worked fine. Voice calls would pre-empt one B channel for the duration of a call, after which the Ascend would re-establish the bonded connection. The drawbacks were limited top speed (128kbps) and significant per-minute local call charges, and my Ascend did not pass VPN traffic, so in order to telecommute I had to use an analog modem on the Pipeline POTS port... which rarely exceeded 28.8kbps.
The ISDN service didn't work when first installed, the first Ameritech technician lied about testing the line at the NI, as did the CSR I called, and when a tech did eventually test it he discovered something wasn't hooked up right at the CO (observed firsthand while we were both standing in the rain outside my house). The Ameritech of 5 years ago was a horrid, ugly monolith.
It was thus with some trepidation that I chose to use Ameritech/SBC to replace the ISDN line with two analog lines with the same phone numbers, and high-speed DSL service on one of the analog lines. Since ISDN was my only existing service, this required bringing tone on two more lines to the NI.
My installation requirements were somewhat troublesome because they didn't fit into any predefined installation category at the new Ameritech/SBC. For this very reason, I bailed out of my two prior attempts to order service. Each time, I marked my calendar 6 months later to try again. On this last attempt, it took over 90 minutes on the phone to escalate up to the people that would correctly coordinate the activities of the residential office and the business office (which handles the ISDN service for residences).
The time on the phone call was well-spent, because the installation went without incident. The analog phone lines were brought to the NI within 4 days (!), and I had two temporary phone numbers assigned to them. Other than checking tone and polarity I never used the lines. I received my self-installation kit a couple of days later; it was complete and intact. The DSL modem synced up the first time I tried it, mid-morning on the service date; I have no idea if it may have worked earlier because I didn't try it. The only glitch was that the authorization code provided on the self-install paperwork was not the number that the Ameritech/SBC website wanted, but that was resolved via a short telephone call to the Ameritech/SBC support number. The cutover of my phone numbers and the termination of the ISDN service happened on the scheduled date about 5 days later.
Total time from order to old-service-disconnect was 26 days. Total effort on my part was the 90 minute initial call, plus 5 minutes for the DSL registration, plus about 15 minutes to arrange the cutover and disconnect.
My service is SpeedPath 1500/256, at $59.95/mo. By opting for the 12 month contract and self-install, I received a $199 rebate in the form of a MasterCard gift card received several weeks later. Using the tools available on the dslreports.com website, I clocked 1231/242. I believe this falls within the reasonable expectations for this service.
The home equipment is the Ameritech/SBC-supplied Efficient Networks DSL modem, feeding a Nexland router/firewall appliance I purchased separately. (My employer requires VPN and they had specifically tested and recommended this vendor.) The Nexland talks to the DSL modem using PPPoE, but my computers talk to the Nexland via DHCP and/or static IP. The Nexland was a breeze to setup. Getting the computers to talk to the Nexland was just as easy.
I should elaborate on the installation procedure I followed. My first stab was to cable my desktop WindowsXP machine directly to the DSL modem and install the Ameritech/SBC software, and then registered on their web site to get a username and password. Then I restored (XP system restore) the desktop machine back to before the installation and purged all traces of Ameritech/SBC software, and connected the Nexland between the modem and computer. I entered the login information into the Nexland and everything worked just as before. I have Windows95, 2000, XP, and MacOS all sharing the same connection via NAT on the Nexland and none of them have a shred of Ameritech/SBC software on them.
The only ongoing issues are that the Nexland/Efficient/DSL combination seem to be more sensitive to storms (loses sync) than the previous Ascend/ISDN combination. Several times after a thunderstorm passed through the area, I found I needed to go down into the basement and unplug/replug the wall-wort for the DSL modem, and then power-cycle the router.
I don't generally use the Ameritech/SBC services (mail/news/www). They supply 5 email accounts. I registered one with them for service-related messages and ignore the rest. I have independent service elsewhere, so all I'm using Ameritech/SBC is for the connection.
I think that the monthly price is a little high, but in fairness they are charging what the market will bear. Phone and internet together is about break-even with the monthly average I had for ISDN service. My gut feel is $50/mo is really the sweet spot for this level of ADSL service, and for $60 you should get a static IP. I also think the rebate deal is needless complication, but I followed all the rules and got the cash card very quickly.
Analog voice quality has been fine. I am using the filter from the self-install kit.
All was going fine until September 2002, at which point my service was unexpectedly turned off. I still had a sync light, but I could not authenticate.
I spent two days having tech support walk me through the tier 1 boogie before the first escalation to tier 2. On that call, tech support relayed that tier 2 "tested the line and you are able to surf", but would not permit me to speak to the tier 2 tech. They confirmed the line had sync (I'm assuming they did an ATM ping to the modem) but I still could not authenticate. Discovered my account password and secret word had been changed, nobody knew how. Got those reset, still no joy. We played telephone for about 30 minutes, the rep putting one of us on hold to talk to the other.
On the next call I was told the same tier 2 tech downgraded the line from 1500 to 768, then further downgraded from DSL to dialup, claiming I was too far from the CO to get any service. My history of DSLR speed tests indicated consistently high 1200's with the occasional peak at 1300 over months.
Over the next days and weeks, I was told that I had requested disconnection, that I had moved too far from the CO, that they couldn't find my account, that they couldn't restore servce, and that I couldn't reorder the same service level I had for five months. I also couldn't install the same service level to my other POTS line because, even though installed on the same day to the same residence from the same CO on the same workorder, there was over 1/2 mile difference in loop lengths. I placed several orders to reestablish service and they were silently canceled.
I kept getting bounced from tech support to billing and back again, and the story changed each time. Many tickets were opened, including ASI tickets which were useless because I still had a sync light. Most of the tickets were silently closed with no explanation on file, and nobody would tell me who closed them. Collectively I spent over 11 hours on the phone and have spoken to over 26 people, including technical support tier 1 and tier 2, tech supervisors, billing, and a billing supervisor. I asked the people I spoke to today if the company had a policy of one problem, one person, and was told no, we don't do that.
Unknown to me at the time, Ameritech/SBC initiated a erroneous DSL disconnect order Aug29 on my DSL line because one of their computers had a wrong phone number in it. (Not their billing computer, naturally, that one always works fine.) Ameritech/SBC later admitted the disconnect error is entirely theirs because their computer systems are not coordinated, and also admits that the disconnect order was most extraordinary and that they will take steps to ensure it doesn't happen in the future. Unfortunately, the history here on BBR indicates it is still happening.
Ameritech/SBC installed DSL to a temporary POTS number, and then I had my ISDN TNs switched to the POTS lines; Ameritech/SBC then failed to switch the DSL billing over to my TN. Then, in August, they assigned the TN that had previously been my temporary number to a new customer, who was outside of range for DSL service, so they canceled my service without any notice to me.
Ameritech/SBC indicated that they would take no extraordinary steps to restore my DSL service in an expeditious fashion, knowing and admitting that it was their error in the first place. Not only that, Ameritech/SBC refused to take ordinary steps to restore my DSL service themselves in any fashion, timely or otherwise. In fact, they refused to take any responsibility to restore service at all. What bothers me much more is that SBC admits the error is entirely their fault, they are making me jump through all the hoops to order new service. This SHOULD have been handled on their end, e.g. "Sorry we messed up, we'll get a new order in the system for you, and let you know when we have a date." Instead, they say "Sorry we messed up. Call our sales office if you want to try again."
I don't know anything about SBC internal organization; I don't know if any of the people I talked to had the power to fix things. I would think that any of the supervisors that I spoke to should have been able to review the facts and start the process, or at least escalate it to someone who could. Nobody was willing to do that. Everybody told me I had to take ownership of it.
The result is I had to wait for their erroneous disconnect order to complete its rounds at Ameritech/SBC, then I had to start all over and contact DSL sales to place a brand-new order for DSL service, with the usual minimum 7-10 days delay for a new installation. This meant a minimum of 23 days from the disconnect before I might possibly have DSL service again. This is all because two computers at Ameritech/SBC didn't talk to each other. Who else might this problem affect in the future?
For the disconnect to complete, I had to wait for SBC facilities to be removed from my line in the SBC CO before they could reinstall SBC facilities in the SBC CO for my line. Douglas Adams is grinning fiercely in his grave at the insanity and bureaucracy at SBC. Note that I still had a green sync light on my DSL modem while all of this was going on, and the EPC at one point told me that they couldn't find the disconnect order on the first POTS line, and that the line showed somebody else's facilities on it too.
My experiences with Ameritech/SBC people in the last week have ranged through a wide gamut. Most of the people have been friendly and genuinely tried to help but their efforts were compromised because their computers could not see the internally-generated disconnect order (which caused nearly two useless days of "unplug this, try that..."). Only the tier 2 technician and some of the supervisors could see that order.
The biggest exception to friendly and helpful was a billing supervisor who was offensive, condescending, and kept teasing me that he could do things to help (e.g. reconnect, reactivate, or expedite the installation), but wouldn't. The same billing supervisor flatly refused my request for a copy of my case log, including all billing and technical service inquiries and resolutions. The same billing supervisor also refused to issue a credit for the unusable DSL service I've already pre-paid until such time as they might actually restore DSL service. He said this is Ameritech's credit policy and he is going by the book. To add injury to insult, he did tell me the name of the customer that got the temporary phone number. Isn't that a violation of that customer's privacy?
I want to credit Ramiz, a technical supervisor in TX that helped eliminate some erroneous "no sync" tickets entered by earlier techs. Technical Support's Terry, Oscar, Tim, Darrell, and especially Kyle in FL were all trying to be part of the solution, rather than being part of the problem. On the billing side, Shelia, Sheri and her manager Chris tried to help too. Monica was the tier 2 tech that helped discover the disconnect order, but it took over 24 hours for the ticket to escalate to her in the first place. Laura in DSL sales helped explain what she was able to do, and what was beyond her power.
Unfortunately, DSL reports has no checkbox or field to describe an install that was installed, working fine, and then screwed up to the point of removing it.
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