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 Review by edhalen 
UPDATED: 1.1 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 1628 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Yorkville,Kendall,IL
 $24 per month (12 month contract)
 about 5 days
 AT&T
 "Rock-Solid DSL service from ATT!!!"
 "None"
 "I am TOTALLY satisfied with my DSL :)"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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8-1-07 - UPDATE:
ELITE SPEED AT LAST!!! Many thanks to David in the AT&T Direct forum who help me out. He went the extra mile and got me on the Elite speed profile after all I could get was PRO through sales when I signed up. What he did was he tested my connection - and when the results didn't show as good as required for an "out of distance upgrade" as they call it, he had me plug my modem directly into the NID (the gray box on the outside of my house where the phone wires connect) and tested again. He was then able to get the readings he needed to prove to the sales people that my line would be able to handle the ELITE speed package.
See, I think they have a distance limit for the ELITE package that for most lines is as far as you can go and still get a stable connection. However, there are those connections out there that are further out than the ELITE package allows that can still handle the higher speed. My distance was approx. 7,300 ft. from the RT.
My profile was updated overnight last night and then tweaked this morning - after which time I am seeing the download and upload speed I should be getting.
This is yet another example as to why I am a HAPPY AT&T customer and have been since 2002 - the people who help. You'd NEVER get this type of help from Cable - I know because for a 9 month period I had cable out of necessity.
Glad to be back in DSL land!!!
6-30-07 - UPDATE:
My DSL was turned up about 3PM yesterday as promised in my order. Tech checked the levels on the NID and said everything looked great. He told me my max sync rate showed 8meg so an upgrade to Elite should be possible. I am working with the ATT Direct forum guys to see about upgrading to Elite from Pro. My speed tests are showing anywhere from 2250 to 2450kbps down and 425kbps up. So things are GREAT!! And, no more lag during my online gaming!! YES!!!
I'm very happy to be an ATT DSL customer once again. Highly recommended!!
6-24-07 - UPDATE:
Well, after 9 months with Comcast I'm returning to ATT DSL. I moved to a new house back in September of 06 and DSL wasn't available at the new place. Because I need it for work I had no choice. I found out a few months ago that the 1.5meg DSL package was available. That wasn't fast enough for my needs so I decided to stick with Comcast. After that I started having some performance issues with Comcast HSI, so I contacted ATT about DSL. I now find out that the 3.0mb PRO package is available (I contacted ATT sales). It seems the ATT database is having trouble with availability for my location as it says DSL is not available. I had already received a call from the sales department a few months back saying that I could get DSL. So, when I called yesterday they said I COULD get the 3.0meg package but had to "circumvent the system" to put the order through. The system wouldn't provide an install date for the sales person due to them having to work around it. I am supposed to receive the install date within a few days. They told me it typically is about 5 days until the circuit is live. They also offered me a 3 month rebate for a 12 month commitment as long as I send in a copy of my cable internet bill.
I will update this after my circuit is live and will report any installation or performance issues. I still have my Speedstream 5100b from before which I will use to save the $ on the equipment.
3-5-06 - UPDATE:
Well, after nearly 2 solid years of SBC DSL we've hit a bump in the road. I've noticed higher latency and packet loss during the peak evening period on weeknights from about 4pm to 10pm. I've been watching the Ameritech/SBC forums here on BBR and SBC is hard at working on a fix. I have full confidence that within a few weeks the problem will be solved. It is a rather large issue affecting many people. Methinks the number of customers in certain areas of their network have overtaxed the infratstructure here in the Chicago area.
I'm still a happy SBC DSL custmer.
3-23-04 UPDATE:
Well, after some glitches with the speed upgrade to the Expert package of 6meg down/608 up I can finally report SUCCESS!!! Albeit at a little lower speed than I'd hoped for for 44.99/month (up from the 39.95/mo. I was paying for 1.5/256 package) I am still a happy customer. What the great tech support guy named Beach Boy did for me was to put me on a rate-adaptive speed profile of 1.5-4meg down/384-414 up. That stabilized my line and brought me speed test results time and again at about 3.1meg down and 355k up. That is about double what I had on my previous package at only $5 per month more.
Evidently there was something in the circuit somewhere that did NOT like the full 6meg download speed. My phone line from the NID back to the phone box checked out fine and my home run is only 11 months old to my pc. My guess is it was something in the RT. Probably a grouchy card in the RT. I don't know what else it could have been.
At any rate, I really want to thank Beach Boy for helping me out. I didn't even have to pick up the phone for the dreaded level 1 tech support call. Thank God!  I really appreciate guys like him who make coming here a pleasant experience. Now, off to go enjoy my faster DSL!!!!
3-20-04 UPDATE:
Well, I have had nothing to update here since my SBC dsl has been ROCK-SOLID since May of last year. I have had absolutely NO problems whatsover. I really like having dsl.
Having said that, just this past week I decided to tempt fate and try to upgrade to the Expert package. That's the one where 6meg download and 608k uploads are available if your line can handle it. Well, it looks like my line can handle something less than 6 meg down. After somebody helped get my order through in a VERY VERY VERY short amount of time, my download speed went from 1.3meg down (where it had been rock solid on the 1.5/256 package since last May) to as low as 25k down. I could barely surf at times. The upload speed has been fine the whole time. Anyway, I am working with one of the online techs in the SBC forums here to resolve the issue. He has been very helpful so far and is working on a fix to stabilize my line. As of this writing the downloads are better than they were yesterday but not stable by any means. I'm now getting anywhere between 1.1meg to 2.8meg downloads. Much better. Hopefully the tech can make it more stable. I'm paying the 44.99/month rate for the new package. I was at 39.95. I just hope I can get enough download speed to justify the additional $5 per month.
I'm still a very satisfied SBC customer and I'd recommend their DSL product to anybody. The key is knowing where to find help if and when you need it. Just register at the SBC/Midwest forums and get to know everyone. It's worth it.
5/9/03 UPDATE:
I upgraded my speed from the 768/128 package to the 768-1/5/256 package the middle of January. I started seeing surf problems almost immediately after that. The problem was it was an intermittent thing and very hard to track down. I utilized the SBC tech support on this website and I am VERY happy to report that after 2 tech visits (the 2nd of which was a vendor meet) SBC FINALLY figured out what the problem was. INSIDE WIRING. They ran a cat 5 home for me and I am very happy to report that after 3 months of frustration my problem is GONE!!!! I have had 3 RT cards replaced and spent countless hours trying to figure out what the problem was. Thanks to the kind SBC techs (Beach boy) on this site I now have a ROCK-SOLID connection. The ONLY downside to the SBC support is the first tech should have known to try a cat 5 home run test before anything else was done. He installed a NID splitter for me to solve a noise problem but that was it. It didn't help the solve the root cause of the problem. Anyway, I am now a VERY happy SBC customer who just took advantage of a promo and I am now getting my 768-1/5256 service for 39/95/month for the next year!!!!
Peace
(Original review)
I am VERY pleased with my Ameritech DSL experience. Even when they messed up my order initially by not switching me over from copper to the digital fiber, they fixed it within 3 days and had me up and running close to the speeds they promised. And save for a couple of "bumps" along the way, the service has been as fast as promised and pretty stable. It's the internet, you are NOT going to get 24/7/365 service from ANY broadband vendor! Couple this with the OUTSTANDING support located in the Ameritech Funhouse »AT&T Midwest and you have a GREAT ISP!!!! (As a side note, it is ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING that SBC FINALLY recognized the value of the Funhouse and they now have a couple of VERY knowledgeable and helpful techs there along with the other Ameritech folk who have been there helping before it was "cool".)
In fact, the availability of quality help (the Funhouse) without having to fight the battle on the phone (aaaghhh!!!), has me thinking that even IF cable internet EVER gets to my area (Aurora..and I'm not holding my breath...ATT is really dropping the ball) I am probably going to stay an Ameritech customer because I KNOW quality help/information is there if I need it.
A VERY happy Ameritech customer!
EDIT: One other thing. I've had this DSL service since about 6/20 or thereabouts. Just took me a while to post a review.
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