Review by InvisiBill Location: Saranac, Ionia, MI, USA Cost: $30 per month (12 month contract) Install: about 5 days Double the speed of my old AT&T DSL at the same price. Reliable connection. Still relatively slow compared to major US cities and other countries. Standard modem/router has major bugs. It's about the best you can get here

Pre Sales Information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Value for money:

Cable's "Extreme High Speed Internet" here is still only "up to 15mbps" and they don't seem to offer it without bundling in TV or VoIP. AT&T offered an upgrade from their old 6Mb ADSL to the new U-verse IP-DSL at 12Mb for the same regular price, plus a promo price of $30/month for the first year.

AT&T is now branding all of their broadband offerings as "U-verse" even though it could be IP-DSL, Fiber To The Node with VDSL to the home, or Fiber To The Home. I don't believe they make it known anywhere on their site which specific service you'll be getting, though it's generally IP-DSL if TV and Voice aren't available.

The current standard-issue IP-DSL modem/router, the Motorola NVG510, is known to have some major bugs. For most basic users who simply plug in the modem and use its default settings, the DNS problems are the biggest issue and are "fixed" by simply reloading the page. However, if you want to use a separate router, there are problems that often result in a complete inability to route traffic. The online ordering process will not let you order IP-DSL without including the NVG510, however I was able to return it for full credit using the prepaid return label. I would have rather not paid for it in the first place as opposed to returning it and getting an account credit, as I supplied my own IP-DSL modem.

On my scheduled install day, my ADSL stopped working (as they said it would), but my new U-verse IP-DSL wouldn't connect. After a bit of troubleshooting, I discovered that they had upgraded the internals of my NID. In doing so, they incorrectly reconnected the wiring on the customer side, which resulted in my phone jack being disconnected from the line. Once I corrected their wiring mistake, the new connection was up and running beautifully.

As with their ADSL service, I have always gotten the advertised speed minus a bit of overhead. I have had one outage in the first month and a half, but I looked outside and noticed an AT&T van with a guy climbing the pole. Service was back up shortly.

Speed tests indicate that even 12Mb still puts me only in the middle of the pack as far as US broadband goes, and other countries make our internet service look pathetic. However, I've been happy with AT&T's DSL in a few places for a number of years, and the promo price is hard to beat. I was willing to take a slightly slower advertised speed to know that I'd have a reliable connection versus dealing with a cable company that used vague wording in their ads, and which other friends had expressed unhappiness with.

*** UPDATE ***

After eight months with the new U-verse IP-DSL with a 2210-02-1ATT (brand new, purchased from a private seller online) acting as a dumb modem in front of my own router, I'm still completely satisfied. I've had no other outages that I'm aware of. I would obviously prefer a faster connection and/or a lower price, but I still feel that this speed/price is a good deal relative to the other options here.

jbaar join:2010-05-02 Ionia, MI jbaar Member 2012-Jul-28 6:38 pm Uverse where do you live to get U-verse?Im on M-21 between Ionia and Saranac and cant get anything 2012-Jul-28 6:38 pm: · hey mods ·

your comment..