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Not superspeed, but a reliable, fairly fast connection. And, for the price of dialup! I have been enjoying this service for 2 1/2 months and find it fully adequate for everyday use. Maybe a gamer or high volume user may need more speed, but for everyday use, it fully meets the need. No support needed since initial installation. Just a smooth connection that works all the time. Superior everyday choice! Been a few years and I've moved away. Things change, so do your homework before ordering! July 26, 2011 member for 19.4 years, 154 visits, last login: 9 years ago updated 12.6 years ago
I've had SWB/ATT DSL since 2004. I have the Elite package and have had very little problem with the service until ATT started the data caps. Since our household has a family of 5, I'm having to spend time trying to limit internet usage in our household. I have been using the meter page that ATT provides but it's always 2-4 days behind on reporting usage. I dislike having to spend time monitoring the usage in the first place but the least ATT can do is to provide the usage on a more timely basis. Plus I would like some assurance that the meter they use is accurate by ISO standards, not unlike a water or electric meter since they serve the same purpose. Since the caps were put in place, I'm more open minded about switching ISP's to one that doesn't have caps. member for 20.3 years, 2698 visits, last login: 10.5 years ago updated 12.6 years ago
Yup, I'm in Encino in a virtually new house with 5 year old wiring. I've had horrible performance over the last 2-3 months with the DSL whereas previously I had DSL Pro over 14 years plus no problem at 3 different locations. I finally succumbed and got TWC internet after I had 2 ATT techs out. I brought my rig out to the demarc/NID and had horrible performance there too. The first tech claimed that I had bad house wiring and I got a replacement whole house filter through the tech and she "rewired" the connection. Still no joy. So I got a brand new modem (DLink) and Cisco router, replaced the previous rigs. Still no joy. The second tech claimed I had great performance which lasted about 1 day. Then the crappy connection started again. I broke down at that point when my wife started complaining about not being able to log into her office. Some things; 1) this started almost to the exact day, they announced they were going to start datacapping and rolled out their "user-friendly" user data cap tracking system. I tried to see what my usage was but it didn't work for me correctly and since many users said that it meant I wasn't being capped, I just ignored the thing for a long time. Nevertheless, I could see how that whole web page was being modified during the process and how it indicated to me how poorly the rollout was done. Plenty of other people complained about it before I even bothered to investigate. If I were paranoid, I would say that ATT is messing with their edge boxes and screwing their customers at the port level. But I'm content to say that it's just sheer incompetence, disdain, and disinterest. 2) the out-sourced out-of-country 1st level support does the best they can but really it just doesn't make ATT look good. By using fake American sounding names (Joe, Diana, etc.), they just make themselves look like frauds and liars. It would be better if they could just be honest and call themselves Dash or Mo and be better trained and equipped to handle tech calls. The 1st level support provided is virtually pointless for anyone who knows how to plug electrical gear up. 3) I live in a nice neighborhood; there's movie stars all over and entertainment folks by the bushel load. Plenty of investment and investor types. It's a well-off neighborhood. Yet, when I tried to get U-Verse through their online interface, it's a consistent no go. I tried over a long time (2-3 years) as I was interested in getting more bandwidth. But they just don't seem to be able to offer it; maybe because it's not a brand new neighborhood and it's not easy to drop in VRADs? Sad because I know there is plenty of demand here for better, more modern connections. Perhaps ATT should think a little more in how and why investing in at least monied neighborhoods might pay off more in the long-term. For sure, it doesn't represent any great positive impression of ATTs ability to move with the times. I kept the DSL line as a hedge in case the TWC was sucky as I'm not a huge fan of TWC. But alas, it appears that ATTs inability to properly diagnose my problem is just too much of a burden on me. I'm really not willing to spend my time and dime in order to tell them they need to replace their line from the NID to the main pole outside my property. I did it once before when I moved in and I'm fairly sure that the run (about 120') has been abused by the birds and squirrels. At this point, I probably will disconnect entirely and go with TWC simply to combine my billings into 1 point of usage. Too bad, for a long long time I stood by ATT when others would support TWC or something else. I preferred my service when it was known as Pacific Bell, at least they were wiring up for optical until ATT got into them again. All downhill after that; for years they left all this unconnected optical up in the air. member for 20.1 years, 25 visits, last login: 11.3 years ago lodged 12.6 years ago
I had to purchase a new 2Wire Router/DSL modem for around $88 with tax. If I had wanted to use my old Earthlink modem it would have cost me around $90 in phone tech support charges. So they get you either way. But in the long run I'm saving a lot of money with AT&T DSL Direct. Update June 2011: I am averaging around 600 kb download and the technician was at my house for 4 hours and she couldn't fix it. I used to get around 5 mb download for a year and a half. I am also getting high packet loss which is irritating too. I hope they fix this soon or I will have to defect to Roadrunner cable broadband. Update June 2011: I went ahead and ordered Roadrunner Turbo Plus and will cancel my AT&T service once that's up and running. Goodbye AT&T. You really dropped the ball. member for 22.6 years, 1017 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago updated 12.7 years ago
ATT Yahoo, formerly SBC/Yahoo, formerly SNET. I've had this service for about 9 years now. I have the "Elite" package, get 5.1 Mbps down/660 Kbps up. This has generally been very solid, but there were some vexing connectivity problems in the last year, which after a lot of extended contact with customer service turned out to be problems at the central office, which since being rectified resulted in once more having solid service. Frankly, the 2Wire Gateways that are still being used, leave much to be desired...if you go that route, I recommend either going with their basic modem, or getting your own router or wireless gateway. member for 22.1 years, 4816 visits, last login: 6 years ago updated 12.8 years ago
I found out that I could actually choose my telephone service provider (and their lines) from Verizon or AT&T (old SW Bell territory). AT&T refers to it as "sport" service. Anyway, the speeds available to me from At&T are much better than Verizon (I had Earthlink as my isp). Obviously, my connection is coming from a much closer source than Verizon's CO. I had no real complaints with Verizon and Earthlink; it's just that for eight years I was stuck at 768kbs. To Verizon's credit they actually set your sync speed higher than your official service speed to account for PPPOE and other overhead (I routinely had very close download speeds to my service speed). I was provided the option from AT&T all the way up to their 6Mbs tier. I chose the 3Mbs service just to see how the service would work out. Everything seems fine so far- I'm getting ~2.5 consistently. If the modem statistics from the Motorola 2210-02 are accurate, I shouldn't have any problem upgrading the speed. The only real problem was registering through the Yahoo software they provide. I managed to work through it, but it was somewhat of a pain. UPDATE 5/25/11 I cant complain about reliability; I don't recall having any service outages or slow downs in service. I consistently get close to the maximum download speed. However, it doesn't seem quite the bargain that it did at one time. It's up to a little over forty dollars a month now- and I trust at&t about as far as I can throw them. I have been paying attention to my download amounts recently. I don't think I will have much of a problem with the limits that they have put in place recently. I'm just worried how at&t will measure it on their end, and how these limits will "evolve" to further their interests and not mine. I have got the impression increasingly over the past few years that it's ALL about profit for these guys. member for 16.1 years, 291 visits, last login: 11.1 years ago updated 12.8 years ago
For the last nine years I had Earthlink 6.0 service, provisioned by Covad for $39.95 Last year, ELNK switched the underlying carrier to AT&T. Almost immediately, I noticed a decline in service, i.g., more reboots, sync with no surf, latency, etc. Taking stock of my options, either DSL or cable bundles I saw AT&T was offering "DSL Elite" 6.0 service for $24.95, with free networking router, and a $50.00 gift card. After the initial one year contract period, the price rises to $40.00 Even though I really missed Covad/ELNK stability, I decided I would pocket the twelve month savings of $180.00. I put in the disconnect order with ELNK on Thursday 3rd, effective for Monday, June 7th. My AT&T DSL service was turned on the morning of Tuesday, June 8th without problems. Since my ELNK service was provisioned through AT&T, I didn't even have to switch modems or settings. I did accept the free AT&T Westell 6100 modem/router for backup though. In regards to privacy, it wasn't until I was already switched on with AT&T and reading the "Terms of Service" when I see their service is co-branded with Yahoo. No where on the AT&T DSL Elite page is this association listed. Additionally, unlike ELNK, newsgroups are not provided by AT&T. Be aware the Yahoo privacy statement is much different from AT&T!! Yahoo is very clear, they track your web movement. UPDATE: I knew I had to wait for one month of service before receiving the modem rebate, however, AT&T is reneging on the $50.00 gift card. The representatives say there is no such deal. Luckily, I printed out a copy of the sign-up screen and I confirmed the terms when I signed up. I do have manager working on getting me the $50 gift card but you have to wonder how many folks just give up. When I browsed the AT&T website, they know I had an EARTHLINK IP address and can offer "gift cards" to entice the switch. 9/18/2010 UPDATE: After three months of conversations, I finally a received a $50.00 check to compensate for the missing gift card. Once the problem was escalated to management they fixed the problem. Kudos to manager "Melinda" in the AT&T Rewards Center. Be sure to print out any offers you receive online! Of course, this suggestion is valid for most companies too May 12, 2011 FINAL UPDATE: After reading the new AT&T Terms of Service, I decided to make the switch to Sonic.net's Fusion service; and am delighted with the change. I was paying ~$37.00 (before taxes) for an AT&T measured landline without any Custom Calling Features, and DSL Elite 6.0Mbps service. With Sonic's Fusion service, priced at $39.00 (before taxes) I receive unlimited Local and Long Distance Calling, Voicemail, Call Waiting, Caller ID, Three-way Calling, and higher ADSL2+ speed without monthly download caps. I'm approximately ~5150' from the Central Office. With AT&T, my speed was ~5.1Mbps. With the new Sonic Fusion service, my download speed is ~9.1Mbps. Bye, Bye AT&T! The Sonic Tech Support is top drawer. member for 23.3 years, 7251 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 12.8 years ago
SBC Yahoo is my third DSL service provider. (My first one stopped offering DSL and I decided to make the change from the second after hearing good things about SBC.) The order placement was easy. Customer service was fast and I received my SpeedStream 5100 modem sooner than expected. I was able to start using the service prior to my actual "install date", but at a lower speed than I purchased until the install date, at which time I called to verify with them, and my speed went up to where it should be. My contract is for 12 months at 47.99 per month for 1.5-3.0 Mbps down and 384Kbps up. My service has been in place now for a few months and I've had no problems. I spoke with tech support once when I first got the service to verify with them my service start date so I could receive the proper bandwidth. The Tier 1 tech support people are trained only to read from a script, but don't have a lot of actual knowledge of the tech issues. Unfortunately, even if you know exactly what you need, they are required to ask a lot of questions that may have nothing to do with why you're calling. Once getting past the Tier 1, it's fine--no script--just talking to a regular tech person. But, the customer service is also very friendly and there is not a long wait for calls to be answered. I installed my own service. That went smoothly. As seems par for the course with most ISP's, there is a disk with lots of extras that I didn't necessarily want, but that's okay. I just didn't install it. My idea of having an ISP is simply that--to provide a connection to the Internet. I don't need or want all the "bells and whistles" so to speak. I have a dynamic IP. It's a PPPoE connection. The modem (SpeedStream 5100) and two machines using the service are hooked up to a Netgear RP614. Occasionally I need to recycle the modem, but the service has been good. I've experienced no downtime. I'm getting about 5.0Mbps down and 500Kbps up all the time. Uptime has been great. I've paid the same for less in the past. There have also been no money/billing problems. It's all been what was agreed upon from the initial order contact. I've been happy with the service and have no hesitation recommending it. UPDATE: I've had AT&T service for about 7 years now. All in all, it's been pretty good. There was an incident that required some pushing. I reported it twice as an Internet connectivity issue. I finally learned to report it as a TELEPHONE service issue rather than an INTERNET service issue. As soon as I did that, the problem (which required digging) got handled. When I reported it as an Internet issue, I was told it must be my set up. Since then, I have moved to a new house, but in the same general area. I took my service with me, and it's been working fine. I needed to replace my modem recently, but it was the original modem, so that was no surprise to me when it began failing. My current charges are $40.00 per month for the same speed I originally ordered. I am hoping that upgrades to the infrastructure in our area will bring more options, such as fiber and faster dsl service. At this time, it is somewhat limited. UPDATE (5/13/11:) As of 5/11/11, I have switch my service to AT&T U-Verse Max (12/1.5) service. I moved to a new home a few miles away one year ago, and have found that I have more and more trouble getting the speeds for which I was paying with the ADSL service. At the new home, it turns out that my distance from the CO is 13,200 feet. Even when I lowered my service, though, to the 3.0 Mbps down service, I was only attaining about 1.0 down. I was informed by one of the techs that, along with my distance issue, the CO was quite overloaded. After looking into both U-Verse and Comcast Cable, I decided to go with U-Verse. It's giving me much better speeds to help accommodate the increased streaming I am doing now. member for 20.8 years, 391 visits, last login: 134 days ago updated 12.8 years ago
5/2: att dsl is not needed now and even if i do need it im not going to pay them 66 dollars that they say i owe oh ok whatever^^ their service is trash and their CSR is rude and stubborn. the kind of ppl they hve working are low intelligence illiterate and a waste of human resource fire al of them!!! Updates: 4/2/11 billing is a serious problem with this company ATT formerly SBC southernbellcompany? SBC???? anyway... they seem to bill you excessively let say you end service on 1/1/2011 but they go ahead and bill you in full for the month of january and february that to me is absurd and the CSR doing this need to investigated for their shill billing!!! he or she is charging extra and is not right... this company is beginning to suck more and more everday ummmmmmmmmm dont expect good service from ATT all they want is money and could careless if they do a bad job its disappointing i suppose i be billed 3 months if i used say only 10 day and cancel service that what they do!! even thought i have no contract and on month to month service in other word they punish you with a few more month extra billing that to me is shady buisness practice and illegal anyone would be upset why owuld i pay for something i didn't use?????? Insane!!! 5/11/09 because of their shady business practice of billing you 2 month in advance when you even haven't use up one month or partial yet is just ridiculous i will never do business with them ever again. they are bad service and their tech support at the worst. sorry att conartist, i will not pay for something i did not use! yes i talked to the csr about removing this error but the guy was arrogant and insist that i pay! Update:3/8/09 att billing are horrible and these csr are just pathetic, some of them are mean. they were rude and treated me like i was a little child. they have billed me excessively after cancelling service and won't make any correction. just the kind of company you want to just shove in the trashcan and hope they cease to exist. how can i be billed 90 dollars??? insane? since i cancelled before my billing date in mid of feb! so i am being bill in full for feb and march! i always hated att and their shady billing practice... its a pain to find a csr that would work with you, most of them are just arrogant they would bounce me around for like an hour i got fed up and just don't want to waste any of my time with these clown anymore. Update 2/21/09 I have since dropped att dsl because its slow and I don't need it anymore download real fast... upload real slow....and i hate that its a leechband a blood sucking connection. I will not come back anytime soon because I don't want to continue to fund these technology that are very behind the time and are like a floppy drive, obsolete. Their was no usage cap for the last 10 years and if they do implement in the next 6 month or less it will only prove my point that they are getting worse. They say they will enforce cap but its too late by then the world is going fiber and nobody is gonna wait any longer. if i stick with them and they charge me outrageous fee for going over the limit its bye bye. we the consumer have a choice who say we have to have service with a company that would restrict our usage that was unlimited to begin with. They are desperately trying to keep this ancient scrap copper based broadband from going under so the only that is going to keep it running is more money, more funding for these greedy company mean more profits and the same crap service that we will never see any improvement in the near future. Its like being on dialup at 28k or 56k indefinitely. I been with att for 6 months and i can say that its ok lite usage but nothing impressive about it... the download is decent but the upload is pitiful. Its not economical to have multiple broadband...two connection mean i need two computer to use it. three connection means i need 3 computer to use it. its a pain to bond multiple connection into one. It is best to have just one that is fastest and cheapest. If i wanted faster connection why not upgrade to 10/10 for 54.00 or 20/20 for 92.00 from surewest fiber optic which comes with digital tv and telephone service as well and cheaper too instead of paying more for less? We are comparing day and night member for 16.8 years, 147 visits, last login: 10.5 years ago updated 12.8 years ago
At&t just upped my DSL bill $2.00 per mo., without notice. (I just noticed on my phone bill). Means once again looking at Charter offers. A neighbor recommends Charter (ugh), especially since I'm now using a Roku box for TV. member for 19 years, 556 visits, last login: 6.5 years ago updated 12.9 years ago
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