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 Review by puppers 
member for 11.7 years, 3428 visits, last login: 64 days ago
updated 64 days ago
 Sacramento,Sacramento,CA
 $29 per month about 2 days AT&T "Easy upgrade from DSL 6000/768 to U-Verse 12mb/1mb" "Customer service is not that good, though the techs can be of help" "I had fast service before and even faster now for less money!"
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Service has been great the past few years. I'm in Sacramento and am only 300 ft from my CO. Super fast connections all the time. Update 12/2011, U-Verse Internet is now available in my area, was able to switch from DSL with only 1 day down. 12mb/1mb for only 29.99 with no contract.
The only complaint I have is that customer service has been outsourced (difficult to understand them at times) and the people handling problems just read from a script.
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Review by altdel
member for 8.4 years, 1105 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 152 days ago
- Danville,Contra Costa,CA
- $45 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 10 days
- SBC
- "Good value for money, high reliability, good speeds"
- "After-hour telephone tech support has become pretty much useless"
- "Good bang for the buck"
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I''ve had SBC DSL for over 5 years. The service has been mostly reliable and stable. I've had about a day or two of downtime per year. Most of the time, the service came back without me having to contact tech support. On the few occasions that I do have to call tech support (ASI in particular), they were able to solve my problem within reasonable time.
On more recent experience; I was pleasantly surprised to have discovered this site and the wonderful SBC tech support in the forum. The tech support guys can really help you solve your problem, and fast too. However, if the problem occured over the weekend then it might not get fixed before Monday because the after hour offshore tech support is useless.
Updated on 8/6/2010.
Well, after 12+ years with the same DSL service, during which the company name changed from Pacbell, to SBC, to AT\&T, I was hoping for an upgrade to higher speeds to be available. But, no such luck. U-Verse is not available for my neighborhood. While the DSL service I have (6.0M down, 765K up) has been rock solid throughout the years, it's getting a little old. The availability of services such as Netflix streaming is pushing the need for higher download speeds. My patience is running thin waiting for U-Verse to arrive. At this point I'm seriously considering switching to Comcast, who has Docsis 3.0 deployed in my area.
I figure I'd give it another six months. If U-Verse doesn't arrive then, I'll be a cable customer.
Comments:
 | | price you might be happier if you call the at&t cancellation dept and tell them you are thinking about switching to comcast. I did and they lowered my rate for pro from $33 to $14.95, makes me a happy customer! | |
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Review by chene209
member for 3.4 years, 130 visits, last login: 4 days ago
updated 170 days ago
- Merced,Merced,CA
- $20 per month
- (12 month contract)
- AT&T
- "stable connection for a good price,i like it"
- "modem used to disconnect and reboot alot before"
- "get it!"
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first two months it was fine then modem started to reboot or disconnect randomly alot.4 months later i did heavy research and found out that i needed to put the modem in wireless B mode.now connection is super stable,so i am very happy at the moment,plus the pricing is nice.$20 a month for 1 year,i had to call them 4 times to get the pricing right.people were right,u have to remind them about the promotion or else they will charge u full price.
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Review by NormanS
member for 10.9 years, 3724 visits, last login: 85 days ago
updated 241 days ago
- San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
- $30 per month
- about 7 days
- SBC
- "DSL support is very good. POTS is pretty good."
- "NNTP service is mediocre. Email service is only as good as Yahoo! Mail Plus."
- "Still needs improvment. And now, they need to ditch the caps, as well as Yahoo!"
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When I started, the name of the service was, "Pacific Bell DSL", which was allowed by SBC, even though they were the parent company. Seven years, and some changes later, the service is now called, "at&t Yahoo! HSI"; a legacy of the outsourcing contract between SBC and Yahoo! (BTW, the name change from "SBC" to "AT&T" reflects a corporate decision by the SBC managment team after they bought AT&T. The "new" AT&T is just the old SBC re-branded.)
Recent changes were made by Yahoo! to the way they hand email through their SMTP Message Submission servers. These changes were made unilaterally, and without prior notice to AT&T, leaving AT&T CSRs to field customer calls when things broke for the customers. These changes pretty much make their message submission servers useless for power users. I am reasonably sure that most ISPs don't force this limitation on their customers. Basically, using an email address different that the account requires prior "verification" with Yahoo! to avoid an SMTP error where email using that as the "From:" address being rejected.
As a result, I have downgraded my opinion of the quality of the services. I probably should have downgraded the "Tech Support" rating earlier, as well; primarily because deciding whether to take troubleto Yahoo!, or to AT&T, can be confusing. Technically, the DSL connecting (AT&T support) is fairly good. However, Yahoo! support for their Internet services is somewhat lacking.
Wish: That AT&T would reconsider their outsourcing conract with Yahoo!.
This is my last word about AT&T. When they announced that they would implement caps, I started re-evaluating my relationship with this company. Though I only, briefly, saw evidence of congestion in the last year, but mostly got my speed, the company as a whole seems more interested in buying legislative consideration than network capacity for their customers. I don't really care for the idea of caps on the service; even though my history shouldn't be a concern. Just the idea protecting content providers over customers isn't cool.
As of about noon, today, I have fired them.
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Review by nmarrion
member for 10.7 years, 3385 visits, last login: 95 days ago
updated 302 days ago
- Los Altos,Santa Clara,CA
- $35 per month
- about 3 days
- AT&T
- "Very reliable & fast."
- "Elite is $20/mth cheaper than cable for me"
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Update 4/15/11
No change. Service has been uninterrupted over the past year. Still seems to be the best bang for my buck.
Update 4/27/10
Still happy with service. Only one outage that affected the whole area in the past year. Will be trying to see if I can reduce the cost in the light of current promotions.
Update: 5/11/09
Yesterday afternoon, 4 days after the switch to DSL Direct, out of the blue we lost internet access and got a landing page tell us that there was a problem with our AT&T account and to call Customer Service. I had to go through the new account registration process to re-establish our account. The rep could not offer any explanation as to why this happened 4 days after it should have done and with no warning.
I am left shaking my head again as to how clumsy this whole process is.
Update: 5/7/09
Have had Pacbell/SBC/AT&T DSL for 7.5 years and I remain very pleased with the reliability and speed. A couple of years ago I replaced the original modem with a Siemens 4100B and perhaps by coincidence, perhaps not I found that I could finally upgrade from Express to either Pro or Elite.
I ended up with Elite and get 5.1M down and 650K up on speedtests. The speed is very consistent.
To cut a long story short we decided to drop our home phone line and switch to DSL Direct (dry DSL). Cut off was planned for today and DSL was scheduled to be reconnected tomorrow. However, an AT&T technician turned up on our door step this afternoon and apparently had to check the line as though we had never had DSL. When he was done, we were back online, so we were offline for just a few hours. It doesn't seem to be a very efficient process, but it worked far quicker than the horror stories I have heard.
The price will still be $35/month as we have AT&T cell phones.
Comments:
 cfm117
join:2004-02-13
Woodland Hills, CA | registration A tech showed up because it was a brand new line separate from your old one. They cant just turn off the dailtone and its done. Tech has to establish a new loop and reterminate ur inside wiring the new dsl line as the old one now most likely has a QDT (quick dialtone) 911 only. Tariff regs do not allow a qdt to be replaced by a dry loop. Also you were promped to call customer service to re register because your new account had not been registerd after a period of time. It is able to be registered with your previous account info however. | |
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Review by ddougb
member for 9.8 years, 163 visits, last login: 87 days ago
lodged 315 days ago
- San Pedro,Los Angeles,CA
- $46 per month
- AT&T
- "Connection reliability and speed."
- "Cost"
- "Think I will stay for now. Cable is my other option."
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I ordered DSL when it was the only option for broadband. Basically I've been pleased with the results. It was Pacbell.net at the time. I average 4.7m down and 600K up.
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 Review by myosh
member for 10.7 years, 2603 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 325 days ago
- Cupertino,Santa Clara,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- about 4 days
- SBC
- "Easy Installation, Consistent Download Speeds"
- "New 150 GB cap and possible overages... yuck!"
- "Sorry AT&T but you lost me when you implemented caps and overages"
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I have been a cable internet subscriber since the late 90's when TCI was my local cable company and @Home was the service provider. Well, after a number of transitions (TCI@Home to AT&T@Home to ATTBI to Comcast HSI) and a number of price increases, I wanted to switch to DSL but it wasn't available where I lived.
In March of 2005, I got a flyer in the mail saying that DSL is now available in my area. I checked for availability using my phone number on the SBC website and it said I qualified for the Pro Package (3000/512) and the current promotion was $29.95 for a 12 month contract. Still leary about whether I would get the full 3 Mbit/s, I held off until I discovered the SBC Direct forum here on DSLReports.com. I put in a pre-qual request and within a day or two, a tech posted that I should be right at the 3 Mbit/s cap. With that resolved, the decision to order SBC DSL became a really easy one because by switching to DSL, I could save $13/month for the same speed I was getting from Comcast (3000/384, $43/mo).
In May of 2005, I placed my order through the SBC website for the free equipment and the free self-install kit. Within a week, I received a package from SBC containing my modem (SpeedStream 5100) and the self-install kit (filters, cables, software, etc). On the date my service was activated, I installed the modem and the software and I was up and running in no time.
The very first thing I did was run a speed test from DSLReports.com and I was surprised to see my connection test at 1200 Kbit/s which was less than half of what I was expecting. I asked the tech that helped me with the pre-qual why I was getting such a slow download speed. A little later that afternoon, I get a response from the tech stating that, for some odd reason, the modem was sent the wrong config file (Express package, 1500/128). He told me that he sent my modem the proper config file for the Pro package and that I should run another speed test which I did. To my relief, it tested at 2500/400. The last thing I did was to put a Linksys Wireless router/firewall between the DSL modem and my home network.
It gave me great pleasure to tell Comcast to cancel my cable modem service because their prices were too high. I still have their cable TV service.
January 2006 Update:
For the first time, I'm experiencing some download troubles. I ran a speed test and my download speed is around 200 Kbit/s. I'm waiting to see if this a temporary glitch or something more serious.
May 2006 Update:
With my initial contract up soon, I was able to get a new one-year contract from ATT/SBC. The new contract is for 1 year and my new monthly rate will be $24.99/month, a $5 savings!!! The whole process took about 30 minutes on the phone with customer service.
May 2007 Update:
With my second 1-year contract up soon, I was able to get a new 1-year contract from ATT/SBC at the same rate I was paying over the past year, $24.99/month. For committing for another year, I also get 1 month free. All of this was done online so it took less than 5 minutes to renew.
June 2008 Update:
My third 1-year contract expired in May and now I am month-to-month at $30/month. I have not tried to contact AT&T to see what they offer for another 1-year contract. Service has been pretty good with no major problems or outages.
March 2011 Update:
Well AT&T danced with the devil and implemented a 150 GB cap on all DSL customers with overages after you exceed the cap three times. With that, my 6 year stint with AT&T DSL will be over soon as I head back to Comcast HSI. I signed up for the Performance promo-package (12/2, 15/3 with PowerBoost) for $19.99 for the first 6 months. Yes, Comcast has a cap (250 GB, 100 more than AT&T) but it's a soft cap with no overages and that's something I can live with. C'ya AT&T!
Comments:
| | But you will be paying more. But you will be paying more. Might as well stick with ATT and even with the overage it will be cheaper then Comcast. Or go to U-verse they have a 250GB cap. others will have caps as well. Do you really use more then 150 / 250GB a month? | |
| | | | Re: But you will be paying more. Streaming movies can easily put you over their cap very quickly. | |
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 ·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: But you will be paying more. Don't forget, the way that DSL technology works is that it's a direct line. There is no sharing outside of the central office, so there is no real stress on the lines. If there was, all DSL users would have constant issues with there lines.
AT&T is doing this only to make more profits on people they already have.
Thing is, they could have simply advertised that they offer unlimited bandwidth and most likely got more customers and made a lot more money that way. | |
| | | | cvbn
join:2003-11-03
Los Angeles, CA | but if u have ps3 or xbox for teens there goes the cap | |
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| | | |  lakinoPremium
join:2003-04-03
Campbell, CA | Re: But you will be paying more. Have u made the switch? How is Comcast? I may have to do the same. | |
| | | | myosh
join:2001-05-03
Cupertino, CA | Re: But you will be paying more. The switch has been made, and, for now, I'm satisfied with Comcast's service. I was able to qualify for a promo price of $20/month for the first 6 months and the regular price afterwards. | |
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 Review by stormbow
member for 9.5 years, 3493 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 348 days ago
- Simi Valley,Ventura,CA
- $49 per month
- (2 month contract)
- AT&T
- "Steady reliable service, support forum here at DSLR/BBR"
- "calling tech support is hit or miss"
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On U-verse 12Mb/2Mb profile since Jan 15, 2011. Very steady so far, although having all the STBs running at the same time makes the internet feel more sluggish. (I don't have any actual measurements this is just my impression)
Comments:
 wings10I Am LegendPremium
join:2004-06-09
South Elgin, IL | U-verse or Pacific Bell? U-verse or SBC Pacific Bell? | |
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 Review by rflack50
member for 11.1 years, 2162 visits, last login: 24 days ago
updated 1 year ago
- Sacramento,Sacramento,CA
- $39 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 30 days
- SBC
- "I can be on the phone with tech support, and trouble shoot computer connection at the same time."
- "Trying to get your service switched to a new address is taboo."
- "Pacbell aDSL is worth the headaches of install, and address switch."
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I ordered pacbell adsl, and free setup for $39.95 a month. Down speed advertised at 1500kbps, and up speed at 128kbps. On install day the tech tried to set me up with the standard modem. My computer would'nt run with it. He tried different brands of nic cards, and still could'nt get it to run. I ended up with the kingston ISA nic card, and Alcatel Speed Touch Home modem. Still no connection, but he did leave me with several tech support phone numbers to call. I got to thinking about a program i had running at the time called Security 98. It won't let you load a program unless you disable it. I disabled it, and loaded the enternet software. After a call to tech support i was up and running. It took all day, but it was worth it.
Three months later i had to move. I called pacbell a week in advance, and they gave me the choice of keeping my ( Huge Mistake ) old phone number with the account, or getting a new one. After 4 weeks of calls, and waiting for them to disconect my old account i finally got someone that new what she was doing, and i changed my phone number. It then takes about a week for them to get your account straight. Then i was given a date ( 3 more weeks ) for the service to be turned on. The big day was finally here, and i turned on my pc, and modem, and i did'nt get a line sync. I waited until 5 pm, and still no line sync so i called tech support. They checked everything, and said that i should have a great connection. Well, that night while looking for problems my computer crashed. I rebooted it, and the hardware wizard came up. It said no network adapter installed. I'm still new to computers, so i was'nt sure what that meant. I called tech support, and the guy tried to help me set it up including putting nic card into a new slot. When none of that worked he advised that i buy a new nic card. Well i purchased an SMC 10/100 pci card. I put it in, and bingo. I have'nt had a problem since. Like i've read in other peoples reviews. If you don't have patience don't get DSL. It has definately been an experience, but am happy with pacbell.
I have now had pacbell at my new residence for sevral months now, and my connection has been stable the whole time. Speed is at 1100-1200 down, and 105-112 up. Everything works great thanks to DSLR, and all those who helped. Great Job!
Pacbell DSL, PPPoE, Enternet 300, Static IP, Alcatel speed touch home modem, SMC EZNET 10/100 Nic, 386-1500 down and 128 up. Speed=1100-1200 down, and 110 up. Everything is stable.
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 Review by leibold
member for 9.6 years, 4401 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 1.1 years ago
- Sunnyvale,Santa Clara,CA
- $50 per month
- (month by month)
- AT&T
- "Fast reliable service at low rates"
- "Yahoo ?"
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I got Pacbell DSL as soon as it became available in my area (mid 1999). I signed up for their 'basic' plan which was 384-1536kbps down and 128kbps up. Actual speed tests showed around 1200/108 until last years improvements which boosted the speed to around 1300/217. By signing up for another 1 year commitment I was able to reduce my monthly cost to $29.95. Not bad for a line that has given me reliable service for more then 4 years now. It's too bad this type of service (single static IP, no PPPoE) is no longer offered for new customers. I would highly recommend it to anybody interested in running his own servers (web, email).
Update 2005: I received an email from SBC that my upload speed had been increased to 384Kbps, but nothing changed. After reading in the PacBell forum that for some users the automatic speed upgrade failed, I posted in the SBC Direct forum. Due to the new years holiday weekend it took a few days, but my DSL speed has indeed improved. This DSL line has always been good and just keeps getting better 
On the downside, I just noticed that my term commitment has ended and I'm back on the month-to-month rate of $50 for this service. Time to give SBC a call and to renew for another year.
Update 2010: after more than 10 years of almost perfect service I switched to cheaper and faster Fusion from sonic.net. Looking back over those 10 years in which the provider changed from PacBell to SBC to the new ATT there was very little to be unhappy about. At some point SBC became unwilling to match advertised prices for Express service for the service I was getting (legacy single static DSL) which meant I paid double the amount of other customers in the same speed tier. The only major problem was diagnosed and repaired in a reasonable time frame (drop cable had gone bad).
Comments:
| | If it works, don't change it! Judging from ppl experiences here, that's the rule, if it works well enough, and you are OK with the charge, stay with it!
I used to have a local cable provider for years, then in 2005 they throttled down usenet way down, which was a no-no for me, I switched to Pacbell, I swithed to Comcast - NOT HAPPY and end up going back to my local cable provider. I also found alternatives to Usenet so that requirement ceased to be a deal breaker.
$50 bux for Internet only is kinda high these days.... at that price, I would expect Fiber-speed.... but again, if yer happy, don't touch it! | |
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