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Review by ensell 
Posted: 10.3 years ago
member for 10.3 years, 0 visits, last login: 10.3 years ago
 San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
 Contract price not specified.
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I use DSL at work and at home. At work, I run a network of 35 remote retail locations that connect to the company's servers via VPN. DSL is available to 8 of our 35 locations. Without a doubt, the biggest downfall of Pacbell DSL is the provisioning. From errors in assigning IP addresses and creating subnets to missed appointments, the installation process is unacceptable at best. Believe it or not, the installation process actually improved when SBC (Pacbell's parent company) took back the provisioning and installation from its outsource partner, Prime Services Group. A side note to other DSL carriers, avoid Prime Services like the plague.
Performance wise, Pacbell DSL is wonderful. The advertised bandwidth is available 95% of the time. Outages are few and far between. The price point is affordable, however, Pacbell does hold you ransom if you need additional IPs. I suggest setting up a proxy server or IP masking system. Even though additional IPs are expensive, Pacbell scores huge points in my book with static IPs.
My experience with Technical Support has been long waits on a queue, but at least the music was good. Once I got to a technician, they were knowledgable and helpful.
As for the DSL equipment itself. Pacbell uses Alcatel as its vendor. The modem is expensive - costing $299. Also, the modem is goes down far too often. Usually, the problem is solved by turning the modem off and on - simple enough for me. However, like I mentioned before, these DSL modems are being used in retail stores. Sometimes it will take 3-4 days for the retail staff to call the IT department to let them know their DSL connection is down. During that time, our company incurs per minute telephone charges when the retail branch dials into an ISP or to our RAS servers directly. The problem became so common that it is now standard operating procedure for our stores to turn their DSL modems off and on at the start of the day.
Bottom line... DSL implementation from Pacbell is nice. Very nice. You'll go through hell having it installed, but after that, its well worth the money. One more caviat... the DSL modem is fairly reliable, but I would always have some other means of accessing the Internet in the event of an outage. Pacbell provides free dial up accounts with DSL service just in case. Just make sure you don't through away your analog modem.
One last blurb... One of my retail locations was well within the 15,000 feet of the CO. However, Pacbell said it did not qualify. I suspected load coils. So, soon after I requested ISDN service for that same location. It is policy for Pacbell to remove the load coil for ISDN but not for DSL (makes me yell "WHAT THE HECK?!"). Pacbell removed the load coil to get ISDN in, but before the order was going to be installed, I cancelled the order and phoned in the DSL order. I still had to go through hoops to get the DSL order approved, but eventually, the retail location got the service. I recommend trying that if they say "no go" on DSL.
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Review by RobbieR
Posted: 10.3 years ago
member for 10.3 years, 0 visits, last login: 10.2 years ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
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I ordered the basic DSL service from PacBell... it just became available in my area. I'm very happy with it... excellent transfer speeds. The installation was OK but most of the 2 1/2 hours involved installing the POTS splitter for the DSL on one of my two existing lines and not messing up the other voice line.
It seems like once that was done, everything went smoothly. Now I have been having difficulties getting my Pacbell email address and webspace, etc... and there have been a few outages but when it's up... it's awesome. For $49 a month, it's definitely worth it. The speed is incredible.
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Review by djpoopoo
Posted: 10.3 years ago
member for 10.3 years, 3 visits, last login: 9.1 years ago
undisclosed location
Contract price not specified.
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For only $49 a month including the DSL line and the Internet access this is a hard one to beat. Every ISP I've looked is charging crazy amounts for the home user -- in fact they usually say their DSL service is geared towards businesses.
The only bad experiences I've had are the two times it's gone down (having had it for 4 mths) it's been down for about 3 hrs+, PacBell couldn't even find the cause for about an hour!
Occasionally it's hard to get mail or read news during peak prime time hours. Otherwise my speeds can near that of T1s!
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Posted: 10.3 years ago
member for 39.9 years, visits, last login: 39.9 years ago
undisclosed location
Contract price not specified.
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(this review was submitted via the editor).
I currently have DSL, using Pacbell as my ISP.
The installation process was entirely unprofessional and frustrating.
I had to wait three weeks for the installation, although I had two
friends that lived within a block or two from me that ordered DSL
after I did but had it installed before me.
When I first called to check whether it was available in my area, I
was told that since I was on a Mac, using OS 8.5, that I had to
upgrade my OS before I could use DSL. At that point, the sales rep
transferred me to a tech support person who explained that the sales
rep's statement was entirely wrong. After being transferred back to a
new salesperson, I was able to order the DSL. They never explained
that a Pacbell installer had to come to my apartment to ping the line
*before* the actual installation was done, so I missed him. After
rescheduling it, it turns out that all was fine, except they had
pinged the wrong line (I had two phone lines at the time). It was
finally straightened out, and the DSL was installed easily and
successfully. (As it turns out, it was even easier to install on a
Mac, since they didn't have to install an ethernet card in my
computer, since my Mac came with one built in.) However, after the
DSL installation, I lost the phone service on my second phone line.
After several days of scheduling to deal with the repairman coming
out to fix the line, it turned out that he never needed access to my
apartment, since they had simply switched my second phone line to
DSL, as well as the correct phone line, and the switch was done at
the relay box a block away. Suffice it to say that the entire
installation process was a very UNfunny "comedy of errors",
confusion, and frustration....although once the line was finally in,
the modem set up, and my software configured, the connection was
great!
To add insult to injury, a month later, my Pacbell phone bill
reflected several toll charges to a number I did not recognize. I
called the number only to discover that it was a DSL representative.
There were several toll calls totaling over $4.00 to that same number
on the day of my initial DSL installation. I assume that they were
incurred either when I called Pacbell to resolve all the installation
problems or by the DSL installer calling to check the line. In any
case, the calls were reversed from my bill after I complained.
For the most part, the connection is great. I consistently find that
I can d/l files at speeds from 40K/sec to 135K/sec. There have been a
couple of occasions when the entire system was down for several
hours, but that has not been the norm. There have also been a few
times when the email servers were down or just very slow and
inconsistent, but again, that is not the norm.
I am generally satisfied with the DSL service although I do have a
few issues with Pacbell as an ISP. For one thing, I still use another
ISP for my email and I have *never* given out my Pacbell email
address, or even configured it as a return address in any of my email
software. It is, in fact a 100% VIRGIN email address, yet I started
getting SPAM at that email address less than a week after my account
was activated. I suspect that someone at Pacbell is selling email
address, although they deny it. Also, on the few occasions when their
system and/or their email server has been unavailable, the problem
was neither reflected on their status page on the WWW, nor on their
telephone "status line" recording.
I consider it to be worth the $49/month, although I do keep my other
ISP active to cover the few gaps in service that have arisen over the
last two months.
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Review by thefonz0
Posted: 10.3 years ago
member for 10.3 years, 2 visits, last login: 9.4 years ago
Sherman Oaks,Los Angeles,CA
Contract price not specified.
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I just figured Id let people know how my experience for the DSL install is going so that nobody else has the same problems as I did.
Today was the day I had been waiting for for almost 2 years the DSL installation guy was finally comming to put my connection in. (I have been harasing pacbell about DSL since SBC made their DSL announcements in 1997) I started the day by going to a friends who was having DSL installed durring the AM, which is 8am to 12pm (I was signed up for PM which is 12pm - 5pm). I arrived late but the DSL tech still hadn't shown up (he was running late and didn't start till about 1PM even though this was his first job). When he finally did we ended up with a very knowledgable guy. He had been doing stuff like this for years and was able to do his job luckly and with out much trouble. With in 2 hours or so we were getting about 157Kbps off
Tucows.
Once my friends install was done I hung around a bit to see how well the connection worked the I ran home to wait for my DSL install. Originally the same guy was going to be my tech too but because of the late start and other delays I got somebody else. Anyway when the finally arrived aruond 6pm, which is late seeing as I was told they would arrive between 12pm - 5pm (I hate how they dont give you more specific times I ended up having to take the day off of work). Anyway when my tech showed up he climbed into my attic and started to take a look at my wiring. He quickly found that he wasn't detecting my DSL service so he called the central office to find out what was going on. They told him that my house had not yet been provisioned for DSL and that someone had yet to come out and test my lines or do any work on the poles, etc. This made me extremely irritated because just about 4 days ago when they called to confirm the install appoinment I let them know that nobody had come by yet to do the tests. They had at that point guaranteed me that "it would be done before onday" which ment only one day was left seeing as it was already thursday. They continued to promise this and finally said that if nobody came before monday that the installer would do the tests (which is a bunch of bull because not only does the installer not have the equipment for this but they are not allowed to even try to do that). Seeing as company policy said he could not start on the inside of my house until someone had done the tests the tech had to leave without installing anything.
Im going to call Pacbell tomorrow and complian about this. I find it very annoying seeing as that know I will have to take another day off of work so that I can be around from the Install.
If the rest of my install continues like this I will not be satisfied but hopefully this was just a one time glitch and I will soon be up and running.
--------------------------------
Update:
Well here is an update. This morning I called Pacbell as soon as their office opened. I complained about this and they kept apologizing and saying it was their fault (who else's fault could it be?). I convinced them to send a tech to my house to have the provisioning done they also set me up with an appointment for the next day to have the DSL installed. When I got home from work there was a guy waiting for me at my door asking if he could get into my attic to see my phone box. He came in did a test with this instrument called SunRise (anyone know exactly what this does?). Anyway he explained that my line supports just a little bit more than 1.5Mbps. This is great because Im only paying for a guaranteed 384k. He also explained that my neighborhood's box is totally full. He says that if one more person adds a new line they will have to send out an engineering team and upgrade our area. Im hoping this happens soon cause one of my lines is already on a digital spiltter which cuts the bandwidth in half so that 1 line can become 2. Luckily thats on my voice lines and not my data and fax lines but still I would rather not have my lines split. Anyway tomorrow afternoon DSL is going to be installed. If Pacbell doesn't screw up again I will be able to connect at amazing speeds.
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Review by
Posted: 10.3 years ago
(review was emailed in)
undisclosed location
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I have gone through Pacbell DSL installation hell twice, so
I do have some experience with Pacbell.
First experience -- Foster City in SF Bay area -- the sales
people qualified me after a weeks waiting. I then had to call them repeatedly to get them to come to my apartment
and install DSL. The installer spent a whole day trying to
install DSL, finally had to lay a new phone cable. Said he
had to do that all the time in old apartments. So why did he
take one day to do that?
Second experience -- Moved to Cupertino and ordered for a
DSL reconnection. Every time I called pacbell, I got a
different answer as to whether I qualified for DSL or not.
Never mind that my next door neighbor in same apartment
complex has DSL from pacbell. After calling about 20 times
over the span of month, I finally got them to committ
to installing DSL. All this time, my old voice line has not
been disconnected and I am getting billed for both DSL and
old voice line although I am no longer using either. Another month passes by before technician comes and installs DSL -- and they arrive without notice. Thankfully I only have a short commute so I can rush back home before they vanish.
Once installed, the DSL connection has been great although
I still have pacbell billing mess to deal with. And even
though I have not used my pacbell.net email address anywhere
I keep getting 2-3 junk emails a day at that address. Which leads me to believe pacbell is selling my email address.
If there was a cheaper (or even slightly more expensive) alternative to pacbell DSL, I would switch
today.
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Review by mc1
Posted: 10.3 years ago
member for 10.4 years, 3 visits, last login: 9.1 years ago
Los Angeles,Los Angeles,CA
Contract price not specified.
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Sales people are not exactly clued in, but the installers are *great*. Connection reliability is absolutely rock solid, and tech support is like a bulldog - they don't let go until the problem is fixed. Mail and news have been sporadically problematic, but these people try very hard to fix problems. Value for the money spent can't be beat. Overall, a great service.
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