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 Review by Coldfusion 
UPDATED: 209 days ago
member for 9.6 years, 830 visits, last login: 85 days ago
 San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
 $35 per month
 AT&T
 "10 years and going!"
 "More affordable than cable."
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I have had ADSL from Pacbell since 1999. When I ordered the service years ago, it was $49.99 for 1.5mb/384k. Free installation, the tech had put in a splitter and a separate line for the DSL. In 2005 I had upgraded to elite speeds for $35.00 for 6mb/768k. My old Alcatel 1000 modem from 1999 was flaking out on me, so in 2007, I had renewed the DSL contract for a year and they sent me a new modem. Getting max download speeds of 625K and I am happy =)
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Review by nmarrion
UPDATED: 217 days ago
member for 8.5 years, 2768 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Los Altos,Santa Clara,CA
$35 per month
 about 3 days
AT&T
"Very reliable & fast. Just switched to"
"Elite is $20/mth cheaper than cable for me"
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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.
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 Review by nitemare
UPDATED: 225 days ago
member for 9.6 years, 2966 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Monterey Park,Los Angeles,CA
Contract price not specified. (month by month)
AT&T
"n/a"
 "n/a"
"n/a"
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Switched to U-Verse
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 Review by cholt
UPDATED: 227 days ago
member for 9.6 years, 1257 visits, last login: 7 days ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$34 per month
AT&T
"Very stable, love the speed"
"Can't think of any"
"Still great service and speed for the price"
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I took advantage of the $39/month, 12 month contract residential DSL offer. Originally ordered on 4/29/00. Pacbell had to confirm that my line could support DSL, even though everything on DSL Reports said it looked good. They called back the next week and said we were good to go, with an installation date of 5/18/00. Started getting Pacbell techs out to the house to work on the line about 1 week before the install date. They were very good about leaving messages explaining that work was being done, and what they were doing. Had to switch my line to another pair that was "more compatible" with DSL.
On 5/17/00 (the day before the installation date) I received a call that my line wasn't qualifying for DSL, and that bridge taps had to be removed. This processs would take 1 week at the most, at which time they would reschedule the installation. I called and asked if I would have to wait another 3 weeks to get a date, and the Pacbell rep assured me that as soon as the line was cleared up, they'd schedule an installation within 3 days.
A couple of days later, I received another voice mail that said that they were having problems with the line, and it would push the due date out a few more days. Having not heard anything for a few days, on 6/1/00 I called to check on status. The rep I spoke to said that the line was OK, and scheduled an installation for 6/8/00. Coincidentally, Pacbell also left a message for me that same day saying that the line was ready and installation could be scheduled.
On the installation day, I received a call at 7:45AM from the install tech saying that he was on his way. He arrived at about 8:15 and got right to work. Installed a splitter at my demarc, then came inside and installed the Westell modem. Since I already had a NIC installed, he left the Kingston NIC that they provide for me to use if I wanted. He installed the Enternet 300 software (not impressed with that), got my account set up and I was off and running. Whole installation took 1 hour.
Even with all the line work, the tech's DSL analyzer showed that the best my line could do was 1280kbps, so Pacbell capped me at 768kbps for stability. Kind of disappointing, but since they only guarantee 384, I really can't complain, and it's been very stable since it was turned up.
Overall, I was pleased with the process. I was kept informed of what was going on, they did what they said they were going to do, and the service seems to work just fine.
1/28/03 update: Have had ups and downs over the past 2.5 years, but once a faulty line pair was swapped for another in late 2002, my service has been much more stable. Didn't like the jump to 49.95/month in 2002, but it's still cheaper than a cable modem, especially since AT&T has jacked their prices through the roof.
9/22/07 update: Moved to San Jose in 5/04. I now live very close to an RT, so I was able to upgrade to Elite and have very solid service. No complaints about the service at all. Any glitches have been dealt with by the extremely helpful folks in the AT&T Direct forum - they're the best!
4/30/09 update: Still on Elite; consistently getting over 5Mbps downloads, and over 640kbps uploads. Comcast's super duper high speed offerings are interesting, but not at their prices!
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Review by sjshaffer
Posted: 244 days ago
member for 3 years, 16 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Oakland,Alameda,CA
 Business customer
$80 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
AT&T
"Tech sent to connect the line was top rate"
"missed 3 appointments couldn't tell me when between 8AM and 8PM they'd arrive. Horrible line sync rate and even worse data."
"Last resort for data. Gotten much worse to deal with."
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I'd like to be anywhere but with AT&T. Comcast is supposed to trench for cable in my street.
The order process took nearly two hours on the phone for a simple POTS line and hte fastest DSL they could deliver (sadly the line syncs at 2 Mb/s and our VoIP quality is unacceptable at best).
THey missed a 12 hour window for the first install (Friday). Came by Saturday but the door wasn't open so they didn't stop. Finally showed up on Tuesday with an excellent tech and we were up in less than 5 minutes.
We were told we'd have 3-6 Mb/s but now they say they can't get us better than 1-3 Mb/s. The line syncs at 1984 Kb/s but throughput is in the 750Kb/s so our VoIP is unacceptable.... Come on Comcast.
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 Review by weap0nr
UPDATED: 251 days ago
member for 9.1 years, 1572 visits, last login: a few hours ago
San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
$35 per month
about 10 days
AT&T
"very Fast connection, an ease to install if you know what you're doing"
"connection intermittenly drops for a minute or two every week or so"
"Prices have gone down since my last review (about 8 years ago) and service has gotten better"
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reading other reviews on pacbell, i consider myself lucky. here's my story step by step...
1. October 7th, 2000 - called pacbell to place an order for basic dsl..39.95 a month for 1.5mbps down and 128k up...transfered right away to a sales agent who walked me through everything and tested my line over the phone. He said i have a good connection and i should average about 1.5mbps down. After about 30 minutes of discussing and explaining everything he gave me an option of a technician coming to my house to install everything for $199...or to do it myself and waive the installation and equipment costs...i chose the latter since i'm pretty good with hardware. Before he hung up, he told me that my equipment should come somewhere around a week before my setup date which he stated would be October 24th, 2000.
2. October 17th, 2000 - technician came over to check my line and said i had a good reading..was hoping for equipment but he said that they shipped it through ups...disappointed i went inside and about 10 minutes later i heard a doorbell ring and i hear a ups guy shout "delivery!" i run outside and to my surprise, the equipment comes! i rush to sign and close the door...i open the package and install everything (5 filters, 1 westell modem, 1 kingston ethernet card, install cd's and documentation)...i double check to make sure everything's right and get ready to turn on the modem. Right before i flip the switch i hear the phone ringing and pick it up. It's a pacific bell agent saying that everything's okay on their side and they've "flipped the switch" so it should be ready to go once my equipment comes. I inform her that it just came today so she wishes me luck. I turn on the modem and boom!...link from ethernet to modem's okay...but it wont sync...i try different tricks but no sync...i pick up the phone to call pacbell and guess what..it sync's...and it stays...VERY FAST 1.5mbps as advertised...but now the problem is that the only way i can get the modem to connect is if i pick up the phone and dial a number. I called pacbell a number of times to fix it and they said they didnt know what was wrong and that they'd send a tech over on the original install date to fix it so now i must wait.
In conclusion..i think if i should've just went for the tech install but who knows they might've never come. Very fast speed when it's connected. Out of 5 stars..i'd give pac bell a 3 and a half. I'd deal with them again. I guess they're changing their ways so catch em while they're not as busy.
*update: 04/06/2009*
i've had at&t yahoo! dsl (formerly sbc/pacbell) for 8 years now. when i first got it, i was paying $50/month for 1.5mb down...now i'm paying $35/month for 6mb down. very fast, and stable connection. service has definitely gotten better, though they're still outsourcing their calls to the Philippines. i love getting complimentary wi-fi access at starbucks, as i'm there all the time. the only knock i have is that about once a week, the connection will randomly drop for about a minute. don't know if it has anything to do with my network at home or with the ISP.
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 Review by turbonium
UPDATED: 272 days ago
member for 8.5 years, 2723 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
San Jose,Santa Clara,CA
$34 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
SBC
"Served off a Remote Terminal - fast speed"
"nothing bad really"
"I like it. A lot!"
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Lived at my townhouse and had to live with dialup for about 7 months. Yuck. Found out via BBR that a remote terminal was being built around the block from my house (near Bernal/Santa Teresa). Hallelujah!
Once it went live, I was probably one of the earliest subscribers on that RT. Ordered Jan 4 2002, live on Jan 14 2002. Install went fairly smoothly.
Since having it now for about 9 months, I can't say it was 100% smooth. Maybe 99% Had minor issues with nighttime slowness (solved via pacbell forum at bbr). DSL died a couple of times, but never for too long.
But I can't complain. I've love the speed.
Update: 2003-09-20
Still going strong. Called SBC recently and was able to sign up for another year at $35/month.
Update: 2004-02-20
Upgraded to the 3000/384 Expert plan. I'm getting 6000/608 for $45. What a deal!
Update 2006-03-23
Had some billing issues with the 6000/608 grandfathered plan. Ended up calling SBC to resolve it. Last month's bill looked ok.
Update 2007-04-02
Switched to the elite (6000/608) plan a while back. DSL's running fine.
Update 2007-10-19
DSL's running fine.
Update 2009-03-16
DSL's running fine
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Review by loudon
UPDATED: 284 days ago
member for 2.5 years, 25 visits, last login: 75 days ago
Fremont,Alameda,CA
Contract price not specified.
AT&T
"Legacy servers. Retention oforiginal email adress"
"Aging infastructure"
"Would prefer better stability."
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I have had Pacbell ADSL for many years. Started with there pilot program. As more demands are placed on there systems as well as outsourcing resources there have been increased
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Review by sfsunny
UPDATED: 287 days ago
member for 9.4 years, 50 visits, last login: 257 days ago
San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
$40 per month
about 7 days
AT&T
"Easy self-install."
"Billing is very problems are VERY difficult to rectify. Slow service, spotty reliablility. Expensive for the bandwidth."
"Good value for those that want an AT&T bundle and have little computer skills. Billing and cust. serv. can be problematic."
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We have a Comcast High Speed Internet cable connection for our main broadband connection. We were looking to add dry line (no local phone service on the telco line) DSL as a back-up for the rare occasion when the cable connection goes down.
Various other DSL options were explored. We settled on AT&T because we had the equipment (2Wire 2701HG-B Gateway) from a previous DSL account through them. This would keep the costs down for the initial install.
We ordered the High Speed Internet PRO package with self installation. The earliest install date was in fourteen (14) days. It was early morning on the fifteenth (15) day before service was working properly. After several hours with tech support we discovered that AT&T had installed the service on the wrong wire pair at our location.
Accurate billing continues to be a major problem with AT&T. Billing errors are VERY difficult to rectify. It even went so far as service being disconnected (without prior notice since no land line is involved). I had been working with customer service for several months trying to straighten out the billing but was not having much luck. I was surprised to find out while speaking with customer service one day that my service was to be disconnected in the next 24 hours. There was no way to stop the disconnection at this point since it was "in the system" already. My only option was to install NEW service, with new account number, etc. on the same line. I figured this would at least put an end to the previous billing problems. Although it was two weeks before service could be installed on the same line.
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Review by brianhayes
UPDATED: 293 days ago
member for 293 days, 7 visits, last login: 54 days ago
Watsonville,Santa Cruz,CA
$10 per month (12 month contract)
about 15 days
SBC
"Well, it's available at 768K in 2009"
"Techs fail to know what's going on"
"Mediocre at best"
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Just how rural am I? I'm 3.7 miles south of the 95076 downtown CO switch and just an hour from Silicon Valley, the heart of it all.
But DSL just arrived and only basic speeds are offered. I've been buying $60 EVDO for two years.
I ordered a new phone line and DSL with activation dates on the 12th. A new line was strung from the pole. The 2Wire modem arrived. Both the phone and wireless are 100% but no DSL after 2 weeks and nobody at SBC knows when: They'll call me when the red light stops blinking.
Silly service.
Silly is the only word I can say.
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Pacific Bell - SBC
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