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Review by Bobsacto 
member for 8.6 years, 331 visits, last login: 296 days ago
updated 296 days ago
 Rancho Cordova,Sacramento,CA
 $36 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 7 days Southwestern Bell "Great field service level 2 techs" "Call Level 1 tech and you take your chance" "Good Value"
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When DSL became the first and only broadband solution in my area I attempt to get service but was told after about a year of visits and phone calls Pacbell could not provide me a connection.
By then Comcast was providing service in my area so I went with them. The company was sold to AT&T cable with @Home service. @Home went under my speed was capped at 1.5 and AT&T sold the company back to Comcast. Still no problems. I fact my only issue was the 56.99 I was paying at the end for 3mb service.
Kept getting the pitch for DSL so thought I give it another shot. With the addition of a RT in my area I thought my chances for service would be increased. Seven days after my first call to sign up for the DSL pro service I was supposed to be ready to go. After one call to Level 2 support, where the tech expressed thanks that I had not installed their software, I was connected at 1.1mb.
Waited the requested 10 days but was still at 1.1. Left a message on the SBC direct board here did what they suggested but still a 1.1 even when connected at the NID. Made the call at 4 and the next day both an ASI tech and a SBC tech showed up exactly when scheduled. One installed a POTS splitter and hooked up a direct line to my modem (no charge) the other went searching along my phone line back to the RT and made some wiring changes along the way. Immediately my speed went up to what I was paying for around 2.8-2.9. They said my line was still not the quality they would like and the another tech would be by. The neighbors began to wonder why different strange men were stopping by the house every day while I was at work and my wife was home alone. During this time my speed never dropped and I never lost my connection. Some of the techs said with their readings I shouldn't be able to get synch. Finally one tech said that the company might drop my cap if they had to keep paying me visits. I said I didn't call with complaints my speed was what I wanted and they really didn't to pay daily visits to the house even though I know my wife is attractive. Got a call from ASI that night and I asked him to please close my ticket. Still getting the same speed and never a dropped connection saving $20 a month.
Update 6-26-05
Had service over six months. Never have lost it, never have experienced a speed slow-down. The same can not be said for my experience with Comcast.
Update 8-01-05
Lost voice and DSL service fixed quickly given phone number of local ASI manager if any issues received follow-up call making sure everything was okay and assuring credit for the time we did not have service. Also received letter of apology for our inconvience.
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 Review by puppers
member for 13 years, 3428 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
updated 1.4 years 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 9.7 years, 1445 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 1.6 years 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.
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Review by chene209
member for 4.6 years, 153 visits, last login: 33 days ago
updated 1.7 years 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 nmarrion
member for 11.9 years, 3385 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
updated 2 years 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.
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 Review by stormbow
member for 10.8 years, 3893 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 2.2 years 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)
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  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 12.4 years, 2196 visits, last login: 49 days ago
updated 2.3 years 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 10.8 years, 5093 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 2.4 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).
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| | 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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 Review by coxta
member for 12.8 years, 5363 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 2.5 years ago
- South Pasadena,Los Angeles,CA
- $59 per month
- about 30 days
- SBC
- "Fast, reliable,"
- "cookbook install by technician with no other understanding"
- "All's well that ends well."
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After all these years, good connection.
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Review by Yikes2000
member for 11.7 years, 3531 visits, last login: 1 days ago
lodged 2.5 years ago
- Irvine,Orange,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Cheap Dry-Loop DSL"
- "Bad Install Co-ordination"
- "Cheap (for a year)"
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I've been with DSL Extreme for many years. Finally when AT&T offers $14.95/mo for dry-loop DSL, I find it too cheap to ignore, so I switched. After ordering online, I received a confirmation email stating the activation date, which came and went without any contact from AT&T. I had to call their tech support to find out how to login and setup my modem (ActionTec GT701D) in PPPoe. It would have been nice if they had sent me a setup email, or a web site with setup instructions. AT&T feels like this big giant corporation with too many employees that they don't know what everyone else is doing.
After a week of service, so far so good. Hopefully the service will be reliable and uneventful like DSL Extreme.
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