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Review by JasonBourne 
member for 11.7 years, 1634 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 11 days ago
 Kansas City,Jackson,MO
 $40 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 8 days AT&T "Decent Price, decent speed." "none" "Decent service."
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Still on Expert Plus 6Mb/768Kb, get about 5.0Mb/647Kb.
Full U-Verse still not offered at my location less than a mile from the Central Office.
JB
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 Review by systech
member for 10.9 years, 1199 visits, last login: 13 days ago
updated 13 days ago
- Dallas,Dallas,TX
- $39 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 12 days
- AT&T
- "Still relatively cheap"
- "DSL now slows way down at night"
- "Will stay with AT&T for the moment"
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I have had DSL through Southwestern Bell -> SBC -> AT&T for about 8 years at two different locations. It has been very solid. My DSL no longer has consistent speeds. I am very disappointed that AT&T has not maintained its ATM network in order to ensure
reliable speeds. They are apparently trying to phase out regular DSL in favor of Uverse. I guess that would be fine if I could get Uverse where I live.
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 Review by jimkyle
member for 9.3 years, 4534 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 14 days ago
- Oklahoma City,Oklahoma,OK
- $79 per month
- about 20 days
- Southwestern Bell
- "Excellent on-line support"
- "Company web pages still badly out of date"
- "Excellent value and extremely reliable"
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UPDATE on 28 January 2012:
At 4 p.m. on January 24, I suddenly lost all internet connectivity about 4 p.m. Central time. Calling AT&T service eventually got me to a human (with an almost incomprehensible accent), and after some discussion I managed to elevate the issue to Tier 2, and got there after only 27 minutes on hold for the transfer. The very nice person at Tier 2 examined my account record and told me a change order had discontinued my grandfathered 5-true-sticky plan and replaced it with the current 5-pseudo-static-via-PPPoE offering, in the process changing all of my IPs and thus invalidating all of my off-site references in addition to making it necessary to reconfigure all of my equipment to regain connectivity. She also said it would be impossible to reverse the change even though I had not requested it.
Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. However, the Tier 2 tech did give me the new IP set and the newly required network password, which should have enabled me to get back on line quickly (after rearranging my equipment so that I could log into PPPoE and use the new IPs).
It didn't work. The PPPoE login did not assign the new IP. Instead, it assigned me the IP that I had been using as my outgoing gateway of the old true-static IP block, and that address refused to let me go anywhere. I called back about 11 p.m.; it was easier to reach Tier 2 this time. The second tech reviewed the notes from my first call, and informed me that the order had not completed for some reason. He attempted to force its completion while I remained on the phone, and reported success. I saw no immediate change except that I was now pulling the gateway address for my new IP block; that still would not allow me to get any closer to the internet however. The tech advised that it might take the rest of the night for changes to propagate across all involved DNS servers, but assured me that all would be well by morning. He also gave me a case number to use, just in case I still had a problem the next day.
I was glad to have it, because nothing changed overnight. A third call to Tier 2 (the case number got me immediate transfer, and by then I had learned how to bypass the machine-programmed triage questions) told me that the order was still incomplete. The tech had to put me on hold for several minutes while consulting with the business office to determine why he could not force completion, but when he came back and told me to give it another try, I was successful in reaching the outside world. The problem wasn't fully solved yet, but at least I could come here and ask for help from the experienced forum members!
For one thing, I was still unable to use the five "usable" IP addresses of the new block, although the Tier 2 techs had assured me that at least the first of the five would be assigned automatically when I connected. Even more pressing was the fact that my wife's machine, located at the other end of the house and connected via 75 feet of Cat5 running through the walls and attic, was totally unable to connect to my router now, although it had been working perfectly with the old setup. After an entire evening and much of the next day checking configurations at both ends, I gave up and called my favorite repairman. He showed up about 5 p.m. on Thursday, verified that my configuration settings were correct at both ends of the line, and then began testing the cable itself -- which had patch cords at both ends, with the long run terminated in wall sockets at each end. Both patch cords tested out okay. The long cable showed an open conductor. For a number of reasons, repairing it is no longer an option, so the fallback solution was to install a USB wireless adapter on her machine and connect to the router in that manner.
However by that time, all the parts houses here had closed, so it was 10 a.m. Friday before I was able to obtain the adapter. Once I had it in place, connection was straightforward. One problem mostly solved!
While waiting to obtain the adapter, I continued my research and discussion here, and learned that it was necessary to make a slight change in my login ID to enable the "static" IP assignments to work. Not one of the three Tier 2 techs had informed me of that requirement although all three had told me that my existing ID would work properly (and it did work, although not completely properly).
I also learned that my WRT54G would not be able to handle multiple IPs, anyway; they will require a 3347 router (at $100 from AT&T). I also discovered that the new plan's price is more than $30/month lower than my old plan, so I'll be waiting to see whether that's reflected in my next bill! I'll also be investigating moving to a higher speed than the current 1536/256.
Making the change to the login ID has not yet had any effect on the IP assignments, so I cannot report that the situation has fully resolved at this time. Operation is still somewhat flaky, with intermittent packet loss as great as 20% according to the line quality tests here, and some of those packet loss situations may be responsible for an intermittent inability to connect to the outside world (which is usually fixed by simply repeating the attempt immediately).
Bottom line: I no longer have such a good feeling about my AT&T service, but have not yet become sufficiently disgusted with it to fall back on Cox Cable; UVerse would still be AT&T (although I've seen reports that moving from DSL to UVerse may be forced before much longer). It won't take much more, though, to tip the scales the other way...
ORIGINAL (much happier) REVIEW:
In my city, only two non-dialup options were available when I decided to get better speed. They were Cox Cable's @home service, and SBC's ADSL (with several resellers but only one actual plant). Having grown totally disillusioned with service from Cox (and dropping their cable in favor of a satellite dish for TV), that left me only one option.
I initially ordered basic residential service in April of 2000, as soon as it became available in my area. Because of distance from the CO and weak signal, I had to be capped at 384K download in order to have the service at all. Nevertheless that was still much better than dial-up and I was quite happy with it until encountering an EMI problem in late summer of 2002. While searching for a solution to that I discovered that an RT had been available in my area since November 2000 although I had not been notified of the possibility to upgrade my account.
I immediately ordered service on my second POTS line, to take advantage of the RT without down time, and placed my order on-line. It was confirmed, but the due date came and went with nothing happening. When I called, the sales rep could find no trace of the order; I placed it again, upgrading it to the 1500/256 5-static-IP business service since I do use the line for my data recovery service. This time, things happened exactly on schedule, and thanks to the official SBC reps here in the Southwestern Bell forum, I now have true broadband service, free of problems.
In the past five years I've had no significant signal outages, although my original modem (SpeedStream 5260) is showing its age and the replacement I bought at the time of the upgrade (5360) is also getting long in the tooth. Looks like I'll need to pick up a 4100 before long. (Edit as of December 2007: Both of the old modems finally did give up the ghost, and I'm now using a 4100 which does a great job.)
The company itself seems not to have many clues about using their web sites to best advantage, though. The help files are hopelessly out of date. Placing an on-line order simply didn't work, even though I received a "confirmation" E-mail message. The excellent support provided in the forum here, however, more than compensates for that shortcoming. I've learned more about the technical details of getting and keeping good service in the years that I've been active here, than I could ever hope to discover elsewhere.
Not long after I moved to the RT, the company discontinued true static IPs in favor of "sticky PPPoE" addresses. Were it not for that and the fact that any changes to my service would convert me to PPPoE connections, I'd take advantage of the price changes that would give me 6000/768 speeds for the same price I pay for 1536/512. Since I use a Linux box as my firewall and router, I'm unwilling to switch to PPPoE at all, and continue the service unchanged.
Bottom line: I'm a mostly happy camper, and advise anyone considering the choice between SBC and other providers to visit the forum here and get the real low-down before making any decisions. It's now been 5 years since I made the service change from CO to RT, and it's still performing excellently even though my costs are not in line with current standards.t
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 Review by boheeber
member for 11.2 years, 2895 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 30 days ago
- Spring,Harris,TX
- $160 per month
- AT&T
- "Fast"
- "Robotic tech support"
- "Worth it if you have patience"
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I've had SBC DSL since July of 99 (I am still a DHCP customer as of this writing), and everything has been smooth with two exceptions: (1) Every now and then, SBC thinks I am a PPPoE customer and makes a change where I can suddenly not access the net or email or anything else. I have to call SBCIS and try to explain my situation and have to play "power off your modem, reboot, blah blah blah", until I finally get them to escalate my ticket. Once ASI gets ahold of it, they immediately see what's happening and restore me and all is well--for about 6 months or so. Then the same cycle occurs again. I guess SBC will be forcing all us early adopters to go to PPPoE at some point, and that's not a huge problem, but I would appreciate a heads up before they just randomly change me. (2) The migration to Yahoo was a nightmare. I had 6 different tickets open before my email problems were resolved. I have been an swbell.net client since my dialup days (1995). When I went to DSL, I kept my user@swbell.net email address that I always had, UNTIL the Yahoo nightmare. Now I receive email on a Yahoo server but send it on a Prodigy server. As long as it works, I'm happy, but it took FOREVER to get it configured.
Update 2/23/04: I signed up for the Expert Plus package, which required me to disconnect my DSL for 2 weeks (I was too far from the CO). I was reconnected on an RT and my speeds are FAST! I am now a PPPoE customer, which is painless since I use a router, and I did have to rewire the POTS splitter in my house because the Alcaltel 1000 modem and the Speedstream 5100 modem I received use different wiring configurations, but at least I didn't have to use the line filters. It was difficult having only dialup service for 2 weeks, but the end result was worth it. The one call I had to make to tech support was unsatisfactory because I was forced to change my email address which I had for 9 years, and I don't think the tech (offshore?) understood my request. All in all, the speed increase more than makes up for that inconvenience.
Update 4/30/2006: I called and asked to be re-rated from Expert Plus (44.99 per month) to the new Elite Plan (29.99 per month for a 12-month contract). I was told that this will be done on 5/2/2006 with very little interruption to my service. Same download speeds as before, with a slight increase in the upload. I'll post back with any thoughts or problems once I go "live".
Update 5/02/2006: Looks like a lot of us are having a problem with the upgrade to Elite. My modem stats show 6018/768, but every speed test I run shows my download speed to be about 2500, which is 1/2 of what it was yesterday, or for the past 2 years for that matter. I have requested assistance from SBC Direct, but the forum looks awfully busy with others having similar issues. I'll give them another day to respond before I start dealing with the frustration of calling tech support and being asked to reboot my PC and power off my modem.
Update 5/03/2006: No response from SBC Direct (in their defense the forum is loaded with "Upgrade failed" posts), so I called SBCIS and talked with "Kevin" (and if that is his real name I'm the king of England). "Kevin" insisted the problem was on my end (my inside wiring, my router, etc.) until he tried to get me to "maintenance" and the guy who answered (David) told him that he needed to get me corrected on the redback. "Kevin" agreed to send my ticket to Tier 2, and David was nice enough to check later and make sure the download speed was correct, even calling my wife and having her run a speed test to confirm all was as it should be.
Why AT&T couldn't have educated the frontline reps that people calling about a loss in speed after an "upgrade" needed to automatically go to Tier 2 is a mystery to me. But so is the fact that so many users had the same issue I did and AT&T did nothing proactive to get the download speeds correct.
Bottom line--I love the new lower price and I am guessing that all will be OK going forward. It didn't need to be this difficult, but I guess AT&T didn't expect the demand they got for this offering.
Update 11/09/2008: I have transitioned to U-Verse service, with the 10/1.5 DSL speeds and U-400 television. VOIP is not yet available here, but I prefer having POTS service anyway. The total install took almost an entire day, but there was a lot of work to be done, including running a coax cable from the back of my home to the front, where the PC is located. All in all, I am pleased with the service. Every now and then the TV will show a glitch or two, although less than those that occurred with DISH service. DSL speeds are consistently about 8.5 down and 1.4 up. On the whole though, I am pleased with the service thus far.
Update 01/11/2012: Well I still am grandfathered with the U-400 package, plus paying an additional $5 per month for MGM HD and Smithsonian HD, but the service is still acceptable. I upgraded to the 24/3 upload/download speeds, but really don't notice much difference unless I am running a speed test. I'm getting most of what I am paying for, but normal surfing and torrenting and COD speeds seem about the same. For all this I am paying about $160 per month, so I am seriously considering going back to the 12/1.5 plan or whatever it is. Still, I love the DVR, the remote access through my iPhone, and most of the programming. I still have my landline which adds another $20+ that I pay AT&T monthly, not counting my cell service. All in all, though, still relatively content with U-Verse.
Comments:
 | | nice review nice review. it was like a history lesson on how internet was acquired. first came dialup, then adsl, then vdsl2 | |
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 Review by CHPMustang
member for 10.3 years, 562 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 44 days ago
- Richardson,Dallas,TX
- $45 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 7 days
- Southwestern Bell
- "Connection is up 100% of the time,ASI tech support is great"
- "Occasional miscommunication between between Tier 1 and actual equipment status"
- "For $45 a month 384/3000 service it's unbeatable!"
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We had Standard Plus for about a year and a half which was top notch,then SBC re-rated the services and upgraded their equipment in the field now I'm on the "Expert" service with minimum 384/3000 bandwidth and it's awesome!
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Review by dragger
member for 9.6 years, 947 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 45 days ago
- Festus,Jefferson,MO
- $35 per month
- about 14 days
- Southwestern Bell
- "A good choice if you're stuck in 2005"
- "Has really gone downhill every year"
- "U-Verse build out has really harmed bread & butter DSL"
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I have been waiting for DSL for a couple of years. It was available inside the city limits of my town but I lived about a mile outside. Numerous calls to customer service brought no info, nor any timetable.
Due to other reasons, I ended up moving less than 2 blocks away from the CO.
The first time I called for service, I got a really bad CSR. Not only did she get most of the details wrong, she evidently forgot to actually schedule the installation. Plus, she insisted that they had to UPS my equipment to my address of record (a PO Box) and that it would be no problem. I got disgusted and ended the call after getting a confirmation number.
The CSR I talked to the next day found no record of my service request. We did the whole thing over and I gave him the address that UPS could deliver to.
My equipment was due on a Friday but it didn't arrive. The installation was scheduled for the next Wednesday. I called customer service and they told me not to worry, the equipment would be there Monday or Tuesday. I don't think the rep even looked my case up as his answer was way too quick.
As of Tuesday, I had still not received anything. I called back and found out that the CSR that took my order got my street address one digit off -- 208 instead of 207. UPS had been holding the package since the previous Friday, which the other rep could have caught if he had simply pulled up my records. In this same contact, I found that my installation was now listed for Thursday, a day later.
I could not get the modem to synch, and called Tech Support. Since my installation was due for the next day, the rep more or less refused to help me and told me to call back later.
I called back the next day and got a very good tech person who had the modem synched in less than 5 minutes. I have been averaging 1158 ever since.
It was frustrating, but I'm happy now that it is up and running
Update:
The smooth, reliable SBC service I was so happy with seems to be sliding away. At home, it seems like I have to resynch my modem a least two or three times a month and it's usually on a Saturday morning. Never have figured that out.
At work, it's the Expert plus plan. When it works, it's killer as I consistently dl at 4500-4700. I am usually one of the fastest points in the db here for the STL area - which is NEVER as fast as Texas. Why is that, I wonder?
The worst thing at work is intermittent email problems in which the servers refuse my connection or time out. Numerous calls to CS might or might not have helped the problem since no one ever admits a problem nor a fix.
I rated the service high ONLY because of the great SBC support people on this site.
I'd love a choice of consistent speed and good newsgroup access. How hard can it be?
***UPDATE****
I have only compliments and no problems to report at this time. My previously highly coveted grandfathered 6K tier is now available to anyone and I switched to it a few months ago with no problems whatsoever. Even with switchover all went fine with both the upload and download switching to the new speeds with no need to contact tech support.
I can't remember the last time I've lost service.
06/21/08
OK, another update since the site keeps begging.
My service is absolutely stellar. I mentioned in the last update that I couldn't remember the last time my service was interrupted, and that still holds true. The only issue whatsoever is that my Netopia/Cayman gateway has a noise deterioration over time, but a simple reboot clears that up.
I haven't had any reason to contact tech support and that's compliment. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be any effort to increase the speed. I've been at 6016 for many years now but would pay a fair amount for an increase. Fiber is not available at my address the last time I checked, but honestly I wouldn't pay that prcie anyhow. It's more than a 50% increase for just a bit more speed and I'm happy with my Dish Network anyhow.
Update 12/13/09
I'm no longer the ATT fanboy I once was. My service has steadily deteriorated to the point where I'd almost call it unreliable.
From time to time I'm unable to resolve URLs; other times the feed simply stops while browsing. On the hangs, I simply reboot the modem and things are OK for a while. The other problems have lasted a day or more.
ATT should stop proclaiming they offer support. They don't. Any calls I've made (either for myself or clients) were received by CSRs with heavy accents, who had NO idea of how to fix the problem other than reading a script. It used to be a simple thing to ask for the next level of support, but they don't seem to allow that any longer.
If a non-cable (yes, Charter is my only other choice) alternative appeared, I'd be gone in a heartbeat after over 7 years of promptly paying my bill to ATT.
It's a shame. They used to be so good.
Update 12/22/11
Wow. Until I looked at my previous comments, I had no idea I'd been putting up with the same problems for over two years. That's much too long.
After almost 10 years of being an ATT customer, it looks like the end is near. I am just no longer willing to put up with the frequent problems with the yahoo mail server (a box continues to pop up asking you to log in) and the horrendous latency I get much more than I used to. Checking tracert, there are some unbelievable delays inside the ATT system where the ping just goes to die.
I had Charter install their cable internet and for about the same money as my 6M dry loop, I'm getting a very responsive 38/4. I've got a 30 day trial with Charter (are you listening, ATT?) but if things continue to be this smooth I'll burn my bridges and not look back.
U Verse isn't available in this area of roughly 15000 people, and nothing has been done to the copper for the last 7 or 8 years. Sorry, ATT, but you are losing a good customer.
Update 12/28/11
Just on a whim, I check UVerse availability and it shows my address is now good, though it wasn't two weeks ago. That's going to affect my decision on what to do after my 30 day trial with Charter but I honestly don't think I can stand the lower speeds along with a $149 installation fee.
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| | uverse harming dsl i don't know why att threw uverse in the same lines and they are harming regular dsl customers. | |
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 Review by BUGZILLA 57
member for 7.6 years, 2330 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 100 days ago
- out there
- Contract price not specified.
- AT&T
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:!
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 Review by David
member for 9.7 years, 4945 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 110 days ago
- Granite City,Madison,IL
- $29 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 7 days
- Ameritech
- "Set up and running less than 10 minutes flat"
- "Had to install a nid splitter, god how some people wire houses is amazing!!"
- "Works like it should.."
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From when I had it it was good, I haven't had this service since the AT&T ameritech review. Please see that review as I moved to Illinois from Missouri.
Side note: Keep in mind I am online support here at BBR for SBC.. My sucesses and failures might not match what you experience. When I did my installation I did not do it the normal customer way. I did it with a built machine and used a third party software. So this review is only of my experience with dsl regardless who I work for..
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Review by muze22
member for 10.5 years, 349 visits, last login: 6 days ago
lodged 127 days ago
- Tulsa,Tulsa,OK
- $41 per month
- about 21 days
- "mostly reliable"
- "way overpriced; never have achieved promised speed"
- "don't believe the speed advertisement"
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Have had this service for 8 years plus; not bad, but probably could get much cheaper at higher speed with cable.
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Review by rcman2
member for 9.8 years, 3120 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 157 days ago
- Saint Louis,Saint Louis,MO
- $35 per month
- about 15 days
- AT&T
- "Some problems but overall picture is very good"
- "Connection isn't always reliable"
- "4 years with AOL/SBC and everything is running smooth"
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Started out on AOL powered by SBC and had only one problem that turned out to be on SBC's end. The tech came out and was immediately pissed to learn that an Arkansas CSR had handled the call on the ticket from AOL. He also made me aware of the fact the Arkansas people never answer their f***ing phone and how all you get is their f***ing voicemail. The next F-word came out when he learned that SBC had D/C'd my DSL line( "They're not supposed to do that"). Everything turned out just fine and I was very happy with AOL and SBC through the whole ordeal. I got my letter from AOL on May 9th telling me they no longer could bundle so I needed a new ISP. I made the call to AOL who forwarded me over to SBC's migration dept so now the check goes to SBC and going on 1 month with no problems.
01/25/2008 Update: Speed is now closer to advertised at 2496/512
01/27/2008 Update: Now receiving 3008/512 Thank You ATT
06/23/2010 Update: Speed is Elite( 6016/768) and modem is currently 2wire
09/07/2011 Update: I will be leaving soon due to the new caps. My household has 2 HR22-100s, 1 XBOX 360, 1 PS3, 1 LG BD370, 1 HP Officejet 6500 wireless, and a desktop all as networked devices plus I stream netflix from said PS3 and BD370. This has put me over twice now so a new ISP is mandatory.
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