dslreports logo

Six Month Rating
2621 reviews
1571 good · 474 bad
Submit a review by email click here

Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Atlanta, Fulton, GA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
My ADSL connection Rocks, I am almost a full 1.54 - install kit was complete.
Alcatel USB modem was difficult to install, and the BellSouth install coordination was not very good!
BellSouth is the best for the money - and the support staff are very helpful, my connection is awesome!!!!!!!!
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I am very happy with my DSL right now. I am using an adsl alcatel 4060
adsl modem for my connection. I am currently only a few thousand feet
from the CO so my DSL connection is always at warp speed at almost T1
speeds. My alcatel modem is a little buggy though. If I do a fresh
reboot the modem shows that it is inactive in the device manager, but
when I unplug the USB cable then reconnect it everything is fine and my
connection is the best. I had someone try to hack my system over 120
consecutive times but my firewall (Zone Labs) It is free from
»www.download.com would block any intrusion attempt. The hacker
was spoofing his IP address so I could not do a tracert on his computer.
BellSouth has an adsl abuse line that requested my logfile and they are
investigating the attack. I applaud them for a quick response regarding
the matter. In addition I would like to applaud them for a job well done
in getting my service hooked up! There were a few problems though- It
took about a month to get complete. They have major problems getting
information from their technical staff to their administrative staff.

My line had been activated within the first week of the initial order
and the BellSouth admin group had no record of it. So, until they had a
record of the line being competed they would not ship out my modem and
installation kit. I had to call and call and call. When I finally got
the right person on the phone my kit was sent to me the next day
overnight. They admitted to the mistake and apologized.

When I got my modem it was a tricky install - it was a pain but that was
not the fault of BellSouth that was the Alcatel's cheesy USB modem.
There is a very precise sequence to installing it so be careful. I
called the ADSL helpdesk and this really nice person spent 2 hours on
the phone with me trying to get it to work but no success. After another
30 minutes messing with it myself I fixed it. The analog modem was
messing something up but did not reflect that in the device manager. I
removed it and my DSL modem worked. The problem there is that you have
to use your analog modem to dial in to register and setup your account
so I had them set it up over the phone for me because I had to disable
my analog modem.

I am VERY happy with my service though. BellSouth has a little way to go
streamlining their process but I highly recommend them because they are
not like these other cheesy DSL companies that say we will give you DSL
for 39.95 a month but fail to tell you that they will only give you a
little bit of bandwidth. With BellSouth you get the full amount of
bandwidth available in your area.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND BELLSOUTH

(review was emailed from domain giftlot.com)
lodged 23.9 years ago

System

Anon

My ADSL with them has been excellent also!I had the same problems that you had with the line activation, and having to wait awhile for the modem, but I got an apology also...so its cool.

I'm roughly 12000ft from my co, and I get about 1.4mbits a sec down, and 225up..not too shabby:)

My pings are excellent as well! I ping my first 100 servers in Quake3 under and 100, and tons under 150...

IMO, and my other friends that have it down here in the ft lauderdale area have had nothin but great service from Bellsouth...Just the customer service part needs a little work..lol

Anon

Me too

I got my 4060 USB ADSL speedstream modem and software a month ago. I hooked everything up and installed it w/ out a hitch. The connection is excellent. Very nice speeds b/c i am routed quite well. Bellsouth even did a line check for me and found that it would be possible for me to get 7.5 mbits (down). I can playone line games like HL Counter-Strike and ping between 50-70 depending on server. It is excellent although the reliability was crap for the first few months because of line problems in new orleans (i don't live in new orleans but i am routed through new orleans!). Everything is excellent for me.

Anon

BellSouth DSL Service in Miami

I agree, Bell South DSL service is a great price but they do go down in the Miami on average about 5 hours per week.

Anon

Re: BellSouth DSL Service in Miami

The Bellsouth DSL service that I have is Fiber no need to install modem. The service has been spotty to say the least. Had an addition line for dial up service now will cancel due to DSL. One question if I cancel that dialup number will it effect my DSL service?

BJ
Miami

Apollofl
join:2000-04-23
Miami, FL

Apollofl

Member

Re: BellSouth DSL Service in Miami

The Bellsouth DSL service that I have is Fiber no need to install modem. The service has been spotty to say the least. Had an addition line for dial up service now will cancel due to DSL. One question if I cancel that dialup number will it effect my DSL service?

Apollofl
Miami
System

Anon

BellSouth Employee

Hi I work for bellsouth's tech support and to retort to your review i would like to only say that those 120 times that you thought you got hacked was really our DHCP server. depending on if you are ppp0e or ppp0a or bridged we send out a ping to give you a new ip address and also to look to see if your running a network when your not suppose to be. so it was probally us to begin with. just thought i would let you and everybody else know.

Anon

Re: BellSouth Employee

You are kidding me right? Bellsouth checks to see if i am sharing the dsl with a LAN. What right do they have to tell me I can't share the line in my home? It is not like I am using more bandwidth then I already have coming to me. Someone please explain this too me.

Anon

Re: BellSouth Employee

Did you happen to read the TOS when you signed up for your account? Do you think all of the bandwidth you slurp running a network is free? No, I don't work for BST but a similar company. I don't know when they are going to do a DSL shakedown, but someone using all the available bandwidth 24/7 on a DSL connection is going to cost huge money to someone. Maybe it all averages out (ie: $20 dialup accts with 600 hrs usage) but it will likely come down to a small percentage of users using the majority of the bandwidth...

Anon

Re: BellSouth Employee

Last time I checked 1.5Mbits/Sec is 1.5Mbits/Sec regardless of the # of computers you have sharing that bandwidth. I can use 1 computer and tie up all available bandwidth 24/7 with no problem my friend! Let's say I have 4 computes sharing the bandwidth... The only "loss" I see to anyone is the fact that I now have to share my 1.5Mbits/Sec with my 3 beer swizzling buddies thereby causing me to get only 375Kbps/Sec. Now here is another one to think about: I have 4 computers with NIC cards attached to a 10-baseT ethernet hub...So to "legally" use my DSL service I have to unplug from my own LAN to plug the DSL in...sheeez! Okay you say... install a second NIC card, configure it for the DSL connection...that's great, but anyone with a little technical knowhow can configure a pass-through or proxy port on the machine hosting the DSL connection so that the remaining machines on the LAN can use the proxy for high speed access thereby "sharing" the bandwidth... interestingly enough, this would probably prevent bell from seeing a LAN (keep in mind here folks that you can connect 1000 computers to the same DSL connection and you would still get only 1.5Mbits/Sec throughput)

There was a comment made by an individual somewhere amongst all these posts... he said that it seemed Bell's technical staff was having problems communicating with their administrative staff. As a recent former Bell IT employee I can tell you this is highly accurate!

As for the contracts that were signed... I can only imagine how bell would explain to the court that it "theoretically didn't believe that users would use all the bandwidth all the time" I am very interested in the first court case where Bell explains how they were financially impacted because someone used 100% of the product they were sold under a contractual agreement. Another quickie before I hit the sack: Similiar high speed commercial lines are not looked at in the since of the # of computers that may use the bandwidth, but the actual bandwidth usage itself... no matter how many computers you put on the corporate WAN link, you ain't gonna get no more bandwidth than whatcha paying for...period. This also should apply to DSL.

Anon

Re: BellSouth Employee

Hmmm....the BellSouth tech who came to my house to install my Alcatel told me some interesting info which directly counteracts this employees' info. It seems that the Alcatel modem can act as a router and you can plug it into a hub and use it that way. You can configure it via http try it! it does work. If Bellsouth didnt want you to use a LAN why give us that modem?

Anon

Re: BellSouth Employee

Hee Hee ...in a nutshell this is what has happened to the DSL companies. It's virtually impossible to stop folks from sharing this connection at their home...ethernet has been around for some time, and there are a million products out there to share out ethernet bandwidth. If they really wanted to lock it down from sharing, they would simply create a hardware lock that plugs into the paralell port that contains an encrypted key or signature that is recognized and allowed to pass through the CO dsl equipment. The lesson here Bell is what so many other companies have already learned: Don't launch your product just because you are overbudget and execs are pressuring to see ROI. Take the time to get it right the fist time. And god sakes don't use the consumer as a whipping boy for your own mistakes. All this and I haven't even placed an order fo DSL yet...I have almost reversed my decision to dump my dialup for dsl based on all the REALLY REALLY bad press...I cannot think of a single company that has more power to really make this work than Bellsouth, but yet they seem to be the ones least concerned.

Anon

Re: BellSouth Employee

hi im the BellSouth employee that first replyed. i can tell you for a fact that if caught using a NETWORK by your NOC your port will be shut down. Just b/c you have not been caught in 5 or 6 months doesn't mean much. Our NOC does not send out pings to everybodys computer everyday. Just if they think something funny is going on at the cu's house. If you call in to our tech support and they find out you are on a network and do not have a small business account we as tech can inform the NOC or DSG of this and they can shut your port. Yes the Alcatel modem can be made into a router but the NOC can still see it. I personally have cu's ports locked everyday b/c of this. this message is not to try and scare you as cu's from using a network. it is just a little friendly advice that if caught your port will be locked and it will not be turned back on. as for what right Bellsouth has of telling you wether or not you can share you dsl connection with another computer. well its simple. its in the contract that you as cu's signed. read it and you will see. as far as win2000. i agree with you all. we should be supporting it. bellsouth does have their finger in their butt on this one. lots of people are going to win200 but bell still has not givin us the ok to support it. as for the bandwidth problem. call someone in gansville Florida and ask them if there is such a thing as a bandwidth problem. 99.9 percent of the people that live there have so slow of speeds that Bell should be paying them to use dsl. why you ask. there is not enough bandwidth for the cu's in that area. this info came straight from the NOC. I may work for bellsouth but i do not take up for them screwing the cu's out of there hard earned money. if it was left up to me i would give everyone that use dsl at least one free year of service.

BellSouth Employee

Anon

Re: BellSouth Employee

What a load of BS. First of all, I run a firewall/router in front of my network, and it scans pretty damn clean, so I don't know how the hell BellSouth would know if I have network out there - nothing to see but my router up front, and it doesn't give out much information. For all they know my router is a PC - no way to tell any difference. I make a living doing Unix sysadmin and network security work. I throw nmap with all the good options at my router and it comes back a big black hole. So how is Bell going to know whether I have one well secured PC or a well secured network with several PCs hidden behind a Network Address Translating Port mapping router with just about every service blocked to incoming connections (and it could be every service if I want it to be)?

Second, I don't use BellSouth - they practically forced me to go with a cablemodem, so I did, and it is up all the time, bandwidth is good most of the time, and MediocreOne specifically states that they don't mind me running a network. They have some issues with high-bandwidth servers, as most ISPs would have, but they have been quite reasonable and have exceeded my every expectation, so I am loathe to go to BellSouth now when I am pretty happy with my CableModem. Even if I did want DSL I would check with Mindspring first, as most folks I know who have MindspringMax DSL are happy with it even with the PPPoE.

to Anon

Anon

to Anon
Bellsouth does not care if you have a network. Ive had dsl for 11 months with a network and never had the first problem. That person from tech support is ill advised

to Anon

Anon

to Anon
you dont know what you are talking about. Bellsouth does not care if you network. They just dont support networking.

Review by adsl4u See Profile

  • Location: Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (month by month)
Easy install, fast reliable connection, networkable solution
three weeks from order to install
It is so fast ... can't imagine going back to 56k. Great value. The way internet was meant to be.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I just got FastAccess ADSL service from BellSouth ... everything worked
like it was suppose to. I did a self install in 40 minutes. I could
have gone quicker, but I didn't want to miss a step.

I used their USB modem on a new PC running Windows 98 SE. I have
checked several sites and have download speeds over 1.2 mbps. I couldn't
be happier with the documentation they provided me or the speed of installation. $50 per month with free activation and free
modem. I will also get a $50 Barnes and Noble give certificate.

I think it is a great deal.

After connecting up ADSL, I installed the Internet Sharing software off my
Windows disk. Since I have two PCs on a home network, I wanted both PCs
to share the ADSL connection. After installing the client disk and
changing some settings on my Client PC ... I was surfing on both PCs.
Had no problems downloading a 5 meg AVI file off the MASTERS.ORG web
site to each PC simultaneously....

Everyone needs a fast and secure connection to the internet ... ADSL is
the way to go.

member for 17.1 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 23.9 years ago


ZMan222
join:2000-04-05
Mandeville, LA

ZMan222

Member

There's an exception to every rule....

AND YOU'RE IT.

The speed is GREAT, I know but heaven help you when you need support.

Bellsouth's "tech" support is inept and over loaded with calls they can't handle.

Other than that ... enjoy it. Bandwidth makes the internet a MUCH more enjoyable place.
System

Anon

INSTALL

Which part of mecklenberg county do you live in beacase it just became available in my area but i did not qualify for a self install.But I am out of PCI slots in my PC so I asked if they have externals she said yes but I do not want USB. So she said the technician will have all of them to test so I am praying for the best result.So far I have heard good things about bellsouth adsl in Mecklenberg County but horror stories in Florida and Tennesee. I would like a truthful reply.

Anon

Re: INSTALL

I currently have bellsouth DSL and my experience with the modems are that the internal 3060 sucks so bad . the usb modems are alright but the best the have are the alcatel modems. I currently have a alcatel speedtouch home (the newest model made by Alcatel)
The 3060 was what i had when i first got the service and i thought it was great when i 1st got it . my ping times were 120ms. but then i asked for a alcatel modem, so the installer let me keep the old 3060 and gave me the alcatel 1000. then i switched again to the newer alcatel, the alcatel are "the best modems we have" a installer said . I also get a lower 90ms ping. Also to tell you the truth i had no problem with bellsouth tech support and think that 49 a month is a great deal for 1.5mbps i dont know why everyone else is complaining. I mean the gave me a free modem so now i have 2!

-Gl with your service

Anon

Re: INSTALL

This is in reference to your comment concerning why everyone is complaining. You will be singing a different song if you ever have any problems with the connection. I live in the Miami area and it seems like the service is down as much as it is up. When you have to deal with the tech support on a regular basis you will understand why so many of us are unhappy from time to time.

Anon

Re: INSTALL

Spartus
I live in Boca Raton, FL
my connection is off the miami router the the whole 4 months i had the service i only had one long outage for 2 days .. i had 1 onther outage for an hour and that it.

to Anon

Anon

to Anon
I also have BELLSOUTH in Miami and the service is poor at best. Right now I have been down for almost 2 weeks. Tech support is useless.

Anon

Re: INSTALL

How can tech support help you if the server is down??????? It's inept customers like you who give tech support a bad name!

Anon

Re: INSTALL

What we are referring to is their in ability to tell us what is wrong and how much longer the system will be down. The other thing is tech support seems to alway put you through the same process of power down, reboot, and winipcfg, even when you already have been through that whole process. What we need to hear when we call is an estimated time of resolution and what exactly the problem is. I don't think this is to much to ask for, but I could be wrong. Oh and one more thing I don't see how putting people down helps, MR Anonymous.

Sincerly,

Spartus4

Anon

Re: INSTALL

1. Tech support is not told why or for how long the system will be down. 2. Reboot, etc. brings up many people who say they have done this, but did not take their computer all the way down or unplug connections. 3. I apologize profusely for the rudeness, have to be nice all day. 4. And that is MS Anonymous. Hope I helped!

to Anon

Anon

to Anon
I do have a network card in my computer its a 10/100 realtek will it work after all?

to Anon

Anon

to Anon
I live in Memphis Tennessee and have has ADSL for about 6 or 7 months. I had a cable modem (bad taste in mouth) but was not satisfied with the service (unable to connect for an entire week and couldn't get any real support). Because of a favorable past experience with BellSouth, when Fast Access was finally available in my area I jumped on it with all 4 feet. It has been nothing short of excellent. I have really fast access and I love always on. I feel for the people in Florida and maybe it is the management that needs a wake up call. I have been a Bellsouth customer for many years and have used all of there services since they have been providing Internet services-modem, ISDN and now ADSL. Tech support has lagged at times but they never failed to resolve any problem or issue I had. Not everyone will have a good experience with this technology or Company, but I can't complain about mine.

to Anon

Anon

to Anon
Self-installs are available everywhere it is available in the Charlotte area. There are several qualifying questions you must answer correctly to do a self-install. You must have Windows 98, no burglar alarm system and open slots for the NIC card, unless you use the USB modem. I was looking for the simplest install, and since I already had a NIC card for my home network, I elected to go with the USB modem. You can check them out at »www.efficient.com/products/usb/.

Anon

satisfied in Meck County

I have to agree! I am also in Mecklenburg County
and my dsl was installed 2 days ago. The install was done within 10 business days of the order.
The tech did have some problems with getting two way traffic. It took abt 2 hours to fix, but it was fixed. my avg speed has been abt 1.1, but for 40 bucks, i can't complain! I just went from $46.00 a month ($21-isp, $25-second line with a 33k connection, to $40 with a 1.1meg connection!)
Maybe they're really good at this stuff in Charlotte!

Review by GooRu9 See Profile

  • Location: Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (month by month)
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Where to begin

I've watched ADSL technology germinate, grow, and blossom in Charlotte for some years now. When BellSouth first offered, I knew that adolescents often mistake passion for knowledge and romance for experience. Let it mature

Last November, BellSouth made an offer I couldn't refuse.

".Net Customers Get FREE 60 Days Of BellSouth FastAccess Internet
Service plus FREE installation and activation by signing up today!"

I still have the e-gram in the archives. Believe it or not, BellSouth backed up the words with action. The tech called two hours before the appointment to ask if he could come EARLY! He was polite, informed, informative, effective, and thorough. And done in under an hour!

Okay, I did a lot of the groundwork for him. The first thing I did after I bought this house was to rip out all of the phone wiring. Trust me if you're gonna network, scrap it all and start from scratch. It will save you endless troubleshooting. I installed a new punch block and 10BaseT hub in the utility room and ran new D-station and Cat-5 cables to every room in the house. That was 2 years ago.

When the tech showed up, I already had a place for him to mount the AlcaTel modem and CPE. He handed me a 3Com 3C905B NIC which I installed in my "office" computer (Windows 98SE with ICS). This box also runs an old SMC NIC that hooks back to the hub for the rest of the network. I had wired the "66" block in a fashion that would let me punch in the CPE and yank a couple of bridge clips. When I pointed this out to the tech, he uttered a four letter word ("cool") and we were off!

Looking back on four months with FastAccess, I have relatively few complaints. There have been times when the service was down, but usually it's been system wide and short term. Worst case, I still have dial-up access. Transfer rates (typically 1.2M or better) almost always depend on what's on the other end. Would I trust BellSouth for "mission critical" Internet access? Toss up the firewall services provided by (deleted) at work have been far less reliable.

My biggest gripe with BellSouth would have to be weekend technical support, but I won't work weekends, so obviously their best people don't either. I did have to remind the billing department about the "special offer", but they were very polite and actually corrected the problem.

Time-Warner has been stuffing my mailbox and answering machine with offers, but I see no reason to switch. I don't want cable (got Dish Network, thank you), and RoadRunner seems to start well and finish badly. Plus, I've seen first hand how easy it is to snoop on a cable drop.

Bottom line: read these forums know what your getting into if you live in Florida, move to Charlotte.

member for 23.9 years, 17 visits, last login: 18.2 years ago
lodged 23.9 years ago

System

Anon

I am green...and not from living in the country!

I read reviews like yours and turn green with envy. I live on Lake Wylie in a very upscale community, but BellSouth has not seen fit to make ADSL available to us. Time Warner Cable has been here to survey, but they also decline to provide service because we do not have 10 houses per mile between my street and the end of their existing cable. Even though I have a Charlotte address and pay Charlotte taxes, I do not get the benefits "real" Charloteans get. Perhaps a Florida location might offer me "real" benefits.

Anon

Re: I am green...and not from living in the country!

Have you checked out Direct PC? Looks like it would make sense if DSL or cable isn't available to you. I was just about to order RoadRunner, but I'm going to try Fast Access because I was notified that it's available here (Charlotte 28227) now. If I have any big problems and I will try Roadrunner or Direct PC.

Chris

I'm making money on
the net... are you?
»jump.to/mvp

Review by halcombo See Profile

  • Location: Athens, Clarke, GA, USA
  • Cost: $49 per month (month by month)
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My BellSouth dsl service was installed on 3/09/00; prior to that date, I had two service calls to make sure my line was up to par. Two installers arrived exactly on time, and they tried, to no avail, for three hours to get my service started. They left the equipment for me to try to do a self-install, and I was successful with lots of help from BellSouth's tech support. On the two occasions that I've used tech support, they have been excellent! I'm using a 3Com NIC along with NTS 300. At first, my speed was decent floating around the 750 Kbps amount. And then I tweaked my RWIN setting...my last speed test 8160 Kbps, 1000KBps! My speed is consistently off the chart using the MSN bandwidth speedtest. I have had no outages since installation, and all I can truly say is that my experience with BellSouth has been all I could ask for.

member for 24 years, 33 visits, last login: 14 years ago
lodged 24 years ago

System

Anon

Dang Man...Athens BellSouth DSL sounds awesome

I'm about to switch over to DSL here in Athens GA from my crappy @Home service. Your speeds are incredible. Where are you located...I live on South Milledge Ave near five points. I assume you reccomend the service?!?!

Anon

I'm about to switch over to DSL here in Athens GA from my crappy @Home service. Your speeds are incredible. Where are you located...I live on South Milledge Ave near five points. I assume you reccomend the service?!?!

Review by JaxTBear See Profile

  • Location: Jacksonville, Duval, FL, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My installation was done on Feb 21 and the installer, who was a
BellSouth veteran of 27 years, even called to ask if he could come three
hours early since we were his first install of the day. Big plus for me
right there.

He was polite, professional, and seemed to enjoy exlpaining how it
worked when I asked him questions. I have run into installers who seem
to prefer the grumpy retort as opposed to just answering my questions.
I would invite this guy back for dinner anytime. He installed an
internal PCI card. The model 3060 Speedstream made by Efficient
Networks.

My story has good and bad and more good...the bad no fault of
Bellsouth's. When ordering service initially over the phone, the
representative was courteous and very thorough in explaining that this
was just the first step... My area was just recently looped,
apparently, and they still had to qualify my telephone line. She gave
me a date for installation, which she made sure was convenient for me.
5 week wait time. I could, and would have to live with that.

She also explained clearly the pricing for installation and the monthly
fees. To my surprise, I also got a $50 Barnes & Noble gift certificate
for the online store. I was asked if the PC had a USB port and I
explained that I preferred the internal to preserve the USB port for
future use. Little did I know that would lead to some frustration.
That was some good, now for the little bit of bad...

After 2 days of blissful surfing and a real demo downloading frenzy, I
hit a snag... Forgot to pay my pgone bill and my service got cut off...
The details of life. Got the service restored but the DSL would not
sync. That was an issue for the Bellsouth Digital Services Group (DSG).
After 4...count them...4 hours on hold, I finally got thru to them and
in an instant the problem was fixed. Life is good once again... I am
not complainign too much about the hold time... They did offer to call
me back in 24 hours, but I requested the hold.

All was well, then 2 days later, bump in the information superhighway
again... I call support again and quickly get a live person...Explained
what was happening and the erro message i was getting. The rep said
that the modem was not loading the drivers properly due to a hardware
conflict or due to corrupted drivers. Well, I had already removed and
reloaded the drivers...three times...So, why suddenly a hardware
conflict? I thought she was blowing me off... Turns out, she asked me
a question before she thought it was the conflict... Did I have a
SoundBlaster sound card...Yes, i do... Why was that important? Turns
out the Internal 3060 uses the same IRQ the SoundBlaster does...9, I saw
it myself in the device manager. Lovely...service call for the
following Monday.

The internal modem was removed, the drivers unloaded, and the new 4060
USB was attached and powered up... Life is good. i have had no issues
that I have not been able to solve myself. Most are cured with a reboot
of Windows or a release and request in WinIPCFG. No biggies.

Overall, I am very happy and, yes, if someone else comes along that is
cheaper, I might be persuaded to switch. For me, $50 a month for the
fast connection...the always on connection, is worth it. Reliable
bandwidth is worth it. I run Black Ice Defender for my firewall nd have
had no issues with it.

Bottom line, I recommend Bellsouth FastNEt access and be sure to get the
External USB... I now know that I can add a PCI card for 2 or 4 more
USB ports if and when I need them.

LM

member for 21.3 years, 4 visits, last login: 18.7 years ago
lodged 24 years ago

Anon
Anon

Anon

Anon

BellSouth has Terrible Service.

My experience with BellSouth was terrible. I scheduled two appointments to install BellSouth DSL. Both were cancelled only a few minutes before the repairman was scheduled to arrive. The last time the repairman called me and I was under the distinct impression that he wanted me to offer him a bribe to install the service. He said that there was a problem with the name on my account and he couldn't hook up the service. My name is Charles Derek Courson- I answered the phone as Derek so he claimed he couldn't hook the service up because the account was in Charles' name. What total BS!!!! Then when I called up to complain, the company supervisor said that the line hasn't been built to my house yet. I have two lines at my house, so I called back (talked to a different person) and asked about the other number- and BellSouth said that DSL was available at that location- keep in mind that both lines are in my house. This totally exposed BellSouth's lies. Now I know that the line could have been connected, the technician just didn't want to because - get this the installation was scheduled late in the afternoon on Saturday- so I figure he just wanted to get off early.
As if this isn't bad enough, BellSouth charges 150 dollars to send somebody over to plug in your DSL modem. I can stick a modem into a PCI slot for a hell of a lot less than 150 dollars. Additionally, the service is 59.95 a month- unless you sign up for every freaken telephone feature that BellSouth offers (and I don't want). If you do that the price is only 49.95. Other DSL providers in this area, charge 49.95 and I don't have to sign up for anything.
My advice- use somebody other than BellSouth. If you use that company you will end up paying more for terrible service.
System

Anon

Re: BellSouth has Terrible Service.

I'm right there with you Derek. I checked my line back in October. It said I qualified, and I set up an installation date. Two days before, they cancelled. The only explanation was that my line did not qualify. I waited until March 7 and again my line prequalified again. Again I set up an install date. Once again 2 days before install, they said there was additional work that needed to be done on my line. Bellsouth get your head out of your @#$. Don't set up install dates unless you can keep them.
marzz26
join:2000-01-26
Miami, FL

marzz26

Member

Re: BellSouth has Terrible Service.

I am in total agreement with both of you. My review of them is down below. It makes me sick to see three green lights for them showing favorable reviews. What they are doing in the Miami-Dade area is horrendous - telling us that we are qualified & then cancelling us just a couple of days before install (after waiting 2 months).

Hey Bell South, WAKE UP! Don't make a promise to us that you can't keep!
System

Anon

Re: BellSouth has Terrible Service.

It's not that BST is making promises they can't keep, whenyou order service they disclose to you that additional testing will be done. That is why it is called a prequal test. If your line comes up qualified then they cancel on you, it is not because they moved your wire on you, it's because the additional testing showed signs that if you received adsl that it would not work properly, they are trying to spare you from getting REALLY pissed off. There are many factors that contribute to a line qualifying or not qual, not just distance.

to

Anon

to

BellSouth has Misunderstood Service.

You write in your msg, that one phone line qualified, and another didn't. With a little review on your part, I am sure you will find that the 2 lines are different distances from the CO. A line length has to be with in 18000 to quailfy for service. And if one of the lines do not qualify for service they are either routed to different co's or one is beyond the line length.
In closing, so before you go spouting off your mouth about bad service. Know what you are speaking of. Routing of phone lines to different co's is a common practice.

Crash Z

Anon

Re: BellSouth has Misunderstood Service.

Crash,

It's always refreshing to see the comments of an obvious imbecile such as yourself. The only way that the person would have a different CO to be connected to is if there was a request to go to one and that is highly unusual among most folk. I would love to know where going to different COs for additional lines is common practice.
djboccip
join:2000-04-15
Huntsville, AL

djboccip to

Member

to

Re: BellSouth has Terrible Service.

Actually, the $150 is supposed to include the cost of the modem, which is yours to keep. At least that's what they told me

Review by jwtech See Profile

  • Location: Pensacola, Escambia, FL, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month (month by month)
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Not Bad speedy surfin'... Bad pre-order info... I requested for self-install kit and 3060 modem !!! Tech just come and installed 4060 modem and left !! I was puzziled !!! Tech even installed WRONG drivers !!! caused me to reinstall the proper drivers !!! Oh boy !!!... BS has GREAT tech support, very professional and courteous personnel... My speed avgeaging from 800 kbps to 1.3 mbps... NOT BAD !!! As for the value well sightly higher...Since AOL Plus which offers dsl line for 29.95 monthly unfortunely not in my area ! That is life !! I think I will keep the service until whichever dsl provider is CHEAPER than BS then transferring that FAST !





member for 23.3 years, 3 visits, last login: 19.2 years ago
lodged 24 years ago


rlmoon
@bellsouth.net

rlmoon

Anon

Modem Capability

What was the actual modem supplied? See any problem in networking the BS-DSL modem into a Gateway-Hub to run mulliple processors?

Review by yengec See Profile

  • Location: Hallandale, Broward, FL, USA
  • Cost: $59 per month
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've had BellSouth ADSL for my home business for around 5 months now.

Contrary to the popular opinion, I am highly pleased with the reliability and speed. Here are some speed reports:

Bandwidth meter at www.2wire.com is 1174.1 Kbps
DSLReports says that my Est. speed down/up is 1227/214kbps

As far as outages go. I know that they occur but the times I've withnessed them first hand were 2 or 3 for about 2 hours or so and maybe 1 or 2 that were 10-15 minutes or so.

2wire.com also says that I'm around 3000ft to my CO.

For the record. I'm behind an NT 4.0 Server with 2 NT4.0 Workstations (Yes curse me for not using Linux, but NT is here and it does a great job... Why bother?). I have a NetGear 10/100 Nic that connects to my Alcatel Modem and a 3Com 10Base2 card running to both of my workstations via RG58 Coaxial cables. I use Wingate for NAT etc and a firewall software as well...

Also for the record. My apartment complex is around 30 years old and I don't know the quality of inside/outside wiring...

Finally I do not work for BellSouth, I do not have BellSouth stocks, BellSouth did not pay me to write this here, I know no one that works for BellSouth. Personally I don't even like BellSouth but I can't complain about the ADSL service I'm getting from them...

member for 24 years, 908 visits, last login: 5.4 years ago
lodged 24 years ago

System

Anon

I love my Bellsouth connection

I just got adsl from bellsouth on Monday the 20th. Its an awesome dsl provider for me too, I go way above 1.5mpbs, and I ping as low as 0ms on Quake 3 Arena. Keep rockin Bellsouth =)

Anon

Re: I love my Bellsouth connection

0 ms? hmm.

My bellsouth connection is GREAT TOO! i get pings that vary between 50 and 500 (every 5 seconds..like I'll be pinging 50 one second, 500 the next..never stable at any ping) to EVERY EAST COAST GAMING SERVER! YAY! The west coast ones are even better! Can you say 600 ms dsl ping? I have pointed out the problem to bellsouth im e-mails and calls multiple times (the problem being their jacksonville routers) but they do nothing. I would Recommend Bellsouth in Florida to NO ONE.

Review by Jack Y See Profile

  • Location: Atlanta, Fulton, GA, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Value for money:



member for 24 years, 1 visits, last login: 24 years ago
lodged 24 years ago

Jack Y
join:2000-03-21
Atlanta, GA

Jack Y

Member

Looks Like Nothing was Printed!

ADSL INSTALLED IN ATLANTA, GA

Well, on Friday the 17th, the (contract) BellSouth installer
came out to the house at the appointed time(!)... He decided
that he would put the 'splitter' in the kitchen near the No. 1
computer and not in the basement where all the house wiring
comes together...

We had a 'universal wall mount' for a former wall telephone,
and the splitter (3 1/2" x 7 1/2" x 1" thick) attached to
that on the wall... He plugged a short thin single-pair
cable into the splitter and ran it to an Alcatel high-speed
modem that sits on the desk... He also put in a 10/100 3Com
"Fast EthereLink XL" ethernet card in the computer and
installed the software for it... (He said all the rest of
the ethernet cards he had to install would be the 10/10
variety)...

Between the modem and the computer card, he ran an RJ-45
four-pair telephone cable... The modem has to be powered by
a small 115 vac module... As soon as he powered it up, the
lights began to flash (and the continue to flash!)
indicating signal reception...

There's an "Ethernet 300" program icon in the tray where Tx
and Rx activity is shown since bootup... You can also turn
the ADSL access off and use the regular dialup modem, if you
want to... When the computer boots up again, it
re-establishes ADSL access...

The installer left a 'dope sheet' for the BellSouth dialup
connection that was COMPLETE! (not true for my other two ISP)...
As far as I can determine, Netscape is set up just as it would
be for a dialup modem... I use this Info. to access the
BellSouth internet service on the No. 2 computer which at present
doesn't have the ADSL connection... The installer also placed
a small pigtailed filter on each telephone jack in the house to
keep noise off the ADSL circuit..

Well, it worked right out of the box! The Celeron-300Mhz
computer runs ADSL an average of 600 Kbps on the this test
site: »speedtest.mybc.com/
And has run between 400 and 900 Kbps on the four test sites here:
»www.toast.net/performanc ··· dex.html The No, 2 computer,
a Dell T-600 internal 56K modem, runs 38 Kbps... (These are all
downloads, and I have no test site for uploads)...

There is some concern for ADSL security, since the computer is
continuously connected to the internet... A hardware solution
is a 'Firewall' router that has been getting good reviews,
(Linksys Etherfast cable/dsl router with (4) 10/100 switched
ports) to secure the computer and/or run the ADSL service to
other computers: »www.buy.com/comp/product ··· 10235958
This router would be placed between the modem and the
computer ethernet card...

There is also a software solution to fire-walling as pointed
out here: »grc.com/default.htm

The cost is $60 per month which includes the ISP service...
The installation charge was $150 (for the high-speed modem),
but the installation and ethernet card were free... Installation
time was about 1 1/2 hours...

JY






  • Location: West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, FL, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $60 per month
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

y?????"x@???? ??a"xP ???
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

I had Bellsouth ADSL installed in February in Lantana (Palm Beach County),
FL. Bellsouth's rep installed an Alcatel 1000 ADSL modem. The wiring took a
couple of hours. They were originally going to install a different brand of
modem but could not get it to sync. I am using the ADSL with a Macintosh
Beige G3 with two ethernet cards (one for the ADSL and one for the LAN). I
am also running IPNetRouter which serves two other Macintosh computers with
Internet access. Only one outage since it was installed that lasted less
than an hour. Internet Explorer reports downloading files usually around
70-120KB/sec. When I was using my 56K modem the transfers were in the
3-5KB/sec range. FTP transfers fly but web pages don't seem to be as fast to
load as the numbers would indicate. I have been very happy with the choice
so far. In addition Bellsouth gives you a dialup account to use when and if
the ADSL service is out. The only down side is that they only give you one
email account.

Doug

member for 54.2 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 24 years ago

System

Anon

5 email addys

Called up the other day and they said that now they are offering up to five email addresses per account. You might want to call back and check on that or check their website (www.bellsouth.net).

Anon

Web Page Download Speeds

Don't forget, the speed at which a web page is displayed is mostly determined by connection speed, but ALSO determined by your graphics card and RAM. Slow computer equals slow time until everything is displayed on your system (having an older computer and a newer one, both capable of accessing the internet at the same connection speed, I can attest to the clear difference).

Of course, if you have a newer computer... well then, I'm at a loss.

Anon

Multiple email account now with adsl.

Bellsouth now offers 5 email account with your ADSL. Look into it.

Crash Z

Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: North Palm Beach, Palm Beach, FL, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (12 month contract)
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I replaced my Adelphia cable with BellSouth DSL in October 1999. That is
where my frustration began. The install was on time and seemed to go well,
but I had no connection. He called the station and said that the service was
temporarily down and should be back in a couple hours. That didn't give me a
very good feeling. But my connection was up shortly after he left and I
loved the new DSL service. I noticed that in the next few weeks I had times
where I had no service. I assumed that the DSL was down each time, much more
often than I would like. I was able to use the Bellsouth.net service until
it was up and running again. The outages started to get bad and I was
constantly on the phone with BellSouth, for up to two hours at a time. That
really upset me. I told the supervisor that it was unacceptable and that I
would NEVER have a customer of mine waiting on hold for two hours! My
service was now completely dead when I finally had them send out a
technician. He could not get it running and was about to give up. Then he
suddenly got a connection, but had no idea how he did it. That did not give
me confidence that it would continue, which it did not soon after he left. I
spent so much time on the phone with BellSouth that I was is tears over my
frustration. They finally told me that I should never have received DSL
service to begin with because I was 22,000 feet from the central office.
They knew this before they put it in. In fact, they were the ones to tell me
that my phone qualified for DSL. They sent out a technician to uninstall my
service. He couldn't finish it and had to send a phone guy out to rewire my
jack because the first guy took my wall plate. I finally was free of
BellSouth by the beginning of December. I demanded that they return all fees
paid to them, reinstall my 2nd phone line, and reimburse the $50 connection
fee to reinstall Adelphia cable, which they did. What a lesson in
frustration! I just spoke with Telocity and they informed me that I am
indeed within the 18,000 feet of the central office so I am signing up with
them today. I have heard many good things about them, but can it get worse
than what I had? Wish me luck!

(review was emailed from domain pwfl.com)
lodged 24 years ago

System

Anon

And the difference is ?????

Not once did I see you note the difference between Bellsouth.Net and Bellsouth Telecommunications ( the phone co. with the PHONE LINES) Bellsouth.Net is simply an ISP just like Telocity is and any ISP you contract with will have to use BST telephone lines and believe me - Telocity is not going to be any better at telling the distance from the CO than Bellsouth.Net is.... they both have to get that info from BST.

Anon

Re: And the difference is ?????

several of my friends and i have dsl service. he ones that have telocity havent been down once in over 4 months, except for the one time they emailed out saying the mail server was going to be down for upgrades that day. Bellsouth...down 4 times just last week...any questions?

to Anon

Anon

to Anon
Your naive if you think that BellSouth.net and Bellsouth telephone are not in cahoots.

FedUpWithBellsouth
@bellsouth.net

FedUpWithBellsouth

Anon

Bellsouth Sucks

Had similar problems. Still using BellSouth, but get long unexplained delays (machine locks up for a couple minutes then runs ok again). Only happens when using DSL - not when using modem. They have no explanation, and customer service is clueless. Friends of mine in the area with Telocity seem happier. Have two phone lines in the house - bellsouth said one was dsl capable but the other was to far from CO. Aren't both sides of the house about the same distance from the CO? They are very confused, and no-one there seems to know how it works.