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 Review by armyrebel4 
UPDATED: 114 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 2421 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Crest Hill,Will,IL
 $35 per month
 about 15 days
 Ameritech
 "Stable connection, Better than cable."
 "Very few."
 "Few outages, and great forum tech support!"
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(ratings match consensus)
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On 6016/800 speed package from AT&T with dynamic ip. Constantly hitting speeds of 5089/687+. Connected on a remote terminal. Using a Westell 6100 modem and have gotten rid of the Speedstream 4100B due to line issues with it.
Erik
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 Review by weeksben1
UPDATED: 117 days ago
member for 5.7 years, 1806 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Clarkston,Oakland,MI
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 10 days
AT&T
"Great Speed, Reliability"
"home networking gear can be limiting"
"If you can get it, go for it"
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II've had their Dynamic IP package, for about a year and half now, and haven't had any real problems. (except during last fall's blackout). I've got the dynamic IP with PPPoE in the modem (a speedstream 5100b) I would recommend this service to most people. If you're good with networking, save the $150 and go the self install route. I've had a couple of problems, mainly DSLAM related, (not much the end user can do). All in all, I've and great service and reliability,
I've been able to do a few things (light server usage) that I wouldn't have been able to do other providers. The price is right, and (outside of non-payment and/or acts of g-d) I've haven't had any major service problems.
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 Review by Shadow01
UPDATED: 117 days ago
member for 6.1 years, 2213 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Attica,Fountain,IN
$29 per month (12 month contract)
about 6 days
Ameritech
"easy install,great support(on BBR)"
"call in support stinks. SBC managment must not care"
"for the rual area, a $3 increase over dia-up, DSL can't be any better!!!!!"
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ordered 1.5/128 at $29.95 for a due date of 12/26/03. live on 12/22/03 with 1.5/256 speed test was 1208/212 kbps. had a small problem registering using Safari on my Mac, but "one of the offical techs"here at BBR was great and quick to solve the problem. We think that the java script failed half way through on Safari.
UPDATE!!!! Only been 2 months, but I have not had the first problem. Speed has been rock solid at 1222/212 average. Up or down a couple of points based on where and when I test. I think it is important to point out the great job that the "official techs" do here at BBR. They are a fine example of what tech support is all about. Wouldn't it be nice if all your phone problems could be resolved this easy. I know that not all DSL installs are trouble free, but I see the techs here getting the job done on a daily basis.
Updated to get the system IM's to stop.
Nothing has changed.
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Review by Mce Saint
Posted: 124 days ago
member for 2.1 years, 337 visits, last login: a few hours ago
High Ridge,Jefferson,MO
$35 per month
about 25 days
"Much faster than Sprint Mobile Broadband and no cap!!"
"Getting DSL approved for this location took too much badgering"
"Happy to have it, but man it was work to give them my money!!"
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My frustration has been with getting DSL approved for this residential location. In brief, constructed a new home on a new street added to an existing subdivision. For a very long time, all of us who built on this new street were told that DSL was not available to us. Tried Hughesnet and, finally, Sprint Mobile Broadband.
Slowly - over time - various homes on the block were approved for DSL. During the same time period, others were still told "No. Sorry. DSL is not available to you." But, it was all pretty much on an ad hoc, beg ATT basis.
Finally, the situation got down to only 5 houses NOT having DSL service (all in the middle of the block). Working through the ATT Direct forum here, was approved for ATT DSL *basic* service (762Kbps down max). AFter about 2 weeks of basic tier service, I got a rep in the DSL Customer Care Department to check to see whether I could get approved for a faster service tier. After a few moments, I was approved for the Express tier (1.5Mbps down max). Got that installed and voila! Getting 1.26Mbps down - which in contrast to my SMBB is about 3x faster.
So far, I'm happy with the service. I just think ATT could have made it much, much easier to order DSL (which was a true endurance, please take my money experience).
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Review by whymeintrouble
UPDATED: 138 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 3965 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Naperville,Dupage,IL
$25 per month
about 6 days
Ameritech
"Fast and Cheap :)"
"nada"
"excellent , haven't had any probs"
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Well I have had DSL with Ameritech/SBC since January 2002  I had about a 17 day delay at initial install because someone configured my Static IP incorrectly. between then and the latest upgrade, May 16 to a Dynamic IP same 1.5/256 speed. Speed here has always been good, ever since I did my self install. With SBC you run DSL on PPPOE and have had no probs using Win XP client or my router. I have had a few outages, all on the static, but those were cleared up quickly, and you also have a free dial-up account. This can be used nationwide I usually get about 1.2/235 for speeds and am very happy with it. The customer support here at BBR is outstanding, everyone from SBC, on and off the clock, deserves a months paid vacation!! Extremely happy overall with the service. And this being so I upgraded the Tech support rating for this reason...and only this reason.. the phone tech support is still playing russian roulette!!
**UPDATE** 3-14-04 Things are still going great, the even bumped up the service to 1.5/384, actual speed is Download = 1.269 Mbps, Upload = 318.42 kbps . I once again upgraded the tech support, as I've had better luck on phone support when the need arises, or I just have questions.
***UPDATE*** 2-17-08 have been on the Elite package, 6/768 for a few months now and love it. easy upgrade happened quickly and without issue. pings are good as well thanks ATT
***UPDATE*** 7-16_09 have moved to a different city, but am able to get the Pro package. speeds are always consistent. been using it for about 2 months now with no problems, not even an outage
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 Review by georgequ
UPDATED: 146 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 2398 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Painesville,Lake,OH
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
Ameritech
"Service is very consistant, few outages."
"Tech support is non-existant, do not speak english :)"
"they just about crashed my computer."
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Well, it's been about a year now. I have the 1.5 to 6Mb service.
My speed test results have been a very steady 4900 to 5000 down and 387 to 485 up.
Can’t complain.
There was some confusion after I moved since I had put in a disconnect for the old address and a connect for the new.
Well some nincompoop forgot to remove the disconnect from the system after it was disconnected and service was re established at the new location.. The result being that about a week after the new service was up and running some other nincompoop saw the disconnect on his screen never looked at the facts or address and promptly disconnected me.
Well, confusion reigned; it took the intervention of Mr. “C” from the Ameritech forum to set every thing straight.. You see the connect notice WAS removed after it was completed.
Besides that no complaints I have very good service, very few outages,. and great speeds.
Viva la SBC/Yahoo.
Service remains excellent, Speed has actually improved. Absolutely no complaints, Have not had an "outage": for months and months.
ADDITION MADE ON 26 JULY 2009.
I had some connection issues, some websites including this one would not load in and time out. We have 4 PC's running, Two ME, one Windows 2000 Pro and one Vista.
After some chatting back and forth this lady decided she could not handle the case and gave it "supposedly" to a supervisor, smart lady, you would presume, right ? Well the lady asked me for permission to take control of my PC which I did, I figured she knew what she was doing right ? WROND! It is just too bad, that I don't know her name, because the lady that this this to me deserves to be fired.
First thing she wanted to do was uninstall Firefox. Which I refused to let her do upon which she gave me a hard time insisting that FF was known to have issues like this and uninstalling it would make it all better.
Since my laptop when taken to my next door neighbor would pull the sites right in, I knew FF was not the problem. It's my guess that she was not familiar with FF.
First thing I knew, she had pulled down the tools/options tab and started unchecking just about every thing that could be unchecked, by this time I was getting panicky,and asked her what she was doing. Quote: "I am disabling a few things so we can see what is going on" I asked please to stop changing my browser without reason, next she went to my cookies, many of which are needed to sign on to certain sites. and against my protest with me practically screaming in her ear she proceeded to delete all my cookies and all my private data was soon to follow. I really got paranoid when she headed for the password file. I have about 50 passwords in there, some that require alphanumeric and numbers combined with none alphabetical characters like SAM#&123 hard to remember no ? I was screaming at her and I mean SCREAMING don't you dare delete my passwords, but she deleted them anyway together with my bookmark folder.
By now I was really P----d but I composed myself and told her what she did to my Firefox installation was totally irresponsible. I asked her for her name, which instead of supplying me with same, she managed to very conveniently loose the connection.
I'll be spending the rest of the day doing the "lost password and user name routine." After which I have to solve my original time out issues.
Is this a bad review of my ISP ? yes and no.
No because I still have very reliable 5100+ DSL service.
Yes, because their tech support stinks. To give a person with so little knowledge about the computer and operating systems the power and the means to operate a customers computer by remote control is totally irresponsible.
SHAME ON YOU AT@T.
Attachments:
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 Review by parkut
UPDATED: 147 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 4169 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Harrison Township,Macomb,MI
$59 per month (12 month contract)
about 27 days
Ameritech
"Reliable service"
"None really"
"Very Reliable"
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**** Updated 07/08/09 *********
Flawless service since last update. Has been used for low traffic website, and backup MX circuit.
**** Updated 12/27/08 *********
Flawless service since last update.
**** Updated 04/12/08 *********
Flawless service since last update. Price has crept up over the years, since installed. Static package, connected to RT 3meg down/512 up. Now paying around $100 / month for the line and DSL, including all taxes.
**** Updated 10/04/07 *********
Flawless service since last update
**** Updated 09/29/06 *********
Came in to work to discover line down. Did the usual restart of modem, look for sync. No connectivity. Then I noticed the IP number assigned to the connection was different than the Static number originally assigned. Was in the 69 block, now in 75 block. Tech support was immediately helpful, and helped me reconfigure my network for the new IP number. No idea of why it was changed. Fortunately, changing the static IP number is no big deal for me. Back up and running normal speeds.
**** Updated 08/25/06 *********
Been running rock solid on the 3meg package since 4/27/05. No complaints.
**** Updated 04/27/05 *********
The DSL circuit was mostly stable, with some periods that it would not automatically resync (manual power cycle/restart required) to regain online status. Called SBC to find out if anything could be done, and was advised that there was some line trouble, and scheduled a service call. SBC tech came and came to eventual conclusion that we were too far from the RT to support the 6 meg package, and dropped us to 3meg down. Said we should be getting a lower monthly charge since not getting the faster (more expensive) service.
**** Updated 04/14/05 *********
True to SBC sales, the installer showed up with a new Netopia router and worked his magic on firing up the new DSL circuit. Was not able to get quite as fast as sales promised, but pretty awesome compared to the last couple of weeks on ISDN backup circuit. Ony been up for a couple of hours so too soon to report on quality of service. So far, what's not to like? Purchased the Expert Plus Static Package.
**** Updated 04/04/05 *********
On April 4, 2005 my connection was behaving very sluggish. Prior to that our connection has been good, with the occasional outage, easily fixed by resetting the router (power cycle). I power cycled the router, and was unable to establish the link from that point forward. I contacted SBC support, and was told I was too far out for service, they were not able to fix it. However, the good news is, there is a RT that was put online sometime early last year, and I can now get the better/faster package for less money than I am paying now. The install is scheduled for April 14th. In the mean time, we are going to be stuck with a backup ISDN circuit.
**** Updated 10/07/03 *********
Not a whole lot to report. SBC/Yahoo is very reliable. We use it for web-surfing at our office. Over the last 12 months, we have had occasional outages, which are resolved by resetting the router. At 21,000 feet from the CO, 384/384 is the best we will ever get here.
I was especially impressed that during the great northeast power blackout of '03 when our power was out for approx 36 hours, when I logged on via battery backup, the DSL connection came right up.
**** Updated 02/07/03 *********
On January 31, 2003 - I learned SBC/Yahoo was supporting 384/384 DSL, and ordered the upgrade. Today, the DSL line went down around 10:30 am. Reset router and brought service back up at 12:00. Now have 384/384 connection. download is slightly faster than upload, probably due to FTP overhead.
**** Update August 2002 *********
Two days ago, I was feeling pretty good, and decided to call SBC about the company DSL line. We had the SpeedPath 1500 OfficePlus package running at a consistant 384/256 since December.
The order was taken November 15th, and Service was turned on December 11th.
When it was put in, the tech said we were pretty far out, but give it a while before asking for the speed to be increased. Service has been very reliable, with only one time I ever had to call tech support. That issue was resolved quickly with a simple modem reset.
Well, now that it's August, I thought, what the heck, it's been long enough. So I called, and Tier1 rapidly bumped me to Tier2. I repeatedly said, my speed is not great, but if it's the best I can get, I will live with it. DON'T BREAK IT.
You guessed it, 10 minutes after I hung up, the connection went dead. 2 hours later the ASI tech came by and said, yup, it's dead. He said we were so far out his tester was having trouble syncing at 384, and maybe the cable pairs were bad. He referred it back to Ameritech for line work.
Yesterday, right at 8am the lineman came by with his tester, and said the cable pairs are rotten, all used up in the industrial park we are in, and he would do the best he could.
As of 3PM today, after much effort, the Ameritech DSL tech that came onsite got things running again, but now, only at 384/128.
It turns out we are at 21,800 ft from the office. The cable will not support anywhere near the 1.5/256 speed. I was given the distinct impression that if I were to order DSL today, Ameritech would not even consider accepting an order due to the distance.
Two days ago, when I ever so inoccently asked to see if I could get more down speed, they changed the profile or something, and killed the circuit.
My DSL service has been restored, but due to policy changes at Ameritech, my original 1.5/256 profile is no longer available to me. Despite my pleading just to put it back the way it was, I am now limited to a 384/128 package (I still get my static IP's).
Team Data, and customer billing agreed on the setup, and they at least reduced my monthly fee. As a bonus they gave me 8 months credit for the reduced service I was actually receiving.
The tech mentioned that during circuit testing today, they were able to bring up and operate a 384/384 profile. BUT, they couldn't leave it because Ameritech does not offer that speed package.
I was told if I *really* wanted 384/384 I could approach the CLEC who does offer it, and see if I could get it installed. Further, he told me it was likely that he would be the tech to come back since Ameritech does the final connections for this other CLEC. Go figure.
Lastly, I have to say the tech that came here today (who happened to be the same one that installed the circuit back in December) was using DSLR for speed tests, and was extremely pleasant to work with. Despite being on the telephone for hours with the Missouri Call Center, Team Data in Chicago, Billing in Detroit, and god knows who else.
Sigh... I really should not have asked!
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 Review by sirwoogie
UPDATED: 155 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 2738 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Carleton,Monroe,MI
$40 per month
about 3 days
AT&T
"Decent sync rate based on my local loop length. Consistent speeds"
"Levels of support to reach someone that can *do* something"
"Decent DSL if you have limited options."
| Pre Sales information:
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Connection reliability:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Found out recently that I was able to qualify for DSL at my residence. I currently used Sprint 3G card for my HSI (Review: »/comment/59734), which has been decent. The only complaints there is the inconsistent speed (fluctuates 50% over the day), high latency (~95ms to first hop) and the higher cost ($60/mo).
According to ATT, my local loop length is 13.3k feet, which qualifies me for the Express (768/384) speed tier only. Knowing from reading the ATT forums, distance is only one of the many qualifications that determine maximum acheivable sync rate. But, ATT only uses the distance for their sales qualifications (and has many levels of restrictions on the sales staff to override those settings... more on that later). Line quality from CO or RT to the NID, the NID itself, and the run to the inside wiring are all key factors.
I went with a dry loop install of Express. From the placement of the order to the tech showing up was 5 days. The tech was very knowledgeable and worked very hard to condition my line appropriately. He found a few coils and a split farther down the line which he removed. After the line tech was done, I had a solid 768/384 sync. I regrettably didn't write down my settings exactly at that sync, but I believe my attenuation was 56.7, SNR of 26 and no noise tones. Pretty good! I have a direct cat6 wire run from the NID directly to the modem. I do not have voice, so this is the most direct setup.
I let the modem train for a few days, and saw the numbers were stable. I was going to see if I could sync at Pro speeds (3008/512). I called up sales and after bouncing through about 3 departments, finally reached DSL provisioning. According to their records, I only qualified for the 768 and they could not offer me anything else, nor could they override. After failing to convince this representative and having a work order ticket get rejected, I tried a few more times. Finally, I reached a rep that was willing to take the extra initiative. He worked it with the engineering department to put an override in the system so that it would allow them to place the order for the higher speed.
On 6/25/2009, Dave from the ATT Direct forum here saw my work order and completed it. I now have full 3008/512 sync with no issues. Here is the current stats from the 2Wire gateway:
General Information
DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Downstream Rate Cap: 3008 kbps
Downstream Atten. at 300kHz: 56.4 dB
Uncancelled Echo: -25.8 dB Ok
VCXO Frequency Offset: -51.7 ppm Ok
Final Rx Gain: 29.9 dB Ok
Impulse Noise Comp. Tones: 0 Ok
Excessive Impulse Noise: 0 Ok
Impulse noise protection: 0.55
Delay of latency path: 4.00 ms
The only item to note here is the above sync is with Interleave turned on. This introduces 4ms of latency in the connection. Here is a current traceroute to a local DNS server:
$ tracert 4.2.2.2
Tracing route to vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net [4.2.2.2]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 2 ms 1 ms 1 ms home [192.168.1.1]
2 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms adsl-99-181-XXX-XXX.dsl.sfldmi.sbcglobal.net [99
.181.XXX.XXX]
3 25 ms 21 ms 23 ms 67.36.65.1
4 22 ms 23 ms 23 ms bb1-g10-0.sfldmi.sbcglobal.net [151.164.43.59]
5 31 ms 30 ms 31 ms ex2-p1-0.eqchil.sbcglobal.net [151.164.189.80]
6 30 ms 31 ms 31 ms Te-3-2.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.110.197]
7 102 ms 31 ms 31 ms ae-21-54.car1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.101.98]
8 32 ms 30 ms 31 ms vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net [4.2.2.2]
I've currently asked Dave from the Direct forum to put me on the Fast Path line to see if the modem can still hold the stable sync and numbers.
UPDATE: 6/29/2009 - 20:39
Dave updated my profile to Fast. New numbers:
General Information:
DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Downstream Rate Cap: 3008 kbps
Downstream Atten. at 300kHz: 56.2 dB
Uncancelled Echo: -26.0 dB Ok
VCXO Frequency Offset: -52.4 ppm Ok
Final Rx Gain: 29.9 dB Ok
Impulse Noise Comp. Tones: 0 Ok
Excessive Impulse Noise: 0 Ok
Impulse noise protection: 0.00
Delay of latency path: 0.25 ms
$ tracert 4.2.2.2
Tracing route to vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net [4.2.2.2]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 2 ms 1 ms 1 ms home [192.168.1.1]
2 14 ms 13 ms 11 ms adsl-99-181-XXX-XXX.dsl.sfldmi.sbcglobal.net [99.181.XXX.XXX]
3 14 ms 11 ms 13 ms 67.36.65.1
4 14 ms 11 ms 13 ms bb1-g10-0.sfldmi.sbcglobal.net [151.164.43.59]
5 19 ms 19 ms 19 ms ex2-p1-0.eqchil.sbcglobal.net [151.164.189.80]
6 64 ms 20 ms 19 ms Te-3-2.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.110.197]
7 20 ms 20 ms 19 ms ae-21-54.car1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.101.98]
8 21 ms 18 ms 19 ms vnsc-bak.sys.gtei.net [4.2.2.2]
Trace complete.
Good deal!
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 Review by clowny
UPDATED: 166 days ago
member for 6.2 years, 2575 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Crystal Lake,Mchenry,IL
Contract price not specified. (12 month contract)
about 5 days
Ameritech
"I never had any problems with my connection"
"None"
"U-verse is great"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Update: 6/19/09
Have U-verse now. No complaints
Update: 6/18/05
My download speeds have doubled. Now at 645/300. It's not the latest, greatest speeds, but I'm happy for now.
Update: 4/2/05
Nothing new with my DSL. Still slow speeds, but better than nothing.
Update 5/17/04
I'd just like to thank Annonamoose for helping me with a DSL outage problem that happened overnight. Everything is up & running again.
Update 3/28/04
I had a line test from the NID & I guess I'm stuck with 384/256 & no upgrades in sight in the near future. My line at 384 is at 44% capacity & anything higher probably wouldn't work right,. I'll guess i'll let my contract expire & move over to Comcrap. My thanks to the techs here that tried to get better service for me.
Update 11/26
I noticed a $14.00 charge on my Nov. bill & had no idea what it was. I sent an IM to Annoamoose & he couldn't help me with my problem, but gave me the right phone number to call & got a credit after 10 minutes on the phone. I said it once & i'll say it again, the techs here are very helpful.
I've been a SBC customer for two years on the 768/128 plan & I never had any problems. Now I just bought a new house & that's when the fun started.
When I tried to get service in my house I got jostled around from person to person & I was told I could get it, then I was told I couldn't get it since I was told I'm a credit risk. I made a final call to billing & they signed me up. I sent a IM to Annoamoose & he/she told me my order is in the system.
5 days later I got my new installation kit, plugged the new modem in & I was running at 160/100. I never heard of the ramp up process before & after a couple of days, I was up to only 313/108.
I sent a IM to beach boy & he told me to get back to him in November. I really don't have anything else to say, except I wish I could at least get what I
used to at my old place. It's still a lot better than dial up though & I will never give Comcast any money.
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 Review by jsinaiko
UPDATED: 167 days ago
member for 8.6 years, 2905 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$34 per month
AT&T
"Reliable service lately - very few outages FANTASTIC tier 2 and higher support."
"Waste-of-time tier one support. Improved in the last few months."
"Good price. Reliable. But if something goes wrong, tier one support could be better."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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Tech Support:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Update: 6/17/09
Everything status quo. No major outages. BUT WHERE IS UVERSE FOR CHICAGO??!!
10/06/08
Everything still fine. No major problems or issues over the past few months. Presently we are waiting to see if AT&T UVerse ever gets to our neck of the woods. That would be nice.
1/29/08
Been on Elite for about two months now. No problems at all. Getting a solid 5098kbps down test after test, and not just the AT&T test, but other out-of-network tests, such as Speakeasy.
No outages, and no burps or slowdowns to date. It was a seamless transition from Pro to Elite.
11/30/07
Wolfdragon 1 - one of the AT&T personnel who watches the site to deliver customer service - has done a stellar job of getting me up to the Elite (6m bps down) tier. Turns out there may have been an error in the database that said my distance to the CO was too long. Wolfdragon 1 had this checked and corrected. I go online with the faster speed on 12/4/07. I'll report on the upgrade next week.
Update:
10/4/07
Service has continued to improve. No major outages over the past 10 months. Some sticky email issues, but these were resolved. If they occur again I may have to revise this update, but right now, no major complaints.
Except, I keep on being told I cannot get up to the 6.0 download "Elite" tier. I want it! Give it to me!
Update:
12/8/06
Service has continued to be reliable. Tier 1 support seems to have gotten slightly better - still comes up short. Tier 2 support, and particularly the AT&T folks who man their battle stations at BBR are the best. Beach Boy, Annonamoose, Toaster, and the others are simply the best I have ever encountered. hey fix the problem quickly, the don't insult your intelligence, they are nice and good humored, and obviously highly skilled.
Pricing and billing seem to have stabilized in the last year too.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
Before you read the sad and now rather ancient tale of woe around my migration from a UL to a LS, I want to say how great the upper-level techs like Beach Boy and Toaster are. They are the glue that holds the network together.
AT&T billing and tier 1 support are not good. But the guys at AT&T Direct and in the forums are the best, The quality of service they provide makes the rest worth it.
I’m a legacy Ameritech.net customer. First got DSL in the fall of 2000. Unbundled loop. Took three months for them to get over here to do the install.
For the first six months or so the service was awful. It was down almost as much as it was up. Nobody ever knew anything. Very frustrating. By the spring of 2001 the reliability of the network started to improve as it has steadily since then. Now we rarely go down and the speed is quire consistent. I am very satisfied with the over reliability and speed of the network.
That’s the good part. And it is good. Now for the bad part.
The sales folks lie. I’ve been a good customer. Every time I do what SBC wants me to do it turns into a huge headache, with the fault always being a total lack of coordination and/or good information on the part of SBC.
I resisted switching from my old Ameritech.net service to SBC Yahoo for about one year. Finally, by offering to cut the price in half, I agreed to let the migration occur. I wanted to retain my old unbundled loop, but that was not permitted, so they sent me a self-install kit, which I installed. All OK so far. Except they continued to bill me at the old rate. They almost lost all my email addresses. They failed to disconnect the UL and continued to bill me for that as well. It took hours and hours on the phone to get it all sorted out. I was trying to be a good customer and I got a lot of hassle for it. A nice tier two support guy straightened it out in a few minutes, but it took me hours and hours to get to tier two. Why don’t tier one people have access to the same information that tier two folks have?
Although every tier two SBC tech I have encountered has been helpful, extremely competent, and have been able to solve the issue, getting to tier two is like pulling teeth, and the tier one folks:
• Know nothing – all they ever seem to advise is to recycle your modem.
• Ask more questions then they answer – I am NOT calling support to give SBC info about myself; I am calling to get a question answered or to get help.
• Almost NEVER have relevant or up-to-date information about outages or other problems, thus rendering it impossible to know if the problem is out there on the network or is in my computer. Tier one generall thinks it is a problem with my computer which it never is.
Going back to the UL I had 768 downstream but they upgraded everyone a few months ago to 1500. I got a flier in the mail (snail) offering to give me 1.5 - 3.0 downstream for $36.99. As this is only a few bucks more than the $29.99 I was paying I jumped. Called them up - for some reason it wouldn't let me do it online - and set the thing up. No problem. Scheduled to kick in on 9/7.
9/7 came and went and nothing. The usual 1298 downstream. Same on 9/8. So I called in and asked what the story was. Turned out that they had ticked off the 1.5 box instead of the 3.0 box, so I was kept right where I was but for $7 per month more. Took three calls of one hour each, with most of that on hold to get it sorted, which it now is thanks to a couple decent tier 2 guys who took the time to sort it out for me.
This is nothing new. Whereas in the main SBC has run a reliable network since early 2001 (I've had them as my provider since 2000), I have encountered continuing CS problems every time I act like a good customer and bite on one of their offers. Back in 2000 it took them 3 months to get the install (an old unbundled loop) finished. There were lots of issues when I migrated from Ameritech.net (unbundled loop) to SBC Yahoo (line share) earlier this year. There have been several other very bad patches in between. It seems, at least in my case - I live in Chicago and am less than 5000' from the CO - SBC has difficulty executing a simple order. Without belaboring more than I am already, I'm sure they don't have any trouble shutting it all down if I don't pay my bill. They don't have any trouble trying to sneak little extra charges on my bill almost every month. Why is it so hard for them to execute a simple upgrade order? Makes me yearn for the days of Illinois Bell. To all SBC techs and front-line support folks, please know I have nothing but total respect for you - but the sort of thing I have gone through over the years reminds me of AOL, and that is NOT a good thing.
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