how-to block ads
|
»next review in page
Review by airjrdn 
UPDATED: 245 days ago
member for 5.2 years, 342 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Springfield,Sangamon,IL
 $36 per month (12 month contract)
 about 10 days
 "Stable, Consistent, Inexpensive, Good for gaming"
 "None yet"
 "Good value, solid pings & speeds"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I've had DSL in the past, starting around 1999 or 2000. I signed up for SBC DSL in 12/2004. I was (and still am as of 1/13/2005) on InsightBB Cable in Springfield, IL. SBC has a 1yr contract, but will give you 30 days to try it out before you're locked in.
I contemplated leaving Insight because of massively fluctuating pings, and packetloss during gaming. I'm a huge gamer; probably 2 to 3 hours a day 7 days a week, so pings and packetloss mean a lot to me.
I've been with SBC for about 3 weeks now. Anytime, night or day, the pings are consistent, and packetloss is non-existent. I'm on the Express plan (1.5M/384K) right now. I'd like to have the Pro (3M/512K) package, but am 14K feet from the CO, and they're having to do extensive checks on my line to see if it can handle the higher speed. Typically, the limit to qualify for the Pro speed is a distance of around 9.5K feet. I've been working with the people in the SBC Direct forum, and they've been extrememly helpful.
My speeds have been a consistent 1.3M down and 330K up. From what I understand, this is as fast as I'll see on the 1.5M/384K plan.
I purchased my own modem, had my own router, etc., so I can't comment on their end-user equipment. As for the timeframe from order to usage, 10 days is about what I'd expect from most ISP's.
If you are having issues on cable relating to troublesome gaming and SBC is available in your area, I'd have no reservations about recommending them.
UPDATE - 04/27/2005
It's now been close to 5 months and nothing but excellence. The gentlemen in SBC Direct got me on the Pro plan even though I'm about 14k feet from the CO. Downloads are at 2.6M (~315KB/sec) and uploads are at ~51KB/sec. Pings have never been more stable. I get consistent 24 pings to my Chicago based UT2004 gameserver.
UPDATE - 08/19/2006
Service is still awesome. I'm still gaming (UT2004) nearly every night, and we've even changed to a new gameserver located in Chicago. My ping is always a consistent 16ms regardless of time of day. As a gamer, I couldn't be happier. Download speeds are still rock solid as well. The only thing I could wish for would be the availability of the 6Mbit service, but at 12k feet from the C.O., that's just not going to happen. I will say though, in my experience, there's never been a better solution for gaming than SBC DSL.
UPDATE - 4/3/2009
Service is still great, but the speeds are slow compared to others now. Thinking about switching for faster speeds, but I'm hesitant because it's always worked so well.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by Paulg
UPDATED: 248 days ago
member for 5.7 years, 2474 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Hubbell,Houghton,MI
$24 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
 Ameritech
"very good uptime"
"speeds somewhat unstable"
"Good value for the money"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Update 3/31/09 - Service has been steady since the last update, no complaints here!
update 12/07/07 - service has been good for the most part, a week or so ago we had 2 4 hour outages, but it has been solid otherwise, ATT has recently added more capacity after speed and ping problems surfaced, since, its been good all around. I would rate the telephone tech support lower, but the AT&T direct forum staff make me want to rate it a 5/5m, they do a hell of a job.
update 5/22/07 - Speeds are unstable most of the time, swing from 2500 to 1000kbs or less. Overall connection is very stable though, only one or 2 momentary outages.
update 10/27/06-- Wow, its been awhile since this was updated.. But there's really no need. the service is absolutly rock solid (provided the damn construction workers can keep from slicing the fiber backhaul). Pings to my Chicago game server are still in the 30-40ms range.
update 9/20/05 still going strong.. a few isolated outages, mostly due to my router sucking. great pings still aswell.
update 3-1-05 they didnt have enough bandwidth ready for our area, which was causing our pings to run high, but they've since fixed the issue, i know have a sub 40ms ping to our chicago gameserver.. Kudos to the great help in SBCDirect
update 1-15-05 the only major issue ive had is the snowload pulled the ground clamp loose and shorted our line, but a call to POTS support had that fixed, the DSL portion hasnt had any connectivity issues. the only minor thing on the DSL side is that our first hop pings seem to run high.
great value though.
update 10-9-04
no downtime yet.. even through some serious storms that we lost power for 6+ hours.
original review august 1 '04
great service, and the install was relativly easy, once we got our router set up propery, but since then, we've had zero downtime in 2 weeks.
ill post more as time goes on.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by ocdave67
UPDATED: 249 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 32 visits, last login: 224 days ago
Portland,Clackamas,OR
$39 per month (24 month contract)
"Absolutely none"
"Pathetic customer service. Inaccurate CSR'S, Pain to cancel"
"AT@T DSL was the worst customer service experience I have ever had."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
(ratings well below consensus)
|
Called AT@T last week to order DSL service. Was told when I asked the CSR when I would have my modem, I was told in 7 to 10 days. Exactly 9 days later I received my conformation letter of service with information on my email account etc. In this letter It stated that I would receive my modem in 7 to 10 days. That was not what the CSR told me as stated above. The actual time they should tell you before you will have your modem up and running is 14 to 17 days. This angered me but I decided to keep waiting UNTIL I noticed on the letter that the email address they assigned me they screwed up my name!! This angered me because the CSR that signed me up had to run a credit check etc to start this new account. I called them the evening I received this letter to inform them that they assigned me an incorrect email address (And to give them a piece of my mind on their time frame screw up). I was told that they could not change my email address and that they just canceled my order and I would have to start from scratch and sign up again and wait 14 to 17 days (of course they said 7 to 10 days again... NOT). I was then told I would be connected to the DSL sign up center to re register. The CSR then preceded to.transfer me to a department that was closed for that day. I find this to be an unacceptable CSR action. Pathetic to be honest..
I waited until the next day to call the DSL signup center and thought that if AT@T gave me a couple months of free internet I would "overlook" their pathetic performance in starting my DSL account. After 2 hours of being transferred to numerous wrong departments and 3 failed attempts to talk to a CSR supervisor about their mistake I decided that I could not go into a contract with a company that has such pathetic CSR reps. I canceled my entire order and informed them that because of their complete ineptness that I would also consider canceling my cell phone service that I have through AT@T as well (Still considering this step).
In the end this ended up being the best thing that could have happened to me. AT@T had told me in order to get service I would HAVE to have a home phone account as well (29.99 being the cheapest per month then another 39 dollars a month for DSL). I called Qwest today and found out I could have internet through them and NOT have to have phone service!! That saved me 29.99 a month right there and saved me the 60 dollars one time AT@T connection fee for a new line!! I also will be getting my modem in 4 to 7 days and not a ridiculous 14 to 17 days that it takes AT@T. My new internet service will cost a few bucks more but not having to pay a 29.99 phone line charge for something I did not want means I am going to save a TON of money using Qwest instead.
Bottom line- AT@T is the most pathetic customer service experience I have ever had. I am so glad things did not work out for their services. I would have paid over the 2 year contract HUNDREDS more than what I will get with Quest dsl. Avoid AT@T like the plague. If you do not .. you run a high risk of major frustration and ineptness.
Followup comments:  Tigerpaw509
Premium
join:2006-07-15
Huntley, IL | What you talking 'bout When you run the setup disk you make your own email address NOT the csr. | |
| | | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Re: He must be talking about the AT&T CLEC Yup. These reviews have degenerated to the point that they're almost useless considering how many are not assigned to the right region or even company. I doubt someone in Oregon will be seeing AT&T ILEC service anytime in the future. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by shercando
UPDATED: 250 days ago
member for 8.7 years, 3413 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Madison,Dane,WI
$45 per month (12 month contract)
AT&T
"Most"
"Some"
"Best Buy"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I think my DSL service is tops, (who ever they are!) but this hound has
so many names it will answer to almost anything. If I want to change
settings I have no idea what to enter as my provider since they are
inconsistent with their own use of names. That is almost a joke and not
a gripe. You can't find better DSL anywhere because the techs are
supermen with the immediate help you need if you do need it --even if
you don't know who they work for.
Non technical issues, like billing, are a hassle. They pass the buck
over and over. I have had a credit coming since June of 2002 and quit
trying to get it because they pass the buck. When you call for billing
they should direct the FIRST dialed number directly to a qualified
person who can resolve the issue and not pass it on through a maze of
"press this or that -- if." I believe that is by design too --so that
the customer gives up trying. This can be handled by email but email
just ends up dying for want of attention. They insist of putting the
customer through the never ending grinder phone linking BS.
7-12-08 Update: Can't improve on this.
Customer service has improved so much I actually like it. I am still out the credit they owe me but with all the changes they were going through I am amazed they kept their heads screwed on.
SHERCANDO
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by SkippyJasper
Posted: 252 days ago
member for 4.6 years, 80 visits, last login: 176 days ago
Farmington,Oakland,MI
$30 per month
Ameritech
"Great service, good speed, reliable"
"None"
"Good provider"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
I've had DSL for some time so my connection experiences might not reflect current times.
The only other broadband choice at the time was cableTV and I was unimpressed with thier abilty to provide TV signal. They might have improved since then, but I believe ATT/Ameritech provides greater techincal and security features. While I have DirecTV, there is no need to go to that for broadband, though I'd likely consider that if DSL wasn't available. My service is Pro with a down of 2500 and up of 500.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by porterm
UPDATED: 253 days ago
member for 2.7 years, 73 visits, last login: 16 days ago
Saint Louis,Saint Louis,MO
$35 per month (12 month contract)
"faster then dialup if thats anything worth considering"
"when you have a problem and the answer is obvious to you,you have to jump thru hoops to get them to do anything"
"ok for surfing,location is everything. if you dont know what your talking about when a problem develops"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
ive had some form of internet service for twenty years. first dialup(AOL) and then aol broadband(kinda weird that swb wouldnt serve me broadband at that location
but AOL could over the same lines) this service wasnt all that great,but much better then dialup. moved to my current location about 5 years ago and found that i qualifiedfordsl here so ordered it up. never had a problem setting my service up nor several others who asked me to help. originally came with a 2wire modem which worked well. about 2 years into the service,started having problems woth lost connections and slower then dialup speeds.spent a month or more talking to charlie from india,went to the now defunct circuit city and bought a new modem,
and checked everything in the house and found no problems. finally called for a tech who came in and immediatley said he didnt think he could do anything.
i had noticed a bell guy up on the pole outside priviously working on the same junction my line came from and had mentioned this every time i called but it didnt seem to pull much weight with everyone i had talked to on the phone. after leaping
an astronomical number of hurdles with them i got mad and went ti the nic and took every wire out and ran one single line up to the computer with a splitter /filter as the only connection. called them up and they started to run me thru the same hurdles again. at this point,i stopped them and explained what all i had been thru and what i had done to prepare for this call. they once again ran some tests and
the person agreed to roll a tech.but if anything was found faulty within my house,i would be liable for the service call. i agreed and they set up a run for a couple days later. got a call on the day agreed on albiet a little late in the day from a tech
and told him to come on out no matter how late it was. the tech arrived about 7 in the evening and actually was one of the nicest service guys i had ever encountered. i told him what i had done and he looked at my compter and had me go to a site and run a test and he agreed with me that something was wrong.
we then went to the basement where the nic was located and he hooked a laptop
directly to the nic. he couldnt get a good signal from there either,hooked directly to the outside line. i told him of the lineworker and the garbage bage covering the connection and he told me to sit tight ,that he was going up on the pole to check things out. he wasnt up there 10 minutes or so and cams down and said lets go check it out now. went inside and lo and behold,im hot,getting great speeds and
all. he told me as soon as he went up and identified my line all he did was touch it and it fell out. he reattached it and everything was fine. i have no complaints for this gentleman as he did what the first tech should have. i do have a problem with how long it took for someone to actually believe me and do what they should have to get me the service i was paying for. too many hoops to jump thru. service has been acceptable since then but my speed isnt what my father recieves just a couple miles away. i get about 1100kbs down here and dad gets about 1700kbs down at his house. but i understand thewhole distance from the co bit so im not complaining. my house is listed as being connected to one certain co,but there is another much closer. geuss im just at the wrong end of the wrong loop. just got notice that uverse is available here now,wasnt a week earlier,so im considering going to it to replace my dish service along with my dsl,just not sure if i want to pull the trigger just yet. seems like early adopters have to put up with a lot till they get thier deal right in a new area. price ways,its about the same as my combined bills,but im afraid to try something that may not work. oh yea,the original package was 1500/400 for something like $50 a month. its since gone down with contract pricing and hasnt risen even though the contract has long run out.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by eNcOdEd1
UPDATED: 261 days ago
member for 7.8 years, 252 visits, last login: 7 days ago
Decatur,Macon,IL
$70 per month (12 month contract)
about 2 days
AT&T
"Rock solid, have never had any problems over the years."
"Having to sign up for 1 year to get lowest price on static."
"Rock solid performance and excellent reliability."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I have had DSL in Decatur, IL for over 6 years and have never had any issues with Ameritech/SBC/AT&T. I just finished an upgrade from Elite 6Mb/s/768Kbps dynamic to the Elite 6Mb/s/768Kbps static package. Beth in the "static" department was very nice and helpful through the order process and told me it would only take two days for the statics to be assigned. I waited my two days and called back to get my statics...oops they were closed. I thought what the heck, I'll chat with an AT&T tech support via the web support (I was very skeptical that someone knowledgeable would be on the other end). I was wrong!! Within a ten minute period I had my IPs and was good to go.
As for the reconfiguration, I grabbed a spare Netopia 3346 (I am an IT consultant and fortunately have these at my disposal) and off I went. After about 5 minutes I was smooth sailing on the Internet and setting up my virtual servers.
I would like to reiterate that I have never had any issues with AT&T and suggest them to client's all the time for their small business setups. If AT&T DSL is good enough for my client's it should be great for most residential users.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by insomniac
UPDATED: 264 days ago
member for 7.2 years, 2268 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Naperville,Dupage,IL
$35 per month
about 5 days
Ameritech
"Fantastic speeds, excellent reliability, relatively loose TOS/AUP"
"Uses PPPoE, Yahoo content mostly worthless"
"Get it if you're close enough to the CO to get the fastest package"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
3/15/2009 UPDATE:
I had 6Mbps service from AT&T for years before moving in September. The wire database indicated the loop at the new place would only support 3Mbps, so I just sucked it up and dealt with it. After watching the line stats for a few months, I requested a prequal for 6.0/768 through the AT&T Direct forum here in late January. David thought the stats looked good, so I placed an upgrade order through the Web site. It went off without a hitch; service is as stable as always, with virtually no change in the line stats.
The static on the voice portion of the line (reported in the September review) reared its ugly head again just before Thanksgiving. A crew came out on Thanksgiving Day and replaced the drop wire and the NID. No problems since then.
9/24/2008 UPDATE:
I recently moved from an apartment to a house two miles away, basically from one side of the CO to the other. The CO is almost right in the middle of the two places, but my loop length increased by about 4kft, which may be enough to put me out of the running for the 6Mbps speeds I've had for 4-1/2 years.
I called the CCC (800-288-2020) on 9/5 to put in a move order for POTS/DSL, due 9/19. Much to my dismay, I was told that DSL was unavailable even though I had confirmed availability at the new address using the AT&T Web site just days before. Since the location is pretty close to the CO, I figured no RT was involved, so it was probably not a facilities exhaust issue. Posting in the AT&T Direct forum here at DSLR got me a manual prequal for 3.0/512 at 10kft. I figured, okay, not the 6.0/768 I'd been getting, but it still beats going back to Comcast...
Due date came and went. POTS worked, but there was a nasty hum on the line both inside and at the NID. DSL modem was able to sync, but it dropped periodically and the line stats were all over the place. I called repair (888-611-4466) on the afternoon of 9/20 to enter a trouble ticket. The initial same-day estimate for repair was missed. Ticket was closed on 9/21 with no resolution. I reopened it on 9/22 and heard from a tech who told me the noise was being caused by faulty DSL equipment at the CO, and that it should be resolved that night. No resolution. Received a call from another tech on 9/23 telling me they'd traced the problem to a main box on Chicago Ave. Came home that night, noise is gone. DSL modem would sync but could not open a PPPoE session. A check of the modem showed an ATM OAM ping test failure. I figured the ATM PVC was being rebuilt, and a check of the forums here confirmed that, but I was not sure why that was necessary when it worked before the line noise was fixed. After two hours and one call to Tier 1 support, it was up.
My modem syncs at 3008/512 with stable SNR of 15.5 and attenuation of 41.0. I am hoping that these stats will allow for an upgrade to 6016/768 later, and I will watch the line carefully for the next couple of weeks.
4/10/2008 UPDATE:
Connection remains reliable as ever. I recommend not using the ISP-provided email, though, in light of the recent snafus.
Contrary to my original post, I have been using the Speedstream 5100b modem to maintain the PPPoE connection, with my Linksys WRT54Gv4 (w/DD-WRT firmware) getting the address from the modem via DHCP. This combination has worked quite well for the past few years.
8/31/2007 UPDATE:
Still rock-solid as always. My upgrade to the Elite package a year ago (same downstream, slightly higher upstream, lower price) went off without a hitch. My $29.99 price went up to $39.99 a couple months ago, but I re-rated at $34.99 (with no contract) using the AT&T Web site.
5/13/2006 UPDATE:
I called the EPC yesterday to upgrade to the new Elite 6016/768 package at the lower price. Right now I'm still on the grandfathered Expert Plus 6016/608 at $44.99 and am anxious to get a slightly higher upload speed for $15 less. Time to see if this goes smoothly.
3/10/2005 UPDATE:
No problems to report--my DSL remains speedy and reliable. Still waiting on that upload speed increase, though...
8/25/2004 UPDATE:
Still flying along with speeds of roughly 5.2Mbps/512Kbps, and looking forward to the recently announced upload speed increases.
ORIGINAL 2/2004 REVIEW:
I was a Comcast customer for over a year before my service started to go south (due to my node near downtown Naperville being overloaded). When SBC announced its revamped packages at the beginning of February, it was clear that I should make the switch. I decided to get the Expert Plus package, advertised as 1.5-3.0Mbps/384Kbps but which syncs at 6.0/608.
On February 3, I attempted to order Expert Plus, but was told by a rep that my line did not qualify for that package -- at 6000 feet from the CO. Knowing that this was incorrect (thanks to the fine folks in the Ameritech forum here), I called back the next day and successfully placed an order. She even mentioned that I'd get speeds up to 6.0, despite SBC not officially advertising that. My order completion date was set for Wednesday, February 11.
The modem shipped quickly and I got it the following Monday. As anticipated, my line was already connected and my modem (an Efficient Speedstream 5100B) synched right up. I had no plans to use the installation CD to activate my service, so I used the info from the BBR SBC DSL FAQ (ah, acronyms) to set up my modem and register. Less than five minutes later, I was up and running.
After some testing and playing around, I set the modem to bridge mode and started using my Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router to maintain the PPPoE connection. I was used to DHCP with Comcast and having the same IP for 6+ months at a time, so I was a little nervous about PPPoE, but I've had very little trouble thus far. My connection died a few times during the early morning hours last week, resulting in an IP change, but it's been rock solid for about five days now and I anticipate it will stay that way.
Speed tests are a consistent 5.2Mbps/512Kbps, latency is always around 30ms, and BBR line quality testing/monitoring shows a fantastic connection. I'm a happy camper, to say the least.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by skrud
UPDATED: 272 days ago
member for 7.5 years, 1689 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Barrington,Lake,IL
$26 per month (12 month contract)
Ameritech
"Official tech support on forums"
"Been very stable for me"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Being a computer novice I was a little intimadated about the self-install but one phone call to tech support clarified things for me.
I have had this service for about 2 years. Had a problem with the line going from pole to my house,I called and in 1 day they had replaced the whole line and put a new junction box on the side of my house. Within 2 weeks they came back and buried it in my yard and also ran it under my street to the box acroos the street.
Having the official support on the forums makes life so much easier.I IM the "moose" who is in the EPC dept to get the speed changes and new contract and over night it was done with NO hassles or being put on hold. They also post general info so you know the overall state of the system and any changes that are coming. I can't thank them enough!!!
768/128 now 1500/256 @ $26.95 speadstream 5360 dynamic
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
| »next page (previous review)
 Review by Clever_Proxy
UPDATED: 273 days ago
member for 5.5 years, 335 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Steger,Cook,IL
$24 per month
about 5 days
"Solid Speedy connection cheap!"
"Tech support and phone line required, took techs days to make my line live"
"Budget high speed totally worth it."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Update...
I moved and no longer have this service.
_____________________________________________________
I ordered the Pro package for $24.99 a month which is advertised at 1.5-3.0 Mbps. My speeds are currently 2400/486 which is not that far off from the caps. Pings are super low and my connection quality is better then I ever had with my cable. I had to get a basic phone service in order to get DSL but it still cheaper then having cable in my area.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
|
|
AT&T Midwest
(34)
(62)
·
·
·
·
·