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Review by jeff3120 member for 11.7 years, 4777 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 3 days ago
Chicago,Cook,IL
$25 per month about 7 days AT&T "Reliable connection" "none really" "Good value for the money"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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Update: I recently upgraded from DSL to the uverse 12mb package. The upgrade was relatively painless and I'm seeing download speeds in the 11.6mbs range while upload speeds are in the 1.3mbs range. So far I'm very happy with the stability of the line. AT&T provided a free 2wire router/modem with wireless capability. I haven't used the wireless on it yet so can't comment on that.
While I haven't need the phone tech support in a while, I would wholeheartedly recommend the on line SBC support available on this website. These official techs are wonderful, and only an instant message away.
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Review by b315653 member for 9.6 years, 2509 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 8 days ago
Mentor,Lake,OH
Contract price not specified. AT&T "The DSL,Tech's on BBR, SBC Direct Forum" "Phone Tech's" "Bang for the Buck"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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I ordered online sometime in Sept. 2003 for the 384-1.5/128 speed for 29.95. Recieved my welcome pack/modem soon after. Waited untill the scheduled live date and hooked everything up but couldn't get online. That's when I called the support number and went through all their steps. Still nothing. I told them my modem would recycle itself without me even touching it and that must have gave them a hint that the modem was bad. They sent out another pronto and when I hooked it up and bingo DSL. I have since rerated to 26.95 and also added a router to take care of my connection. Connection is ROCK SOLID. Never even have to think about it. Still waiting for the upgrade to 256 upload but I'm on a RT and they haven't got to me yet. Great product for a great price is the bottom line. Also the techs here at BBR rock. I visit here almost every day just to stay on top of everything. Thanks to Beach Boy for checking my line for 6.0/600, unfortunately I'm to far to upgrade but oh well i still have a great connection that doesn't tie up my phone line. SBC gives me Dial-Up also as a back-up but haven't needed it yet although I jump on once in a while just to remind me what it used to be like. Also SBC is my local,local toll, and long distance provider. DSL ROCKS.
Well it's 08/05/2004. I posted on SBC Direct forum to re-up for another 12 months at 26.95. I also wanted the upload increase to 256 because I am on a RT and didn't get the boost yet (still was 128). I posted on 08/02 and on 08/05 I ran the SBC speed test here at BBR and bingo 220 upload. You ROCK moose and so does SBC DSL. Rock Solid connection. Don't ever even think about it any more. Even my wife can surf without any problems. I could never return to dial-up. Only wished I was closer to RT when they were offering 6.0/600 but o well, you can't have everything. Keep up the good work SBC.
I have to respond to the negative posts on Ameritech (SBC) forums. My advice is the same as the tech's here, don't call SBC before you come here first and post at the regular forum (Ameritech) and if you don't feel you received help than go to SBC Direct forum and post there. If you do this first chances are really good you won't have to call anybody in India (SBC Customer Help) to talk you in circles. the techs here ROCK and know what they are doing. Why call anybody else and get totally frustrated? Take the road less bumpy.
Well it's 02/04/05 and all is still well. Received the upgrade a while back on the upload side. 384 now (330 actual). Rock Solid connection ALL the time. Wish SBC would come back with that 6.0/600 for 44.95 again but if they don't I'm still happy. One thing about re-upping your contract. Don't do it here at BBR. I did and found out too late that it didn't show up on my account and I slipped into the month to month price. I called and they finally straightened it out but you know I will have to wait a couple of months to get the credits. O well, live and learn. Moral of the story, Call SBC to re-up and get tech help here at BBR. Later.
Pre-Qualified at SBC Direct for Pro Package. Got the thumbs up and made a call for the upgrade on 03/21/05. Recieved the upload increase to 512 (435actual) and waited for my Active Date of 03/29/05 to get the download increase.Active date came with no increase so I posted in SBC Direct and within a day I recieved an answer that the profile was not changed at the Redback. Good to go now.
One thing. I'm on a RT and I was only getting 1.9 down so I reset my RWIN to 14750 and it jumped to 2522 down. This is a known problem that just requires a tweek. Moral of Story- Post in SBC Direct when you have problems, get results. Thanks to "wolfdragon01" at SBC Direct for his assistance. DSL Rocks.
Just an update. Called today (06/21/2005) to get a rerate. Talked to a nice AMERICAN lady. She checked the computer and said that would not be a problem. Now I have Pro Package for 24.99. SBC is aggressive but fair. Again DSL Rocks! Never in recent memory has my connection not been there. Rock Solid. Fair Price. Great Techs at BBR. What else could you ask for. (Maybe that 6000/600 package offer again). Keep your cable folks, DSL for me, period.
Called today (02/04/2006) to rerate. Was paying 24.99. rerated to 17.99 for 12 months. This is a great service for that price. Rock solid connection. Always on. Now they lower the price. Great product SBC!
05/07/06 Well, it finally came available at a good price (6000/608). I ordered the upgrade for the Elite service today. I did it online at www.att.com/upgrade for 27.99. If you look at the first part of this review you will see I paid two dollars a month more for the basic package in 2003. I will complete this review when the upgrade is completed.
05/12/06 This was my live date and when I gave it a speed test I had the proper upload but not the right download (3371/637). Posted in ATT Direct and left my computer for two hours. When I returned, bingo 5100/653. I'm good to go. Good price (27.99) and good speed. What's next ATT? DSL Still ROCKS.
03/31/07 All has been good since last update. Solid speeds and good connection. Only thing I don't like now is there are no offerings if you commit to a year of service. Come on ATT, how about rewarding loyalty.
08/20/2008 All is still good. Price for Elite is 34.99. Rock Solid connection. Never even think about it. I see a new cabinet going in by my RT (actually 2). Maybe U-Verse is coming with 10/1.5 internet. That would be great. We will have to see.
10/13/09 All is still good. Elite is still 34.99. Wish they would discount for year commitment. Service is rock solid though. Don't even think about it. Been looking for U-Verse but still not on my side of street. Maybe next year. Would love that 10/1.5 speed.
12/20/2010 All the same but up to $38 for Elite. Still Rock Solid connection. Just recently I looked again at U-Verse availability. To my surprise it is now available to me. Will have to wait until my Dish contract ends but will then consider switching over for faster internet speeds.
05/16/2013 Made the switch to Uverse in early 2012. Dropped my land line. Picked up TV and Internet. Very rocky start up. I have a bonded pair install but 1 line would keep dropping off. I'm about 2900 ft from Uverse cabinet. After many many techs and lineman calls one lineman figured out that it was one of my lines from the neighborhood box to the Uverse cabinet. He switched that one out for another and pretty much fixed my problem. Been good since. Some HD channels are not the best but overall I enjoy the service.
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Review by David member for 10.9 years, 5490 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 8 days ago
Granite City,Madison,IL
$34 per month about 7 days Ameritech "New modem, new house, new service" "None really; flatwire is still a bad thing" "a good install with plenty of options down the road."
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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Well I finally gave up the apartment lifestyle for a house, it is an older home so the wiring was a bit of a challenge this time. I had to install a nid splitter based on some of the wiring situations presented in this old house from the 1940's. When I inspected the current wiring situation my chances of a good install with the existing infrastructure was paralyzed. There was even flat telephone wire under brand new carpet!! So that was when I realized I knew I was screwed for DSL in the house from any of the existing internal wiring. The NID splitter was an answer, I bought an external box and installed it in the basement. Ran Cat5e wiring for the existing internal wiring jacks that the end user created. Ran a new piece to my computer area down here, and a new piece of wire to the NID and wired it the standard way. The NID splitter was not difficult to install and just using cat5e and keeping extra pairs on hand in case the cable gets hit was a real plus.If I ever have a tech come to this house even after I think he will appreciate the flexibility I gave him with the cables I laid down. I am going to take some pics and show my work.
Speed I ordered was 384-1536/128, $29.95/12 months, I have an efficient 5100 modem, and a linksys router. The linksys makes the network run rather smoothly with little downtime at all. Don't like the router?? install RasPPPoE. It's quick simple and only 94k space.
The only reason why I rated the Pre-Sales information a 4 was the Rep I talked to did not know about the pkgs offered, or any products. He did advise he was new to the job and hired last week. To his defense he did put in the order correctly and my install date was on track with what he told me.
Side note:
Keep in mind I am on line support here at BBR for SBC.. My successes and failures might not match what you experience. When I did my installation I did not do it the normal customer way. I did it with a built machine and used a third party software. So this review is only of my experience with dsl regardless who I work for..
04/18/07-
Yes it pestered me to update again, So far besides the occasional phone line outage. Which ironically the DSL was up for both times for even with the static. A bit perplexed on how my nid/sni splitter did that, but none the less the DSL was working. The power outage last year was kind of taxing. Had no power but ironically I had a spare generator that I got power to my computers and network and I had Internet. Seems like the office was still supplying power to the DSLAM. last year's power crisis I don't remember how many cell phone batteries I charged up, and access to the Internet (my own network) I passed out. I lost count with the neighbors, they were impressed I had sat service, Internet still working and phone service. Kudos to the Coleman Powermate 4000 generator as well.
11/11/08- Still have the service. still using it.
04/15/10
Still works as expected- Have some noise on the phone portion now but I suspect it might be external. It's intermittent so I will wait till it fails.
10/24/11- site pestered me to update again. Still have it. Only call I had to make this year was to the POTS side of the house to have a squirrel guard (damaged from recent storms I think) removed from the line as it was dangling. DSL with my phone line still works as it should.
05/15/13- still have the elite service works well for what I need. Will be moving to uverse potentially for IPDSL service in the latter 1/4 of this year (around october). Hopefully by then I will have most if not all the technologies I want figured out.
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Review by editweb member for 9.7 years, 675 visits, last login: 29 days ago updated 77 days ago
Aurora,Dupage,IL
$45 per month about 12 days AT&T "Rock Solid - Don't worry about outages at all..." "The world has passed it by. Eventually it will fall apart and AT&T won't fix it anymore." "Was good in it's day - won't scale in the future."
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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Install wasn't totally smooth but close. Ordered on a Friday. Phone sales were very nice and thourogh. Got equipment the next Tuesday. On Thursday the line tech came out and tested the line. (I wasn't home.) Had sync by Saturday. The only bump in the road was that the router in my CO (AURRILAE) wasn't updated properly and I coudn't connect. An IM to Annonomoose and Beach Boy in the Ameritech forum and the problem was identified and fixed.
I don't use the Yahoo browser and I feel that saves me a lot of grief. If you get SBC/Ameritech DSL, DO NOT use their software. Set up the connection yourself and use the standard edition of IE and you will stay happy and sane.
Unfortunately, I'm still on 11,000 feet of very old copper running through East Aurora. Until the RT at the end of my block lights up, I'm only getting 318/108 speeds. Hopefully 1.2 is just around the corner.
The only outage was a planned one that occured at Midnight on a Sunday for a few hours. Sunday morning, I cycled the power on my modem and all was well.
The stats: Speedstream 5100 modem PPPoE/Dynamic IP Ordered 1.5/384 - Getting 318/108.
Overall - Very good experience.
UPDATE: After the 10 day changover to a nearby RT, I'm now getting much better speeds. Ordered 1.5/384 - Getting 1320/340 Much better.
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Review by toolingguycg member for 84 days, 4 visits, last login: 51 days ago lodged 84 days ago
Crystal Lake,Mchenry,IL
$120 per month AT&T "Stays up" "Speed Caps" "Liked it better when 1st connected, will try U-verse for faster speeds."
| Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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Moved from dial up about 10 yrs ago, and was happy with it up till about 6mo. ago, then started getting connection resets. Guess I need to upgrade to the new technology to get the performance I used to get. I've ordered U-verse and am waiting for the install. Will review that after it happens.
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Review by StillLearn member for 11.1 years, 4653 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 118 days ago
Streamwood,Cook,IL
$34 per month- (12 month contract)
about 7 days AT&T "Reliable fast connection, almost no packet loss" "no usenet or web server offering, but that is the norm today" "Exceeded expectations. Reliable connectivity"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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Original review 2006: Initially I applied for DSL and cable both, and each was unavailable. The first that became available was Cable from ATTBI. It was good. I felt that the fact that it shared a cable was an advantage in that any outage would affect a lot of people, and so get fixed faster. It had 1500 MTU. In those days, for DSL you had to run an application on your computer to do PPPoE. While cable was more expensive, I felt it was probably better. It did have packet loss at times, which I learned was due to upstream frequency ingress. ATTBI was bought by Comcast.
I had come to expect that less than 0.5% packet loss was OK, and that 1% was tolerable. I wrote my own logging program that would ping my Comcast gateway, and I later ran Ping Plotter continually (I still do, but not because of any problem). Near the end I was getting >5% loss frequently, and two service calls did not fix it, I decided to try DSL. My expectations were that the DSL would have some packet loss, and that the Usenet and Email of the DSL would be inferior.
DSL very much exceeded my expectations. Packet loss was non-existent. Theoretically slower (3 MB vs 4 MB, it felt as least as fast. And while the Usenet and Email were not quite as good as for Comcast, they very much exceeded my expectations. Personal web space of Geocities with ads was a step down, but that was not important. The free dialup for contingency or travel and even some free 802.11 hotspots is a plus. Newer DSL modems do the protocol stuff for you, and the 1492 MTU is not significant.
I upgraded DSL to 6MB. That felt similar for browsing, but it gave faster downloads. Latencies are low. SN margin dropped about 8 dB, but packet loss is only about 0.01% -- less that 1 lost ping per day pinging every 10 seconds, but up from zero.
I have friends with problem-free Comcast and DSL. The better choice will vary at different locations. The Ameritech/SBC/ATT folks are much more forthcoming and proactive with information about problems or outages, especially at DSL Reports. I just read of outages. They have not affected me so far.
Update 2008 September 29
Still doing well, enjoying the reliability. Usenet servers do fine with me, altho high-volume users might think otherwise. Email has improved, but the main thing is connectivity. And that is really nice. Incoming email is very good, and I make good use of AddressGuard. There was a problem with SMTP, but that has improved to where I seldom need to use a workaround.
Having customer support available via DSLR is really nice too.
Update 2013: I have moved to ATT U-verse 18 Mb internet going to a higher speed. This review is for the 6 Mb (actual about 5 due to overhead) regular DSL I dropped. Over my 6 or so years with DSL, it was very reliable. The Yahoo email servers were a little problematic for the first couple years, but they have been behaving well. So I raised my services mark. Pings on my fastpath DSL were about 10 ms. On U-verse they are higher because there is always some interleaving. From a normal web browsing, the regular DSL felt peppy as peppy as the U-verse, but the U-verse is better for watching video etc.
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Review by Trihexagonal member for 8.7 years, 132 visits, last login: 1 days ago updated 130 days ago
undisclosed location
$20 per month "stable conection, reliable service, polite representives" "none" "I'm stayng with AT&T"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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I've had DSL service through AT&T for over 10 years and couldn't be happier.
I currently have the DSL HSI Express package and called today to ask what they could do to entice me to stay with AT&T instead of switching to a Charter bundle like I'd been thinking about.
They bent over backwards to keep me as a customer by offering me their highest speed internet connection, 6Mps, at $19.99 for a year with no contract to start 5-26-13, and also modified my phone service to include extra features like Call Waiting at a lower cost than what I was currently paying per month.
The end result being a faster internet speed and reduction in my total monthly bill.
They advised me when the year was up on 5-26-13 I could call again and work out another deal to keep me as a customer.
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Review by tr6scott member for 11.1 years, 4330 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 200 days ago
Oxford,Oakland,MI
$25 per month- (12 month contract)
about 14 days Ameritech "Cost, Relability, Speed, EPC and Tech Support HERE!" "Phone Tech Support" "Good Bang for the Buck! and Support here is awesome!"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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Update 11/5/2012: 4 years have passed, stepped up the the 6meg/628 plan years ago. Using an Netopia in bridge mode for the model, and a pc running Smoothwall express as a router solution. All rock solid, price is $19.99 for the speed is awesome. I run webserver at house, and would like a more ballanced dl/upl plan, but what they have is great. Charter still has not offered any internet services in our area, and I still have Charter cable. Ordered Uverse (3rd try) we will see how it installs, tech says pair bonding will allow me to get service now, after the 2 failed attempts prior to pair bonding. Good service. Call in tech support is still flawed, but support here in the direct forum is outstanding.
Update: 5/29/08 Another year has past, and the service is still rock solid. Run a few web servers from the house and there have been no loss of connections. Same with Charter, still say next year I will have cable internet, they are a complete joke. Still using the 2wire, no problems no issues.
Update: 7/31/07: Another year, switched to a used 2wire 1000HG router, still going strong, great service, great price. Charter Cable, who I have a cable TV customer for 10 years, still do not offer the internet service to my residence, after 6 years of saying they would next year. I would not switch if they did.
Update: 11/2006: Another year and still no issues, Great Service and price has dropped over the year.
Update: 6/2005 stepped up to the 3000/512 plan consistent 2300/425 price is down to $24.95 for this service level. Absolutely no issues... went over 12 weeks without a disconnect, rock solid, well done, very satisfied.
9/2004 Update - No issues still running strong!
5/03 Upgraded to the 1256/128 plan for same cost, deal is getting even better! Still no service issues since last review.
Original Review: I ordered and went live about 5 months ago. The self install kit was easy to do, and software wasn't too bad, considering I was running NT4 at the time. I am now using XP and the install is much better.
In the first few months when there was connection issues, or little bumps and blips, I (being a newbie) would pick up the phone and dial tech support ASAP, big mistake! Phone tech support (Tier 1) is pretty much useless for anyone that the intelligence to find this site, and read it. Every time I called, there was a small Network issue, and I would end up with a tech telling me to rip the tcp/ip stack out of NT4, and then when the system wouldn't boot, he told me it was a computer problem, and I needed to call the manufacture.
With the tech support here that entire BS has gone away. If there is a blip, I can do a post, and with in 10-15 mins, another user will usually confirm if it is an Ameritech issue or mine, and the support guys are on the job quick.
The online support here is the best! If it was not for the support here I most likely would have been a Charter Cable customer by now, at least to try. But the online support here has spoiled me, and I don't have a reason to even look for the alternatives.
Plan 768/128 dynamic, efficient dsl modem, Ethernet card in computer.
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Review by RadioDoc member for 13 years, 4241 visits, last login: 108 days ago updated 325 days ago
La Grange,Cook,IL
$35 per month about 5 days Ameritech "Flawless installation, excellent pricing" "Hardly any these days" "Ready for prime time, would recommend to anyone"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings above consensus)
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Update 07.03.12 Over 12 years, wow. Managed to beat them down to $19.95 at home and $34.99 at work for 6016/768 (at some point they tacked on another 160 kbps upload on the office account). Life is still good.
Update 11.18.08 The mystery edits and deletions continue. AT&T DSL is its same old reliable self.
Update 05.23.07 6016/768 $27.99/mo at home as well. Life is good.
Update 09.19.06 Still pluggin along with my 6016/608 $45/mo grandfathered deal but alas since this is at a commercial address I am not eligible for the 6016/768 upgrade unless I want to pay $10 more. Not gonna happen. As an aside, portions of this review have been deleted by certain site moderators. Does that seem honest to you?
Update 12.04.05 Everything's still peachy DSL-wise, but this site has gone to hell.
Update 2005-06-10: One year came and went in an pleasantly uneventful way. Same speeds, same price, as promised, without having to do anything.
There. Now maybe this annoying website will leave me alone for another six months.
Update 2004-12-08: Six megs for $45 a month and all is still well, waiting for my upload to increase from 608 to 768 kbps.
Update 2004-03-23: Upgraded to 6016/608 for an extra $5 a month in February and haven't looked back. Six megs for $45 a month and all is well.
Update 2003-12-05: Switched to Lineshared in September, which took five days from order to surf and I just moved the router to the new line after installing a POTS splitter, and was just upgraded (free!) to 1536/384 for the same price. Things are still running smooth as silk. Connectivity can't get much better than this...no outages in over 24 months, zero downtime. Life online is good.
Update 2003-05-28: Well, three years have come and gone and the service keeps getting better and better. I recently went over four months without so much as a PPPoE logoff (same IP address the whole time) and the problems from before are nothing but a bad memory. Usenet services are still mediocre if you are addicted to binaries but I don't use them anyway. Mail has become pretty much bulletproof and the last DNS server issue was over a year ago. Plus, the 1-year contract pricing these days is great ($40/mo for 1500/256 dynamic). SBC-Yahoo 'added value services' quite frankly, suck.
Update 2002-12-04: The SBC Borg are circling the Ameritech region and are preparing to 'transition' us to SBC Yahoo!DSL. Ya-hoo. Just what we all needed...a chance for multiple simultaneous account hosings. Those of us who still have unbundled loops have been told in no uncertain terms that our days are limited and if we make any changes at all we lose the line. That's really customer-friendly! I wonder which Harvard MBA came up with the idea to piss off the most loyal (and cash-cow) customers by threatening them with disconnection if they dare call in and volunteer to spend more money.
But I digress...
The service itself continues to be better than average, and the Chicago network at least has been flawless. No persistent latency issues, proactive rather than reactive re-routing and "re-peering" when necessary, and generally stable service. Tech support has improved greatly, and the addition of official sanctioned SBC support in the forums here is brilliant. There may be hope afterall.
If I had it to do all over again, I'd do it all over again especially at this price point. Now, about that 4000/384 package I can't get because of an arbitrary distance limit... 
Update 2002-03-26: Almost another year of Ameritech DSL service, and much progress has been made towards network stability, reliability and general usefulness of the service. New pricing brought a dynamic IP 1500/256 package for $59.95 and 1500/256 w/5 static IPs for $79.95, which Ameritech allowed existing customers to upgrade to (which I did). Not the greatest pricing but headed in the right direction. Previously it cost $180/mo to get above 768/128 speeds. I now routinely get 1300/245 usable payload "speed". Latency is stable and low, 40 ms to DSLReports NJ servers, 35 ms to the line monitor server in NYC. UU.net was dumped in favor of Sprintlink for most of the backbone connectivity this month, which has knocked off a couple of hops and 10 ms.
News servers are still essentially useless, and capped at 128 kbps to boot. Mail is getting better but has a way to go before I would consider relying on it, and tech support was consolidated at the beginning of the year and is starting to improve. New regional DNS servers have pretty much eliminated the DNS problems we had, although they continue to push incorrect addresses via PPPoE at times.
Bottom line, still not the greatest but definitely worth the $60/mo.
Update 2001-04-21: It's been an interesting almost-year with the service. We had major problems in Chicago with authentication, peering and generally unstable service. However, some serious upgrading of the network and servers was done in February 2001 and the service has been very good since then. No random disconnects, latency in the mid-50's and consistent speeds. My 1-year contract is up next month, but I plan to continue on with the service month-to-month. Overall it was worth the early annoyances.
Original review:
Ordered Speedpath 768/128 (basic, PPPoE, $39.95/mo for first year, free equipment and installation) 4/27/00 with a scheduled install on 5/25 from 1-3 PM. Ameritech.net was the only company willing to install ADSL to my commercial office address without charging over $100/mo. Order was confirmed by fax within an hour of phoning it in. Dialup access, besides being slow, was costing over $30/mo in local charges (Ameritech charges business lines per minute). So, this was a wash cost-wise. We use internet access for email, web browsing, FTP, etc., with no on-site servers.
Ameritech got the physical line to the outside NI May 8. Telamon tech called May 22 wanting to test the line. It tested at 9300 feet, capable of 6.6 mb down and 600 kb up, ready for final install. Another Telamon tech calls May 25 around 11 AM asking if he can come early. I already had wired from the NI to the computer location, so all he did was install a jack and connect the Westell Wirespeed modem to the jack and the NIC already in the computer. Loaded up Enternet 300, called his support people to set up the account, surfed around a bit, checked speed (720 kb down, 130 kb up), had me sign the papers and was out the door at 11:35 AM. My time so far: less than an hour total. Five minutes after he left, I bagged Enternet and installed my Linksys router.
Around June 1, 2000 the bottom fell out. Ameritech.net's upstream provider, UUNet, had major congestion problems at Ameritech.net's Chicago connection and throughput became unusable between 3 PM and midnight on weekdays, dropping below 56 kb on many occasions. Calls and emails to tech support were variably met with a polite "thank you for calling" and no information to a refreshing acknowledgment of exactly what was going on, what was being done about it, and when it might be fixed. After two weeks, it became obvious that they wanted it fixed as much as I did but were at the mercy of UUNet and upper management at Ameritech.net. You could hear it in their voices.
June 21, speeds shot back up to normal, ping times fell below 100 ms to most sites, and best of all remained stable. The fix was implemented about a week later than I was originally told but they did get it done, and three days before my 30-day bailout period expired. Through all this I have never had a connection drop nor had line problems.
My installation experience was flawless. The throughput problem, though avoidable through better planning, was fixed. Tech support hold times were around 15-20 minutes (weekday mornings). FTP speeds now routinely exceed 750 kb, and I am satisfied overall. I hope Ameritech.net learned a thing or two about providing ADSL internet service and can keep it up.
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Review by sbcretired member for 7.3 years, 1392 visits, last login: 2 days ago updated 337 days ago
Scottville,Mason,MI
$40 per month AT&T "Fast, reliable, pretty simple to configure" "Could always use a better deal" "Only high speed internet (cable is analog) Glad its pretty issue free"
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money: (ratings match consensus)
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upgraded a few months ago to PRO. good speed and solid. Thinking of going another step to elite. I do not use ATT email address, however.
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