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baumgrenze
join:2004-05-29
Palo Alto, CA

baumgrenze

Member

ADSL & Land-Line Service - SF Bay Area - Worth Continuing?

I've had basic AT&T land-line service since March of 1971 and Earthlink DSL service since August of 2002. Our download speed is 670 - 770 kbps.

Today I spoke with an AT&T service rep about changing the status of our outgoing calls from 'Caller ID blocked' to 'Caller ID visible' and was told that this change would result in an ongoing increase in the cost of basic service from $20/month to $28/month. I specifically did not request 'Caller ID' service that would allow me to see who is calling. I guess I can learn to enter *82 before placing each call.

This leads me to ask about my other options if I drop my land-line service. I have no interest in cable-TV.

AT&T will be glad to provide internet and phone service via uVerse which is locally available, but only at the slowest speed.

I believe that Comcast will reluctantly do the same.

Nobody wants to discuss monthly costs once the sign-up promotion period is past.

I'd love to hear the voice of experience regarding the ongoing cost and the quality of service of internet + phone service from either provider.

thanks

baumgrenze

Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium Member
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30

Doctor Olds

Premium Member

Earthlink is just a reseller of ADSL. No matter whom you pay monthly subscription fees to, the copper line and the distance the DSL signal travels will remain fixed from AT&T (formerly SBC or Pacific Bell)). Now Earthlink does not offer a resold U-verse product (resellers are excluded) then obviously that is only available direct from AT&T.

rolfp
no-shill zone
Premium Member
join:2011-03-27
Oakland, CA

1 recommendation

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to baumgrenze
As things are now, I'll hang on to my landline until the bitter end. The relatively low-tech, uncomplicated system has always impressed me as more robust than VOIP. AFAICT, I'm in a minority but I just saw a complaint at the Comcast forum about a VOIP service being used for a business telephone that was substantially off-line for more than a week. This sort of vulnerability of telephony over the internet is hardly rare, at least not in comparison to what I've experienced of voice over copper for all the portion of my 62+ years on this planet during which I've been aware of the telephone. Just saying.
ramsaso
Premium Member
join:2014-01-04
Houston, TX
ARRIS SB6183

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I'd recommend you go to another company such as DSLExtreme (They have a forum here) and sign into a contract to get the lowest price ($14.99/month at your speed + $2.99 Recovery fee = $17?).
Though I'm not a DSLExtreme customer *Yet*, I will next year.
(AT&T gave me a promo of half the price for 6mbps internet. $49/2 = $24.50 after calling in.)

Huh, I wonder why the rep said that... I'd suggest looking in either the Yellow or White Pages (directory) and find something that says "Caller ID Services from AT&T" or something like that.

In my directory (I'm in Texas but what the hell.), It states:
"If at any time you want to cancel per-line blocking, just call the AT&T Service Center at 1-800-288-2020 (emphasis was already on the page)

I'd suggest changing your service to flat-rate (if you're on measured service) and to Complete Choice Basic or Enhanced (assuming you don't need to call long distance) and find promotions to lower that bill (I post some of them here from their Guidebook) on »cpr.att.com

I'm wondering why you don't want to have caller ID on your line, but it's your service, not mine.
P.S Thank goodness that you were from the era of the Bell System.

I'd agree with what rolfp said:
said by rolfp:

As things are now, I'll hang on to my landline until the bitter end.

baumgrenze
join:2004-05-29
Palo Alto, CA

baumgrenze

Member

Thank you for your reply. I'll look into it.

You are right, I remember 3 and 4 digit phone numbers and someone who asked "Number, Please" when you took the phone off hook. That ended when we got dial.

My first ISP was AT&T Worldnet. We tried this service in the late 1990's and found it unreliable. It was hard to get any support service. We moved to jps.net in Sacramento. It worked great until Mr. Jenkens was bought out and over time the service fell into the hands of EarthLink. Their service is slow and relatively expensive. They have only the 'inertia of rest' to thank for our continued business.

I did some searching after making this post. Clearly the person I spoke to at 1-800-288-2020 did not understand or was badly misinformed. I found this website:

»www.privacyrights.org/ca ··· rivacy#4

I may have read something like it around 1995 (when it was made available) when I reasoned the complete blocking made the most sense.

»articles.latimes.com/key ··· atured/3

Here is an example of a typical headline that might have influenced my thinking.

CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
Caller ID Is Coming: Beware! : Come June 1, dialing may tell more about you than you'd like
February 29, 1996
The telephone is an indispensable but increasingly perplexing tool of modern life. So many choices. You sign up for a new long-distance phone service because Candice Bergen or Whoopi Goldberg seem so amusing in those TV commercials. Now comes a new challenge: Caller ID. Should your phone number be flashed to whomever you are calling?

The PrivacyRights page reads:

2. How does blocking work?

FCC rules require local phone companies to make available free, simple, and uniform per-line blocking and unblocking processes. These rules give you the choice of delivering or blocking your phone number for any interstate (between states) calls you make. (The FCC does not regulate intrastate calls.)

Some Caller ID services also transmit the name of the caller. If you request that your phone number be concealed, FCC rules require that a carrier also conceal your name.

The two blocking options are:

Per-Call Blocking. (Also known in some states as Selective Blocking.) To block your phone number or name from appearing on a recipient's Caller ID unit on a single phone call, dial *67 before dialing the phone number. Your number ordinarily will not be sent to the other party. (See exceptions below.) But you must redial *67 each time you place another call.
Per-Line Blocking. (Also known in some states as Complete Blocking.) Some states allow customers to select per-line blocking so that their phone number will be blocked for every call they make on a specific line unless they use the per-line unblocking option. If you want the number transmitted to the called party, dial *82 before you dial the number you are calling. You must redial *82 each time you want to unblock.

The more I think about what I read there, the more I think that the Per Line Blocking (Complete Blocking) which we now have is the better option. I just need to develop the habit of tipping in *82 when I call someone I know directs all "restricted" calls to voicemail directly.

I will do some research on DSLExtreme. Clearly the speed they can offer will continue to be limited by the severely bridge-tapped copper between us and our central office. The area nearer the office was developed before 1950 and my surrounding neighborhood in 1955, so none of the cabling is anything like new.

It is time we reviewed our service terms. I thought we'd signed up for minimum cost service, but that was 40+ years ago.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

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MVM

to Doctor Olds
said by Doctor Olds:

Now Earthlink does not offer a resold U-verse product (resellers are excluded) ...

Actually, AT&T does allow resellers. DSL Extreme "TrueSTREAM" is resold U-verse. Sonic.net will also be offering resold U-verse at some point.

Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium Member
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30

1 edit

Doctor Olds

Premium Member

said by NormanS:

Actually, AT&T does allow resellers. DSL Extreme "TrueSTREAM" is resold U-verse. Sonic.net will also be offering resold U-verse at some point.

Interesting news. I see AT&T changed their mind only because of the proposed merger.

I see this was under 6 months ago as the article below shows September 10, 2014, so it is only to make them look less Monopolistic, if that's possible, LOL. Considering it was not an option between June 26, 2006 (when AT&T U-verse was commercially launched in San Antonio) until September 10, 2014 they were not reselling U-verse for the prior 7-8 Years.

AT&T U-verse Customers Can Escape AT&T’s Usage Caps With DSL Extreme’s trueSTREAM
»stopthecap.com/2014/09/1 ··· estream/

Edit in bold
I wonder if they will ever resell AT&T U-verse to Earthlink?

rolfp
no-shill zone
Premium Member
join:2011-03-27
Oakland, CA

rolfp

Premium Member

said by Doctor Olds:

I wonder if they will ever resell to Earthlink?

I've had Earthlink since Mindspring, in one form or another. Right now, I think it's called Earthlink Experience, in order to keep my email addys, which is also listed as unlimited dial-up in my account; something new, I think. Also new is the long-time charge of $9.95 is increasing to $11.95 next month. My DSL was always problematic on the PacBell/SBC/AT&T old copper when warm weather started and we finally gave up. At one point, I think Earthlink had blacklisted me for their resold Covad DSL and, recently, only showed Satellite as a broadband option for my residence.

Now, however, at the Earthlink pre-qualification page, they are offering DSL, again:


rolfp

rolfp to Doctor Olds

Premium Member

to Doctor Olds
said by Doctor Olds:

Edit in bold
I wonder if they will ever resell AT&T U-verse to Earthlink?

Well, that was a little bit difficult to realize you were replying to my message.

So, the thing is, I surmise that the only reason I can get DSL now, since it was not sustainable over the old copper lines over which Mindspring/Earthlink resold the Covad ADSL product to me, is that AT&T has installed new infrastructure to a nearby VRAD, from which they distribute Uverse to their clients over the legacy copper connected to that node. [1]

I have noticed that AT&T has stopped mentioning DSL in favor of referring to their brand, Uverse. [2]

I don't see the distinction, therefore, between
said by Doctor Olds:

I wonder if they will ever resell to Earthlink?

and
said by Doctor Olds:

I wonder if they will ever resell AT&T U-verse to Earthlink?

fwiw:
said by elnk live chat :

Please hold for the next available agent. Your chat should begin in approximately 0 minutes. You may type your question while you wait, but you won’t be able to SEND it until your chat is assigned to an agent.

'Jerald N' says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?

Jerald N: Hello. How may I assist you with today?

me: Hi. I used to have Earthlink DSL but the copper lines were so bad I couldn't keep it. It wasn't even offered to me, so now I have Earthlink Experience to keep my email addys. Now, I see I prequalify for up to 6Mbs dsl. AT&T recently installed vrads in my neighborhood for Uverse. Is Earthlink reselling the AT&T Uverse product through the new vrad? I don't see how I could get dsl, otherwise.

Jerald N: Hello, I will be glad to assist you in this regard.

Jerald N: May I know your mailing address with zip code, home phone number to check the availability?

me: xxxx

Jerald N: Thank you for the information.

Jerald N: Let me check it.

Jerald N: Following plans available in your location:

Jerald N: DSL Up to 1.5Mbps $14.95/mo. (First 3 Months*; $29.95/mo. thereafter)

Jerald N: DSL Up to 3.0Mbps $14.95/mo. (First 3 Months*; $34.95/mo. thereafter)

Jerald N: DSL Up to 6.0Mbps $19.95/mo. (First 3 Months*; $39.95/mo. thereafter

me: Yes, I see the same information in prequalification. What I asked is if this is AT&T Uverse that Earthlink is reselling to me.

Jerald N: May I know name of your phone provider?

me: AT&T

Jerald N: Thank you for the confirmation.

Jerald N: Yes, we are providing DSL though AT&T.

me: Ok. That's what I thought. I used to get Earthlink DSL through Covad over the old copper phone lines that Covad leased from SBC/AT&T. That wasn't stable due to the bad condition of the copper. So, it must be the new vrads that AT&T installed that the DSL now comes through that makes DSL available to me, again, right?

Jerald N: Yes, you are right.

me: Ok, I'll keep this in mind. Thanks for your help.

Jerald N: Before you go, may I provide you with some valuable information?

me: Sure

Jerald N: I also suggest you that upgrade your storage space on web mail, Usually EarthLink customers get 100 MB mailbox space. Now Earthlink is providing 500 MB additional space with small charge of $1.95 per month. You can have total of 600 MB space, so that you can stored more number of email in your webmail to check them online. Would you like to add extra mailbox space for your email address?

me: No, thanks.

Jerald N: Is there anything else I may assist you with today?

me: No, thank you. Have a nice day!

Jerald N: Thank you for using EarthLink LiveChat. Should you need further assistance, please feel free to contact us again.To close this Chat session, Please click on the Close button of chat window not on X.

[1] »AT&T U-Verse FAQ »What is a VRAD?
[2] »www.att.com/shop/interne ··· odmBoAOg
baumgrenze
join:2004-05-29
Palo Alto, CA

baumgrenze

Member

Somehow I stopped getting update notices for this thread but remembered it today.

Is there an ELNK rep watching the forum?

Today I went to:

»www.earthlink.net/access ··· sl.faces

put in my info and got this amazing reply

THIS LOCATION ALREADY HAS EARTHLINK HIGH SPEED SERVICE

Contact us today to find out all the options you have to switch high-speed services or change your plan.
CALL
1-866-383-3080

OR CHAT
Available 9am-12am ET

I tried the chat and the rep could not tell me what speeds ELNK can provide to me; he's just a salesman with no info on his product!

I accessed My Account

»myaccount.earthlink.net/ ··· ails.jsp

All it says is: "EarthLink DSL Internet $44.95 "

I forgot to save the chat, my bad. Next I called 1-866-383-3080 and waited for a rep who did not immediately have my stats before him but got them when I questioned their sophistication. After repeated requests he could offer dial-up, the dsl I have (1.5 M cap with this speed test result today and multiple reboots/day to avoid timing out) and a satellite connection for $70/mo 'signup rate.'




This is what this flagship isp has to offer to a address that is within walking distance from Bill and Dave's fabled garage. How can they expect to compete?

thanks,

baumgrenze