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 Review by sirwoogie 
UPDATED: 4 days ago
member for 7.5 years, 2593 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:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
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 georgequ
UPDATED: 8 days ago
member for 6.1 years, 2258 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."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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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.
It is just too bad, that I don't know her name, because the lady that this this to me deserves to be fired.
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 ? WRONG !!
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 clowny
UPDATED: 15 days ago
member for 5.8 years, 2360 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:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(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.
Followup comments:  ILpt4U
Premium
join:2006-11-12
Lisle, IL | U-Verse... Is not the same as regular ADSL.
It actually has its own review section.
So when you are ready, write the U-Verse review.
Enjoy U-Verse | |
| | | |
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 Review by jsinaiko
UPDATED: 16 days ago
member for 8.1 years, 2734 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:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(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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Review by jaybird116
Posted: 20 days ago
member for 2.9 years, 788 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Carpentersville,Kane,IL
$30 per month
AT&T
"Very reliable connection cant recall it ever really going down."
"Speeds in general are slow especially upload speeds compared to other services."
"For the money a reliable kind of quick connection..."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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The only time I have really had any issues was with billing when I switched to dry loop DSL and got ride of my land line. I have my cell phone on a combined bill and it got screwed up but the issue was resolved after a few billing cycles. Also calling them for anything is a pain seems the shortest time to get anything resolved takes at least 30 min.
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Review by solo01
UPDATED: 22 days ago
member for 8.7 years, 3717 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Cleveland,Cuyahoga,OH
$30 per month
about 14 days
AT&T
"Have not had to call to often"
"When you do call,Oh Boy."
"Not bad"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Have had only one problem in the past year. Something wrong with the line outside. Once I made it past tier 1 support and talked to a tech, I had someone out the next day and took care of it.
Update 6 10 2009- Still going strong with no problems
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Review by efflandt
UPDATED: 25 days ago
member for 7.4 years, 1812 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Elgin,Kane,IL
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
Ameritech
"Reliable, stable connection for reasonable price"
"No problems"
"Reliable service depending upon distance, great tech help here"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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While I ran into some snags during my history with SBC Ameritech (now AT&T/Yahoo), everything is currently running smoothly, sales and support has improved, and if that fails, tech support here at BBR/DSLR is top notch.
History: Original 768/160 dynamic connection 1/23/2002 was 2 weeks from order to connection ($49.95/mo). After June 2002 move it dropped to $29.95 768/160 rate. That level was eventually updated to 1500/256.
I am just under 12,000 wire feet from central office (CO). To get faster 3000 kbps Pro service, I had to get rewired to an RT 1596' away (took about a week).
8/2006 Upgraded to Elite 6016/768 and got wireless/modem/router (2Wire 2700HG-B).
3/2007 2Wire had sync problems, and if successful after 8 to 16 minutes, the download sync'd 224 kbps and speedtested 39-208 kbps (upload was still 768 sync). Old Speedstream 5360 modem sync'd in a few seconds and still speed tested over 5000 kbps. So a new 2Wire is on the way (2Wire rep said he never saw that problem before).
11/2007 Replacement 2Wire 2701HG-B has been working fine. One night sometime between last update and now PPPoE would connect, but not get anywhere. It was working fine again the following day. New laptop works great with the wireless.
AT&T Yahoo DSL, and dialup when not at home, have been very reliable for me.
6/2009 Everything still going well. I just got a Blu-ray player and streaming Netflix HD works great.
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Review by nythain
UPDATED: 26 days ago
member for 26 days, 1 visits, last login: 16 days ago
Kansas City,Clay,MO
$40 per month (24 month contract)
AT&T
"Friendly and helpfull in store service."
"Everything else."
"Worst decision I've made in my life."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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Subscribed ATT DSL Direct PRO tier 3Mbps
Noticed really slow speeds. Since this was my first time using dsl (had been
a loyal cable customer up untill recently) i figured meh, dsl just sucks.
Well, after reading around on the web and finally getting around to visiting
my modems config page, i realized i was only connecting to thier network at
1984Kbps, near half of the advertised 3008Kbps.
Sooooo, next day, im in chat with an ATT representitive, this is how it went
in a nutshell. (sorry i dont have logs)
Me: Hi, was hoping you could help me find out why my modem is only
connecting to your network at 1984Kbps instead of the advertised 3008Kbps?
Them: Here's a link to a throughput test, click on it and tell me the
results.
Me: Download = 1.6Mbps Upload = 384Kbps
Them: Testing your line from my end
Them: Here's a complete explanation. Due to the number of computers on your
network, you are going to get lower speeds.
Me: But the problem is at the modem, as long as it just connects at 1984Kbps
i will never get a faster speed, even if i was the only computer accessing
the entire internet at the time.
Them: Well, as long as your speed isnt below 1.5Mbps everything is fine and
there's no problem
Me: The problem is, im paying for 3.0Mbps and your saying its completely
acceptable for me to get speeds advertised a tier lower?
Them: That is correct, there are many factors to determine internet speed.
Me: We already covered this.
Them: Well the other problem is the distance from the modem to the phone
exchange.
Me: So what you are saying is i really need to contact Time Warner?
Them: We understand your frustration, but you are going to have this problem
with any ISP you choose, our technology is considerably better than Time
Warner RoadRunner.
Me: We'll see.
So basically, there was absolutely nothing willingly attempted about my
connection speed problem and a whole lot of bragging and backpeddling and
excuse making. All at a higher rate than time warner, a 2 year contract, and
slower speeds to begin with. I would not recomment this company or service
to absolutely anyone. i would recommend a 10.00/mo dial up accoutn before
recommending someone pay 40.00/mo for near dial-up speeds (wich the
throughput test actually told me i was getting, my download, 12 seconds, 56k
download, 9 seconds, marginal difference). In fact, i will be breaking my
contract and contacting time warner in the near future for thier service
again, and would recommend almost anyone do the same.
I hope at least SOMEONE reads this and heeds the advice, bad company, bad
technology, bad service, bad support
--
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 Review by KAIFS
UPDATED: 33 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 3823 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Neenah,Winnebago,WI
$29 per month
about 12 days
AT&T
"VERY FAST SETUP, NO INSTALLATION FEES, FREE MODEM AND NIC VIA REBATE"
"NONE SO FAR"
"MUCH BETTER!!! THEN DIAL UP(AT&T, CS, AOL AND MANY OTHERS), CABLE(ROADRUNNER) OR ISDN(AMERITECH)"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
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PLACED OREDER; BY CALLING 1 800 924-1000(FRIEND WORKS FOR AMERITECH, TOLD ME IT WAS AVAILABLE), QUALIFICATION AND EQUIPMENT(PC) DETAILES TOOK ABOUT 30 MIN (BASED ON REPORTS HERE, I DID INDICATE THAT I DID NOT HAVE ANY USB PORTS AVAILABLE, IN ORDER TO AVOID PROBLEMS WITH A USB MODEM), WAS PROMISED 20 DAYS DUE DATE. MODEM(WESTELL), 6 FILTERS AND KINGSTON NIC CARD ARRIVED VIA UPS 4 DAYS AFTER ORDER WAS PLACED, ADSL LINE WAS HOOKED UP 8 DAYS LATER (12 DAYS FROM START TO FINISH). CAN TELL THAT SOMEONE WAS AT MY NETWORK BOX ON THE BACK YARD(FOOTPRINTS ON THE SNOW) ALTHOUGH NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN ANYBODY. SPEEDTEST SHOWED 850KBPS DOWN AND 130KBPS DOWN, TO MY SURPRISE, SINCE IT WAS ADVERTISED FOR 768/128. GOT DYNAMIC IP ADDRESS (THE ONLY DOWNFALL, SINCE WAS PLANNING TO HOST WEB SITE FROM HOME). DID NOT HAVE TO DEAL, AS OF YET, WITH TECH SUPPORT OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER, SINCE CHOSEN SELF-INSTALL OPTION. GOT BILLED $99 ON MY PHONE BILL, ALTHOUGH REBATE CHECK ARRIVED 1 WEEK LATER (3 WEEKS FROM THE DATE RECEIVING LETTER WITH WEBSITE LINK AND COUPON CODE). CAN'T COMPLAIN SO FAR, DESPITE THE FACT THAT WAS A BIT HESITANT TO GET ADSL SERVICE FROM AMERITECH BASED ON REVIEWS HERE (DSL REPORTS). KEEPING MY FINGERS CROSSED. WISH FOR EVERYONE TO HAVE SAME LUCK!
OCTOBER 2002: Still going strong and no complaints. Expended my network and uses and can't even imagine being without some form of a broadband at this point.
Almost into a new year and still no problems. Ameritech forum is the quickest way to get answers and support if ever needed. Considering 2nd DSL to the house with 5statics and Nexland PRO 800 Turbo router. We'll see what Santa might bring.
APRIL 2003: Got my Nexland toy  , waiting for my server to complete to place an order for a 2nd static DSL though SBC. I will be on RT, which is about 300ft from my house for that second connection. No service issues and there is an official tech support right on Ameritech Forum, so I guess I will not need my 800 number filed anymore. As far as service goes, I did migrate to yahoo, without installing anything, and the only reason I have done it is to get that free Britannica for my kids, it is just as good and because I did not install anything, there is no banners or any other crap.
almost JUNE 2003: It is amazing how stable I have been running so far, first on on the DSLAM in my CO and now about month away from second connection. Server project got a bit of delay due to $3000 upgrade that I wanted meaning mobo and 2 P4 Xeons are now going to be in $1K range, add memory and 8 250GB HDDs and we are looking at a hefty bill. One way or another it will happen and my contacts are on stand-by for the 5-Static DSL order through SBC (2nd connection still). That is it for now
DECEMBER 2003: got my second ADSL connection - 5 Static package. Load balancing via Nexland router - LOVE IT! Very stable, but then again, even if one connection hicks up - 100% of traffic goes via active connection. If both broadband conections die - Nexland automatically dials in one of 3 dial up numbers for me for complete redundancy.
JANUARY 2009: Since last review, I had DSL service transfered with me 5X. This is hopefully a place I will stay a while (seeing how this house I purchased withOUT a woman in my life). No problems, seemless transfers, still running on @ameritech.net username . Running a single line vs two DSLs for now, however anticipating VRAD to be turned up very soon and speed going up beyond 3/512...
_____________ June 1st, 2009 ________________
Netopia Model 3347-02 AnnexA High-Power Wireless DSL Ethernet Managed Switch
Running Netopia SOC OS version 7.8.1 (build r2)
Multimode ADSL Capable
Downstream Upstream
---------- ----------
SNR Margin: 12.30 11.00 dB
Line Attenuation: 46.00 27.00 dB
Output Power: 0.00 12.23 dBm
Errored Seconds: 0 0
Loss of Signal: 0 0
Loss of Frame: 0 0
CRC Errors: 650 7
Data Rate: 6016 768
INP 0.000 0.000
atucRevisionNum 1 ATU-C Vendor ID TSTC
TrainedPath Fast TrainedMode G.DMT
Downstream Upstream
----------------------------------------
Interlv delay 1 1
LowestTone 33 6
HighestTone 253 29
TonesExcited 205 24
NetRate 6016 768
AggrRate 6048 800
TotalRate 6048 800
LineRate 6476 864
ATTNDR 8064 896
ACTATP -1 -1
ACTPSD -364 -345
HLINSC 0
Estimated loop length: 9600 feet (bridge tap)
Framing Mode: 3 - (REDUCED OVERHEAD WITH MERGED SYNC)
TPS-TC Encoding ATM
ATM port status : Up
Rx data rate (bps) : 6016
Tx data rate (bps) : 768
ATM Virtual Circuits:
VCC # Type VPI VCI Encapsulation
----- ---- --- ----- --------------------------
1 PVC 0 35 PPP over Ethernet (LLC/SNAP encapsulation)
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of AT&T Midwest |
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 Review by Ark
UPDATED: 37 days ago
member for 7 years, 2523 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Hudsonville,Ottawa,MI
$65 per month
AT&T
"Nice price for packages, free install, free router"
"No fiber, nothing faster than the same 5-year-old 6Mbps yet"
"Better then cable, no port blocking, 6016/768 is good, but getting outdated"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
(March 2004) Well Covad can't offer me service anymore, and SBC said I could get 1536/256 for $64.95 + some b.s. FUSF. I had 1536/384 for $79.95 with Covad before I moved, and there was no taxes or fees on top of that $79.95. (I always get the packages with the 8 static IPs)
The SBC "Team Data" people basically lied to me, since the RT I'm on has not yet been "upgraded". I only get 1536/128 instead of 1536/256. Apparently this multi-year project to upgrade the speed profiles at the RTs is still going on, and it will likely take until June 2004 before they are complete. I have no idea why it should really take that long (2-3 years, they are near the end of the cycle of upgrades now I guess) just to update a profile at an RT to allow me to get a faster upload. I'm now stuck in a 12month contract for 1536/256 hoping that in 4-5 months I will actually get that 256k upload. I'm thinking about upgrading to the 6.0/608 package they offer, but I think that it will really be 3.0/384 until the RT is upgraded from what I've been hearing.
*update* I got my upgrade, after a ton of extra calls to sales, since the order didn't make it into ALL of the systems the first time, it didn't happen when it was first supposed to, but now I am finally at 6016/608 ($100/month) and it's great. Until Covad gets into these RTs, SBC is the only choice for me. Its too bad because they really aren't that organized and don't communicate between departments very well it seems. The only thing that saves SBC is the great tech support you can find here on dslreports.com.
~3 years later and the price is down $5 but the speeds remain 6.0/608, which is getting pretty mediocre for 2007. They better offer higher speeds soon!
Another update. Still at 6.0/608. Doesn't look like any faster speeds are coming this way anytime soon. Too bad there is no fiber option from AT&T.
(June 2008) Yet another update, some 4.5 years after I signed up at this house. Price is down to $80/month with a new 12-month contract. I needed a new router because the power adapter on my old one died. I got a free 2wire 2701HG-B (after instant credit, only had to pay $12 shipping and sign up for a new contract). Seems like old one, but supports 802.11g and WPA2 instead of just 802.11b and WEP like the old 1800HW. The new plan ups my upload from 608 to 768, which is also nice. Overall, I'm paying slightly less for slightly more now, but I wish ADSL+/VDSL/Fiber or something was available here now, because 6Mbps is starting to feel outdated.
(May 2009) Upgraded to 18/1.5 U-Verse VDSL. Went very smoothly, speeds are great and consistent.
Followup comments: ILpt4U
Premium
join:2006-11-12
Lisle, IL | U-Verse Internet Might consider making a review in the U-Verse category, as Max 18 is a U-Verse FTTN/FTTP-based service, not ADSL, and therefore in a different product line. | |
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