Review of AT&T MidwestAll reviews of |  about |
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I was nervous about trying DSL. I tried it once before when I first moved in November of 2000, but I was very dissatisfied with the service. The speeds and reliability were just not there. I then decided to give it another try based on the people in the SBC Midwest forum urging me on. That and I was 7,000 feet from the CO apparently. I ordered DSL on Friday January 23rd. At the time, I wanted the Expert Plus package which would have given me extra speed. They said I qualified for it with a range of 6,934 feet, and gave me an install date of Friday January 30th. I was excited about trying it out. A couple days later, I got a message on my answering machine from SBC saying I didn't qualify for the Expert Plus and they downgraded me to the Standard Plus. They also said I wouldn't have service until 2/3. I called back to ask why, and they said I didn't qualify for the extra speed. I then asked for what distance I was away or what the problem was, and the technician just didn't know. I didn't think much of it at the time. I figured the techs in the SBC forum would help me out after the DSL was installed and running. On Friday 1/30, I got the modem in the mail. I plugged in all the filters and then the modem itself, and I found all the lights to be lit up green. I was quite amazed that the modem was already on, so I took the time to set up the modem with the CD. In about 10 minutes, I was surfing on the computer through the DSL. Speed tests were right about 1300/220. The modem itself said I had 1500/256 speeds, but I trust the speed tests as a little better indication. Since then, I have had no downtime and the speeds are almost always top notch. Similar to Comcast. I subscribe to the line monitoring service, and I compared the graphs after I switched. New Jersey USA monitor - Comcast: 30ms consistantly. SBC: 35ms consistantly California USA monitor - Comcast: 95ms consistantly. SBC: 85ms consistantly San Francisco USA - Comcast: 65ms consistantly. SBC: 70ms consistantly My Comcast connection and this one are almost identical. Very few ping spikes which means I get good speeds and throughput. The only difference is what is in the graphs and that is only by a few milliseconds. Comcast wants to charge me $57 or so just for the cable modem. SBC charges me $27. A $30 difference? I am all over that. Even if I get the Expert Plus package, it would cost me $45, which is still a $12 difference. My only complaint is that I don't think the phone techs know what is going on with my connection at times. I have inquired about the Expert Plus package and I while I understand that I don't qualify, they won't tell me my distance. I also can't find out for sure if I am on a CO or RT. I guess this will have to wait. I am in process of talking with the techs here on the forums. I hope they can give me the answers I am looking for, a speed increase to the next level, a move from a CO to an RT, or something along those lines. Until then, I will enjoy the $26.95 price and the Comcast cable is going to be disconnected in the next couple weeks if everything stays the same. SBC, it looks like you have a new customer. 2/6/04 - Well, after talking with Beach Boy, one of the online techs here at broadbandreports.com, it looks like my range is much longer than I thought. I am currently sitting 14,000 feet from the CO. Almost 2.75 miles. I am glad I got a straight answer. Apparently, the max speeds would be about 3000/400 or so. The rumor is that they are working on a new price tier that would be $35 a month for those speeds. Instead of pay $45 a month and get capped, I will wait to see what SBC comes out with later. I hope they do release the mid-tier caps for that price. I would pay up.  Today was a big day for me. I called and canceled Comcast cable. I explained to them it wasn't the quality, but the cost. If the comcast cable internet service was $42.95 and there was no penalty for buying their cable TV service, I would have kept it. However, that wasn't the case. As it was, I was paying $13.50 for basic and $42.95 for cable internet. If I opted for no cable TV, I would have paid $17 so it just made sense to get basic cable. I am going to save $30 a month now on my internet service and I am very happy. Even if I go with that mid-tier plan when it gets released, I will save $20. Lets just hope I see the stability and reliability on this DSL line like I had with the cable modem in the long term. 2/17/04 - So far, everything is still up and running. I haven't had any downtime at all and I always get the top speeds. For $26.95, I can't beat the price. I would be willing to pay more for more speed though so I hope SBC reads this and places an RT close to me. If they do start up a new speed tier for $35 a month that will give me 3000/468, I will jump all over it. My max speeds apparently will be 2486/416 this far away according to the techs. It isn't 6000/608, but oh well. Just give me an RT! I am still very happy. 2/25/04 - Still going without a problem. It is quickly approaching my 30 day mark. After that, I am locked in for a year with SBC. If everything continues to be superb, you can bet I will stay with them. 3/04/04 - This is probably going to be my last update for a while. Now I have passed the 30 day mark and I am keeping the SBC DSL as you probably have guessed. The connection is up and running smoothly. No downtime to speak of. The only thing I would like to see is an RT installed in my area so I can take advantage of the faster speeds. I hope SBC looks at this review and grants my request. 7/21/04 - A little over four months later, I am still happy with my SBC DSL. I have had ZERO problems with it and hardly any downtime. I believe the only downtime I had was back a month ago and that was a scheduled outage! The price continues to be a big selling point for me and I don't see myself going back to Comcast anytime soon. Lastly, the techs here are hands down the best I have ever talked with. Instead of calling the technical support lines, I post a message here on BBR and talk to the techs. They need a big pat on the back and a raise! The only thing I would like to see is an RT deployed out in my area. I would love more bandwidth and am willing to pay for it. PLEASE deploy one out in my area! Email me if you want me to help you. I work cheap.  9/23/04 - Still VERY happy with SBC DSL. I had a couple instances of downtime, but come to find out my DSL Modem needed to be upgraded to a new firmware version. Since the upgrade no problems have been seen. I am still very happy with SBC and the $26.95 price point. The only thing I would like to see is to get my speed upgraded. I can only get 1500/384 (thanks for the extra upload). It would be nice to get 3000 down for a little extra money. However, I am still out of range. Oh well. Beggers can't be choosers I guess. 12/13/04 - What can I say? No downtime, top notch speeds, and low latency equals a happy customer. I just signed up for an additional year at the low $26.95 price. Gotta love it. I still want more speed though and am willing to pay for it. I just keep hoping that SBC reads this review and puts in an RT close to me. 3/15/05 - Still no RT, but service is still top notch! I have had no downtime and my service is solid. I am looking into seeing how much speed my line can support and if I can upgrade. It may not be worth the price to upgrade and only get a little more speed, but I am looking into it. I want to once again sing the praises about the SBC techs here on BBR. They are always quick to help. They are the best I have ever had the chance to deal with! 6/7/05 - No downtime, top notch speeds = happy customer. I have said it multiple times and I will say it again...I wish I could get the Pro speeds. 1/20/06 - Once again, no downtime and I always get the speed I pay for. I am still a very happy customer. Just took advantage of the $16.99 per month price for 6 months. It just can't be beat. Where is my RT so I can get more speed? That is the only complaint I have and it is a small one. 6/28/06 - Just renewed my contract to $15 a month for 1500/384 speeds for a year. At that price, I got the ok from the wife to run dual broadband connections to the dual WAN router and run them in load balancing mode. So now I have DSL and Comcast Cable internet! The DSL side has always been solid so I am happy on that end. My thirst for more speed AND a failover internet connections should be fulfilled with the addition of the Comcast HSI. 1/5/07 - Well, a little over 6 months later, I am really enjoying my dual high speed connections. My DSL and Cable connections are totally solid. My DSL in particular is very nice. I just wish I could get faster than 1500/384 on it. I have asked and asked about it. Its too bad I live smack dab in the middle of a city and I can't get anything faster.  10/25/07 - I finally got an upgrade to 3000/512 and it works great. It works so good, I am thinking I am going to drop my comcast cable modem connection in December. I have had dual broadband connections for a while, and while it is nice, I just can't justify it anymore now that I have a faster connection. Still very solid service and I highly recommend SBC. 01/28/08 - The faster connection has been so good that I dropped my Comcast cable internet service and am down to one connection. The good news is that I am not paying for a second connection. That other connection did have its advantages, but I was rarely using them like the fact that I have a redundant connection. However, if the line never goes down, its hard to justify. AT&T rocks in my area. 08/04/08 - AT&T DSL is still rock solid. With help from AT&T Direct here on the BBR Forums, they got my speed upgraded to about 4500/768 which helps out a lot. I had the service hiccup on me one time in the last 6 months. It seemed that the modem lost sync. When it picked back up, it didn't go down again. I love this DSL service! 02/18/09 - Still happy with AT&T DSL service. No downtime and my service is as solid as a rock. If they do implement caps on the service that are too restrictive, I will be moving back to Comcast. So far, no word on caps so I am hopeful they will not implement them. 09/09/09 - Wow, its been 5 and a half years since I first got AT&T DSL. The service is still very very nice. I have noticed no downtime and the service is still very reliable. The ping times are great and I never have problems with gaming or getting online. I haven't had the need to contact AT&T support for a long time now. The service just works and that's all that matters. I would really like to move to Uverse though. So far I haven't seen it in my area though. There is a VRAD box pretty close to me that could service my area, but the techs say it isn't turned on yet. 11/21/09 - After dealing with a couple issues with my DSL line bouncing, I decided to give into my thirst for a faster connection and resubscribe to Comcast. I will be monitoring the connection closely, but for right now I think I will be switching. The 16000/2000 is much better than my 4000/768 line. Followup comments:
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The connection itself has been rock solid, with only 1 outage in the past year. Overall, reliability is on a par with most utilities (electric and gas companies). 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. The only problem I have is that I can't get the 6.0 package...but hopefully soon it will be available to me and look f forward to upgrading my connection. Followup comments:
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I'm a happy camper! Update: Still happy and the price has been reduced from $26 to $21. Thanks to forum giving a heads up! Jan 2009 update: Upgraded to PRO this summer and speeds are as advertised. Thanks for the informative forums! PP Oct 2009 update: Still on PRO and have had zero problems. Many times when I check email at other locations (like those with cable modems) I wait until I'm home to look at the attachments. My DSL is usually 10 times faster! Followup comments:
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Attachments:  Followup comments:
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Service has continued to be completely reliable since the last update. And I retained the same IP address for the duration. My speed was increased to the full Pro speed, and switched to an interleaved profile. The 5100b modem that I was using was able to recover the same PPPoE session after the brief interrupt to up the speed. update - Jul 2009: Upgraded to Pro. I was getting continued reliable service, with attenuation at around 54. And since uverse did not seem likely, I decided to give Pro a chance. First step was to post in the Direct forum, and ask for a line status check. The stats looked good. So I applied for Pro, and that was up and running within two days. However, the speed was only pushed up to 1.984 mb/s. I gave it time, assuming a ramp up. But it never increased. Another post in the Direct forum, and the speed was pushed to 2.496. That is probably as high as I can go at my distance from the CO. The service has been completely reliable. And the extra speed is useful when watching internet videos (as on youtube, for example). Then, around 2 months later, they installed what looks like a uverse box next to the cross connect box. Thus far the uverse box does not seem to have been brought into service, and I have not heard any sales pitches for it. I guess that will be the next step to look forward to. Summary: things are working out well on Pro service at 2.496 mb/s Followup comments:
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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. Followup comments:
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update: had some very old copper filters from the 60s removed, now i can max sync at around 7000 versus 3016 with bad echo on the voice line. Followup comments:
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Updated 7/2008: Corrected rate to 79 Service is rock solid. One outage of 2 hours in last 6 months (looked like a maintenance cycle since it happened at 3 AM for almost exactly 2 hours.) At least 4 9's of availability (99.99%) Updated 5/2008: Re-upped contract to get another $10 month off the rate. This time, with the help of folks here on the direct forum, we managed to do so without losing my assigned IP addresses. A lot of difficulties for something that should be easy but the folks on the forum made it easy from my viewpoint. Most importantly, it worked! Performance has been consistent for the last year with virtually no downtime. I still hate the price but there is not an effective alternative that delivers multiple static IP addresses in my neighborhood with the same performance. I'm a satisfied customer. Updated 5/2006: Re-upped contract for 89.95/month with 3 months for 79.95. Again had an outage when their order management system redeployed my static ips and issued me new ones when the order fired. Spent 2.5 hours on phone with tech support but finally got them back 28 hours later. Really irritating since I asked the service rep whether this was a risk after my last experience and was informed "absolutely not." Tech support rep indicates that none of the sales reps are connected to reality - he may be right. Updated 9/2005: Re-upped contract for 1 year - rate dropped to 99.95 for 6M static with 5 IP addresses. Lost IP addresses for 1 day when the order management system reissued ip addresses instead of just renewing the contract. Updated 6/2005: Just finished a cycle of lost connectivity - somehow copper pair suddenly degraded to where 6M signal became completely unstable. Not enough to lose synch but errors enough to drop throughput to a tenth. Found a great manager in the Tier 2 support area to work with and walked things through their paces for 4 weeks. Swapped pairs, routers, etc. Finally found stability again but still very touchy. Every once in a while things go South and a power recycle to the router is needed. I've automated the process and have dropped outage times to 5 minutes or less (which is the length of time I wait before restarting the router after I detect connectivity loss. )Still the best option I can get at my location that officially allows servers. Comcast has raised their caps but doesn't let servers play. Local WISP can't see my house over a stand of trees. So, SBC it is. ORIGINAL POSTING FROM 9/2003 Ordered initial service early September - multiple service calls later we finally determined it was some sort of inside wiring issue causing the signal to degrade and moved the DSL to a second line with great success. ISP staff dispatched was unable to isolate wiring issue - continuously pushed to lower the DSLAM profile to lower and lower speeds, claiming that the issue was the LEC outside plant. Only the telco special services tech took the time to help isolate the issue to the IW. Had it not been for him, I'd be a much cheaper and much dissatisfied customer. Now I'm poorer but happier. Forum techs here are excellent if not over worked. I'd recommend them but only if things go easily. Otherwise you need great persistence and patience. Once resolved, service quality seems reliable and of high quality Previous ISP was Speakeasy using IDSL (144/144) for $25/month less. Followup comments:
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Added 06 Oct 2009 Nothing new here. Everything is the same. Move along please. End edit $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ******************************************** Added 01 Jan 2009: My DSL continues to be very reliable. The only persistent problem was with a bad wire connector on the pole by my house. I am thinking about adding Tivo/Netflix and if so will be interested in seeing how long it takes to download a typical movie on 3008. I am also wondering, however, what will happen with the usage-based pricing threats that AT&T keeps floating. I thought about switching to Uverse VDSL but I am holding out for a better channel package that gives me less garbage and more of what I want, for less money of course. I figure most of their VRADs are basically idling and I am wondering to what extent they might reduce their profits in order to increase penetration. I usually pay just under $49 for DSL plus bare bones POTS. Not ready to give up POTS yet. VOIP has been pretty solid for us after a couple of long failures three years ago. We rarely use the POTS but I choose to view it like insurance, of which we have plenty and hope to never use. End edit 01 Jan 2009 ***************************************************** I had DSL installed at my office in August 2008. They screwed up the order and it took an extra week to get the modem, and it was not the one they promised on the phone. They "threw in" connection from the Building Binder Posts to the modem jack. But not setup. So the AT&T tech wired it all through and left. After I got the modem hooked up, it didn't work. So I took it to the NID and it worked fine. Time to replace the inside wiring. All went fine then. But I should have checked it before he left. Just too busy to bother with it at that moment. Since then, no notable problems. 3008/512 translates to 2500/400 or so. The upload speed never used to bother me, but now I am sometimes uploading lots of photos and it takes way too long. I get what I pay for, generally, but I reserve the right to complain for any reason. I just upgraded from 1500/384 as a hedge. I had checked with SBC Direct in May and was told that I should have no trouble getting the max sync speeds. I was paying as noted below through September 2006 but the new offer was $17.95 plus fees and taxes, so now we have a commitment through June 2007. I submitted an online order and was smoothly upgraded overnight. I submitted the order and then immediately rebooted the modem: 2006/07/19 13:07:42 GMT E |DSL |Link up 1 US 384 DS 1536 (FAST:G.dmt) ... And then this happened overnight: 2006/07/20 08:33:25 GMT E |DSL |Link up 2 US 512 DS 3008 (FAST:G.dmt) Dynamic IP Speedstream 4100 (Nice stats) In October I moved my DSL from one phone line to another, and that didn't go particularly smoothly: They disconnected me twice because something didn't "take" in the system properly, the new modem did not ship out as expected, they gave me a new phone # and then called me back and said they made a mistake and that number was not available, the DSL billing did not get transferred from the old account to the new account and so on. Nothing new there. I can't comment on tech support because I use the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. SBC Direct forum is available and most questions get better answers in the SBC BBR forum anyway. Here's my 28 March 2007 Bill: $34.99 Regular rate for PRO (3008/512) $17.00 -Credit for 12-mo contract $ 1.01 + 5.6% sales tax in Milwaukee County ------------------ $19.00 SubTotal Voice service IS REQUIRED to get this. So here's what I pay for that. $10.78 Local Line (Increased to $10+ in Spring 2006) $ 1.00 Local Calls, 25@ $0.04 each $ 5.44 Federal Access Charge $ 0.70 E911, USF $ 1.54 Federal, State, County, Stadium Taxes --------------------------- $19.46 SubTotal ------------------------ $38.46 Grand Total Followup comments:
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I ordered online and installed myself When it was first up and runing i was getting 4-5mb/sec now its down to half of that =( Followup comments:
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AT&T Midwest
(35)
(58)
Grand Rapids,Kent,MI
$35 per month
about 7 days
SBC
"DSL activated early! Reliable connection so far! Price!"
"Phone tech support could be improved a little."
"Awesome connection and well worth the price!"
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