Avoid AT&T DSL

B

BassMan449

Moderator
I just want to post this as a warning to all of you. If you have any other options than AT&T DSL I would recommend them. I've had nothing, but problems with them since I signed up.

1. The first modem they sent me was busted. The replacement worked, but isn't incredibly reliable.
2. Service kicks out regularly for just a few seconds, but it's enough to force you to power cycle the modem.
3. Paying for 3Mbs only getting 1.5Mbs. I understand that you never get what you pay for, but they offer a 1.5Mbs service and if that is all I'm going to get than I should only be paying for that.

And to cap it off,

My DSL went down yesterday and I called Tech Support (an adventure in itself, why do they think everyone that calls them has an IQ of 12???) and they told me the next available appointment to get it fixed is April 8. That means I have no Internet for 6 days because they don't hire enough freaking people. To top it all off there was an AT&T truck sitting outside my apartment for about 3 hours yesterday and yet they don't have enough time to fix it until next week.

I would just recommend to avoid them. Service is crap and not worth the few dollars you save over the competition.
 
Ma Bell is back, people. Resistance Is Futile.

Re-assembled monopoly = no customer service. When there's a reasonably priced alternative to cable and DSL, AT&T and Mediacom and Charter and all the crapulent companies overcharging for broadband will either improve or die.

Oh, how I long for that day.

Competition--real competition, mind you--is the only path to quality.
 
The government gives these companies millions to expand their networks and they turn around and rip off the consumers. Typical corporate greed.
 
Where I'm going there are a choice of 3 cable companies, and my apartment only gets Insight, but the packages seem decently priced, and it's still RoadRunner, but I'll be happy not seeing Time Warner on my bill
 
Sounds like you may have wiring problems in the house or neighborhood. I had a horrible experience with Comcast last year. It turns out some of the nodes had a lot of impulse noise. It works perfectly now.

How did I get it fixed? Squeaky wheel analogy. I complained and complained. A tech would come out, admit there's a problem, mess with the wires, then leave. Problem comes back, so I'm on the phone again scheduling another visit... and another... and so on. I had them coming out every few days, which costs them money and looks bad on the tech's rating. I refused to let them off the hook. I also contributed to a thread on DSLreports.com (started by a guy in my neighborhood) that got the attention of the head guys. I posted screenshots of how the service dropped down to dial up speeds in the late afternoons through the evening, thanks to the tools that are available on dslreports.com. I eventually got an email message through DSLreports.com from the director of technology operations (or something like that), along with his personal email address and phone number promising to fix things and give us a credit (he let us name the amount). Over the next month or so, the neighborhood was swarmed with Comcast trucks and they eventually found and fixed the problem.

Most people roll over when they get crap for service. Or they'll shout into the wind, which is similar to posting on a forum like this. You have to take action, put their feet to the fire, and stick with it.
 
BassMan449 said:
I just want to post this as a warning to all of you. If you have any other options than AT&T DSL I would recommend them. I've had nothing, but problems with them since I signed up.

1. The first modem they sent me was busted. The replacement worked, but isn't incredibly reliable.
2. Service kicks out regularly for just a few seconds, but it's enough to force you to power cycle the modem.
3. Paying for 3Mbs only getting 1.5Mbs. I understand that you never get what you pay for, but they offer a 1.5Mbs service and if that is all I'm going to get than I should only be paying for that.

And to cap it off,

My DSL went down yesterday and I called Tech Support (an adventure in itself, why do they think everyone that calls them has an IQ of 12???) and they told me the next available appointment to get it fixed is April 8. That means I have no Internet for 6 days because they don't hire enough freaking people. To top it all off there was an AT&T truck sitting outside my apartment for about 3 hours yesterday and yet they don't have enough time to fix it until next week.

I would just recommend to avoid them. Service is crap and not worth the few dollars you save over the competition.
Click to expand...

My FIL has att&t dsl and it works fine. The 3.0 is what the line is provisioned at...keep in mind that DSL is affected by the same issues as dial-up:

1. THe speeds are not guarenteed(their contrac and many disclaimers say this..have to read the fine print). If ou want a gurentee get ready to pay for an sdsl line with an SLA(that'll run you @250/month).

2. Distance to your CO

3. Line quality(noise, bad wiring, loading coils, amplifiers..etc etc).

4. If you drop down to 1.5 you'll be lucky to get 750kbps.

If you have an inside wiring plan(here in vz country it's 5/month) have them check the lines inside your house. Also do not router the phone line through a surge protector as they interfere with the dsl signls. Also try chaging out the dsl filters..they may be bad.

call up technical suport and have them run a line test. The line tests are pretty reliable and will find a problem if it's on their end most times.
 
I currently have FIOS internet from AT&T Uverse and I love it. Just as fast and even more stable then my Comcast cable connection was. I loved my Comcast cable internet as well, the price when TV was included was just way too expensive. Of course it is a very limited area that currently has FIOS available but if you are lucky and in those areas, I highly recommend it.
 
FIOS is verizon firber all the way to the house..U-verse is actually fiber to the hub and then VDSL from there unless your development is literally brand new then you may have the uverse FTTH.
 
Hescominsoon, about the lower connection speed, I'm a computer science major so I completely understand the problems with DSL and networking crap, but the major issue is not in the line signal it's in the fact that the data programmed into the modem sets the cap as 1.9 Mbs. I understand that you get some problems, but it is simple greed and ripping off your customer if you are capping the speed below what I am paying for.

The second major issue is that the only other internet option in my area as Mediacom Cable which is something like 61 bucks a month. Have to agree with Tek in that the only way any of this will change is if we get some real competition for once. Unfortunately in today's money controlled Congress I don't see that ever happening.
 
BassMan449 said:
Hescominsoon, about the lower connection speed, I'm a computer science major so I completely understand the problems with DSL and networking crap, but the major issue is not in the line signal it's in the fact that the data programmed into the modem sets the cap as 1.9 Mbs. I understand that you get some problems, but it is simple greed and ripping off your customer if you are capping the speed below what I am paying for.
Click to expand...

Signal noise is a major problem in networking, most people don't have issues with it due to their limited network size (well wireless owners get to experience the pain but it is somewhat different).

Take a speaker for instance, it may have 120dB at 5m but as the distance increases the ability for it to reach the target at the same power diminishes. As you add in obstacles (walls, chairs, people) it is greatly affected. Old houses are notorious for having bad quality wiring and since phone lines are not twisted to prevent noise (basically twisting causes the noise's wave and inverted wave to be added then when they combine they cancel each other out) from coming into the line then the signal will likely become distorted.

Digital signals sent over an analog line usually resemble a sin wave form with 1 and 0 being represented from the shift from positive to negative. As you add noise then it is harder for the receiver to reinterpret those signals as their original binary values. So if you say pass the wire by a fluorescent light, then it will have a 60Hz wave added from the electromagnetic waves it puts out. Depending on the magnitude it may be possible for that to flip bits around and screw up the message (which is why most packets carry a checksum to check for consistency).
 
BassMan449 said:
Hescominsoon, about the lower connection speed, I'm a computer science major so I completely understand the problems with DSL and networking crap, but the major issue is not in the line signal it's in the fact that the data programmed into the modem sets the cap as 1.9 Mbs. I understand that you get some problems, but it is simple greed and ripping off your customer if you are capping the speed below what I am paying for.

The second major issue is that the only other internet option in my area as Mediacom Cable which is something like 61 bucks a month. Have to agree with Tek in that the only way any of this will change is if we get some real competition for once. Unfortunately in today's money controlled Congress I don't see that ever happening.
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And i have over 20 years in the field working directly for and with many isp's along with pc hardware/software experience including cable isp's and dsl isp's. Now that the chest puffing is out of the way...they are provisioning the line at 3..the modem will train at the fastest speed it can attain...which in your case is 1.9. if they are truly capping you at 1.9(and i highly doubt it due to the way the dslams and dsl modems work) then you have a case. However, there's no SLA on residential services and they aren't required to give you an SLA.

Is tech suport saying your signal is ok? what is your line loop length(they can run a test to figure that out). You have to be within 5k feet of your co to see anything close to your provisioned speed on dsl. The farther out you are the slower you go no matter how fast they provision your line. If you are 10k feet or longer be glad you have that much. It's most likely not them capping you..it's the technical limitations of the technology itself.
 
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vibrokatana said:
Signal noise is a major problem in networking, most people don't have issues with it due to their limited network size (well wireless owners get to experience the pain but it is somewhat different).

Take a speaker for instance, it may have 120dB at 5m but as the distance increases the ability for it to reach the target at the same power diminishes. As you add in obstacles (walls, chairs, people) it is greatly affected. Old houses are notorious for having bad quality wiring and since phone lines are not twisted to prevent noise (basically twisting causes the noise's wave and inverted wave to be added then when they combine they cancel each other out) from coming into the line then the signal will likely become distorted.

Digital signals sent over an analog line usually resemble a sin wave form with 1 and 0 being represented from the shift from positive to negative. As you add noise then it is harder for the receiver to reinterpret those signals as their original binary values. So if you say pass the wire by a fluorescent light, then it will have a 60Hz wave added from the electromagnetic waves it puts out. Depending on the magnitude it may be possible for that to flip bits around and screw up the message (which is why most packets carry a checksum to check for consistency).
Click to expand...

This is totally true vibro..:) Dsl is much more sensitive to these issues due to the much higher frequencies it uses. The higher frequencies also cause it's maximum distance to be much less.
 
Cox is very friendly. I know I probably downloaded several hundred GB of junk (mostly anime :\) and one of my work friends downloaded close to 4TB of data.
 
AT&T started a triple play service without my permission, and sent me to collections for it...I will never touch AT&T with a 10,000 mile pole...
 
understood there. I have canceled vz's dsl because their tech support got snotty with me. Soon vz's landline service is going away.
 
Tuesday came and the Tech didn't. I called Tech Support again and the tell me now the line test shows that nothings wrong and the problem must be my modem. The recommend I buy a new modem from them and test that.

I canceled it and Mediacom can come out to set up a new connection on Thursday. Seems ridiculous to me that Mediacom can setup a new connection in 2 days, but AT&T takes a week to fix one. I should finally have Internet back on Thursday. YAY!
 
BassMan449 said:
To top it all off there was an AT&T truck sitting outside my apartment
Click to expand...

I have nothing against apartment dwellers, I wish I had mine back, but DSL will stink in any apartment because they only have one DSL line for the entire complex. So the power coming through the line is divided among the paying residents in your complex.

There is nothing that AT&T can do about that.

And have you ever tried to deal with Comcast's customer support? They are far worse.
 
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