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Review by bradpr 
Posted: 1.4 years ago
member for 1.4 years, 6 visits, last login: 170 days ago
 Birmingham,Shelby,AL
 $50 per month
 about 10 days
 BellSouth
 "Reliable connection (always on)"
 "Unreliable bandwidth and tech support is as inconsistent as their bandwidth"
 "In my area, broadband is available from Charter Cable or ATT DSL - of the two ATT is the lesser of two evils"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I'm subscribed to AT&T DSL on their Xtreme plan (6MB). I didn't have a land line, so I had to purchase a local dialtone only line to get DSL (although I've heard they now offer naked DSL). I was told that the local dialtone would run me $15 per month, but after taxes and fees, it is nearly $40. This was a shock.
My experience has been OK. They are ultra reliable for being up. I've had the service for one year with no outages. The bandwidth delivered, however, is another story. My bandwidth ranges from 400K to 6.5MB and there is no rhyme or reason for the fluctuations. For instance, it is presently prime time Saturday night, and I have 6.4MB. This morning, I was running at 800K. Last night, I was running at 1.2MB. I average 2.8MB while I pay for a 6MB connection. AT&T's response is that the 6MB isn't guaranteed. Its the most you can get, and they don't have a guaranteed lowest level. This was surprising to me - they can deliver 100K 90% of the time - if they deliver 6MB to you for just a moment, according to them, they've met their obligation to you under their DSL Xtreme service.
I recently was experiencing some problems with the Westell 6100 modem they provided me. I couldn't get the IP Passthrough feature on the modem to give my public IP to my router. I called their tech support and was aided by a fellow who didn't understand networking. He couldn't explain what IP passthrough was supposed to do, so he didn't understand that the behavior I was seeing was not expected. I asked to be transferred to tier 2 where I could get assistance from someone who understood what I was trying to do. Instead, he transferred me to their Support Plus service where I was greeted by a sales rep who wanted me to buy a $250 service plan. I let her know what I thought about that plan and demanded to be transferred to a manager. She then transferred me to a manager, in another AT&T region who couldn't assist me since he was in another region. I had to call back in and go through all of the brain numbing tech support steps that the first rep had me do. Ultimately, I reached a rep who was able to help me (without the fee). They agreed to send me a new modem.
My other experiences with their tech support have been similar. They are good for inexperienced home users, but if you are an advanced user, don't bother with their tier one support (if you figure out how you can avoid them and go straight to tier 2). I was alarmed at their attempt to make me pay for a support plus agreement. NOBODY should pay for their "support plus" service - it is a total SCAM. You're much better off with internet forums.
Overall, I recommend AT&T DSL to those in my area. Charter Cable is the only other option. In the one year I was a charter customer, I was down an average of 4 days per month. They (charter) are awful. AT&T is tolerable if you don't get uptight about a DSL provider not meeting their top speed any more than half of the time, and have ultimate patience when it comes to dealing with unknowledgeable tech support who will attempt to fleece you out of $250 for a bogus support plan.
Followup comments:  
speed freak
@bellsouth.net
| at&t tech support i have had dsl for about 6 years in my new house and 2 in my old house never had any problems with the service. as far as being on all the time.
anyways the only problem i had was when i upgraded to 6meg the disabled my static ip i called and it was tech suppoert from hell overseas agent. didn't know what a static ip was he wanted me to reset my router (hint: don't ever do this or plug your computer into the modem then it screws up bidgemode.) they wanted me to do this. i told him no this was not the problem i didnt have my static ip address. he wanted to follow the script from the book and screw my shit up. i told him i want an american agent. i didnt have time for this crap they was trying to do. got transfered to an agent in u.s.a she understood everthing i said and told me that if i had to call back ask for an american agent and they had to transfer
another story my mother has dsl i set it up westell modem 6100 to linksys router bidge mode its in her basement she called them cause when it rains hard and wind blows it cuts out when she told them the deal. they told her to take her laptop downstairs to her modem and plug the computer directly into the modem to make sure it worked (she knows nothing about a network)then they told her to plug it back into the router and push and hold the reset button. and then told her it would work and got off the phone with her.
she calls me cant get on the internet and told me this. i told her not to ever do anything tech support tells her without me on 3way. im 350 miles away and trying to talk her through the set up of the router and her not knowing nothing about what i was talking about. we finally got it back up
so if you know someone that know anything about computers call them first or make sure you ask for a american rep
westell modem 6100 bridgemode with linksys wrt54gs router with thibor hyper-wrt and 2smc 1000mbs switches only need more speed | |
| | bradpr
join:2008-08-23
Birmingham, AL
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| Re: at&t tech support Here's a new tech support story:
My DSL is installed with my DSL jack being a home run back to the TNI where the installer put in a filter which separates my voice and DSL. This means that DSL signal is only being delivered to my DSL jack and voice signal is only being delivered to my voice jacks. There is no need for filters anywhere because of this config.
I've been having some serious speed issues recently (1 MB speed while I pay for DSL Xtreme). I have made 12 calls to AT&T support regarding this issue and they have replaced my modem twice in the past week.
The problem persists, and I just called support again (call #13 in less than 2 weeks). My support rep didn't know what a "home run" was and refused to support me until I installed filters on all of my telephone endpoints (3 phones and my alarm system). Needless to say, I didn't go out and buy any filters. After telling the rep that I "found" serveral filters and they were now installed, he took me through their standard "unplug the modem, count to 10, plug it back in....hard reset the modem....ensure there is no router in the equation" drill. When we were down to a single PC hooked directly up to the modem, he wanted me to uninstall my personal firewall and antivirus software. This was after I asked him if he could read my recent account history and after I explained to him that I was seeing the problem after trying 3 different modems and 3 different routers. Despite what I told him, he wanted me to start disassembling the software load on my PC.
Instead of sending a technician out, which is what they should have automatically done after the problem persisted through 3 phone rep based troubleshooting attempts, this agent had to start from step 1 on his script and treat me like a first time caller.
Do they hire humans or robots for phone support? | |
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