 Review by Logan 5 
UPDATED: 64 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 3660 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Hayward,Alameda,CA
 $45 per month
 about 5 days
 SBC
 "Service Since 1999 has been good. AWESOME!! BBR AT&T Forum Techs!"
 "10+ years later and Tier I Tech Support is STILL 'Hit Or Miss'..."
 "Naked DSL is the way to go if you dont need a landline...."
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(ratings above consensus)
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I have had PacBell Residential DSL since it was rolled out in my area in 1999. At that time when I placed the order which was $29.99/month for the first 3 months then $39.99 after with a 1 year contract & free modem, I was told that the best speed I could get was 768/128 because I was 18,500' from the (at the time) closest CO.
I went ahead and ordered it and have only had 2 outages up until last week, when their mail server(s) was acting up and was down for several hours. Of the 2 prior outages, one was my fault the other Pac Bell's, so 2 total outages in 4 years.
When I followed the guidelines in the BBR Pacific Bell Forum on how to get my line speed 'upgraded' I called and was surprised to discover that I should have been getting 1536/128 service all along and that my line was always capable of that speed....regardless of what the install tech told me back in 1999.
Can I recommend Pacific Bell/SBC DSL for new users? YES! but that yes is qualified with the understanding that you do your homework on DSL technology & service offerings FIRST before dealing with them, otherwise you could get yourself into a situation you might not want to be in otherwise.
SBC is not the ISP for the complete n00b or people who need lots of handholding....remember it is what it is, but if you know what you are doing, It can be a very easy process from the time you place the order to the time you go live.
UPDATE: 08/2003
I recently had my original PPPoA DSL Modem die a smoking death (I DID have it since 1999), so I went and found a replacement modem on Ebay...turns out it was PPPoE, so I had to get the techs from the Broadbandreports.com Pacbell/SBC forum (Toaster2k) to re-provision my line. I am now getting an even FASTER upload speed (215k) and was taken care of in just a few hours from my initial dealings with the guys in our forums. Pacbell/SBC is still what it is...but these guys are making it better and better ever day!!
UPDATE: 06/07/04
Called about a month ago to see what current packages with higher speed tiers were available and was told that I'm still too far away from a CO or RT to get anything faster than my current 1.5/256k service. I asked them how I could get that cheaper since $49.99/mo was expensive for that service. They were able to re-rate me for another 1 year contract all the way down to $26.95/month..!
I guess it was an even trade since I couldn't get anything faster for the old price, I got the old service for a new lower price. It's on my bill now and life is good!!
Pacbell/SBC is still what it is...but if they are willing to deal like they did with me, that goes a long way toward keeping me a loyal and satisfied customer in the future.
UPDATE: 07/18/05
A new year and a new promotion. After waiting a reasonable timeframe to take advantage of the latest and greatest deal that SBC has on Basic DSL, I am now the proud owner of my service for only $14.95 per month! Like I said above, if SBC was willing to deal (they were) it did indeed go a long way toward keeping me happy, because honestly before the $14.95 promotion, I was seriously considering Comcast and their 4.0/384 deal that I could have gotten for a VERY competitive price.
UPDATE: 10/25/05
Nothing really new to report except an outage in my CO back in September that had me down for 2 days...Was told it was a temporary 'glitch' but it's odd that only after I complained about my complete loss of signal and sync (though my router showed me otherwise) did they take me seriously enough to look and fix whatever failed at the CO.
UPDATE: 05/31/07
Another new year, another plea for help in getting upgraded to something faster then my entry level 1.5down /384up. THIS TIME, things are much different and not in a bad way either! I requested prequal assistance in the AT&T Direct Forum and I was able to after talking to one of the Forum techs there, FINALLY get my speed package increased to 3.0down/512up for $5 month more then I was already paying. I'm on a new month to month agreement & while I was told the upgrade would not happen until 6/4/07, I am already seeing 2.1down and 418up on speedtests so there was ZERO wait time.
Am I happy? - Sure am, it's about time someone took me seriously and listened... 
UPDATE: 06/23/07
Holding strong at about 2.6-2.7 down and 488-495 up. What's remarkable is that I am getting almost the max rated capacity out of my connection (TCP overhead wont let me get the full speed) with being 18,500' feet from the CO... I was told that I might drop signal and have to be throttled back down because of the extreme distances involved but in the last 24 days since my previous review, all is still good and my signal to noise ratio has actually improved..
A BIG thank you to the Techs in the AT&T Direct forum for doing what the standard Tier I/II AT&T Call Center Techs were afraid to do.
UPDATE: 02/01/09
I moved back in October, 08 and the place I moved to was far closer to the CO then my old one was, so I was able to cancel my old DSL/telephone service and re-subscribe to the Elite Tier (a.k.a "Naked DSL") for only $44.95/mo. ! On Speed tests I am averaging 5.1-5.2mbps down and 603kbps up so it's definitely a HUGE improvement! No problem and everything is working well and latency is low so gaming is better then ever! Plus no monthly caps doesn't hurt either!! =)
UPDATE: 09/17/09
Actually nothing new to report since my last review except to say that even if I were to ever leave AT&T I'd still get to keep my old legacy @pacbell.net email address....I'd be able to use and access it through att.yahoo.com which is huge as it gives me even more choices then before!
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