Review by GDATL 
UPDATED: 1 year ago
member for 7.7 years, 1299 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Atlanta,Fulton,GA
 $42 per month
 about 3 days
 AT&T
 "Consistency (2001-2007)"
 "Inconsistency (2008)"
 "Excellent until 2008: Now - 5 Service Outages, Spotty Support"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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10/19/2008 Update
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The 2Wire modem that was promised for Saturday delivery arrived on Wednesday. However, service has been solid since it came back up on 10/11, even without the modem change! I installed the new 2Wire modem on Friday, 2/17 with no problems. Other than having an additional WiFi access point to use (at least it is 802.11g - my other 2 WiFi access points are 802.11b) I didn't see any real improvements. But then I have had nothing to complain about anyway over the last week!
The bottom line is that I had a week where the service went up and down, utilized phone tech support 4 times, had technicians dispatched 3 times and replaced my DSL modem. Since that week, I have had a week of solid, fast service. But I can't tell you what caused the outages or what fixed them!
10/13/2008 Update
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After 6 years of solid service, 2008 has not been a good year. Last week, my DSL service was down for an estimated 72 hours total during 3 separate outages!
Earlier in 2008, I had 2 instances where service was disrupted for hours. Calls to AT&T's tech support line (where I dutifully followed all the instructions and relayed results to a non-US-based support desk - trying everything for the technician that I had already tried - restart the modem, disconnect all other networked equipment, try to run SpeedTest, etc.) was a bit frustrating. However, once I got to the stateside higher tier support technicians, service was restored fairly quickly.
I am using a Westell 6100 DSL modem supplied by AT&T, connected to additional equipment, including a Linksys 16-port switch, 2-DLINK wireless routers, a pair of Panasonic powerline ethernet adapters, Linksys 5 port switch, UPS to power network equipment, and Maxtor NAS. Four computers are hardwired to the network and 2 additional computers and a Wii are occasionally connected wirelessly.
Here are the details of the recent problems:
Monday (10/06/08):
On Monday, download speed suddenly got extremely slow around noon. On a 6MB DSL service, I still had DSL connection and upload speeds were normal, but downloads were about 1K (about 2% of dial-up speeds!). My call to tech support reached a desk in Birmingham AL and a helpful agent. Although she wasn't a DSL expert, she did take me thru all the tests, would place me on hold and talk to her network tech for lengthy periods. Prior to the call, I disconnected all other equipment so that I had one computer hooked directly to the DSL modem, so that I could make certain that there were no problems on my end. About an hour later. they determined that they could not help and that they would send out a technician on Tuesday morning.
The technician (an AT&T contractor, not an employee!) came in and after a quick look-over at everything on my end and several lengthy calls to his AT&T technicians, they decided that there was a problem with my "static IP address and the way my line was provisioned." No more info than that, other than they also told him to tell me that it might be 24-48 hours before service could be restored. An hour or 2 after his visit, I noticed that the DSL sync light on my modem was now off.
On Wednesday morning, I noticed the modem DSL sync light was "on" and found that DSL service had been restored with normal speeds (6MB down/400k up).
Thursday (10/09/08):
Thursday afternoon, downloads returned to the same as on Monday - full upload speeds, snail's pace download speeds. The speeds were so slow that the service was essentially unusable. Another call to AT&T and another helpful agent from Metairie LA who also walked me through a series of checks and tests (speed checks would not work at all - never finished downloading the web pages!), placed me on hold while she consulted with her network techs, and decided that they needed to send another technician to my house. When asked, she said that they problem from earlier in the week was a problem in the DSLAM.
On Friday morning, another AT&T contractor (non-AT&T employee) arrived, hooked his computer up to my modem and determined that what I had said to the agent on Thursday afternoon was accurate. He spent most of an hour on the phone and then left saying that there was a provisioning problem with my line because of the static IP address (hmmm - is there a pattern here?) The service was restored by 11AM before he left.
Friday (10/10/08):
From 11 AM until late afternoon, service was fine, then it went back to the same state I had experienced earlier in the week. I first of all tried powering all my network equipment down, then back up. No improvement, so I powered just the DSL modem off and back up. No help. One more call to a nice AT&T DSL support agent in Birmingham and another hour or so of trying things and experiencing periods on hold where she was in consultation with her network technicians. I got a bit of an argument because I was not paying for "home networking" and did not understand why this was such an issue when I knew that I only had a single PC hooked to the modem. What I then realizes was that I disconnected my home network from the modem AFTER I had rebooted it, and that the modem still shows everything that had been connected to it (even though it was actually disconnected). I restarted the modem and everything disappeared and the arguments stopped. The agent reported that her technician completely rebuilt my line (not certain what all that entails) but there was no effect. The agent said that they would dispatch an AT&T technician (not a contractor) this time and that she would also send me a new 2Wire DSL modem - shipped for UPS Saturday delivery - since she thought that might be the problem.
Service was still out as of late Friday night. On Saturday morning, I checked the service at 8:00 AM and was getting contracted speeds (6MB down). Just after I checked it, the AT&T technician called (it was the same contractor that had come on Friday) and I told him that service was again normal. He canceled his visit since there was nothing he could do, but said that he would request an AT&T line technician to check out the physical line on Monday or Tuesday of the next week.
Monday (10/13/08):
One week after the initial problems started, I have had no more slowdowns as of Noon Monday. Modem that was promised for Saturday delivery has still not been received, and I have not received any of the promised calls from the AT&T support staff. I am a bit surprised that there hasn't been any follow-up to any of the service calls. No calls to make sure that service has been restored, etc.
Overall, this is the first time in almost 7 years that I have even had a passing thought about switching to Comcast.
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05/12/2007 Update
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Still running fine. Did have a brief disruption a few months back, but service was restored fairly quickly.
11/06/2007 Update
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No news is good news. No problems, no disruptions. Solid service, good speed. No need to call technical support. Well, there is the name change ( Bellsouth to AT&T) but as long as I don't have to change my bellsouth.net email addresses, I'm OK with that.
03/30/07 Update
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Moved to 6MB service in January when it was first available at my location. I'm at the end of the line for the nearest DLSAM, so I know that I am not gonna get the highest speeds first. Results have been good speed, solid connection. Replaced Alcatel STH (ISP-provided) and my own Linksys router with new Westell 6100 DSL modem/router (ISP provided) and added my new Linksys 16 port switch. Upgrade was within a day or 2 of the request and went smoothly with no service interruption. Kept my static IP address and added networking support.
07/08/06 Update
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No complaints, solid service continued, no need to call tech support, monthly price has been reduced. Wish 6MB were available to me, but it isn't.
09/15/05 Update
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Absolutely no complaints. Service has been rock solid (even in my neighborhood with overhead copper wires for distribution). I have had no reason to call for technical support, so can't evaluate tech support. Billing has been accurate. Will upgrade to new 6MB service as soon as it is available.
11/01/04 Update
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Solid connection and continued reliable service with BellSouth Extreme DSL. Only problem I had was when a June 2004 thunderstorm took out a tree in my front yard and along with it took out all my utilities (electrical, phone, cable TV) .
This thunderstorm caused a lot of damage in the Atlanta area and so all the utility work crews were very busy. However, GA Power had electricity restored within 20 hours (was a major job - required me to hire an electrician to do a lot of work on the house itself, then get a new meter installed, new entrance line into house and new line from pole to house plus a county electrical inspection - was a miracle it all got done in 20 hours! ).
BellSouth restored phone service and DSL within 30 hours (required new underground line from pole to house).
Comcast Cable TV service required 6 days to even show up, although they did restore service with only one visit. Wonder if they would have been any faster if I had broadband cable???
Thanks GA Power and BellSouth - great service!
04/15/04 Upgrade Fast Access to DSL Extreme - no problems:
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When I learned on 4/11 that BSFA now offered 3MB service (found out here at BBR, not from any marketing effort by BSFA), I immediately went to the fastaccess.com web site and placed my order. The confirmation came back that the service would be up on 4/14. On the morning of 4/14, I worked for a while before I noticed that the response was a bit faster than usual and then I remembered that the upgrade was scheduled today. I did a speed test and the results came back that I was getting 2400/300 speed No equipment change or reconfiguration was needed to upgrade the speed, still continue to use my Alcatel STH and Linksys BEFSR41. In addition, I use 3-D-Link 614+ wireless routers, to support computer work areas for other family members and to provide wireless internet access on all levels at home.
I have not needed to use BSFA tech support so I can't effectively rate it. I get what I need from BBR.
11/30/03 BellSouth Fast Access ISP Rating Update:
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Continued Good Service and Reliable Connection. Consistent speed (1200+ up/ 200+ down). Did have a brief period (days) where connection speed slowed consistently, but it was restored. Never able to identify for certain what the cause was, but suspect a BellSouth line issue.
Have not used BSFA Customer Support, so cannot effectively rate current support.
Expanded my home/home office network to now include 2 wireless routers (operating as access points) connected to Linksys 4 port wired router.
Contractual obligation to BellSouth is long past, but because of the good service, have no reason to entertain those ads and low-priced initial months with any other ISP, although I do hope that BellSouth raises speed limits above 1.5M/256k soon.
Have not subscribed to home networking/support, still use same 2 year old DSL modem (Alcatel Speed Touch Home/Ethernet) which uses PPPOE, and do not have a static IP address.
03/03/03 BellSouth FastAccess ISP Rating Update:
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I wouldn't change any of my previous comments. Smooth installation 1 year ago. Reliable service with consistent speed (1200+ up/ 200+ down). Only 1 reason to call customer support and response was adequate.
Total downtime that I experienced in last year was about 3 hours and that was late in the day about a month ago - general outage in this area.
Expanded home network to add D-Link wireless router in addition to Linksys - and all works fine.
Would still make same recommendations as previous - use BBR to help select and plan installation. Pay attention to overall ratings and recommendations of current users before you make decision re:ISP. Read FAQ's here too - most of your problems have ALREADY been solved.
4/8/02 update - 60 days after install - and recommendations:
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60 days after initial installation. Excellent reliability so far; no downtime. Speed still generally approximately 1200/200. Have had a few occasions where it falls below that, but those times have been infrequent and have not caused any continuing problems. Have had no reason to call BellSouth Tech Support since initial installation. Have resolved my questions/problems by searching here at DSLReports first. Recommendations to prospective DSL users:
- Use ethernet DSL modem
- Read DSLReports 1st - before you decide on ISP and hardware
- Install per BellSouth recommendations to make sure line tests OK
- Re-read DSLReports - particularly "More Links" in BellSouth Forum
- If problems, try BS Tech Supp 1st, then ck answers here at DSLR
- Don't flame BS Tech Support, the best Tech Support guys can help here!
Bottom Line: Still pleased with the selection of BellSouth DSL here in Dunwoody. Thanks to all the BellSouth Tech Support guys that hang out here. I have often used the info you provide here.
2/25 update:
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Still satisfied. Speed generally approx 1200/200. No down time.
2/11/2002 update:
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After performance tweaks, speed now up to 1220/210!
2/9/2002 update:
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Easy install today through Linksys router. One note for Linksys router users: On the router setup screen, I had to enter my complete login username ("username@bellsouth.com" for example, rather than just "username"). Otherwise, I got an error message stating that PPPoE connect failed. This was actually a suggestion from the BellSouth Support technician on 2/8 when he corrected the line problem. Speed was only 700/200 after router installed with single PC connected, so I may have to apply a tweak or two.
2/9/2002 Installation Review:
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Ordered FastAccess w/Ethernet DSL modem 1/24. Order confirmed same day via email from BellSouth. Line provisioned 1/28 (technician even called me to let me know line changes were made). Self-install kit delivered 1/30. M first opportunity to install was on 2/7. I Installed my PC to the BellSouth Ethernet DSL modem (Alcatel SpeedTouch Home) through a Linksys router and configured the PC and router - but was unable to connect.
On 2/8, I connected the PC directly to the DSL modem (no router this time) using the BellSouth-supplied installation CD -- and was still unable to connect. At least now I could call BellSouth Support since this was a "supported" configuration. Very helpful tech rep from BellSouth quickly figured out a line problem on their end and was able to correct it within 10 to 12 minutes -- with me on the line during the process. Before I hung up the phone, I connected at 1200kbps/220kbps!
Only 2 weeks from order to high speed access -- it would have been only 1 week except for my delay in doing the installation!
So far, my experience with BellSouth has been: 1) Prompt/accurate order fulfillment; 2) Knowedgeable/helpful technical support - tech rep even offered his suggestions on home networking, and was very clear about what they do and don't support; and 3) Easy installation on supported configuration with the BellSouth-provided install CD; 4) Fast line speed; 5) Quick problem resolution. BellSouth gets a very solid "A"
I'll install my home network this weekend using the ethernet modem and Linksys 4-port router to provide high speed access to my 3 desktop PCs and a wireless access point to connect to 2 notebooks.
Note 1: Thanks mykel8, for your helpful writeup on networking BellSouth FastAccess with the Linksys router...and for your reply to my questions!
Note 2: I placed an order with SpeedFactory first, based upon good reviews. They never responded to my first online order but responded the same day to a second order I sent a week later. Sales rep indicated that if I was going to install a router for a home network, I would have to pay $99/mo for Business DSL rather than $49 for Home DSL. When I complained via email, they reconsidered, but too late -- I had already ordered FastAccess from BellSouth.
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