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SBC Yahoo DSL Service
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Posted by: ayrton911

Hi.

I'm considering the switch to SBC/Yahoo DSL from cable internet. Why? I pay $55 per month now and SBC/Yahoo deal would only cost me $26 or $36 and there is a $100 rebate back from Dell.

Few questions:

1) If you have this service, do you like it? Should I have no problem hooking it up to my wireless network as I have now? Do I have to install the Yahoo DSL software? I'd prefer not to, I don't like installing ISP software.

2)Right now I almost always have 3000k down. The Yahoo packages are 360 or something up to 1.5k and another one that is 760k to 1.5k. Where will it be most of the time on those? Should I pay the extra $10 so that the lowest it can be is 700k + instead of 300 something?

3) It is for 12 months, what does it cost after $12 months? Anyone know?

Thanks for the help.

Posted by: Frylock

Try a search. This same topic was recently discussed.

Posted by: smark

And also take into the contract situation as well since if it's stable then it's no brainer but if unstable you are locked in unless you pay termination fees.

Posted by: mt1

I consistently get 1298 down and 139 up. I pay 29/mo and am happy with the service. It is PPP/OE. I did not install the SBC software.

I have a linksys router and share my connection between my PC, Mac, and wireless laptop.

As was mentioned, search this forum - or better yet check out DSLReports.com for the good, bad, and ugly about SBC and other broadband providers.

Posted by: jfelbab

http://www.sbc.com/

In my area you get 384Kbps-1.5Mbps down and 128 Kbps up for $26.95/m with a 1 year term. The speed is largely dependent on the distance and conditions of the phone cables.

This is their basic plus package.

Time Warner is offering their cable modem service for $29.95/m for 6 months and the prevailing rate after that. Currently that is $44/m. TW is a month-to-month plan with no long term commitment. TW is several times faster than SBC's DSL service in my area.

Posted by: MikeekiM

I am extremely happy with my service...

I have more outages than when I had cable, but that's not saying too much... I had 1 outage on Cable in 1 year... and on SBC, I had 3... Not a big deal at all... And with those low numbers, I am sure it could have gone either way...

I never have a problem contacting them for tech support...

The partnership with Yahoo gives access to lots of extra services... Premium versions of their email, photo, briefcase, launch, premier video...

I typically get about 1.2-1.3Mbit on the down, and 128 on the up... With cable, I got slightly higher downloads...maybe 1.3-1.4 on a consistent basis...but this is really a negligible difference....

Very satisfied customer so far...

Posted by: cello

Happy with my service. My only complaint was navigating their customer service menus and having their people send me to the wrong department when I was having trouble getting things hooked up (due to one of their servers being down for a few hours, which I didn't know about). But when I did get to the right customer service people, they were extremely friendly, helpful and patient.

I don't think I've had any outages in the 4 or 5 months that I've had service. I've been pleasantly surprised, since I chose them purely for financial reasons. They're the cheapest DSL available in my area.

Posted by: jfelbab

I have both in my home and I typically get 1.2Mbps dl with SBC and over 3Mbps with TW. Still, I'd say that the speed difference between the two is not all that noticable unless you are streaming video.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that SBC has a server-based spam filter called SpamShield and it works very well.

Posted by: ayrton911

quote:
Originally posted by jfelbab
I have both in my home and I typically get 1.2Mbps dl with SBC and over 3Mbps with TW. Still, I'd say that the speed difference between the two is not all that noticable unless you are streaming video.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that SBC has a server-based spam filter called SpamShield and it works very well.

So you can notice it when watching streaming video? 300k streams though, i mean, shouldn't be a problem?

Posted by: rasheed

I am also in the same boat, and Comcast says go ahead and leave as they believe the speed difference will keep customers from leaving.

Do remember that you must also maintain a landline service from SBC for the entire duration of the service.

Rasheed

Posted by: jfelbab

quote:
Originally posted by ayrton911
So you can notice it when watching streaming video? 300k streams though, i mean, shouldn't be a problem?

Specifically, I notice the time lag from when I start the stream until the buffer fills enough to begin playing. I also occasionally watch simulcast events and there the higher speed results in much better quality image (less pixelation and dropouts.) I also notice the speed difference when doing very large downloads, like system upgrades.

Posted by: MikeekiM

quote:
Originally posted by rasheed
I am also in the same boat, and Comcast says go ahead and leave as they believe the speed difference will keep customers from leaving.

Do remember that you must also maintain a landline service from SBC for the entire duration of the service.

Rasheed

Cable companies always try and compare their service speeds to 384K DSL... If you look at all the commercials, this is always the comparison...

If you are a long distance from the central station, then the minimum speed they guarantee is 384K...in fact, if you live so far away, that they can only delivery 256K, they won't offer you the service...

My DSL speeds have always been over 1mbit...so claiming that cable speeds will "bring me back" is just not true...

Posted by: ayrton911

My biggest question is:

They always say it is a 12 month contract, ok, no problem. However, what is the price after 12 months? Does it stay the same or go up?

Thanks.

Posted by: SWFan

quote:
Originally posted by rasheed
I am also in the same boat, and Comcast says go ahead and leave as they believe the speed difference will keep customers from leaving.

Of course it depends on where you live and the service. I opted for DSL because one of my neighbors couldn't get reliable connections with RR. Cable can't guarantee their speeds and depending on who's in your neighborhood and what they're doing you could consistently see less than the 3Mbps speed they advertise. With DSL, pretty much the max speed your capable of is available 24/7.

As with some of the others here, I get around 1.2Mbps download. I went with the $39.99 plan that gets me the same download speed, but an upload speed of 256Kbps.

Posted by: MikeekiM

My guess is it adjusts to the current subscription rate at the time... And it is hard to say whether that would be an increase or a decrease...

A year is a long time in the broadband world... Who knows what the rates will be in a year? Take the one year at the promotion rate, and then reassess the future after the year is up...

Don't get dependent on the email address if you don't feel comfortable staying though... I bought a domain for my family and have redirected the email to my isp email account... If I move ISPs, then I just adjust the forwarding pointer... very easy...

Posted by: QueenBee

I had it for $29.99 for a year. Then it was supposed to go up to $49.99. But when the year was up they offered me a "special" deal to have it for $29.99 for another year. Hopefully this will continue.

Posted by: jfelbab

quote:
Originally posted by ayrton911
My biggest question is:

They always say it is a 12 month contract, ok, no problem. However, what is the price after 12 months? Does it stay the same or go up?

Thanks.

The SBC DSL commitment is for 12 months at $26.95/month. At the end of that period you can continue with their service at the then current rate which we don't know (currently that month-to-month rate is $39.95 - $49.95), or you can cancel and switch providers.

This is similar to the TW offer of 6months @ $29.95 and $44.95 thereafter.

Based on the competitive nature of this service, I suspect the rate pressure will continue to drive the rates lower. You should have a good chance of bargaining with the providers for a low rate at the end of the introductory term.

Posted by: rasheed

Regarding cable service. I get the full-speed service here which is still 1800/300. It will be changing to 3000/256 in February as part of Comcast's national upgrade program. Regarding DSL service. I am sure that my area is covered by a local remote terminal for the DSL option, and it will be close to 1300/128. This will be changing to 1300/256 service when SBCIS gets around to upgrading the remote terminal as part of its national upgrade program.

And remember the 26.95 rate is if you sign-up online or via a partner (that uses an online signup service). If you call on the phone and ask for the 26.95 rate, you have to take an optional SBC service. I see a lot of people complaining about this, but it is very clear how the program is setup. If you save SBC some money (or make them some extra money), then they will give a lower rate.

Renewals for people just coming off the 29.95 or 34.95 rates as indicated here have been as low as 26.95 if they renew online for one more year.

Rasheed

Posted by: kevostl

quote:
Originally posted by ayrton911
My biggest question is:

They always say it is a 12 month contract, ok, no problem. However, what is the price after 12 months? Does it stay the same or go up?

Thanks.

It really all depends. When I signed up a year ago I was getting the basic package for $29.xx month. A month ago I received an email from SBC/DSL saying that I could get SBC/DSL for $26.xx a month. So for me it went down.

Posted by: itsmeitsmeitsme

Thanks so much for this post.....after reading I thought man I am getting ripped here. I have had SBC dsl for 2 1/2 years and was paying 49.95.....after reading this I thought its time for a phone call. I called SBC and told them I was looking at possibly changing to Roadrunner. They gave me a the 26.95 deal for the next year and uncapped my speed from 750 to a range of 384 to 1.5......I also saved money with DTV $20 off premier package for 6 months due to a thread I read here earlier. Just goes to show I guess with the increased competition it never hurts to call and ask your current provider if there is anything they can do to keep you as a satisfied customer.

Posted by: jfelbab

This forum is the best.

FWIW, it also pays to occasionally check your long distance rates. There are always some deals to be had there as well and none of the providers tell you when they have a less expensive plan.

Posted by: ayrton911

quote:
Originally posted by jfelbab
This forum is the best.

FWIW, it also pays to occasionally check your long distance rates. There are always some deals to be had there as well and none of the providers tell you when they have a less expensive plan.

Yep. With the new year coming, I've been trying to find where I can cut some costs. It is amazing. If I switch to SBC/yahoo I can save $30 per month there, I can cut about $20 off my TV subsriptions, etc. So there is $50. Back in the summer I adjusted the plans on my two phone lines, saving about $25 per month after that. Plus I cut out my AOL $5 plan back in the spring when I got high speed net and I cut out cable TV since I have DirecTV, cable was another $35.

So in this past six months I've made changes that can save $110 per month. That is $1320 per year, 50 years and that is $66,000!

I am a bit nervous about switching to DSL from cable. Does SBC/Yhaoo have a 30 day time period? That would be nice.

Posted by: ayrton911

quote:
Originally posted by mt1
I consistently get 1298 down and 139 up. I pay 29/mo and am happy with the service. It is PPP/OE. I did not install the SBC software.

What is PPP/OE? Thanks for the help.

Posted by: AJRitz

PPPoE is Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet. It's a silly system (IMHO) that basically makes your computer pretend that you have a dialup connection so that you can be authenticated on the server without a static IP address. We had LOTS of problems with SBC/Yahoo's PPPoE at my wife's office - connections dropping and requiring us to "reconnect" to a supposedly always-on service. That's one of the primary reasons that we dumped SBC/Yahoo for Speakeasy last week (which led to a host of other issues, though those also seem to be primarily at the feet of SBC).

Posted by: MikeekiM

I use routerPPPoE... No software needs to be loaded on any of my clients... the router just logs in...

Posted by: scooterdog

Any thoughts on Yahoo DSL newsgroup availability?

I've had Adelphia cable now for six weeks and while the speeds are fine the retention of their newsgroups is terrible. I'm taking advantage of their promotional offer at $29 for four months but then it goes up to >$50. I'm thinking too of the Yahoo DSL deal, it sounds very tempting.

scooterdog

Posted by: vman41

I was just over at my sister's house looking at her new SBC DSL connection. The connection manager is really clunky. The connection manager didn't seem all that fast to me so I tested it and got a lousy 0.16
Mbps. All she knows is the price is $30/month and can't tell me anything about the service level she is supposed to get (I think I got her upset showing her how slow this thing was so I didn't press her to dig out all the paper work to figure it out).

I've been a Roadrunner customer for 70 months and have been pretty happy with the service except for some flakyness the first year. I haven't tested it since their speed upgrade, but usually got in 1.5 - 1.9 Mbps range.