Ordered DSL... not happy... debating if worth savings

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:41 pm

Well for anybody interested, I was looking for a way to trim some monthly expenses and was sort of annoyed that I was getting hammered by Cox Cable for $50/month for internet access now that the sweetheart signup deal expired a while back.

So I get the bright idea to try DSL, and order AT&T Yahoo DSL. First thing of course is I have to switch my phone service back to AT&T since I had moved it to Cox. Fine... I do that. Phone sounds a little scratchier now I'm told. I'll live with that... don't use the land line much.

Fortunately, I had been warned that I wouldn't be able to get great speeds, but I thought it might still be good enough, but decided to not cancel my cable internet access until I could see how the DSL went.

Okay... I installed it today after some hassles with install... hooked up the router... more hassles... but then got it up and running. Here are the results from the speed test here:

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

First here are the test results with cable modem:

Now, here's what DSL bought me after I hooked it all up:

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Color me unimpressed. I am supposedly going to say $27 per month going DSL, but I honestly think I'll eat out less often before I go through this. Supposedly DSL modems require 10 days to fully optimize their speed, so I *HOPE* this will improve, because if it does not, I may be back on the phone and getting Cox telephone again, since if the DSL is a bust, no sense having the scratchy phone line anymore.

npatton · Post by **npatton** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:57 pm

Yeah, it would be pretty hard to go backwards from cable to DSL. On the other hand, it's heaven for us coming from dial-up a year ago. I'm still jazzed about it. (I can't imagine doing software updates on my old dial-up...)

I'd be scared to jump to cable, if for no other reason I'd never want to go back. (Yet another addiction for us all...)

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:12 am

Yeah, James: cable is faster, but now broadband ISPs have differet "layers" of service. One of the reasons some companies are offering cheaper internet service is because they are moving some customer access onto slower servers and then charging more for the faster servers.

If you think cable is expensive, then consider T1 service for $2500/mo. (Yep-- that's a new mac tower every four weeks!)

I have DSL now with Earthlink. It's reading about 500kbs, which is about a third of what it claims it *can* do. They just dropped my rate by $20/mo, but I learned later that they also downgraded my service-- and I can tell the difference. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's not wholly terrible. I just wish they had been more up front with me about the caveats.

But I dread cable for reasons npatton stated. Also, I have HD cable service which often freezes and hiccups. I fear putting too many eggs in one basket. If the cable goes out (which it does from time to time) I don't want to risk losing internet with it.

The nice thing about DSL is that you can shop around in a way that you can't do with cable. As it is, I travel a lot and the sting of paying that monthly fee for home service and then the hotel fees while on the road can be devastating. Just yesterday, I was at a hotel that charged $1 per minute of internet access, plus $3 access fee. To pay higher rates for cable service and then hotel access gets out of control. Not all hotels offer free service, which is a bummer.

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:05 am

Amen, James. I was on DSL (at the second pricing level) and it was good but to get cable speeds I would have been paying what I do now for cable + internet. TimeWarner here in TX has been very stable.
Here's my results from Speakeasy:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 3203 kbps (400.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 352 kbps (44 KB/sec transfer rate)

Ouch! I don't think I could go back...

Stephen

Resonant Alien · Post by **Resonant Alien** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:13 am

Cable can be tricky. DSL is a dedicated point-to-point, so you (supposedly) have a dedicated amount of bandwidth for your connection, whereas cable is a shared bandwidth with whomever in your neighborhood is connected on your part of the drop. So, if you don't have many other folks sharing your cable drop, you can really smoke, and it is faster than DSL, but if you get into an area where there are a lot of other people sharing the bandwidth on cable, then it can get pretty slow and DSL might actually be faster.

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:14 am

James - I did the exact same thing. Became tired of the evil cable empire and dumped my cable connection for the SBC/AT&T Yahoo! DSL...and pocketed about $40/month in the process.

Unlike you I'm not seeing a huge difference. It's noticeable, but livable. The big factor with DSL is the distance from your home to the switching station. I'm less than a mile, so I'm getting maximum throughput.

Wait the 7-10 days to let the modem fully calibrate itself...and then see what you think.

The benefits to me are [1] that it is dedicated bandwidth, cable is shared bandwidth. [2] reliability...my cable modem would go down about once a month - I have yet to have my DSL connection go down in about 8 months. [3] I hate the cable company - does anyone else remember how they originally hooked everyone on paying for TV? That's right...no commercials! They justified the monthly charge because they were not pulling in ad revenue. So now they have ad revenue and are raising their rates left & right. Nice...

OK - I'll stop...now I'm just ranting

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:08 am

sdemott wrote:James - I did the exact same thing. Became tired of the evil cable empire and dumped my cable connection for the SBC/AT&T Yahoo! DSL...and pocketed about $40/month in the process.

Unlike you I'm not seeing a huge difference. It's noticeable, but livable. The big factor with DSL is the distance from your home to the switching station. I'm less than a mile, so I'm getting maximum throughput.

I think this is my issue. I'm too far from a switching station. When I signed up they tested my line and I they told me they could only offer the lower end service, but it still should have been much better. I'm sort of at the mercy of geography as far as DSL goes.

I put my router back on the cable modem yesterday... I just couldn' take it. I have left the DSL modelm powered on and plugged in to give it a fair chance and the full 10 day period for the speed to stabilize and perhaps improve and check it again, but I have a gut feeling this will be a bust. In addition, my voice phone (and YES I am using the filter) sounds worse since switching back.

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:14 am

unfortunately - there is a point of diminishing return with DSL that starts at just over the 1 mile mark from the nearest switching station.

You may be destined for cable...

markwayne · Post by **markwayne** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:14 am

I have DSL now with Earthlink. It's reading about 500kbs, which is about a third of what it claims it *can* do. They just dropped my rate by $20/mo, but I learned later that they also downgraded my service-- and I can tell the difference. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's not wholly terrible. I just wish they had been more up front with me about the caveats.

I'm also an Earthlink subscriber and I got so fed up with the junk hardware they kept sending. (3 DSL modems in as many years.) that I called up pretty upset about all the down time and asked to close my account. Two minutes later I'm talking to some guy who ends up giving me three months of free service, upgraded my connection and reduced my monthly payment to boot. I'm bumping up on 2mb downstream. Of course, I live intown in Atlanta, GA and the switching station is a pleasant walk from my house.

I was also unaware how easy it was for them to throttle a DSL connection. The guy literaly took off the choke while I was on the line and I watched the speed go through the roof.

Wayne

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:18 pm

markwayne wrote:
I have DSL now with Earthlink. It's reading about 500kbs, which is about a third of what it claims it *can* do. They just dropped my rate by $20/mo, but I learned later that they also downgraded my service-- and I can tell the difference. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's not wholly terrible. I just wish they had been more up front with me about the caveats.
I'm also an Earthlink subscriber and I got so fed up with the junk hardware they kept sending. (3 DSL modems in as many years.) that I called up pretty upset about all the down time and asked to close my account. Two minutes later I'm talking to some guy who ends up giving me three months of free service, upgraded my connection and reduced my monthly payment to boot. I'm bumping up on 2mb downstream. Of course, I live intown in Atlanta, GA and the switching station is a pleasant walk from my house.

I was also unaware how easy it was for them to throttle a DSL connection. The guy literaly took off the choke while I was on the line and I watched the speed go through the roof.

Wayne

Honestly, I'm not sure how far I am from a switching station, but I go through phases of being happy with Earthlink and being totally annoyed by them. The service has never really gone out for more than a few hours at a time and not very often, but last month the service was off for 12 days! I used a different server (from a hotel out of town) to check e-mail and discovered that Earthlink sent a message saying that since they hadn't heard from me they considered the problem solved. I was so furious! I'm still fighting to get credit for the days of no service.

Outside of cable, the only other option was for me to consider another DSL provider. Since AT&T has the phone lines all locked down, any other local phone service provider I'd get would have to use the AT&T wiring for DSL access, which means that the switching station issue is beyond my control. Sorting all this out is such a time consuming PITA that I won't be able to give it another thought for another month.

And those bogus modems? I second that. If the phone rings my connection goes dead until several power cycles are done and the DHCP is reset a few times.

And do any of their customer service reps speak English any more?

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:56 pm

Resonant Alien wrote:Cable can be tricky. DSL is a dedicated point-to-point, so you (supposedly) have a dedicated amount of bandwidth for your connection, whereas cable is a shared bandwidth with whomever in your neighborhood is connected on your part of the drop.

Actually, that depends on your cable provider. Charter Cable in Burbank-Glendale have some kind of service that is not dependent on how many on at any one time. My 3MB/756k service is always near peak when tested at Speakeasy.com, and there are a lot of cable broadband users in this somewhat dense area of town.

As for James' issue, the honeymoon period usually ends after a year. The trick is to call and THREATEN to either cancel or severely reduce your service. This is particularly true when cable companies bundle your TV service with your broadband. Most providers will give you another sweetheart deal for another year. Then you just call and do the same thing. This has worked forthe past 7 years with Charter. This really riled me yesterday when my Mom decided to get DSL )she just would not listen to me about cable). I was paying for her Earthlink dialup at $22/month. When I called to cancel, they offered me $10/month. What? Had I called to cancel 2 years ago I could have saved $240?![/b]

rentadrummer · Post by **rentadrummer** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:32 pm

Time Warner recently replaced Comcast in Dallas and I thought the speed was supposed to be reduced, but so far it's faster than before:
Download: 6538 kbps
Upload: 472 kbps

Yup, I'm spoiled, and couldn't switch to DSL just to save $25.00 a month.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:54 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:As for James' issue, the honeymoon period usually ends after a year. The trick is to call and THREATEN to either cancel or severely reduce your service. This is particularly true when cable companies bundle your TV service with your broadband. Most providers will give you another sweetheart deal for another year.

Believe me... I tried this. I'm not good a bluffing I guess because they didn't blink. Well... at least the threat of leaving wasn't good enough. I will try calling and request to cancel and see if I get any last minute offers to stay. And if they don't blink then... um.... "Oops... there's the doorbell, I'll have to call back and finish this later..." <click>

remainanon · Post by **remainanon** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:49 pm

Hands down the best home internet service I've ever used was dslextreme.com.

They re-package the same service the phone company provides, but the deals are better and they're in control of the down/up speed.

Last time I checked I was getting 3k down and about 1500 up, for 39.99.

That 1500 up is sweet when I'm delivering a project.

Good people too.

Highly recommend them.

JW

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:11 pm

remainanon wrote:Hands down the best home internet service I've ever used was dslextreme.com.

They re-package the same service the phone company provides, but the deals are better and they're in control of the down/up speed.

Last time I checked I was getting 3k down and about 1500 up, for 39.99.

That 1500 up is sweet when I'm delivering a project.

Good people too.

Highly recommend them.

JW

not a bad price, JW. Sounds like you live in their driveway with that kind of up-download speed.

dslextreme.com, eh?

hmmm.....