Ordering
I ordered SBC DSL by calling my local phone company SBC to inquire about DSL service. I had to wait about 5 days for a UPS package to arrive and a total of 10 days for my DSL line to be activated.

Set-Up
Set-up wasn't too bad; the kit that arrived contained the Streamline DSL modem, two cables, an Ethernet card, 6 line filters and an install disk with instructions.

Hardware
My first step was to install the hardware. If you follow the instructions it is pretty easy. My only complaint is minor. They could have included the screw that holds the Ethernet card in place. I had to cannibalize one of the screws holding my tower cover in place to hold the card.

I also installed several line filters and found that it was really pretty easy. The filters I received actually make it possible to connect from whichever phone line I happen to have my computer next to. I don't know if this is pretty standard or not but it has turned out to be useful to me as I have connected via three of the 5 phone outlets in my house so far.

Software Install
The install software was automatic but the instructions given in hard copy and given by the install software were vague as to what options to select so it took a few iterations to get through it. In the end I needed to spend ~2 1/2 hours to get through the complete installation and IT FAILED!!. After two calls to the customer service people we narrowed it down to the computer not being 'see' the Ethernet card even though it appears part of the computer did while the connection software couldn't. After trying a few things we deleted a whole directory and made Win98SE generate a current list of all devices connected and that did the trick.
I would estimate MY total install time to be ~4 to 4 1/2 hours in two sessions. Not good as it should have been completed in ~1 hr if the software install had gone correctly.

Features
The DSL service comes with free web hosting, 10 email boxes and a variety of other bundled 'benefits'. Personally the web hosting and the added email accounts and storage space are nice but the other 'benefits' are questionable. I think it is disingenuous of SBC/Yahoo to claim these benefits since the instant messaging, calendar, photos, personal assistant, navigation bar, personalization and email organization, etc can be had basically for free by registering with the Yahoo website.

I can't say much for the various software protections that came bundled up with this package nor can I say I like the skin/customization they did in the browser. After a few days I did some software surgery to effectively remove some of the bundled software such that I would be using the installed browser rather than the SBC modified version. My computer is somewhat old being purchased in 1998 and I don't feel the need to add layers upon layers of software that eat up computation cycles. I wish SBC/Yahoo would just concentrate on selling DSL with email and web hosting.

In my mind the only reason to get DSL is for speed and in this respect the DSL delivers. My dial-up was getting between 38k and 44k speed. SBC/Yahoo has been delivering ~116k uplink and 326k downlink speeds which given software overhead and so on are wonderful. I'm on a T-1 line at work and really don't see much difference. Any sluggishness I see is primarily a result of my old computer. In the future when I upgrade I fully expect better results because of my hardware at home.

I find that I can easily up/download very large files (~10MB) quickly and that use of bandwidth intensive functions (Internet Radio @128k) does not seriously impede my browsing.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 29.99
Version Number or Year: April 2003 SBC/Yahoo DSL