I have had SBC Yahoo DSL service for three years this month.
For the first 2+ years it was reliable, speeds better than my old dial up 56K but not Earth-shattering I never saw it...or felt it get to 1.5 mbps, and was often just at the low end of DSL speeds, and just above the upper end of Dial up.

I am on online student, so the fact that my phone line was always free and the service was faster than before was okay by me for about $27.00 per month.

FYI, I was initially sent the box of filters for my phone connections but something happened (it was 3 years ago, I don't really remember the details) and it was determined that I needed a splitter outside before the phone line came in in lieu of the filters. When the DSL techs came to take care of the outside work (which I didn't have to pay for) they cut off my phone service for a day and a half. Things did get taken care of and all was well for a couple of years.

I was never crazy about the SBC Yahoo start up page...way to much info for me on start up, so I never used it although there are nice features with parental controls which I made use of.

But alas, in January of this year my service kept bogging down horribly or wasn't available at all. I had my first of about eight technicians come out to fix the problem.

I have now sitting in front of me, pages and pages of times, dates, ticket numbers, names, vague explanations of possible problems, etc. etc. My service since January has been so sporadic, it will be fine for a few days (at least during the few hours that we're using it) and then it won't work properly for days. We've had four different modems, a new splitter on the outside of the house, all new cables inside, new bridge taps on the phone lines, nothing has fixed it. I am so used to seeing the red light on my modem flashing at me, I hardly even flinch anymore. My phones are fine, nothing in my computer hardware has changed. They can't figure it out and I've given up.

Yes, I've spoken to my share of off-shore techs in India, most whom were pleasant but the scripting is AWFUL! I also got tired of powering up my modem, trying this, that and the other thing. If I have to do this everytime I have a problem, then the service is below par.

My new classes started last week and I just spent a few harrowing hours trying to complete quizzes and submit assignments. I have resorted to using my husbands university provided dial-up modem (ancient and slow) to do my school work while I still pay my monthly fee for DSL.

I called SBC on Friday and spoke to about six people which is an average number per call. I spent about 1-1/2 hours on the phone and it was decided that I will be freed from my contract without penalty since they know that my service is and has been horrible. I tried to get a break on this month's fee since the service is so poor, they told me that they'd have to find out what the problem was before they could do that. I reminded them that they had already given me a free month last Spring due to the same issues and it was never resolved on their end...but I was "threatened" with another tech visit so I passed. My month is up on 9/27 and I've already started shopping around for something else.

Oh, by the way, several times during my search for cancellation without fee, which I eventually got, the service rep pitched their Cingulair cell phone service to me. One rep who had initially been very helpful started and I said, "I don't think that this is an appropriate time to be selling another service to me" but just as though she hadn't heard me, she tried another angle. I was flabbergasted and repeated that this wasn't a good time and that I was surprised that she continued. Another rep was using her scripting in about every other sentence, it was quite a record "I am so sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused you. I will be glad to help in any way that I can." It was unbelievable; I actually asked her to stop doing it since it was irritating. Most of my contacts were pleasant though, but there are just soooo many hoops to jump through
with these people.

I was looking at Milwaukee PC ( I live in the Milwaukee area) they have a yearly contract for DSL at 14.95 per month or monthly at $29.95 per month without contract. The tech there was honest enough, after hearing my story, to tell me that if the problem lie within the lines that SBC used, that the problem may still exist using their DSL via the same lines.

My other option is GULP..to sign up for Roadunner. It's a whopping $44.95 per month although they have an intro fee of
$29.95 per month with no installation charges. That may be the route I go, at least for two more years until I finish my degree. I hear that Roadrunner is faster than DSL and just the though of using a different connection source sounds a bit safer to me. I'll have to sleep on it.


9/30/05
I've now got Roadrunner up and running, and hey, I haven't had any downtime since installation over a week ago! WOW!

I also heard from a woman who live three blocks from me that she's had the same problem with her TDS DSL that I had with SBC Yahoo DSL. So that confirms my suspicions that there's something going on with the phone lines and DSL service in this area. I'm glad I went with a cable company this time.
I'm paying $34 a month for the first year, then it jumps to $44 per month, but it's worth it so far.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 26.95 month