Ameritech DSL: A last resort choice
Written: Jul 02 '02 (Updated Jul 02 '02)
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Pros: good reliability
Cons: slow speeds, expensive, bad support staff.
The Bottom Line: Ameritech still needs to get their act together when it comes to technical support. Stay away for now.
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| iamwiz82's Full Review: Ameritech SpeedPath ADSL |
Offerings
Ameritech offers the following DSL plans:
SpeedPath 768 - 768kbps/128kbps
Ameritech SpeedPath 768 Office – 768/128 with router
SpeedPath 768 OfficePlus – 768/128 with 5 static IPs
SpeedPath 1500 OfficePlus – 1500/256 with 5 static IPs.
SpeedPath 1500 with Dynamic IP – 1500/256 with dynamic IPs
First Impressions
I first got Ameritech DSL nearly one year ago when I first moved into my apartment. I signed up for the free self-installation kit and promptly got my package and received it in one week. I hurriedly emptied the contents of the box and setup my home network. I setup the DSL modem and waited… and waited… and waited. Fast forward about a week and multiple calls to Ameritech and my DSL connection finally came on.
The first thing I did was ditch Ameritech's HORRIBLE PPPoe software in favor of a new router. I hooked up both of my PCs to the router and have been happy ever since. The software supplied is buggy at best and unuseable at worst.
Speed
To put it bluntly, Ameritech’s speed absolutely sucks. There is no way around it. I am paying for 768kbps download and am lucky if I hit 400kbps. Unfortunately, I have no other options, as Ameritech is the only game in my town. Upload speed is not much better. Last night I averaged 6KBps while uploading 10 megs worth of pictures from a recent vacation. This is definitely not stellar performance.
Technical Support
If you end up having issues with your DSL line and need to call Ameritech, prepare yourself for a test of your nerves. Most of the technical support staff I have talked to have been very unhelpful and nearly all of them sound as if they have no clue what is going on. If your situation does get upgraded to a second tier technician, you can expect to have someone who is at least a little bit more knowledgeable than the initial techs.
Unless you are technically inclined, I suggest you keep away from Ameritech.
Reliability
Here is the lone sparkling point. I have had DSL go down only three times during this time and no outages lasted more than 3 hours. That is amazing to me. DSL gets used about 4 hours a day combined between two PCs so there have certainly been outages when I was not aware, but I am still very happy with the uptime.
Value
Prices with Ameritech are way too high for the service they offer. Before I moved, I was paying $39.99 a month for cable internet at speeds of 1500/128. Now I pay $49.95 a month for 768/128 service that really never reaches those speeds.
Thoughts
I have never been happy with Ameritech, but I am stuck between a rock and a hard place and so I suffer until cable becomes available in my area.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
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Epinions.com ID:
iamwiz82
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Location: Clarkston, Mi
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 0 members
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