I'm considering DSL service from either ATT-Yahoo or Talk America. Has anyone experience or an opinion on these services?

I have been with Talkamerica since the first of the year with no real problems. I would recommend them.

Good luck.

I have been using SBC/ATT-Yahoo for 4 years and am very pleased. The speed is more than sufficient for my purposes and the cost appears to be considerably less than cable.

Could those of you that use DSL as your internet service.......run a speed test and post results and price of your service

Using internet via the cable TV has been always provided the fastest service.

But I keep reading about DSL offering speeds up to 6 Mbps but I don't know of anyone who has actually had those speeds at home.

Just so that we all use the same site to test against, please use this link and select "SEATTLE, WA "

http://speakeasy.net/speedtest/

I just did a test and here are the results
Download = 6067 kbps ..... Upload = 353 kbps ... $43 / month

The numbers you got are excellent. Earthlink ADSL at 11000 feet from Plymouth POP gets about 2.5 Mbps down and 355 Kbps up. The local loop is the upper bound, regardless of the speed test server location. (Earthlink currently does not offer 6Mbps service to residential customers.)

Wouldn't it be better to use a closer server like Chicago?

quote:

Originally posted by macjeff:
Could those of you that use DSL as your internet service.......run a speed test and post results and price of your service

Using internet via the cable TV has been always provided the fastest service.

But I keep reading about DSL offering speeds up to 6 Mbps but I don't know of anyone who has actually had those speeds at home.

Just so that we all use the same site to test against, please use this link and select "SEATTLE, WA "

http://speakeasy.net/speedtest/

I just did a test and here are the results
Download = 6067 kbps ..... Upload = 353 kbps ... $43 / month

Not always - depends on what's in-berween. i always get a better score (not by a lot though) when I go to Milwaukee instead of Chicago on speedtest.net.

Question from Terry...

Why Seattle......no real reason other than thats what I first selected years ago.

I just ran the speed test multiple times using the Chicago server......

The results were quite different that what I usually see......whats going on with the super high numbers

Download Upload
7108.......342
7310.......353
9387.......358
12614......356
11339......353
12943......350
13484......357

WOW!! I tried Chicago too and got these..

12350 . . . 350

Never got numbers that high before!

My results

I checked again this morning and the numbers are again high....
But why are the numbers so high. Terry's results are even higher for download and upload because you are paying extra for the top speed offered by Cable ( I assume ). But why the higher numbers with the server from Chicago when the Seattle server gave numbers closer to what Comcast states as the expected top speed ?

The only thing I can think of is that Comcast sent out a notice a while back that they had some technology (software on their end) that was going to effectively double your download speed. I just assumed that that is why the numbers are so high. Yes I do pay for the top service to get higher upload/download speeds.

Terry, you remembered correctly concerning Comcast offering new technology for speeding up downloads.

I searched through the old Comcast press releases and found this release on June 1, 2006

PowerBoost technology utilizes available capacity already built into Comcast's advanced fiber network to provide customers with extra bursts of download speed - up to 12Mbps and16Mbps, respectively, on Comcast's 6 and 8Meg services.

The PowerBoost speed enhancer makes it faster than ever to download software, games, music, photos, and videos. For example, with PowerBoost, Comcast's 6Meg customers can download three MP3 songs (approximately 10MB) in a quick 6.6 seconds – up to eight times faster than the 53 seconds required with a 1.5Mbps DSL connection. Downloading a 686MB game takes only 12 minutes on Comcast's 8Meg connection with PowerBoost – a time savings of up to 49 minutes compared to the 61 minutes it would take on 1.5Mbps DSL.

I just quit WOW! (cable) yesterday, and like their service very much. WOW! is expensive, and I only had trouble once, when WOW! upgraded speed two years ago. It affected linking for many customers, and some just dropped WOW! service rather than correct their problems.

I moved to AT&T (SBC) in September. Set up has been problematic, in part because of D-Link router problems. Set up is more difficult with Macs - it must be done manually. With a router, you must bridge the modem. There is no written explanation anywhere for all this. Yesterday, my WiFi connection simply dropped - I don't know why. I did notice that my D-Link router IP address had changed (of its own volition).

AT&T tech support is pretty good - it's located in Manila, the Phillipines. WOW! can come into your home and set up everything. I don't get the impression that AT&T can do that. I know that Ameritech really blew it BIG TIME with ADSL in the 1990's. High level managers were terminated as a result. I don't think they've completely recovered from those mistakes. Indeed, WOW! is a spin-off from Ameritech.

I'm paying for 3 Mbps service with AT&T. I'm typically getting 2.0 - 2.2 Mbps. The unpublished spec for "3 Mbps" service is 1.5 - 3.0 Mbps. My home is about 2 miles from the AT&T switching office (distance affects throughput). All numbers are from the AT&T website, Southfield, MI server. By comparison, with WOW!, I routinely getting 0.8 Mbps download from the Chicago server on "Bandwidth Speed Test." I was paying for 4 Mbps.

When I mentioned AT&T ADSL service to a CompUSA Mac salesman, he rolled his eyes and said, " Gooooood Luck!" Certainly many problems have also been associated with my D-Link DI-634M router. In a very general context (not a Mac context), another very capable CompUSA salesman told me Linksys routers generate fewer returns than other brands.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chuck M,

FWIW, I set up a friend with Earthlink DSL several years ago, and it has been great. Problems have been very rare, and their tech support people are much better than most. The fact that they started as a Mac-centric ISP probably has something to do with it.

I've had Earthlink ADSL for six years now. Only once have I had a problem due to Earthlink. Five failures were Ameritech/SBC/ATT cable faults.

We have had Earthlink since 1998, first dial-up, then for several years, DSL, and since March 06, DSL Home Network (wireless).

Overall, we have been quite satisfied with Earthlink service. Many of their tech support people are excellent, some, so,so.

We have had two sorts of problems with Earthlink. One was failures of Earthlink/SBC links. It took a long time for Earthlink to realize that the problems were with that link and not with our in-house reception. To their credit, Earthlink got a SBC tech person to come and check out our reception, which was fine.

The other problem area was our effort to get wireless using Earthlink-supplied Linksys router. It worked fine with ethernet connection to our MacBook Pros, but wireless would not work with security. When Earthlink techs failed, they referred me to Linksys techs. They started out by telling me they did not offer (much) support to Mac users. Neithe company enabled us to get wireless with Linksys router.

We finally solved this problem by removing the Linksys router from our system and buying an Airport Extreme Base station, probably in August, 06. Since then we have had great, problem free wireless reception all over our old three-story house with real plaster walls.

At two or more different times I complained to Earthlink about the lack of service for the above reasons. In August we got a credit of over $100. Earlier, we got a credit of $50 or more. None of this covered the time their SBC/Earthlink problems cost me, but it does indicate their desire to give good service and to acknowledge and repair failed service.

So overall our Earthlink service seems to be as good as or better than other options we hear about, although the last six months of problems I mentioned does leave me more interested in other people's experience with other providers.

David Snider

I've been using Earthlink DSL for four days and am getting 1249Kbps download and 302Kbps upload according to the test from Seattle. I installed the modem with no problem, had to call Earthlink Tech Support twice to get the system configured, but it's been working flawlessly since. I'm using the modem at the end of a 25-foot phone extension cord which may diminish my speed, according to Earthlink.

I should add that I'm paying $12.99/mo. for the first six months; about $25.00 thereafter. If you cancel the service within a year, after the 30-day trial period, you pay a cancellation fee of $149.00, which seems excessive. By contrast, TalkAmerica offers DSL at a reasonable rate with no cancellation fee, so they might be worth checking out.