Choosing the Right DSL Service
Then it so happens last month while I was discussing my phone features with Southwestern Bell, that I was offered dsl service at an unbelievable price of $19.99 per month (plus a free modem). Although I was happy with the price, I told the rep. that I needed to hold off until I had the time to replace my ethernet in a few weeks. “No problem,” she said, and then assured me that an ethernet card would also be provided at no charge. Of course, I said said, ” Well sign me up then!”. She then quietly added at the end that all they ask is that we stay on board with SBC Yahoo for at least 12 months. I figured for that price it wouldn’t be a problem.
Sbc Yahoo
I received my dsl modem, installation disk, and other accessories to get started within a few days of my phone call. So I do give them compliments on fast delivery. On the phone, it was explained to me that the service would not be available on my phone line until 7 days later. So I waited before installing anything until around the time that my service would be ready. When I did get around to opening up my package, I noticed everything was included but the one key thing that I was promised = a new ethernet card ( I will get to that in a bit).
Set up was pretty easy. A walk through yellow installation disk is included. It will tell you where and how to plug up each cable that is provided. There are 3 cables included. The first one is a gray dsl cable which connects into the dsl modem on one end and into the phone filter on the other end. There are 5 phone filters provided. These filters need to be plugged into every outlet in your home that uses a telephone. This will prevent static on your dsl line. The phone filters are basically small little boxes with a phone cord on one end and two outlet plugs on the other end. The second outlet can be used to plug in your telephone cord to one end and the other into your “internal” modem on your computer (or external modem, but not your dsl modem). Next is the ethernet cord. This is a yellow cord that plugs into the back of your modem, and then into the back of your computer. The last cord is the power cord. This also plugs into the back of the dsl modem. The other end of course plugs into a power socket. Last is the dsl modem itself. I’ve been told that there are different kinds of dsl modems shipped out. The one that I received was a small black modem called SpeedStream 5100 . It has 5 flashing buttons in the front which consist of the power light, Ethernet light, DSL light, Internet light, and activity light. Like I said, the installation of the parts was pretty simple, but that seems to be about the only with this service that was.
Experiences with SBC Yahoo
After I noticed that I was not shipped an ethernet card as promised, I called the DSL service department of Southwestern Bell. I didn’t have a long wait time but I did notice the tone of the customer service reps had changed. I informed her that I did not receive the ethernet card as promised and I was greeted with a giggle and then told that some reps would say anything for an upsale. She then told me that ethernet cards really were not all expensive. I explained to her I knew that but I was wanting to get going on my new DSL service and that I was basically lied to. However, I let it slide and went and bought my own ethernet card. After installing the ethernet card, I flew through the setup until it got to the part where the disk was loading all the “bonus” features. It stalled several times and would not complete the installation. Frustrated, I called tech support and a suprisingly nice person walked me through set up without using the rest of the installation disk.
Once I was up and running, I must say I enjoyed Sbc Yahoo . Although it didn’t go as fast as the cable service I had used in the past, it did blow any kind of dial up away. This lasted for about two weeks before the problems set it. For some reason, the service began to get slower and slower. I have a firewall, antispy protection, and a virus protection that I use almost daily. I made sure that computer was thoroughly cleaned and safe, then tried to reboot. Once again, the service was going at a tortoise speed. It was even slower than dial up at this point. Then recently, the service just stopped altogether. My computer would freeze entirely, and to reboot I would have to push the power button to reboot instead of shutting down the proper way. This has happened on several occasions with Sbc Yahoo . My computer had never had this problem before. Now for some reason, the internet has decided not to come on at all. I’ve been on the phone for several hours the past few days with representatives that are only walking me through things that I have already tried myself. Once we had tried everything possible to get my internet going again, they informed me that it was not on their end but it was my computer. I knew this not to be true, but just in case I had a friend from next door bring over her brand new laptop to use on my line. After getting everything set up, her laptop as well would not pick up an internet signal from Sbc Yahoo .
Needless to say, I am not too pleased with this internet provider. We even tried to log on to their basic dial up, and could never get a connection. On top of that, the installation disks comes with many unnecessary add ons that will load right onto your computer if you aren’t careful enough to unclick them during installation. The dsl browser itself is nothing to brag about. It is bogged down with several useless buttons that do nothing but clog your memory and take up space. LaunchCast Radio is provided at no charge to SBC Yahoo customers but this freezes my pc up every time I use it, as well as all my friends that use the premium stations. The only good thing left about this service is the unlimited photo storage that it offers. However, I am sure that will be taken away from me once my cancellation finally goes into place. They also provide a partial firewall provided by Zone Alarm , which in my opinion is not worth it. It will attempt to block access, but in order to get the full features, you must upgrade and purchase the full edition. Also included is EZ Antivirus at no charge. While it works decently, there are much better antivirus softwares out there. The e-mail provided does give an ample 2GB of space, but watch out for many many spam e-mails to your main account from Yahoo themselves. While they promise to get rid of spam, I guess they don’t believe their own spam advertisements count.
Recommended?
After a 4th and final attempt to resolve issue I have called and decided to cancel my DSl service. I was told that I would have to pay a $200 cancellation fee for a service that will not work for me. There is no way I will let this happen since it on the end of SBC and their mediocre service that I cannot get and stay online. Because of this and all the factors invovled, I would not recommend this isp provider to anyone. I just wish I had came to Epinions first and read all informative and very true reviews on SBC Yahoo .
