I've had Business Class (1.5Mb/386Kbs, 5 static ip) SBC DSL since they introduced it. I had SBC ISDN before that. I moved house about a year ago, and was forced to change ips. All I ever wanted was a few static ips, so I've never used their email, etc.
My comments are inline below...
Brian Kelsay wrote:
Current pricing is $26.95/month (1.5Mbps down) for a one yr commitment with free hardware and self-install. The higher speed (3Mbps down) is avail. for $36.95/month and same free hardware and install.
$27/m is the price for 384Kbps-1.5Mbps/128Kbps (down/up) w/ 1 dynamic ip.
$37/m is same but gaurrauntees 1.5-3.0Mbps/384Kbps (down/up).
If you have this service and use Linux, did you have to hook up a Windows PC for the initial install and then move the NIC used for the install to your Linux box or Linux based firewall?
I've never had to use windows. They've never made a deal of it either. My service is the Express-S 384Kbps-1.5Mbps/128Kbps (d/u) w/ 5 static ips. I don't know how the dynamic ip service is configured, but I've never had to move a nic (nothing tied to the nic's mac address).
Do they use PPPoE?
I've never needed to configure it.
How is their customer service if you are competent with PCs and networks?
It is all about getting past the first 2 tiers. Ask to speak with a manager as soon as diplomatically possible. I have an ancient DSL terminal adapter... It pretty much assures that I get passed up quickly, because none of the lower tiers know how to deal with it.
The initial two tiers' support is about on par with Telektronics. It sucks. I wouldn't trust them to do even the simplist things. When I got DSL installed at the old house, they entered me in the system twice, double billed me, and when I told them which account wasn't active or in use, they cut off the live one.
In fact pretty much every time I've had to deal with customer support has been a nightmare. Murphy's law applies. Keep notes of everything they say they've done or will do. Keep names, note down times of phone calls, tracking numbers everything. You'll need it.
Do they try to give you the run-around and have you do stupid things in their support script books or do they listen to you when you tell them you have already tried all that?
Not so much. What they do do, is make you wait forever and drop calls. Getting past the initial two tiers is the key to solving any real problem. And you won't be calling them unless its a real problem anyway.
Have you had any problems with the service being down frequently like some users here that have RR have experienced?
The one good thing I can say about SBC is that I haven't had to call customer support much.
5 years ago, or whenever they intially offered DSL... they did have problems. I used to keep a log of downtime. Now a'day's it's pretty good.
have you had trouble with email being down?
never used it. I've always done my own.
If I get this DSL connection I intend to try to have my own mailserver, but the family will probably be on the ISP mailserver.
You're going to do that on a dynamic IP?
Do you (or anyone else for that matter) have experience with DynamicDNS and/or other providers of dynamic dns resolution services?
Any trouble running a home webserver, mailserver and using ssh into said servers?
no problems. no complaints.
Any blocked ports by default?
no problems. no complaints.
-- Garrett Goebel IS Development Specialist
ScriptPro Direct: 913.403.5261 5828 Reeds Road Main: 913.384.1008 Mission, KS 66202 Fax: 913.384.2180 www.scriptpro.com garrett@scriptpro.com
On Fri, January 7, 2005 9:34 am, Garrett Goebel said:
I've had Business Class (1.5Mb/386Kbs, 5 static ip) SBC DSL...
What's the pricing for that? What do they actually bill after all the fees and taxes are added?
What download speeds do you get?
I typically get ~350KB/s on downloads if I pick a decent server.
The SBC prices look very attractive if you can get the equivalent performance to RR's $45/mo.
Does anybody know if they actually force rotation of IP addresses on their "dynamic" accounts, or if they let them stay static like RR does?
Well, I've been using them since the fold of Telocity also. I have never put their install disk in a single computer. It is only needed if you depend on remote support (them being able to log in to your system).
You will need to register (which can be done from any browser session, even dial-up) and then plug your account name and password into whatever front-end you wish to use, using PPoE. I've never even run PPoE on Linux because I use a router. So, one dynamic DSL link, using my router to PPoE in, and then what I do behind the router is my business.
I had a web server going for a while, and used DynDNS to manage that, but have since moved it to 1and1 (on their free for 3 years kick-off). Never did do my own mail server, so no comment.
In a couple of rare events where I needed some tech support from SBC, I just used a Win box and connected directly to the DSL router (XP supports PPoE natively, several freewares for Win98), did the diags and put the router back. Not a big deal.
Two words of advice - look carefully at pricing options ( I'm getting it for $19.95 this year since I took the All Distance package - made sense this year) but more importantly, get familiar with the SBC forum on DSLREPORTS.com - several actual SBC and AIC techs monitor that board and offer GREAT help without having to deal with the 1-800 staff.
Bottom line, I'm very pleased, and that after working from home for 2 1/2 years full-time (VPN'ed into corp LAN).
Chris.
On Fri, 7 Jan 2005 19:13:52 -0600 (CST), Jonathan Hutchins hutchins@tarcanfel.org wrote:
On Fri, January 7, 2005 9:34 am, Garrett Goebel said:
I've had Business Class (1.5Mb/386Kbs, 5 static ip) SBC DSL...
What's the pricing for that? What do they actually bill after all the fees and taxes are added?
What download speeds do you get?
I typically get ~350KB/s on downloads if I pick a decent server.
The SBC prices look very attractive if you can get the equivalent performance to RR's $45/mo.
Does anybody know if they actually force rotation of IP addresses on their "dynamic" accounts, or if they let them stay static like RR does?
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