Lawrence "The Dreamer" Chen's Blog

Back when I first moved here, I wanted to get DSL.... they offered 3 tiers (that I knew of...) 1.5/384, 3.0/512, 6.0/768. Of course, I wanted the top one. But, they said for my area they could only offer me the lowest. But, it was better than dialup (and, I was using AT&T BusinessNet service, at the time). So, I pursued getting Cox HSI at first....because I wanted cable TV more than I wanted a landline. But, I was having trouble getting Cox at the time (though I have it now). So, I did order the DSL.

But, once I did get it...they locked me at 768/384 (for a week I did get 1.5/384, but then there was a storm and service became slow and unreliable...I called in for service and the phone tech. said nothing was wrong at their end, must be my side. During that trouble shooting they lowered locked me at 768k down. Moments before the field tech. showed up service started working again. He said something about replacing a line card or something just before coming over....I tried to get the 768k lock removed, but I couldn't convince anybody by email or phone that they had done this....and kept saying that I should get 1.5 and that it must be my line)....and efforts to upgrade weren't available. Even though DSLreports technician report tool said I could do ~2.0M down (and 690k for up).

More recently there had been upgrades in my area...and technician report had been reporting that I could get better downstream rates. Suggesting the next tier could be fully achieved. This mornings quick check say 3.1M.

So, once again I was browsing the AT&T site to see if I could order an upgrade in my speed. And, this time they showed offers of the 3.0/512 and 6.0/768 upgrade options. I wasn't that daring...I ordered the 3.0/512 tier.

Wonder how long the upgrade will take, and whether it'll mean that I can finally do VoIP over DSL (it works good now over Cox). But, the for consistency in speed and reliability...DSL has been the winner.

Follow up:

I could do VoIP now....but 768/384 was getting me poor results...and the service I currently have doesn't have the option to try less bandwidth intensive codecs. The ones that either default, or can be changed, to less bandwidth intensive, don't offer local numbers (I was originally trying to use my Lingo service on DSL, but switched to Broadvoice to get local number...plus I have the BYOD plan, where initially I was playing around with a WiFi handset... D-Link....)

Latency might be a factor, DSL is higher than cable....though the limited bandwidth might be part of the problem, friends/co-workers with higher DSL tiers locally report no problems with VoIP.

I wonder if AT&T CallVantage is available. I had looked at them, when I was looking for a VoIP provider with local numbers....but the lack of speed on DSL, and the higher up front and recurring costs, made it more risky to pursue. The WiFi VoIP handset made the consideration of getting Broadvoice completely different.

Plus there was also a period where I was having trouble with DSL and later if the speed wasn't going to improve, whether there would be a long term future between me and AT&T. Especially since AT&T Wireless is not available in my area either...and they keep getting the exclusive device rights for GSM. Meaning they are preventing me from owning the lastest GSM devices.

Of course, Verizon Wireless seems to grab onto the exclusive initial device rights for CDMA handsets...and they aren't in my area either. But, I have never been an AT&T Wireless customer....where as I had a horrible customer service experiences with Verizon Wireless, so I'm unlikely to ever go back to them....if they were in the area. I hear AllTel has good coverage in the area (but Sprint gets newer devices sooner, though their coverage is nearly non-existent in my condo....it jumps between no-service and 1 bar...most of the time its like 0 bars...fortunately my work phone has good coverage both at home and at work....US Cellular)

I'd like to get GSM when my contract comes up for renewal...though I can't get GSM in the office. Used to be able to, when Cellular One was in the area...but I heard AT&T acquired the assets, and guess they took away the tower that was reaching my office (AKA K-State campus). T-Mobile would cover the rest pretty good...just the call drop a few blocks from the Hale Library. But, perhaps that'll change when K-State goes live with its GSM contract. I heard it'll involve microcells or something to ensure full coverage on campus.

Anyhoo...here's hoping that I really do get 3.0/512 DSL service.