AT&T Internet service? (Memphis, Bell: promotional, movies, live)

[SomethingBlue42]

I'm moving to JAX in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone had the AT&T DSL. My friend who lives there says its really slow and not very good but it's substantially cheaper than any of the other providers I looked at (Comcast, Clearwire, etc).

All I want from my internet is to be able to watch a youtube video and have it not stop at start every three seconds. If I can get that than I'm good lol Any thoughts?

[DuvalLuvah]

I actually switched FROM comcast to AT&T. Comcast wants you to have their "packages" but I only needed the internet. I saved about $17 a month when I switched to AT&T. Come to think of it, the service was interrupted more with comcast than I have ever had with AT&T.

[JaxFlaGal]

My household actually has both Comcast and AT&T (work-at-home IT family member needed a redundant ISP in case one went down). In general, I've found Comcast is faster, but bursty - sometimes performance is great, but at peak times it slows down considerably. My use of streaming video, Skype, and Voice over IP systems have often been impacted by that burstiness, with a higher level of buffering and signal drop-offs than I'd expect from such a fast service.

Comcast in my area of Jax (North Jax / Oceanway) goes down a lot - not just the internet access, but the entire cable service - TV and data. Typically several times a week, though just for short periods. I don't consider Comcast phone service for that reason.

By comparison, I've only seen my AT&T DSL service go down once in almost 5 years. And that was because the AT&T equipment box for the community was broken into and some of their equipment was stolen! They got it replaced within a day, so turnaround for an unusual event was better than I anticipated. It's reliable and there when I need it. I have the fastest of their offerings. Internet games play fine, streaming video, Skype, all worked fine and performance remains more consistent than what I experience with Comcast.

That being said, Comcast IS much faster for data downloads. I can download big files MUCH more quickly with Comcast than with AT&T. Since I have both available to me, my general usage pattern is to use AT&T when I want assured stability and consistent performance (Internet games, Skype, etc). When I am downloading a lot of big files in a short time period, I use Comcast.

One other difference is in billing and customer service. Comcast messes up my billing at least a few times per year, and I have to waste time disputing overbilling and having them correct it. AT&T has never messed up my billing in the 6 years I've had DSL with them.

From my personal experience using both services on a daily basis, I'd choose AT&T if I had to choose between AT&T & Comcast. AT&T's high reliability and billing accuracy fit my needs better than Comcast's faster service that has lower availability and unreliable billing. Just my opinion based on my usage patterns.

[mawipafl]

We've had both Comcast and AT&T -- currently with AT&T because the Comcast bundle became far too expensive after the promotionals went away.

As for service, in our experience both are comparable. With Comcast we never had dropped service and it was always fast enough to watch video streams of all sorts. Same with AT&T. As for uploading/downloading large files, for example zip files of jpgs, I think Comcast was faster.

Regarding billing, both were pretty much straight forward. My only complaint is that AT&T's billing department needs work in all areas. We're billed at the end of the first week of the month; it takes more than a week for the bill to arrive (which in my opinion has nothing to do with the USPS but with the AT&T billing procedures); due date is at the beginning of the last week of the month with a grace period of a few days before the late charge kicks in -- however, the AT&T AR department has become overly agressive - one day after the due date (and that's before the stated grace period) they start with the "courtesy calls".

[joninclay]

I have AT&T. I switched to them from Comcast last year. Comcast was slightly faster, but I had at least one outage a month with them, and the outages lasted from hours to days. The final straw is when the customer service rep told me that the problem was my modem and not their service (I knew that was crap), yet I immediately called back and spoke to a different agent who confirmed that the problem was on their end and not mine. I had enough, so I switched.

I haven't had the first outage with AT&T in a whole year, so I'm happy. And yeah, AT&T is cheaper.

one day after the due date (and that's before the stated grace period) they start with the "courtesy calls"

Unfortunately, this is true. My due date is around the 14th, but I get paid on the 15th, so that's when I pay AT&T. It's set up on autopay through my bank, yet like clockwork, AT&T calls on the 15th every month. Impatient, aren't they?

Overall, I give Comcast a C (fast speeds, average customer service, unacceptable outages) and AT&T an A- (good customer service, reliable Internet service, decent prices, but impatient billing dept.).

[fsquid]

I've had AT&T in Memphis in Charlotte, but they don't have DSL out here in JCP. I've always been fine with DSL as a substitute for comcast, plus it is much cheaper.

[SomethingBlue42]

Okay thanks. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go with the at&t.

[Robyn55]

I have AT&T DSL (3 computers connected wirelessly through an AT&T supplied modem/wireless router). I switched to this DSL when it was the old Bellsouth DSL because Comcast (which wound up owning the old Mediaone cable provider I had) didn't support networking then - and DSL did. Comcast still doesn't support networking 100% in the sense that you're on your own with a router (although you may get a cheap or free one from Comcast when you sign up for service - and you'll need the router in addition to the cable modem - you only need one modem/router with AT&T).

Note that the service comes in different flavors/speeds. I have the highest - which I think is a little more than $40/month these days. I had some time on my hands this summer - and did a trial promo offer on Comcast - the flavor/speed that cost about the same as the DSL. Ran them side by side for a couple of months. They were basically about the same based on random samples on random days in terms of the Comcast service. Didn't see any reason to switch.

The AT&T DSL still comes with a dial-up option if the DSL goes down (although that has happened to me maybe once in the last 2-3 years). Of course - to use that - you'll need a computer that has a modem jack (my computer doesn't have that jack - but my computer dock does).

FWIW - I do a lot of business type stuff on my computer at home. And stuff like this - typing messages - where speed isn't important at all. I'm not trying to watch 3-D movies. So reliability is much more important to me than speed. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by JaxFlaGal

My household actually has both Comcast and AT&T (work-at-home IT family member needed a redundant ISP in case one went down). In general, I've found Comcast is faster, but bursty - sometimes performance is great, but at peak times it slows down considerably. My use of streaming video, Skype, and Voice over IP systems have often been impacted by that burstiness, with a higher level of buffering and signal drop-offs than I'd expect from such a fast service.

Comcast in my area of Jax (North Jax / Oceanway) goes down a lot - not just the internet access, but the entire cable service - TV and data. Typically several times a week, though just for short periods. I don't consider Comcast phone service for that reason.

By comparison, I've only seen my AT&T DSL service go down once in almost 5 years. And that was because the AT&T equipment box for the community was broken into and some of their equipment was stolen! They got it replaced within a day, so turnaround for an unusual event was better than I anticipated. It's reliable and there when I need it. I have the fastest of their offerings. Internet games play fine, streaming video, Skype, all worked fine and performance remains more consistent than what I experience with Comcast.

That being said, Comcast IS much faster for data downloads. I can download big files MUCH more quickly with Comcast than with AT&T. Since I have both available to me, my general usage pattern is to use AT&T when I want assured stability and consistent performance (Internet games, Skype, etc). When I am downloading a lot of big files in a short time period, I use Comcast.

One other difference is in billing and customer service. Comcast messes up my billing at least a few times per year, and I have to waste time disputing overbilling and having them correct it. AT&T has never messed up my billing in the 6 years I've had DSL with them.

From my personal experience using both services on a daily basis, I'd choose AT&T if I had to choose between AT&T & Comcast. AT&T's high reliability and billing accuracy fit my needs better than Comcast's faster service that has lower availability and unreliable billing. Just my opinion based on my usage patterns.

Using my computers for business-type stuff a lot - I appreciate the need for redundancy. But have you ever tried the AT&T dial-up option? Yes it is as slow as molasses - but it works ok when speed is not important. FWIW - after Hurricane Andrew - the only utility that worked was our telephones. So I think dial-up has a place - an "oldie but goodie" choice of last resort. Robyn

[vigo]

Is AT&T U-Verse available in the Jax/Ponte Vedra area yet?