On Sun, 08 May 2005 13:06:41 GMT, Ken wrote:
Von Fourche wrote:
Finally my local phone company (SBC) if offering DSL in my area. At
least that's what their web site says when I punch in my phone number

Ok, they offer two packages - one is $19.95 and up to 1.5Mbps with free
activation and modem. The other is 29.99 and up to 3.0Mbps with free
activation and modem.

I am currently using Earthlink dial-up paying 21.95 a month. I have had
very very few problems with Earthlink dial-up and would recommend them to
anyone. But I desperately what to jump on the broad band bandwagon.

Ok, so how fast is 1.5 Mbps and how fast is 3.0Mbps? Are they worth the
19.95 and 29.99 respectively? How would they both do with watching live
video clips and live camera chat?

Also, what's the word on SBC Yahoo DSL? Do they have a decent
reputation? What kind of costumer support am I likely to get from them?

Thanks!


To all who have knowledge about the following:

Once you change to DSL, do you still need to pay for an ISP such as
Earthlink?

To me ISP (Internet Service Provider) is who connects you to the internet.
Some people seem to use the term ISP as to who you use for mail, news,
etc., but whether you use those from your ISP or elsewhere (like
Earthlink) does not matter. Dialup is included, so you do not really need
another dialup ISP, for nationwide travel (you can have 1 DSL and 1 dialup
connection simultaniously).

What is SBC Yahoo DSL? Does it take the place of Earthlink? Is there
a charge for it?

It includes everything you need, DSL, dialup, e-mail, news, web portal,
etc. You can use your own e-mail program (smtp/pop3) or web mail. You do
not need to keep Earthlink unless you need time to notify others of your
new e-mail address or like their newsgroups better. Note that if you have
any trouble sending Earthlink e-mail when connected through SBC Yahoo DSL,
you can either send through SBC's mail relay (which should work with SBC
auth credentials and Earthlink from address), or request that port 25 be
unblocked if you cannot reach Earthlink's outgoing relay.

From the comments of others about DSL always being on, and the need for
a "gateway router from Linksys or D-Link," how much would such a router
cost?

Sometimes there are special deals or rebates on broadband routers for
$20-40. If you only have 1 computer, the modem/router acts as a NAT
router by default, but it only gives out 1 private IP. So you don't need
a router unless you have more than 1 PC. If you want to, the modem can be
reconfigured to let your router do the PPPoE.

I guess my questions are just what does DSL replace if anything (except
dial up phone service), and what additional expenses would one incur?
Before I would pay more for Internet access, I would like to know
exactly what it would cost and how it would work. Thanks.

It provides everything you need 25-30 times faster than most dialup ISP's.
And with 1 year contract it is currently lower cost than most dialups.