I just found out that DSL is finally available in my area thru Bellsouth. I'm seriously considering it. Their offer is a $50 connect fee, $75 for a modem and $45 per month.

Does anyone have any input? Is DSL reliable? Is the price fair? How about the modem? How much are they retail? Cable is not available to me at this time so DSL is the only high speed game in town.

As always, thanks!

DSL is awesome...Bellsouth SUCKS!!!!!

That said, I am currently using dial up access. Bellsouth installed DSL service last year. They offered free connection and all that stuff if I switched to their cable TV service also. Two months later, they billed me $200 for conection fee! After I called to get it fixed (Customer no service rep called me a liar and said they don't do free installation) I had it all removed from my house...PISS on Bellsouth.

I had it written on my service contract that the installation was $0.00 charge, they refused to apologize for calling me a liar and said the installer had no right to do that (subcontractor).   Never explained why the Bellsouth sales weasle offered it for free too.

Four months later I finally got my bill adjusted.

Bellsouth=crooks...no wonder they have a class action suit against them for their poor service.

If you do go with Bellsouth, my advise: GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING AND KEEP IT!!!

First I have to say that I don't know the
difference between, or relationship between,
BellSouth and SouthWestBell.
I have SWBell DSL and am extreemly happy with it.

There were som problems at first because I joined
in some program they called "Project Pronto",
which was their experiment to see how it worked
on the fringe of the distance limitation of DSL.

But for months now it has been problem free.
Very fast, up all the time, connected all the time.

Make sure and get a firewall.  I use the free
ZoneAlarm.  Hassle free after the first day or
so.  But I hear there are much better firewalls.

DanM

DSL is beter than cable, because the speed is constant. Not as good as wireless, and not nearly as good as T1. I'm not going to bring up ISDN. no, not ISDN. People who say ISDN is versital might as well say a drowning victim has moist skin (I've had BAD ISDN expireances)

[rail]

DSL had problems when it first rolled out due to things like bad equip, new service, had to figure things as they went wrong. I'd say that its pretty well ironed out although there is the occasional headache. It sounds like you might not have a bad deal available but there might be the occasional free install promo.  There was some talk about prices dropping awhile back.

Project Pronto is the SBC buildout not only for DSL but to provide "feeder" relief and move circuits off copper. Sounds like a test to see what real world standards ought to be set. I have heard copper length limits set from 14k feet to 17k and have heard of service working at 19k and beyond. I have seen my DSL hit 2mbs at 13k.

In short, you could do worse.

I have DSL at home with Southwestern Bell.  Overall DSL is reliable with good connection speeds.  

If Sprint Broadband is available in your area, you might want to check it out.  We have it at work and it is about 4-5 times faster than my DSL at home.  They were offering it here with free equipment, no contract, $ 49.99 per month.

Either way once you go hi-speed you won't be able to live with dial up ever again.  
[size=6]B[/size=6]

Look very carefully at the company providing the service.  Although more expensive and probably poorer customer service, the local phone company's DSL would be my suggestion.  DSL providers (resellers) have been dropping like flies in the past 3 months.  They priced themselves out of business.  If you don't mind the hassle of dealing with a company which folded, stopped your service and having to get a new service than get service from a reseller who might give better pricing and customer support.

Back on topic, the prices you quoted aren't too bad.

[url]http://www.dslreports.com/reviews/554[/url]

Thanks for all the info. BS is the only option I have so I thing I'm gonna give it a try! I'm gonna do some serious haggling with them!! High Speed here I come!!

FiveO,I have had DSL service from Bellsouth for several months and they have provided excellent service.I have one of the  USB modems that everyone warned me about,however it has been completely reliable.The only time I have used customer service was for an email problem that was quickly corrected,so my experience with Bellsouth fastaccess has been very positive.HTH