Today I'm shopping for a DSL service.

My current ISP, AT&T offers DSL service and I am tempted to get their service so I don't lose my email addresses. It pays to research though. I was reading through this website called broadbandreports.com, and a user posted a message saying that if subscribe to AT&T DSL you have to switch to AT&T local phone service. I hate this! What freaks! I've never had a problem with my local phone service, and now I'm supposed to switch.

My other option, SBC Yahoo, isn't that great either. If you subscribe to SBC Yahoo DSL, and you have another long distance carrier, you have to switch.

What a royal pain!

AT&T DSL service, I found out, entered into a contract with Covad for DSL service. AOL Broadband has the same contract with Covad. I hate having to go through a third party.

These are my issues:

1) I don't want to switch email addresses again. I just switched in May 2002, and I hate having to swtich email addresses again.
2) My windows ce laptop won't work with SBC Yahoo DSL dial up, so when I travel, I won't be able to get internet access service. If I get around to getting a laptop, this problem is solved, but until then I'm stuck.
3) AT&T just rolled out their Covad contract in January 2003, and from what user groups are saying they are having a ton of problems.
4) From user forums, Covad has a bad reputation for being an unreliable DSL service. SBC Yahoo DSL, which most of my friends have, seems to work fine.
5) Covad as a company, seems on shakey grounds financially. They were almost bankrupt, until they swung these deals with AT&T and AOL. Companies in an iffy financial situation probably have reduced staff, which translates into bad customer service and network upgrades being put off.

Problems, problems, problems.

I really need to have a reliable DSL service, since I'm going to start working at home in May. I can't afford to have any down time. It's so strange that SBC Yahoo dial up service doesn't work with windows CE. I ran across another person commenting on this issue. Supposedly handheld devices are the way of the future, and since many handheld devices run off the windows ce platform, one would think that SBC Yahoo dial up would want a piece of that future pie. I guess not.

What I'll probably end up doing is geting SBC Yahoo DSL, and keeping my AT&T dial up service for when I travel. SBC Yahoo DSL is offering a good one-year deal, so over all I'll end up spending only about $80 more to have both services. In a year, I'll have to revist this issue.

I'm thinking a lot of stuff can happen in a year. Maybe I'll buy a regular laptop, so I won't have the windows ce problem. Or, maybe SBC Yahoo will realize that they need to have their dial up work with windows CE service. A year will have passed, and maybe I won't feel so bad about changing my email address again.

Either way, I can see myself giving my AT&T account, which is too bad. I never had a significant problem and it works fine for a dial up.

Switch to SBC long distance isn't a problem. It's only 5 cents per minute. Besides, I use my wireless phone for all my long distance calls. I get 450 minutes per month on my cell phone, which includes roaming and long distance, so I haven't had long distance charges on my phone bill since I bought my cell phone. Using the cell phone for long distance calls works out well for me, since I pay for my cell phone minutes every month whether I use them or not. I even use my cell phone to call out of my local calling area, which is anything out of the 415 area code.

What a royal pain in the wazo the phone and DSL issue is!