Installation Diary *
Written: Oct 28 '00 (Updated Apr 16 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: very fast, always on, cheap if during a promotion
Cons: slow to install, adds 3 more cords to your computer area.
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended service when it's working, however due to the events which occurred on 11/30/01, service is no longer recommended.
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| lynus's Full Review: AT&T@home |
1 hour and 45 minutes ago, my AT&T@Home cable service was completely installed successfully. However the previous sentence doesn't mean that everything went completely smoothly. If you are planning on installing a cable modem, there are a couple of things I feel you should know before proceeding.
* AT&T@Home have ceased operations. AT&T runs it's own sole service now - and @Home is in bankruptcy court. Because of this - service is not recommended and this review is mute. But for historic sake - here's my original review.
BEFOREHAND:
For best results, try to have your service installed during one of their many promotions. This will usually save you around $99.00 for installation, plus depending on the promotion you might even get a couple of free months out of it too. Also in most cases, the installer will only be able to come and do the work during the weekdays (M-F) so it may be necessary to take a day off of work. One final thing, AT&T@Home doesn't allow their installers to drill any holes if you do not own the property, so if a cable jack is not in the room where your computer is, it may be necessary to lay the cable under the carpet, or up the walls.
DURING:
The installation process was rather simple for me. They installed the necessary software, set up the cable modem, and even put a Network Interface Card (NIC) into my computer for me. If you have a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection in your computer, it makes the installation even easier. If you don't have this connection, the installer will have to open up your computer in order to install an internal NIC card.
The next step unfortunately was the most painful. According to my installer, AT&T@Home designed their system to make it hard for individuals to simply go out to a store and purchase their own cable modem, hook it up, and access the service (thus avoid having to pay any money for it). To complete the last step, your new cable modem will have to "speak" to their new registration network which is based in Denver, Colorado. After it speaks to Colorado, your connection is transferred to a local network. Since all new accounts go through the Colorado office, the system is plagued with occasional downtime and usually your modem has to sit in line to be processed. My tech told me this would only take around 2 hours to complete. Truth me told, it took over 36 hours. This problem is especially bad when they run promotions since so many new accounts are opened each day.
AFTER:
For 36 hours, I watched the three little lights on my cable modem flash as if it was listening to some dance music. The next day, another tech came out, worked on it again, talked to the Colorado office, and finally the modem began to work. Now that everything is completed, the modem works exceptionally well. At certain times it transfers a file faster than my friend who is online using Pac Bell's DSL service.
Although I had to endure 36 hours of initial downtime for the modem to complete it's installation, it has been completely worth it. Since the promotion offered free installation, I just sat back and let it take it's time...I wasn't paying for it (yet).
One more note, after installing the cable modem if you start up your AOL service, it will download a feature called AOL Plus. AOL will install a couple pieces of software, which will require you to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
lynus
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Location: Las Vegas, NV
Reviews written: 584
Trusted by: 169 members
About Me:
Slowly trying to get back to the thick of things.
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