Is it just my elderly computer, or is sbcglobal incredibly slow and clumbsy? it takes about 30 seconds to send mail (from clicking on send until the send confirmation appears).

I live 2 miles from Sand Hill Road, but I couldn't get cable DSL, so when SBC offered DSL I took it. I foolishly upgraded to the Yahoo offering, which in my opinion is slow and cack-handed in the mail-handling features.

> DaveW: I genuinely curious: is that really all it is, or am
> I missing something here? Why anybody would buy DSL when
> they can get cable for about the same price is also beyond
> me.

Here in Toronto - and IIRC most of Canada - the phone companies DO resell the DSL. The cable companies have taken their time not doing the equivalent thing.

I object. So much so, that I wouldn't buy cable. And, becaue the DSL is resold, my dialup ISP could offer a reasonable DSL package - buy the modem outright for US$95, 1.2M/160k/5G/5G for US$25 per month. And the convenience of not changing email addresses.

And - cable isn't much better. US$55 install/ US$30 per month, 1.5M/192k (cable is likely to use similar caps).

And get this: SBC's latest ad arrived Tuesday, titled "Action required." Just like any bottom-feeding spam artist.

-Chris

The speed of cable is not just dependent on how many people they have on their system, but how much they upgrade their system as they add customers. A good cable company does this (Shaw cable up here in western Canada is very good about this -- they even made big investments in anticipation of @home going under, while a lot of others waited til the last minute). So cable here is terrific (and a good deal at about US$30/month) but your mileage may vary. Both cable and DSL actually provide their customers slower speeds than either is theoretically capable of.

the worst part is, if you make the switch, and subsequently leave SBC, you have to either abandon your yahoo screen name and email address, or revert to a subscription service to keep them.

The harassment by SBC is bordering on criminal. The last notice I got was so threatening that I nearly switched just to avoid them hassling me. Luckily, when attempting to link my current Yahoo ID with the new SBC one during the process, they kept on claiming that my Yahoo ID was invalid (yes, it was typed correctly). Funny that, since Yahoo I.M. was running quite contently at the same time. I gave up and sent them a nasty email.

DaveW,the choice between DSL & cable was actually very simple. Ask anyone living in a densely populated/subscribed area how their cable speed is between 6pm and 9pm every evening and you'll have your answer. I know cable people from Detroit to SF who grind their teeth every night during those hours. My DSL speed is consistent regardless of how many of my neighbors sign up. Yours isn't.

DSL vs. Cable? For me it was availability. I desperately wanted cable after having a super experience with Time Warner's Road Runner service in San Diego.

Alas, AT&T Broadband couldn't service my apartment. In Sunnyvale. In the middle of Silicon Valley. Go figure.

SBC has been advertising and spamming the hell out of their YahooDSL thing around here, the selling point being, apparently, that using their DSL doesn't prevent you from making MyYahoo your homepage.

I genuinely curious: is that really all it is, or am I missing something here? Why anybody would buy DSL when they can get cable for about the same price is also beyond me. Must be that Yahoo thing.

Wow. Thanks for the info, wondering. I didn't know all those Comcast ads were just the same AT&T Broadband. And to think that other night I suggested to my wife,"We should switch to Comcast, AT&T sucks." Whoops.

As for your question, unless you have a contract for X months of service I'd cancel my account out of spite.

I wonder if we need some sort of smart mob service dedicated to empowering consumers against shady business practices like this. Instead of "Write your local representative" we could organize "Write your local _customer_service_ representative":

Dear Comcast,

I'm dissappointed you tried to bully Mr Wondering into buying cable service from you.

<shudder>

Is it the government? Is it a corporation? I can't tell! How cyberpunk.

I had a moment of weakness and did the switch a few weeks ago. Now I can't help but wonder if the install process (which included the creation of a new DSL connection that had the firewall turned off) is what left me open to identity theft.

Ugh. I knew I would regret it!

dammit! I pondered the switch for over a month, and was admittedly confused and scared that I needed to switch. Now I have switched over (though with Mac OS X, I did not need to install their software). I would like to find the opt-out clause, which I believe is required with all such agreements. Anybody have a pointer?

how about if comcast (who bought att broadband) calls you and says they'll raise your broadband internet (formerly attbi) rates if you don't also get cable tv service from them?

is this legal?

Thanks, I assummed these emails I've been getting were ignore-able. Nice to know they are.

Funny how people have been trying to put a front end on the web for years now and no one seems to need them. Try something else folks!

I think the "switch or be terminated" charge is a bit overblown. I've not noticed that.

However, I find it particularly annoying to get all these notices about how "it's time to switch", then see in the small print at the bottom something like: "SBC/Yahoo software for Macintosh coming soon." Hello? You folks are my ISP. You don't know what OS I use...?

The constant stream of 'Join the Yahoo! added value stuff! You have nothing to lose except your personal data and the time spent processing more spam!' mailings (physical and e-) was beginning to annoy the hell out of me, too. A while back they actually had one that had a 'I don't want to hear about this Yahoo! shit ever again' link attatched to it; I was very happy to click on it.

The only piece of their software I ever installed was the PPPoE driver for my OS9 Mac; when I switched to X, I was glad to see it go.