bernardino @ Dec 4th 2008 5:11PM

Here's a little AT&T story for you. I had cable but wanted to try out AT&T DSL to see if I could save some money. I signed up for the DSL and I decided to sign up for a phone line, since DSL without a line is $10 more and the cheapest line is only $5. The phone line had a $40 activation fee, the DSL had none. They activated the phone line first, then a week later I had DSL. I had signed up in an AT&T store for the 6 Mbps line, but all I was seeing was 3 Mbps. It was fine for traditional browsing, but I noticed when watching Netflix Instant Watch, or any kind of streaming video, it would take a lot longer to load and skipped much more than my cable. Since I didn't get the speed I signed up for, I called back and told them I wanted to cancel my DSL, phone line and to get my $40 back. They offered to change me to the 3 Mpbs price, but refused to refund the $40. The CSR was even snarky enough to say "well sir, if you had called instead of going into a store, we could have confirmed what speed you could get." I had to explain to her how ridiculous it is that ordering in store is any different than ordering over the phone, they're the same AT&T right?

Eventually I had to go the manager route. I was promised a call-back, which I never got, but the second time I called back and asked for the manager, the CSR eventually offered to refund the $40 after I got my first bill. I got my first bill, called and had them take off the $40, along with billing me for the $30 plan instead of the $35 one (they never changed it) and am still playing phone tag to try to get the service prorated (I used the DSL three whole days before cancelling, but they're charging me for the full month).

What a nightmare. I am staying far, far away from AT&T's landline/DSL services. Good luck trying to get me to sign up for your U-Verse service (which they only sell in bundles, no stand-alone internet).

On the other hand, I haven't had any problems with AT&T wireless.