FastAccess DSL - Is It For You?
FastAccess DSL sounds pretty impressive, like it's some super special kind of brand new technology. Actually, it's merely the trademarked name for (formerly known as Bellsouth) AT&T's DSL service.
The residential version of this plan offers four tiers of service, starting at $24.95 per month for speeds of 256 kbps downstream (from the internet to your computer) and 128 kbps upstream (from your computer back up). These days, this is somewhat expensive for this slow of a speed. There are competitors offering speeds of 768/128 kbps for similar or even lower pricing (albeit with a contract normally required). The FastAccess service will give you a free modem after mail in rebate, which is pretty standard these days for DSL. This lowest tier does include a free back up dial-up account and five e-mail addresses, but it charges extra for home networking and a static IP address, which are included in some packages from competitors. One advantage this plan has over the majority of its DSL competitors is that the price does not require you to sign a contract - you're on a month-to-month basis, a definite plus. However, overall you can probably do better than this lowest priced tier if you're searching for an entry level DSL plan.
Conversely, the more expensive tiers do compare more favorably with the competition, including not only other DSL providers, but cable broadband too, depending on your location. It is true that in certain areas, better deals can be found. But the highest FastAccess tier, called Extreme 6.0, goes for $42.95 at the time of this writing, which for speeds of 6 mbps upstream and 512 kbps down, a free internet security suite, free home network, a static IP, eight e-mail accounts, is a pretty good deal.
There is a similar four-tier plan offered for small businesses. As far as the reliability of the FastAccess DSL service, it appears to be satisfactory. While some complaints can be found here and there around the web, that is true for every DSL/cable broadband provider in existence. There isn't a broadband internet access company out there that doesn't have at least a few disgruntled customers. However, there don't seem to be an excessive number of totally disgusted people. All in all, it appears that if you're looking for faster speed DSL, the higher priced tiers are worth your consideration. For slower, entry-level DSL service, you'd probably want to keep looking.
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