I need to decide between the two for continuing business service. I need fast reliable internet service and have no need for TV at the office. DSL has been reliable, but the Wifi within the office sucks. It frequently drops the internet and requires a reboot of the modem.

Other options are not available, ie Cable etc. I am getting conflicting information from the sales department as to which is best. The wiring in the office for the phones is 1979 era copper wire, what the techs call doorbell wire. Sales is telling me that they will stop maintaining DSL, and I better hurry up and switch.

Cost is a factor, but reliability and speed is the topmost priority. What are your suggestions?

I can't speak directly to your office application, but I have AT&T U-Verse at home and it's fine. It does require some rewiring from outside to the modem, and to the TV box. Reliability has been good with only a few temporary outages.

If your wifi router is integrated in to your DSL modem, and you cannot replace that hardware, then I would make the switch to Uverse. I've been very satisfied with their home service.

If you can simply get a new wifi router, that may solve your issues.

WiFi issues are independent of Internet service.
I find ATT to be more reliable than Comcast but not as fast. Get the fastest that your area supports.
I also buy a Static IP pkg for my servers but it is not necessary for everyday use. A good idea if you need remote access to your network.
I would use the DSL and properly install an independent wifi AP (or more than one).
UVerse merely converges media ~ phone, TV and Internet.
For business it is best to have a standalone wired router and separate WiFi AP's.
Then configure the ATT device for IP pass though (similar to bridge mode) but you will have to buy a Static IP pkg to make it work.
WI-FI devices stuck back in some closet are less than optimal.
Of course there could be other issues too with wifi.

AT&T is Hellspawn. AvoidAvoidAvoid

The wifi issue is more than likely unrelated to the fact that you are currently DSL as opposed to Uverse. It's probably an issue with the dsl modem + router (assuming that's what you have), especially if multiple devices lose connection.

That being said, if you switch to Uverse you'll get a new router which will include wifi, so that problem should be solved, and you'll have a connection likely capable of much faster speeds. I'd have them test and tell you what speeds you should be able achieve with Uverse, then sign up for the fastest connection that fits your budget, and the test results.

Yes, as I understand, DSL is soon to be no longer offered/supported. If uVerse is your only option other than DSL, I'd do the uVerse.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I need to decide between the two for continuing business service. I need fast reliable internet service and have no need for TV at the office. DSL has been reliable, but ...

But I'll tell you right now: DSL will soon start following POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) to being history.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
the Wifi within the office sucks. It frequently drops the internet and requires a reboot of the modem.

This is confusing/vague. The WiFi network's being up/down should be independent of the DSL modem--unless they're one-in-the-same? Are they?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Other options are not available, ie Cable etc.

To clarify: You have no cable provider that services the address in question?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I am getting conflicting information from the sales department as to which is best.

No surprise there. The sales people trying to sell you service probably don't know what they're selling any better than you do what you're buying.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
The wiring in the office for the phones is 1979 era copper wire, what the techs call doorbell wire.

Jebus Cristos. No, it's not. Well, probably not. (Btw: I"m thinking they called it "bell wire?") 1970's era premises wiring would've been two pair (red/green, black/yellow) jacketed (probably grey) 22 ga. solid copper phone service premises wiring. Unless somebody really did wire the place with bell wire.

None of that is germane to the service your want. Well, probably. Depending.

Do you perhaps currently have ADSL service that rides along with your POTS service, and there's a splitter either right after the service enters your premises or a "DSL filter" on every phone?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Sales is telling me that they will stop maintaining DSL, and I better hurry up and switch.

I don't know about "soon" for DSL. I believe that, in my area, S.E. Michigan, they plan to start decommissioning POTS in 2020. As goes POTS, so goes ADSL.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Cost is a factor, but reliability and speed is the topmost priority. What are your suggestions?

You said "business service," right? How important to your business are phone and Internet service?

Y'know, I've run into this same kind of thing with small businesses before. Business owner knows just what they want as an end-result, but not what they need to get there, and the service providers are only out to make a sale. I swear: If I thought there was money in it I'd advertise my services as an independent provisioning consultant.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
AT&T is Hellspawn. AvoidAvoidAvoid

This ^^^^^

I just retired after 25 years (plus) in IT. I've been doing computers, networking, software design and coding, hardware design, all kinds of radio, and TelCom since the early 70's. Out of all the companies with which I did business over the years, both privately and professionally, the thing that calls itself "at&t" these days (it's really SBC re-branded) is, without question, far-and-away the absolute worst company with which I've ever dealt. Bar none.

quote:

Originally posted by italia:
Yes, as I understand, DSL is soon to be no longer offered/supported. If uVerse is your only option other than DSL, I'd do the uVerse.

From the ATT support site:
https://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T...-vs-DSL/td-p/5065628

{snip}

Re: UVerse vs DSL

U-verse was a brand for services outside of traditional telephony, i.e. Tarriffed, services such as POTS and DSL. It initially was for VDSL2 served IPTV and High Speed Internet (HSI), then grew to some limited FTTP (Fiber to the Premise aka FTTH or Fiber to the Home), and added U-verse Voice (VOIP) service, and later was expanded to include ADSL2+ service over copper from the CO and FTTN for VOIP and HSI. No more than 10% of U-verse customers have ever been FTTP, most are FTTN.

The U-verse brand is being phased out now, so DSL is something that AT&T no longer wants to sell while U-verse is something that AT&T still sells but no longer wants to call it by its name.

I hope that helped.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by italia:
Yes, as I understand, DSL is soon to be no longer offered/supported. If uVerse is your only option other than DSL, I'd do the uVerse.

From the ATT support site:
https://forums.att.com/t5/AT-T...-vs-DSL/td-p/5065628

{snip}

Re: UVerse vs DSL

U-verse was a brand for services outside of traditional telephony, i.e. Tarriffed, services such as POTS and DSL. It initially was for VDSL2 served IPTV and High Speed Internet (HSI), then grew to some limited FTTP (Fiber to the Premise aka FTTH or Fiber to the Home), and added U-verse Voice (VOIP) service, and later was expanded to include ADSL2+ service over copper from the CO and FTTN for VOIP and HSI. No more than 10% of U-verse customers have ever been FTTP, most are FTTN.

The U-verse brand is being phased out now, so DSL is something that AT&T no longer wants to sell while U-verse is something that AT&T still sells but no longer wants to call it by its name.

I hope that helped.

LOL. Totally clear now!

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
You said "business service," right? How important to your business are phone and Internet service?

This is a really important question. I suspect AT&T offers "business" Uverse which is vastly different in price, and supposedly reliability, targeted to small businesses with a limited budget, They also offer connections such as business fiber which are much more expensive but come with a SLA (Service Level Agreement). Business fiber, I believe, typically offers upload speeds equal to download speeds, whereas homeowner and perhaps small business connections have high up, and low down speeds. For example, at home I have Uverse and it's about 23/MB down and 2/MB up, but at work we have AT&T business fiber which is 48/48, with a SLA, and costs hundreds per month.

quote:

You said "business service," right? How important to your business are phone and Internet service?

Y'know, I've run into this same kind of thing with small businesses before. Business owner knows just what they want as an end-result, but not what they need to get there, and the service providers are only out to make a sale. I swear: If I thought there was money in it I'd advertise my services as an independent provisioning consultant.

Well that is what I am looking for, a paid consultant that would take care of the internet service, and all the computer stuff. Do you know how to find someone who does that sort of thing?

I just want it to work and do not care about the details. I prepare all the figures for my CPA and he does the taxes. He deals with the IRS when they have questions and issues. It is not cheap but it saves me the trouble. Thanks for your time.

quote:

This is confusing/vague. The WiFi network's being up/down should be independent of the DSL modem--unless they're one-in-the-same? Are they?

Sorry. The desktop has an ethernet connection I believe and is directly plugged into the router/modem. The other laptop computers are connected via wifi and those connections frequently are dropped. Did that help?

Do you perhaps currently have ADSL service that rides along with your POTS service, and there's a splitter either right after the service enters your premises or a "DSL filter" on every phone?


Yes DSL filter on every phone line. Guess I have ADSL with POTS service.

Understand DSL/Uverse/Cable are all the connection to the outside world/internet. What goes on IN your office you can control. Think of your communications as WAN (the internet side of the modem) and LAN (inside your office).

Having said that, you didn't say how many devices you have in the office and what percentage of them are actually connecting to something out of the office (i.e. the internet) nor what percentage of the time they might be connected to the internet. All that's important.

The amount of bandwidth required in your WAN connection depends on the amount of traffic your office is generating to the internet.

The topology, number of devices connecting to each other (your LAN side) is different subject from deciding on DSL or Uverse.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Well that is what I am looking for, a paid consultant that would take care of the internet service, and all the computer stuff. Do you know how to find someone who does that sort of thing?

I just want it to work and do not care about the details. I prepare all the figures for my CPA and he does the taxes. He deals with the IRS when they have questions and issues. It is not cheap but it saves me the trouble. Thanks for your time.

Sounds like you need to do some research on local options. Maybe talk to some other owners of operations your size or larger and see who they use. IMO you really need somebody local, as opposed to a company that claims they can solve all of your problems from off site.

quote:

Understand DSL/Uverse/Cable are all the connection to the outside world/internet. What goes on IN your office you can control. Think of your communications as WAN (the internet side of the modem) and LAN (inside your office).

Having said that, you didn't say how many devices you have in the office and what percentage of them are actually connecting to something out of the office (i.e. the internet) nor what percentage of the time they might be connected to the internet. All that's important.

The amount of bandwidth required in your WAN connection depends on the amount of traffic your office is generating to the internet.

The topology, number of devices connecting to each other (your LAN side) is different subject from deciding on DSL or Uverse.

OK I am now understanding. That makes sense now, and brings up another issue. I would like a faster speed than what I currently have. The desktop connected directly to the internet is fine, but I would like a higher speed. Would U verse provide a faster speed as well?

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

I just retired after 25 years (plus) in IT.

I didn't know you retired ~ congratulations, man.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Well that is what I am looking for, a paid consultant that would take care of the internet service, and all the computer stuff. Do you know how to find someone who does that sort of thing?

Not a clue. Being "the guy," I've never had to find "a guy."

And that can be problematical, too. (Surprise!) I've visited two small businesses within the last couple years who'd had "IT consultants" do such things for them... badly.

Wish I had a better answer for you. Or we were closer.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Sorry. The desktop has an ethernet connection I believe and is directly plugged into the router/modem. The other laptop computers are connected via wifi and those connections frequently are dropped. Did that help?

I think. The WiFi is also part of the router/modem, is it?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Do you perhaps currently have ADSL service that rides along with your POTS service, and there's a splitter either right after the service enters your premises or a "DSL filter" on every phone?

Yes DSL filter on every phone line. Guess I have ADSL with POTS service.

Sounds that way.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
... and brings up another issue. I would like a faster speed than what I currently have. The desktop connected directly to the internet is fine, but I would like a higher speed. Would U verse provide a faster speed as well?

Probably. Maybe. Depends. (Looks...) "ADSL over POTS" appears to top out at 12mbit/sec. (N.B.: I've never heard of anybody in the U.S. getting that kind of ADSL speed.)

U-verse tops out at 25mbits/sec. if it's FTTN (Fiber To The Node), where it's fiber up to a pedestal and uses plain old copper from the node to the customer premises. (Looks some more...) Looks like U-verse FTTH (Fiber To The Home) should theoretically be able to supply gigabit speeds, but maybe only 300mbit/sec. Depends on what they've deployed. (No more than they have to, if I know "at&t".)

Why don't you email me the business' street address? My email address is in my profile. I'll see what I can do for you from here. (Probably not much.)

*sigh* Once-upon-a-time you could have the phone company come in , give you an honest evaluation and sell you what you really needed. Now that things are more complicated than ever, the service providers are all worse than used car salesmen

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

I just retired after 25 years (plus) in IT.

I didn't know you retired ~ congratulations, man.

Thank you, sir Yup: Five weeks ago today.

Thanks so much. Sent you an email.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
OK I am now understanding. That makes sense now, and brings up another issue. I would like a faster speed than what I currently have. The desktop connected directly to the internet is fine, but I would like a higher speed. Would U verse provide a faster speed as well?

Uverse may be faster, but something else you need to understand is how your WAN works. One device, a PC for example, is going to be faster than 5 PCs on the same connection. One PC may be acceptably fast by itself, but multiple PCs trying to use that connection at the same time will start to slow things down. Consider 5 cars on a 4 lane road all trying to merge to a one lane straight away. One can pull it off just fine, but add everyone else trying to occupy the same slot and issues will arise. You need to understand your needs first. If you have 10, 20 or more devices that all need access to the WAN and particularly if they're trying to do so at the same time, you will need higher speeds than Uverse is likely to offer.