Down for everyone or just me?
February 3, 2009 7:56 PM   Subscribe

Okay -- does AT&T's DSL service even HAVE a tech support website where I can download drivers or research whether there are service outages or other service advisories in my area?

I've had spotty DSL service for the past couple days -- I can connect, but the connection drops periodically throughout the day, or is sometimes slow. Before I actually try calling AT&T's customer service and waiting on hold forever and a day, I'd like to see if there's some known service problem in the New York/tristate area that they're working on that would explain it. But I cannot for the life of me find where on the AT&T web site where they would have information like that.

Also, I thought maybe updating the driver for the modem I had would help -- but I can't find where I'd do that, either.

Help?
posted by EmpressCallipygos to Computers & Internet (9 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: This is their hidden outages page and help is at this completely intuitive URL: http://dslhelp.att.net/iw/dsl/homePage.jsp?platform=none although dslhelp.att.net works too.
posted by jessamyn at 7:59 PM on February 3, 2009


Meanwhile, I wouldn't count on them letting you update the cable modem. ISPs don't let home users have the kind of access to them.
posted by jmd82 at 8:15 PM on February 3, 2009


Response by poster: jessamyn: BLESS YOU for the outages page, which has been bookmarked. The software help looked like it was for dialup only, though, alas...

and jmd82, I have DSL rather than cable.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:21 PM on February 3, 2009


No matter, I highly doubt AT&T even has access to modem firmwares, much less will provide them to customers. Updating firmware is not like upgrading drivers for a piece of hardware, if something goes wrong during the process the hardware is bricked and has to be replaced. It's fairly unlikely the cause of these problems lies in your modem not having the latest firmware.
posted by bizwank at 8:42 PM on February 3, 2009


I have AT&T DSL through what was formally Bell South. I can update drivers to my modem from this IP. There may be something similar for your New York version of AT&T.
posted by netbros at 8:43 PM on February 3, 2009


Sorry. formerly
posted by netbros at 8:47 PM on February 3, 2009


In my experience with DSL (not AT+T, not NY State) 95% of spotty DSL is caused by:

- your line from the telephone pole to the telco's local central office
- the DSL hardware at the other end of your line at the central office

DSL is such a hack upon hacks -- sorry, such an impressive way of wringing bandwidth out of dodgy, poorly maintained lines -- that the above two are the way to bet.
posted by zippy at 10:26 PM on February 3, 2009


Response by poster: Update: it may have been my software after all. I tried running the XP Diagnostic Tool that you get whenever you have a DNS error, and noticed the same diagnostic error was coming up again and again. I poked around for that particular error on a couple of computer fora, picked the fix that got recommended the most, and tried that -- that seemed to help.

So it may not have been AT&T after all, it may have been me.

Knowing the service outage page is very good info, though.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:29 AM on February 4, 2009


I've had some excellent results by posting on the dslreports.com forum for AT&T in my area (former SNET territory); there's a number of AT&T employees that post there and can often cut through all the red tape and ineptitude of the 1-800 support line. Check the forums listing over there for the other AT&T service areas; YMMV.
posted by reptile at 10:57 AM on February 4, 2009


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