This came up recently on our neighborhood mailing list. The poster said that it took a bit of time to find all the relevant information, so I'm collecting it here in an effort to make it a bit easier on the next person who needs it.
Note: I've not had trouble with my DSL circuit, so if you end up posting questions here about how to get it fixed, I'm unlikely to respond with anything useful.
Anyway, if you're an SBC DSL customer, there are old-school modem dial-up numbers (mostly 56kbps V.90) available to use during an outage or service window--assuming your computer even has a modem!
You can lookup your local access numbers to get a list of phone numbers to try.
For example, the numbers in the San Jose (408 area code) are currently:
San Jose CA (408)889-9111 56K V90 San Jose CA (408)580-3411 56K V90 San Jose CA (408)580-0194 56K V90 San Jose CA (408)717-2412 56K V90 San Jose CA (408)849-4774 56K V90 San Jose CA (408)503-2412 56K V90
Then, if you're not familiar with dial-up configuration (or it's been too long since you last used it), go here to choose your provider (based on email domain name) and you'll be lead to a page with instructions for dial-up configuration as well as FAQs.
This information appears to apply to all the Internet Service Providers that have been gobbled up by AT&T over the years:
- Southwest Bell
- Ameritech
- PacBell
- Prodigy
- etc.
Hopefully this is useful to someone.
Posted by jzawodn at March 15, 2007 09:08 AM
Whats "Dial Up?"
Didnt the internet start with High Speed Broadband?
This is a good reason to have a SBMB router that has a serial port to which a modem can be attached. I could, if I desired, plug a modem up to my Netscreen 5GT, and configure it to dial in if the WAN connection drops. if you have frequent DSL problems(or cable, or T1, whatever), one of these devices may be the difference between "unable to Connect" and "Gee, now I know why I pay for Broadband".
And of course, it's an appliance, so effort is minimal, and failover is flawless.
POTS....
Sounds vaugely familiar...
It used to mean something.
Good advice. It would be even better to have completely separate provider, such as Net Zero, because when the primary equipment at you ISP goes down it's typically out for dial-up as well as DSL.
i am an at&t dsl customer. i called att dsl support to help me set up my modem...i talked with several of their offshore reps and none could help me because they dont know anything about dialup...i was transfered to a second level american rep and he had to refer to his 'book' because even the second level does not support dialup....he told me to call my modem manufacturer...i told him my modem manufacturer would not have the unique at&t settings....he told me to call at&t dialup people but did not have the number.......i finally reached the at&t dialup reps but they would not help me because i was not an at&t dialup subscriber....
i am able to connect with an at&t dialup local number but my download speeds are ultraslow, so i know my modem settings are wrong and i probably need an initalization command.... since i cannot get support from at&t i will probably switch provider to my local cable company... at least then i will not be talking with people in india when i need help.
Well, I'm one of those throwback folks who lives so far out in the boonies that dial-up is all we can receive. LOL So, this information came in very handy since Alabama is going to mandatory 10-digit dialing next month. Our exchange number changed also. So, I wanted to make sure it was a local number. Thanks, Jeremy.
Dial-up is crappy, but its better than nothing. We missed getting DSL by a mile. Literally! A big bridge and a wide creek prevented the installation of the line beyond that point.
Oh, well. Living in a rural area has its advantages, and disadvantages.
