slac2.gif (4035 bytes)  DSL Transition
 Last Update: 11 July 2007

SLAC will discontinue paying for home DSL
Your Division and/or Department Head should have notified you by now that, at the request of SLAC Directorate, the Laboratory will stop managing and/or paying for Residential High Speed Internet Access for individuals including employees, affiliates, users or visitors. This change will be implemented over a transition period starting immediately. This transition period will be completed by the end of September 2007.

The lab management has reached this difficult decision even though it recognizes the high value of the use of high speed internet for SLAC related work after normal working hours. It is motivated by the fact that residential high speed internet access has evolved to be a commodity in modern-day America households. Its use for work purposes in addition to private use does not increase the cost of service to the subscriber. Recent IG audit shows that the use DOE contract funds to pay for such services at peoples' residences would be considered unallowable.

On August 20th disconnect orders will be sent  to AT&T and Stanford requesting that all SLAC paid for DSL service be disconnected and cancelled.  You can also request a disconnect at anytime by completing the SLAC DSL Service Disconnect Form.

Unfortunately for affected staff  this is highly unlikely to be a completely seamless or transparent transition even if you wish to continue to pay for high speed internet access out of your own pocket due to billing system complexities with the vendors.

If you wish to continue having DSL service at your home you will have to personally arrange for the new service after your SLAC paid for DSL has been completely disconnected. There will most likely be a time you will be without DSL after the disconnection of your old service and when your new service is installed and up and running.

The DSL information spreadsheet gives some basic information about your SLAC paid for DSL that might be useful in your decision when choosing a new provider:

  • What SLAC is currently paying for your DSL (this is a business rate)
  • What type of service you currently have e.g.  AT&T or Stanford
  • The estimated disconnect date provided by AT&T or Stanford

This rest of this page provides information on how the disconnects will take place, pointers to some DSL providers,  and other helpful information...please read on.  

DSL disconnects

After the disconnect orders have been sent to AT&T and Stanford on August 20th they will, within a few days,  send us back a disconnect date that will be posted in the DSL information spreadsheet. 

AT&T states that on the disconnect date is the date DSL service will stop working but that it takes 3 - 4 business days after the disconnect date for the service to actually be taken out of their billing and scheduling system (this is because they contract with a separate company to do the disconnects). 

Unfortunately until your DSL service is fully disconnected and out of their system you won't be able to order a new DSL service on that phone line.

After the disconnect date (or anytime actually) you should call the AT&T residential help line (even if you have Stanford DSL) at 1 800 288 2020 to check if your SLAC DSL service has been fully purged from their system after which  time you can order new DSL from the provider of your choice if you choose to do so.

Most DSL providers won't begin the process of installing a new DSL service until the old service has been completely removed and out of the AT&T billing and scheduling system...which is why you should check with AT&T.

In most cases there is no seamless way to disconnect the SLAC paid for DSL service and, at the same time,  establish a new DSL service. This means you will be without DSL service for some amount of time.

Below are a few possible methods to minimize the period you are without high speed internet access from your residence. Not all will be applicable.

- For those users with AT&T DSL (check the DSL information spreadsheet to see which service you have) there is an 'alternative' to having your service disconnected.  You can request that the billing can be 'switched' from SLAC to your home phone bill.  The downside to this is you will continue to pay the same monthly charge that SLAC had been paying (a business rate) which is normally higher than the residential rate.  At some future time, more convenient to you, you could call AT&T and request a residential rate (which would require a disconnect of your service and a new installation, including an outage of your DSL service).  If you have AT&T DSL and you want to do the 'billing switch' email dsl-admin before August 20th.  After August 20th the disconnect will be issued to AT&T. This 'billing switch' does not apply to users with Stanford DSL.

- If you choose to get Comcast broadband service there will be no downtime because Comcast does not use your AT&T phone line, it uses cable.  So, if you choose you can personally order Comcast at anytime as a replacement for your DSL.

- If you have a second phone line (a different phone number than the one you currently have SLAC DSL on) in your home you can order new DSL service on that phone line independent of what's happening on the SLAC DSL phone line.

- During your downtime use might consider using
  - the SLAC Dialup Service
  - the Stanford Dialup Service

Help in choosing a new ISP

Each user will have to research and choose what provider he wants to use as his ISP and what service to choose from that provider.  We would strongly recommend that you talk with a representative of your chosen provider to understand their rate structures and the services they offer.

 Do your research to identify potential ISPs.  Below are some you might consider although you may find more in your search.

Here are a couple of more ideas to keep in mind:

  • Most people can manage nicely with the slower speeds offered e.g. 1.5Mbps download and 128Kbps upload
  • The faster speed the more expensive the service. Many staff may find the lower speed services adequate for their activities. Others may need the fastest internet speeds available. The pricing will likely be highly correlated with the speed you request.
  • Ordering over the internet may save you some money on the monthly charges and installation
  • Look for promotions but read the fine print e.g. what will the charges be after the promotion is over?

The Ken Martell DSL transition story...

I cancelled my AT&T DSL on 07/09/07 and received a disconnect date of 07/10/07.  My first conversations with AT&T were that the disconnect date was only an order date which was sent to an AT&T subsidiary company that does the physical disconnects and that the physical disconnect really wouldn't take place for 3 or 4 days after that date. Wrong!!

On Tuesday evening, 07/10/07, my DSL service was gone. No blinking light on my DSL modem. Nothing. Gone. Kaput.

That evening I went to my girl friends house and used her (self paid for) DSL to attempt to order my new (self paid for) DSL. I decided to stay with AT&T.

When I went to their web site and filled in all the required information I got my first 'rejection' notice. Their system still showed me as having DSL service and because of this I was unable to order new service at that time. (Just because the physical service was disconnected didn't mean that I was ‘out of their system’. And if you're not ‘out of their system’ you can't order new service.)

I called AT&T on 07/11/07, and yes, the helpful AT&T person said that I was indeed still 'in their system' and it would take 3 or 4 days to clear out. At which time I would be able to order new service.

I asked them if they could be more specific but they said the 3 of 4 day window  was the best they could give me and the best way for me to find out when I was 'out of the system' is to call each day and inquire or to try the web site signup procedure (at someone else's home with Internet connectivity) and see if it worked or not.

I was finally 'out of the system' on 7/14 and was able to order my new AT&T DSL service.  I was told that the new service would be ready on 7/20. I made a mistake and ordered the wrong equipment and had to reorder it.  The correct equipment arrived on 7/25.  Ok, I take responsibility for this 5 day delay...

At home I have three phone jacks, all on the same number, two of which I have phones connected to and the third one I had my previous DSL (AT&T) connected to for over 5 years. Never had a problem with the DSL or that phone jack.

Well, after they disconnected the previous DSL service that phone jack went dead for some reason...no dial tone.  So I couldn't use it for my new DSL service either.

Luckily another phone jack is near where my computer is so I just strung a longer phone line to that location (I would deal with the dead phone jack later... I just wanted to get the service up and running).

After I connected the DSL modem to a 'good' phone jack  I saw that the DSL modem would not 'sync' up with the AT&T DSL equipment at their Central Office...they call it 'training' the modem. The DSL light on the modem was blinking red (not good).

I called the tech support number and went through 'Level 1' and 'Level 2' support...then was passed on to a 'modem expert'.  After more questions and testing we found out he was an expert on a different type of modem then the one I had and I was again passed on to a 'modem expert' of the type I have. We went through more of the same testing and questions and I was passed on to 'line maintenance'.  They did more testing and determined that one of their line technicians would have to come to the house the next day (I opted for the 8 - 12 window).  This whole exercise took about 3 hours.

Today, 07/26/07, the technician arrived on time, repunched a couple of wires on my original 'DSL' phone jack and 5 minutes later I'm up and running...$60.00 lighter because my problem involved 'inside' wiring.

I am sharing this story so that each of you will be prepared for likely glitches in getting your residential remote access service up and running. Although I hope you have better luck :-)

Arla LeCount's Adventures with AT&T:

A few month's ago, I contacted AT&T and told them that I currently had AT&T service paid for by my employer through Stanford University and that I wanted to convert to a residential line, billed to my home.    I told them that other people at SLAC had had the experience of being without DSL for many days in making such a transition and that if they could make it reasonably painless for me, I would stick with AT&T, but that otherwise, I would get cable DSL, which wouldn't require a long wait.    I also mentioned that there were many other people here at SLAC who may well be doing the same thing soon, so it would be in their best interest to make the process as seamless as possible. They assured me they would work with me to make this a good transition.

I cancelled the SLAC service through Ken and AT&T was able to put through the request for residential service and send me the new DSL modem without waiting for my existing DSL service to get entirely "out of their system".  I believe the reason was that my DSL service was through a separate data line and not associated with my home phone.  The new DSL is on my regular home phone line. 

I received my new modem within perhaps a week and on the date of service listed on my information sheet, the old DSL router stopped working.  I installed the new one and then realized I had ordered the wrong model as the one I received couldn't be used with wireless.  I called AT&T support and explained the situation and they sent me the new modem with a place to plug in the wireless access point.  Meanwhile I used the one without wireless until the new one came in a few days.  After the new modem came, I returned the first one for credit, installed the new modem and wireless and was up and running in a matter of a few hours.

My experience was much less painful than anyone else's I have heard so far.  I think the critical difference was that my existing service was on a separate line.  I also wonder whether their records indicated that the customer was Stanford rather than me as an individual, which perhaps made it look like I didn't already have DSL service.  All in all, it was much less painful than I expected. Good luck--

 

FAQ

Who can I talk to about the new Residential Remote Access Services policy that includes information about future reimbursement and the current decision on SLAC paid for DSL disconnects ?

You may get advice and increase your understanding of this change from your directorate financial offices:
PSD – Stephanie Carlson ( steph@SLAC.Stanford.EDU ) and Elizabeth Caplun-Cochrane ( ecc@SLAC.Stanford.EDU )
PPA – Charlotte Chang ( cchang@SLAC.Stanford.EDU );
LCLS – Wendy Sisson ( wsisson@SLAC.Stanford.EDU ) ;
Operations – Mimi Chang ( mimi@SLAC.Stanford.EDU ).
These people will help ensure uniformity and consistently of requests across the lab, and will bring issues to the Business Improvement and Transition Team (BITT) for discussion and resolution.

You can also talk to your Division and/or Department Head.

How can I access Stanford University web resources without Stanford DSL service?

As Stanford employees, staff at SLAC can get a Stanford computer account (SUNet id see: http://sunetid.stanford.edu/ ). The instructions for how to get access to journals, set up browser etc is given at http://library.stanford.edu/apcproxy/index.html and more info one level down at http://library.stanford.edu/apcproxy/suauthent.html#other.

The following URL is how SLAC users can access all online journal outside of SLAC (on the Library website).http://www.slac.stanford.edu/library/services/remoteaccess.htm (see text below).

Feel free to contact the SLAC Library at x2411 if you have additional questions.

What should I do with my old DSL modem/router?

Keep it.  There is a possibility you can use it with your new DSL service (check with your provider). Or else dispose of it properly. There is no need to return it to Stanford DSL Services or SLAC.

Owner: dsl-admin