I live in an area with horrible SBC phone service. The neighborhood is only about 3 years old, but problems are frequent. DSL isn't available, I can never connect faster than 28.8, and there are frequent outages. In addition, when I call them for service, they usually leave the line dead or blitzing out for at least 3 days. And, they make me agree to pay $80 or so if they determine that their equipment doesn't have a problem.