Topic Title: DSL Experts, your thoughts please, A VERY bizarre situation, or maybe no

[Lumberg]

DSL Experts, your thoughts please, A VERY bizarre situation, or maybe no

So my mom wants an iPod with iTunes....I help her. We decide that Earthlink has the best deal on DSL. So we order it up.

We can only get the DSL modem to link up on one of the phone sockets in the house. The house is about 50 years old. We get a dial tone on three different sockets I think.

The best DL speed we can get is around 83 kBPS on Toast.net. We also try cNET but the numbers there seem to be worse than the Toast.net ones, we're in MD and I use the VA location for toast. links:

http://www.toast.net/performance/

http://reviews.cnet.com/Bandwidth_meter/7004-7254_7-0.html

I figure the wiring inside the house is sub-par.

I try plugging directly into the network interface jack, but no dice. But I think that's because the wiring to the house doesn't just plug in there, it's actually a pair of wires screwed in. One Dark blue with white stripes, one white with blue stripes.

So as far as i can tell those wores come in and attach to a distribution block type thing in the same cabinet where the fuse box is. So I buy one of those modular phone jacks with the pigtails and detach all the other phone wires from the block, so it's basically the connection coming into the house right into this one jack. I plug the DSL modem in and it can't get a DSL sync.

Weird.

I put everything back together, and I can still get DSL on the one jack, and the speeds seem to be higher now ~130 kB/s.

The speed is definitely sub-par. But the thing that strikes me is the fact that hooking directly to the wires from outside (AFAIK) doens't work but using just this one jack in teh basement does.

DO I need to call in an expert? I don't think we need to re-wire the house cos we only need one good jack. Also is it possible we're just right at the limit of distance from the CO where DSL is possible but the speed just isn't good?

This is driving me (and my mom, whose purpose in life at the moment is to watch streaming tsunami videos) crazy!

 

[Smokeys]

One thing you haven't mentioned is that have you put filters on all of your phones?

Also phone your isp and tell them to do network tests and see if a tech will come out and run a dedicated line from the point in your house to where you want the modem.

 

[Lumberg]

Yes sorry I have filters on all the handsets. But it shouldn't matter since I had the line from outside tied directly to the DSL modem. But yeah in the working arrangement there are filters on the 2 phones.

 

[klingens]

Have you disabled all other phones by physically disconnecting the wires leading to the other jacks?

 

[Lumberg]

Have you disabled all other phones by physically disconnecting the wires leading to the other jacks?

yes. like I said I had the one phone jack connected dorectly to the wires that come in the house, with nothing else connected. no DSL sync.

 

[xtrmeocr]

what kind of modem is it?

 

[Lumberg]

It's a netopia.

 

[Diggrr]

Have you looked inside the NID (grey phone box outside) to see if there's a DSL filter on that black pigtail wire?
If there is, then you're running your modem on a filtered line no matter where it's at in the house..If there is one in there, you can remove it and plug that pigtail directly into the module, then depend solely on the filters at each phone you plug in.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[Lumberg]

Have you looked inside the NID (grey phone box outside) to see if there's a DSL filter on that black pigtail wire?
If there is, then you're running your modem on a filtered line no matter where it's at in the house..If there is one in there, you can remove it and plug that pigtail directly into the module, then depend solely on the filters at each phone you plug in.

Welcome to the forums!

Thanks!

Yeah I need to wait for a better day and try hooking up directly to the NID. Weather's been terrible every time I've made it to my mom's house. It's also a pain because the house's wiring doesn't "plug in" to the NID like lots of em do. It's a pair of copper wires secured with screws.

Nuts!

 

[Kendan]

Call and complain they will run tests while you are on the phone and then decide if they need to send someone out to fix it. Play dumb. once you start talking about all the stuff you have tried they will not be as friendly or as quick to send someone out