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Boingo_buzzard
@Sunquest.COM

Boingo_buzzard

Anon

New DSL line only connecting at 256,000

I just signed onto DSL last night for the first time. Everything went great except that when I connect, I only connect in at 256 not the 640 that they advertised. A friend of mine down the road has no problems at all. We even compared setups and statistics and they just about match (my line quality ranges from 23-28, his is about 30 consistantly).
I called tech support who told me that if I am connecting in at 256 that that is all that they can guarantee and it must be the lines.
I find it odd that that is the max that I can connect at. The service so far looks great, but I am not sure if I will keep it if it's connecting this low.
Any suggestions? Or am I just SOL?

-Matt
Brandonv7
join:2000-09-14
Minneapolis, MN

Brandonv7

Member

The tech is right when he says that is all they have to provide. You can get a max of 640, but the do not promise it. It is just considered an added bonus if you can get more that 256. It is probably the phone line quality especially since your lines stats are lower.

I don't think you could get better proformance if you left and went with someone else. I would first try to clean up your own line. Make sure you are not using long (more than 25') runs of flat line cord. Make sure your wiring and connections in your own house are of good quality. Run a dedicated Cat5 run straight back to your demarc. Also try to test it with all of your phones, fax, modems, alarm systems, or any other device that is plugged into your phone line. IF the wiring is in question in your house, un hook all the phone lines coming out of your demarc and just have the run to your DSL modem hooked up and then check your line quality.
--
"Rose Tints My World To Keep Me Safe From My Trouble And Pain!"
Take a trip down the River Roads!!

boingo_buzzard
@Sunquest.COM

boingo_buzzard

Anon

[I would first try to clean up your own line.]

Well, that stinks, considering my house is brand new. Is there any way, do you think, of getting the phone company to come out and look at/test the lines?
I live in a subdivision and I think that the phone box serves several houses. I dont think I can just go and pop it open and start fooling with the wires.. also being that I dont really know what I'm doing, that could also be a problem.

-Matt
Brandonv7
join:2000-09-14
Minneapolis, MN

Brandonv7

Member

Are you in a single tenant structure? You should have a separate demarc if you are the only one who lives in your building. Even if there is a few tenants, you still have have your own demarc on the back of your house. (Could be in the basement,too). I am not talking about the green pedistals that you see out by the curb.
If you do have your own Demarc, As a customer, you are allowed to open your side of the box of perhaps the whole box. If you need special tools, you are trying to open up the telco side and that is bad. You should just need a screwdriver.

If you live in a big apartment building or town home complex, your DMARC is probably locked up in the basement, somewhere.

Even though you live in a new house, doesn't mean you don't have problems. You could have a telephone or some other telephony device bringing in interference or otherwise degrading the quality of the phone line. That is why I suggested disconnecting all your phone devices. Also, A very popular wiring scheme for new houses is to start at the demarc with a spool of telephone wire and then run a single run to all jacks, daisy chaining them like Christmas lights. So if you have a bad connection at one jack, it effects the line of all jacks upstream.

You could probably get the phone company to come check it providing you are willing to pay them extra. In there eyes, you are getting what you pay for and more than likely, will not help you get better service with out charging you for the service call. If they do come up you may be able to have them unhook your house form the line and connect a temporary dedicated run for your PC or maybe use your PC or Laptop right at the demarc.

--
"Rose Tints My World To Keep Me Safe From My Trouble And Pain!"
Take a trip down the River Roads!!

Prezident
join:2000-04-07
Denver, CO

Prezident to Boingo_buzzard

Member

to Boingo_buzzard
I am amazed when I hear people say things like this.

You just got your DSL, it has to be faster then the old dialup you are used to, but since it does not perform at the full speed you thought you were going to get without even trying to trouble shoot any possible wiring problems that you may have in your house, you are willing to cancel the service already.

It took 6 months and dozens of phone calls for the phone company to finally get my first DSL installation working right. It was a brand new technology back then, and is still very young at this time.

People that are not willing to put a little effort in to figuring out how to fix something, probably don't deserve the good things that it has to offer anyways.
warnlot
join:1999-11-20
Minneapolis, MN

warnlot

Member

I've had QWest 640 DSL service in the Minneapolis, Mn. area for over two years. If you read the fine print in QWest DSL ads, you see they don't guarantee 640 down. I usually average around 400 down with a line quality of 45, which is a good line quality. I'de like to do better than 400 down, but I've done all the registry tweaks and I think that's about the best I'm currently going to get. It's certainly better than the 256 down USWest started with, and the price is actually lower than I first paid two years ago.

Mrhowes
join:2000-11-16
Saint Paul, MN

Mrhowes to Boingo_buzzard

Member

to Boingo_buzzard
Just a note....

I am waiting for Qwest to come out and install DSL in my St. Paul, MN home (in about 2 weeks...I can't wait). Anyway, after traveling to all the internet sites about DSL, I did pick up one thing that was helpful, and this was using Cat 5 data cable for the run from my phone demarq (The point where the phone service comes into my house) to a new outlet near my computer.

This helps in various ways.

1. The twisted pair wire helps to eliminate electric interference from items in your home (Dimmer switches, florescent lights, electrical lines, etc.).
2. The twisted pair, higher quality wire also helps to support longer cable runs, with less loss of signal.
3. Finally by running a line from the Demarq box directly to the phone outlet, eliminates some of the troubles caused by other phone-line objects (Alarm systems, satellite TV, phones, Etc.)

Before I installed the cat 5 cable, I would connect via dial-up at varying speeds (33600-49333). Now with the Cat 5 cable, I connect consistently at 49333, the highest possible dial-up speed.

The installation was simple, (it helps that the ceiling in the basement is unfinished). The cost of 100ft of cable, and new phone outlet was about $30 (Radio shack)

I hope this helps.....