wayjac
Premium,MVM
join:2001-12-22
Indy
 ·AT&T Midwest
| reply to jsinaiko
Re: Pay Ofr A Modem With A New Account?
New online orders pay for the modem upfront
$49.99 shipping $13.95 plus state tax
$49.99 mail in rebate
No voice line orders dont get the rebate
The modem's have a one year warranty
Maybe you can use the speakeasy modem?
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God bless our troops |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Guess it is available to online orders but not over the phone.
Of course we could not get online - that's why we were looking into another ISP. But I can do it from here.
Also, the Speakeasy modem is an ancient Xycel (sp). I could possibly use it, but it's doubtful.
But as it stands, I just found out they are 16,000' from the CO and can only get Elite at the best. Seeing as Speakeasy has them on a 1.5 downstream as well, I wonder if ATT can do any better. They also have some issues with their POTS line - static, which in my experience often means a wet or loose connection down in the vault somewhere. Maybe if they can fix that they will be able to get decent throughput, but right now I hate to say that I'm considering Comcrap for these folks, much as I hate it.
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Dennis
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-26
Algonquin, IL | 16k? Yeah 1.5mb at best.... |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Thanks Dennis - I agree.
"At best" is the key clause.
If they got 1mb, or even 768k it would be OK, but they are getting under 500k, so it may be best to hold my nose and order cable.
They are off of Fullerton and Halsted - I can't believe that ATT doesn't provide in that wealthy area better, they could get a lot of business - and according to WolfDragon in Direct, nobody around there has better than Express.
Any other opinions out there?
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Are they getting 'under 500k' with Speakeasy now? Is it ADSL or SDSL? Do you know who the DCLEC is providing service?
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Hi Doc!
Yes, although when the COVAD guy was there he claimed he got 700 down at the NID, in practice they are not getting better than 300 down, usually somewhere around 100 - 200. There was some sort of issue with the connection at the CO, and ATT fixed it yesterday - no change at the house though.
It's COVAD. It is ADSL - 1.5 down and 3-something up. They are getting full bandwidth upstream. Static IP.
I hate to go Comcrap, but unless they can do something about bandwidth, I have very little choice.
Oh yeah, heavy static on the POTS. We've called it in, but ATT will only "send out a tech" to check things outside the house. My guess from experience is that the static is caused by a bad connection or wet cable in an underground vault somewhere close - probably beneath Fullerton somewhere. If the tech doesn't find something that may be incorrect. And I promise you they are not going to go inside the walls of their lovely Lincoln Park townhouse.
Ironically, the client is a major lawyer whose biggest client is Verizon - he's buddy-buddy with Ivan Seidenberg, the CEO. Doesn't help him in this market.
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| Is this line shared?
LOL, re: Ivan. Figures doesn't it? I know a couple of retired (very) high level execs whose names would raise an eyebrow but that doesn't do me a bit of good at the gas pump... 
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Well, I keep telling the guy to somehow get us exclusive FIOS accounts. No joy to date. 
Yeah, it's a line-share. The first thing Speakeasy did was send them a new modem and filters. I hooked up the modem and swapped all their old filters for the new ones. No difference.
Both the ancient Xycel and the new Broadextent (sp?) work the same - they get some sync, then they lose it, then they get it, then they come up with sync for about an hour, then they go down, and on and on.
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| Not that it would probably matter but ATT does have a little more interest in fixing lines for their own DSL customers. The 'direct' forum here may be able to do things that the phone-in trouble folks can't (or don't wanna).
Of course that requires taking the plunge.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Well, I was on the verge yesterday - woulda dine it if it hadn't been for the no-free-modem thing.
I already have Wolfdragon at Direct doing a pre-qual. I replied, mentioning the POTS situation. We'll see if they come up with anything this week - the tech will be out between now and Friday. Meanwhile, I coaxed the Speakeasy account back up at glacial speeds, so at least they can read their email.
I'll report back as soon as we know if they have made a good-faith effort to get rid of the static. If it is in the house they are SOL and we are better off removing the ISP from the POTS. This is all for the wife - the hubby/big-shot is a crackberry addict and doesn't bother with anything else. 
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to RadioDoc
OK, the static is gone from the line - and a tech is supposed to go into the NID (which is in the basement) tomorrow.
So it seems there has been some outside work done. Downstream speed has increased from about 100kbps to over 300, and ended up hovering at about 700kbps.
SO there has been improvement on it.
Now the question is, should I switch her over to ATT (they won't promise more than Express, which is what Speakeasy has her at, on the hope that ATT can do better than Speakeasy/Covad.
They are 10,000' from the CO.
Some other differences, that may or may not matter:
Speakeasy uses a static IP, and doesn't use PPPOE. That's about it.
Think I should switch them? Stay with Speakeasy? Hold my nose and move em to Comcrap, which would be easy because the router is very close to where the TV cable comes in.
My recent experiences with Comcrap on the TV side, and several other recent situations with clients Internet connections staying unstable because it took them several months to admit they had to boost the signal - endless, pointless, bad tech visits, missed, appointments, the usual, certainly recommend against it, but damn - these folks aren't getting any bandwidth at all - always well under 768.
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | Can you get any stats out of that modem?
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
1 edit | Nope - it's an old, dumb Xycel.
I mean, maybe, like you can coax them out of a 5100A, but there isn't any firmware in there that I know if.
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| Damn, that's too bad. Would be really nice to know what the attenuation, et. al. is now after the repair. 700something sounds reasonable for a line running at 896 raw sync.
I may have a modem I can loan you that can cough out line specs if you want to try it.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | I have an old westell wirespeed around here somewhere, and a 5100b. It's just a straight DHCP connection so I can just plug it in and see what shows up.
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RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11 | That would be helpful. I suspect that the line stats have significantly improved.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | No question - it's reflected in the improvement in the POTS. Static gone, voice quality is high.
I'll be up there again on Monday afternoon.
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