US Telco Support → Verizon → Verizon DSL > New DSL customer (Western PA)

New DSL customer (Western PA)

Hello everyone I am new to verizon dsl and i was a comcast customer but had many many problems with there support. I had a few questions as i want to get the most out of my service.

as for an introduction for my service, I have tried getting verizon dsl since may and just got it now. with my house not receiving any dial tone. billing issues and stuff got it that verizon backdated everything and gave me 2 months of free service.

i know dsl isn't as fast as cable, but i want to see what can be done. I know exactly where my central office is (always walked passed it but never knew up until recently what the building is). the CO is about 3 maybe 4 blocks away. so i figured i would get top speed for how close i live. unfortunately in my area i am in the 3mps is the highest tier i can be on (high speed internet enhanced).

I recently ran a speedtest on my network and i got the lowest part of the top tier (only 1.5 megs... )
»www.speedtest.net/my-result/29348

The questions that i have is:
1) for how close that i live to the CO is there ANYWAY i can double my speed to the 3.0megs?
2) I do play xbox live, so would FASTPATH give me faster speeds?
3) anyway i can be in a dry loop (i will NEVER use the home phone, as i don't need it)

most likely, i want faster speeds if possible and i want to ditch the home phone if possible.

(also my area does not have fios yet for some reason i am not sure of)

At least you have service..
1. My speeds are only .530 kbps... supposed to be 1.1-3 Mbps
2. No internet connectivity for longer than 20 min
3. Poor customer service..

Ready to kick them to the curb, and its only been 3 days.. in 72 hrs, only had 7 hrs able to be connected to the internet..

The speed test link you posted is invalid. End to end speed testing is not a good way to evaluate DSL (or Cable) performance as many thing can conspire to degrade speed.

1) Log into your modem and post DSL line stats. What you are looking for specifically is download attenuation and margin. City Block length can vary by city but assuming circuit length is really only half a mile from the Central Office should support up to 20Mbps assuming CO is equipped with ADSL2+ DSLAMs. Whether or not that speed is offered is another matter.

2) There is no different in speed between interleave and fastpath. Fastpath interleaves multiple frames to make the connection less vulnerable to noise. If your connection has plenty of margin then fastpath will shave a few milliseconds off your connection.

3) Need to ask Verizon whether or not dry loop is offered. If you opt for dry loop will have to pay an addition fee to cover the cost of the phone line. That will offset much of the savings of dry loop.

Personally I like have a phone on the line it makes a good troubleshooting tool and having dial tone reduces the risk a careless crafts person will reassign your line thinking it idle. An option is to get the lowest tier phone service possible, will probably be only a little more expensive then dry loop.

It is better to keep things in one thread then start multiple topics about the same issue.
»[Speed/Latency] dsl speeds

/tom

DSL signal can degrade in your home wiring. I optimized my DSL speed & reliability by:
1. Plug a 2-into-1 phone line splitter into the modular socket in the demarcation block where phone service enters your house. This is the socket where you would plug a wired phone to verify whether the line to your house is working.
»www.radioshack.com/product/index···2032077#

2. Plug a DSL filter into one of the splitter's modular sockets; then the demarcation block's little pigtail cord with modular plug into the DSL filter's socket. This provides telephone line to your house while filtering out all interference originating in your home wiring or attached telephones.

3. Plug a long phone cord with modular plug into the splitter's other modular socket. Plug the other end into your DSL modem. This provides it with clean signal and minimal interference.

This arrangement means you don't need to use DSL filters for everything that plugs into your phone line - the DSL filter at the demarcation block does the job.

NickFie

end to end speed test:

The posted sync rate is what you expect with the 3Mbps plan, 3360/864 kbps.

On a DSL connection TCP/IP/PPPoE/ATM overhead is 14.4% so best case speed is 85.6% of sync speed or 2.10/.77 Mbps. Speedtest reflects you are getting full speed.

Switching between interleave and fastpath should not have affected your sync speed. That fact it did means when tech looked at your line stats decided it qualified for higher speed and set it at the same time they set fastpatch since there is no increase in price.

Impossible to tell if your line can be pushed to higher speed without access to margin info from your router. If it really is only 4,000 feet should be no problem getting higher speed.

What do you mean "I don't really use a home phone?" Any non-DSL device connected to the line needs to be behind a filter. If it is connected needs to be behind either a filter or whole house POTS/DSL splitter. Normally the easiest way to tell if inside wiring/equipment is degrading DSL is to temporally connect modem to NID test jack. Since your unit only reports speed to two digits and does not show margin that is not going to be particularly useful.

/tom

Techs have all said I qualify up to 10mbps, as anything up to 15mpbs would work, is what I was told. It was billing that didn't want to so it for some reason..
How do I access the margin info?

When I said I don't really use the home phone, it's only there for the dsl. I wouldn't have got it if dry loop was available.

»i.imgbox.com/abooIjHZ.jpg
This is my outside box, I was gonna disconnect the phone jacks and run a cord straight to my modem, should it work? I see it as a direct connection with nothing in its way

as an update this is what I did.

I bought a phone cord and went to the side of my house and ran 1 phone cord from the box outside straight into my modem. while the speeds seem to be alot faster through my eyes (most stuff now seems instant, page loads mostly). i checked my dsl modem settings and the
3.4 Mbps Downstream
0.9 Mbps Upstream

stayed the same, i ran a speedtest.net again, and again, speeds stayed the same.. so NOTHING seemed to improved, so copper lines didnt deteriorate i am guessing?

I think i am going to keep it this way so I can still have DSL and not have to deal with phone calls (its weird i swear theres a phone or a box inside one of my walls because something rings in my wall when someone calls me.