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billt408
join:2014-02-16
San Martin, CA

billt408

Member

Similar boat as Jeff -- Uverse upgrade or not?

I am in the same boat as Jeff.
- Long time at&t dsl user, never get anything better than 800k
- In a semi-rural area, south of San Jose
- Getting a lot of sales calls asking me to upgrade
- Only qualified for 'Express' level of service
- Qualification is 'IPDSLAM-Account'

I don't mind paying a little more for an improved service from AT&T. But, this time I really want to know the details behind what I am paying for and I plan on using the tools here @ DSL reports to make them keep their commitment.

I am being offered U-Verse Internet only Express for $39 a mo. Currently I pay ~$20 for DSL Express.

Looks like the best I can do is ADSL2+ connection, which seems capable of up to 24MB on a single pair, 48MB on a bonded pair. However, I have been told repeatedly that I can only qualify for 1.5 MB service. I know I have spare wires @ the residence. Not sure about the condition of the wire. I also know that I am only about 2 miles from my co - SNMACA11. So the issue must be the distance to the DSLAM.

Here are the ADSL2+ 'best case' connection types - best to worst:
- ADSL2+ pair-bonded w/Annex M - upto 48 MB, improved upload speed
- ADSL2+ pair-bonded - upto 48 MB
- ADSL2+ single pair w/Annex M - upto 24 MB, improved upload speed
- ADSL2+ single - up to 24 MB

If I'm getting it correctly, for me, the ADSL2+ connection to the ALU 7330 ISAM @ the CO is 2.5 miles (~1350 feet) away. So if got all this correct, and I want to upgrade my throughput, my only option is to ask/pay for a bonded pair.

Can you guys correct any of the details I have wrong or provide other ideas?

Thanks in advance,
-BillT

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS

MVM

2.5 miles is more like 13,200 feet (2.5 x 5,280) than 1350 feet. At 9,152 feet, the best AT&T could offer me was 3.0 Mb/s; it is doubtful they could do as well with 4,000 feet more.

I posted this speed/distance chart in jeffkrol See Profile's topic as well:

»New Fusion average speed/distance chart

This shows speed v. distance for ADSL2+. When I switched from AT&T to Sonic.net, I received an ADSL2+ modem. I played with the old ADSL modem (Siemens SS4100) and the new ADSL2+ modem (ZTE 831II). At 9,156 feet, either would sync at ~5600 kb/s, max.

You can try and dicker for an upgrade at the same $20 price point, but you won't get more than the Express tier at your distance. What you will get is IPDSL service, which replaces ATM with PTM, and PPPoE with 802.1x. ATM+PPPoE incurs a 15% overhead "penalty"; so figure 0.85xsync (0.85x1536=1305.6), or 1.3 Mb/s maximum download speed. PTM+802.1x only incurs a 4% overhead "penalty"; so 0.96xsync (0.96x1536=1474.56), or 1.4 Mb/s down.

Only you know if that measly improvement is worth the trouble. Also consider: At some future date you will receive something like a 45-day notice that ADSL is going away. When that happens, you can either accept U-verse Internet service, or switch to some other service.

You might check with Sonic.net to see if they offer Fusion service out of SNMACA11. If they do, they also offer bonded pair (at 2x the price), which would effectively double your speed. But still ATM, so still 0.85xsync.
billt408
join:2014-02-16
San Martin, CA

billt408

Member

Sorry, I dropped a 0 on that footage.

I had checked the Sonic.net site about a month ago -no luck, gave them my email address no reply. Now that I found my CO name, I'll call them directly tomorrow.

I have a couple of router/wireless access points. One of them does the PPPoE login. How much existing network configuration will have to change under uverse? i.e. who does dns, who does dhcp, is NAT still required?

If I do stick with AT&T, do you have any advise for me regarding how to keep AT&T honest with respect to delivering the service I pay for?

-BillT

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS

MVM

said by billt408:

I have a couple of router/wireless access points. One of them does the PPPoE login. How much existing network configuration will have to change under uverse? i.e. who does dns, who does dhcp, is NAT still required?

U-verse will not be PPPoE. IPDSL uses PTM instead of ATM, and 802.1x authentication via a certificate on the modem. The AT&T residential gateway, as I understand it, can't be bridged. It can be configured to pass the public IP address through. But I will have to defer more details to those who have the equipment.

The AT&T Direct forum is still viable for support.
billt408
join:2014-02-16
San Martin, CA

billt408

Member

The guy comes out to install the ADSL2+. I am ~700 ft from the crossconnect closet. He started to move me over to the new pair (that has adsl2+), but he does not have a signal on them.

So I go to the cabinet to talk with him & ask him to check the old ADSL line. It was around 35db attenuation, says my capacity is 5MB and at my rated speed of 1.5 MB, I am using ~36% of the line cap. I do not get anywhere that @ my house. Assuming he did not fudge anything (no reason to think he did), something is clearly wrong between the cabinet and my house. I guess specifically, my router. I have a master filter by Leviton, so the pair comes from the NID to my distribution closet & straight into the filter. From the filter, the filtered pair goes to a voice punch, then to 2 locations and the unfiltered comes out an rj11 jack to the ADSL modem and off to the Linksys wrt150n wireless router on the rj45 jack.

The guy submitted a maintenance call to do a line check on the ADSL2+ line to see why it did not have a signal. We will see how it goes, but if the issue is between the cross-connect and my house, it should be there for the both the ADSL & ADSL2+ connections.

whamel
Premium Member
join:2002-05-09
Evergreen Park, IL
·AT&T FTTP

whamel

Premium Member

He could have fudged with stuff, moved your pair to a faulty slot (both new pair or slot are preassigned automatically at job site, and existing connections can be entered in database erroneously)...this is what I was told, and what I understood, from a few techs who visited my residence...
CASE IN POINT: Had 45 Mbps U-Verse internet via VDSL2, bonded setup done back in October. Job site app said my single existing U-verse pair was connected to post 13 at the pedestal, and there was no 13th post. The pedestal was full, a tech add a bridge tap to some existing POTS lines and mistake after mistake (never noticed) led to a headache and complete pair reassignment in system for every connection coming into my full pedestal.