FightingBlue
join:2006-04-08
Warsaw, NY
| Victory is mine!
After a battle of many months, despite being a truly absurd distance from the central office--almost twice the rated range for DSL--I actually got hooked up yesterday, thanks to a really good company tech who de-loaded my line, then fixed the wiring in several places to bring an acceptable signal out to me. It's only 256k down, 41k up, but between that bandwidth and the 90ms latency, it's so much better and faster than Hughes that you have to feel it to believe it.
So, I'm finally done with them. After five years as a customer, I'm going to cancel my service ASAP. Perhaps, if they hadn't run as horrible of an outfit, I wouldn't have been so desperate to switch. But they did, and I am. So long, Hughes. I'm not going to miss you in the least. Between the bad uptime, the horrible tech support, and the overall corporate bad attitude, I'm thrilled to be rid of you. |
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snowman41
join:2006-10-20
Almonte, ON
1 edit | Congratulations.
Any words of wisdom as to how you got the phone company off their butts?
Did you have to pay them to unload the line?
Who's providing the dsl? A third party?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Snowman
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HN7000s 1.0 Mbps/200 Kbps/375 MB Cdn Plan G16 1230mhz .98m 2w RSL94 ACP75 DLink624 XP & VISTA |
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Gone
@eot.com
| reply to FightingBlue
after being with HN for 5+ yrs, I had become accustomed to latency.
recently i browsed on a near by neighbors DSL (256k dwn) connection and it broke my mind set latency expected conditioning.
In short i realized a DSL 256k dwn puts HN in the dirt. |
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localnet
join:2007-05-24
Grass Lake, MI | reply to FightingBlue
Congrats!
Once you have experienced the real internet, it is hard to accept what HN is dishing out.
My T1 will be here on the 26th of June! OH HAPPY DAYS! |
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teledatatech
Premium
join:2001-11-23
Bucyrus, OH
clubs:
 ·Embarq
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to FightingBlue
I just cancelled my service today as DSL has been running
as advertised for nearly a month now. My contract ended on
the first.
I have been with Hughesnet since I had one way service with them in 2001.
Overall my experience with them was good however.
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Embarq DSL 1500/586 | Voicestick | Skype |
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Piggie
I Actually use Windstream
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Orange Springs, FL
·HughesNet Satellit..
·Windstream
| reply to FightingBlue
said by FightingBlue  : It's only 256k down, 41k up, but between that bandwidth and the 90ms latency, it's so much better and faster than Hughes that you have to feel it to believe it. This and the post by Gone (anon) is exactly what I have been preaching here. I have done the test with my DSL. I can throttle my DSL with my router. The lower latency with DSL you don't need super duper speeds. People that say well my dish is 1000 down and I am not going to downgrade to 256k, well they don't get it.
I set my router to 256 kbps and didn't even tell my wife. We surfed all morning, and no comments from her about a "slow" connection. I even took it down to 128, and then you could definitely tell it was slower.
Also if you are a downloader then even going down to 256 is not all that bad with no FAP. Remember that 256K will download 10 times faster that a poor modem connection.
The only thing you loose is fast downloads on smaller files, that is the only advantage to Hughes over 256k DSL or a WISP.
So if all you can get out there is a slower DSL or WISP, give it a try, as you can see testimony here that it will actually surf faster than 1000k dish because of the reduced latency.
======================
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| Speedstream 4200 Modem - 3m/386 plan | W98-W2KSP4-XPSP2 - All AMD | Buffalo WHR G54S with OpenWRT WR0.9 | 2 downstream switches feeding 5 total clients (no wireless)| |
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Siryak
join:2005-11-26
·WildBlue
| reply to snowman41
said by snowman41 :Congratulations. Any words of wisdom as to how you got the phone company off their butts? Did you have to pay them to unload the line? Who's providing the dsl? A third party? Inquiring minds want to know. Snowman I am curious about this as well, because I am only about 1/2 mile too far. What did you haft to do to get them to do this for you?
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Wildblue Pro Pack / Beam 40 / Laredo NOC / Windows MCE SP2 |
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Piggie
I Actually use Windstream
Premium
join:2005-11-23
Orange Springs, FL
·HughesNet Satellit..
·Windstream
| Siryak,
A lot of it has to go with luck. DSL only goes so far, period. As far as I know there are no boosters or repeaters, etc. Luck mostly meaning where you live, how the lines are routed, and the condition of the lines.
But, often a subscriber's line can be routed a shorter distance by tying into free lines between different junction boxes between the residence and the DSLAM.
More often unloading a line means removing lines that tee off to nowhere , maybe an old old party line. The technical name is a Bridge Tap. Just like a dead end spur line off a railroad. They were very common in the party line days or if you want a phone to ring on the same number in two houses. Some times they would get put in for laziness to activate a new line but leave the one final destination there.
These Bridge Taps cause an echo on the line. Very slight considering the speed of light over a thousand feet or so but enough that the echo is enough out of phase with the real DSL signal it reduces it in amplitude.
So some times you hear them say Condition a line, Unload a line (usually means removing all bridge taps built up over the years), you will it called sweeping and cleaning a line.
Plus like is said sometimes they can find free pairs to reroute a line through a shorter distance, from junction box to another. And if they find more than one free pair, they will sweep each one as some are better than other's.
If they can do this, remove Bridge Taps, Maybe find a short path through the junction boxes and maybe find a better pair between the junctions, they can sometimes at least offer someone 256K or 512K DSL.
Some times you are even a little past that and some telcos will allow a hook up if you agree that errors are just going to happen, you might only get 128 to 156 K range then they might put it in.
Just talking to sales in most cases won't work. You have to put in an order, ask them if the line can be Conditioned and you would be willing to take anything you get.
Good luck. Because 1/2 mile is a long way from barely too far. The good news is if your telco puts in DSL2, which will add a couple thousand feet to most connections.
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| Speedstream 4200 Modem - 3m/386 plan | W98-W2KSP4-XPSP2 - All AMD | Buffalo WHR G54S with OpenWRT WR0.9 | 2 downstream switches feeding 5 total clients (no wireless)| |
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Siryak
join:2005-11-26
·WildBlue
| O well I am 4.5 miles from the hub, so they probably couldn't get it short enough.  TY for the info anyway.
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Wildblue Pro Pack / Beam 40 / Laredo NOC / Windows MCE SP2 |
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FightingBlue
join:2006-04-08
Warsaw, NY
| reply to snowman41
"Any words of wisdom as to how you got the phone company off their butts?"
It's mostly thanks to one really good tech who thought that it should be possible to get it working out here. He personally de-loaded my line, then fixed the wiring (taps) in several places to get a signal out to me. Very dedicated, and he single-handedly saved me as a customer for them.
"Did you have to pay them to unload the line?"
I suppose you might say that, since I've been paying for the DSL service for several months (under a deal where I got $45 a month off my satellite TV service), but otherwise no, I just called up customer support and kept harassing them until they sent someone out.
"Who's providing the dsl? A third party?"
Nope, the local phone company (Frontier Comm). They seem to have pretty loose limits as to how far they'll sell their DSL services.
Siryak; don't rule it out. I'm something ridiculous like 5 miles from the CO, but I've still got service. It really depends on the lines and the system. Lots of factors. |
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FightingBlue
join:2006-04-08
Warsaw, NY | reply to FightingBlue
Oh, and I should add that the latency has since gone down to the mid 50 MS range. |
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vobguy
A fool with a tool is still a fool
Premium
join:2003-01-21
Mineral, VA
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to FightingBlue
My CO isn't even wired for DSL and I am 8 miles from it. Keep on living the dream
For some reason though the Comcast site recently has been indicating I am a green for cable internet. I am not sure how this could possibly be since I don't think anyone has cable in my area for miles around.
But to test it I tried other addresses fuerther away, they failed. I tried fake addresses, they were not found, I tried addresses near me and they came back positive.
So who knows...
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DW4000 G16/1250; Sony VAIO VGN-FS790 512M DDR2-400 Pentium M 740 XP Home; Dell Insp. 5100 2.66 GHz 512M RAM WinXP Pro w/ orinoco gold; Sun Ultra-5 Solaris 2.7; ICS Host 700 MHz Gateway 512M RAM Windows XP-Home; SMC Wireless router (DHCP off) |
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Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA | Looks like Sprint EVDO Rev A is in the Mineral area. I'd check that out. It would beat the crap out of any sat connection |
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lpenix3
join:2001-12-03
Arden, NC
| please explain to me what they mean by central office or a hub. because not even a mile from my house is a big phone company boxes they are the big boxes like the big power transformers you see, so is that a central hub. if so then i am within distance of it to get dsl but it tells me it is not available. |
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teledatatech
Premium
join:2001-11-23
Bucyrus, OH
clubs: | reply to FightingBlue
That may be a RT (remote terminal), but it may not be
configured for DSL.
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Embarq DSL 1500/586 | Voicestick | Skype |
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PCsongBird
join:2006-12-07
Hawthorne, FL
| reply to lpenix3
Ipenix,
Those "big boxes" the phone company has (as teletdatatech stated) may or may not have the DSL equipment in it, and there in lies the problem.
We have one of those boxes about 1/2 mile north of us, but that box does not serve our neighborhood, instead serves the adjoining neighborhood.
It has the DSL equip inside, and those folks have DSL.
The box for our neighborhood is about 1 mile west of us, and it does not have the DSL equip in it.
As explained by our local area Bell service tech (the guy in the Bell truck out fixing the lines, who we know, btw), it's a matter of a $10,000 DSL box inside the "big box" and if they think the investment is worth the amount of customers it would serve.
I don't know the numbers they need to see, for a DSL install, but we have been waiting years for DSL, am on the "list", and even submitted a petition to Bell with 65 names on it, of people that would buy it imediately.
That was 2 yrs ago.... still nothing.
We even had an upper level manager trying to help us get it through, and still no go.
It is a factor of numbers and cost, and prob a few other things we do not know about.
But there may be light at the end of the tunnel for us someday......
Our service tech was told sometime after the ATT takeover (which has now happened) and as they widen the main east-west Hi-way between Gainesville and St. Augustine, they would install the DSL equip in our "big" box.
So we wait.......
There's the story from the woods in north Fla.
Hope that helps.
LaurieLee
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HN7000S/95West-G3C-1120MHz/Pro+/.74m 1watt/Sig-86/ACP-79/D-Link wired/WinXP-Pro-SP2/Firefox 2.0.0.3/IE 6.0/Proxy On |
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vobguy
A fool with a tool is still a fool
Premium
join:2003-01-21
Mineral, VA
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to Jim_in_VA
said by Jim_in_VA :Looks like Sprint EVDO Rev A is in the Mineral area. I'd check that out. It would beat the crap out of any sat connection Unfortunately I am having some billing issues with Sprint that makes me hesitant on the prospect of locking myself to two more years with them.
There is possibly a WISP coming here in July or so but I haven't gotten any updates from them since February or so.
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DW4000 G16/1250; Sony VAIO VGN-FS790 512M DDR2-400 Pentium M 740 XP Home; Dell Insp. 5100 2.66 GHz 512M RAM WinXP Pro w/ orinoco gold; Sun Ultra-5 Solaris 2.7; ICS Host 700 MHz Gateway 512M RAM Windows XP-Home; SMC Wireless router (DHCP off) |
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RuralCentralNY
@direcpc.com | reply to Piggie
Piggie,
I thought unloading the line was removing the load coil(s) that were originally added to get the voice signals to go further? Those are death to DSL because they act as a low pass filter and destroy the high frequency DSL signals... |
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