Verizon DSL → Re: slow speed/out of sync: internal wiring problem

Yannow, I have a similar problem. My house was built in the late 40s and also has ancient wiring! I now have Verizon DSL but best speed I get is around 530K on the 768/128 package -- and yes, I've read through this site and tried the various tweaks. I get random lost-sync problems where the middle light on the Westell modem will start to flash again and I'll lose all connectivity.

There are four jacks in the house and the wiring itself looks like three conductors kind of braided together. On the first floor there is a modern-type wall jack in the kitchen and a baseboard one in the living room (which I'm guessing someone just added to the old wiring at one time). But upstairs, there are two of those old-fashioned four-pin-type jacks (these say "AT&T Bell System" on their fronts!). In one of rooms with the jack, my den, is where I have my computer. So, I purchased an adaptor to turn it into a modern-type jack and plugged in the Westell.

I might like to have new internal wiring put in, but is it quite an expensive thing to do? With four jacks spanning two floors, it looks like quite an undertaking to do it myself. Also, there's no 'network entry box' of sorts, just a little black thing in the basement mounted to a piece of wood with four huge screw terminals on it. The wiring is junctioned here.

You guys might want to check the amperage on your electric circuits.

I was having sync problems at random - until a tech asked me how much stuff I had plugged into that wall outlet.

I had a lot of stuff - and he told me that the more stuff plugged in, the less "amperage" there is to go around, and the DSL modems need a good amperage load in order to maintain sync.

I moved my shredder to a different outlet and my sync problem went away.

Preferably move anything you can onto a circuit that has a different fuse in your main and see if that helps.

- FutureMan

At the block in the basement try removing everything until you find the wires for the jack where your modem connects. Leave that one on and the others off. See if that improves your speed and sync issues. If it does connect the others one at a time until you find the bad one or ones. Also make sure your Westell is on the latest firmware. It fixes some intermittant sync issues.