DSL and me, friends at last

[poops]

some food for thought if you have or are considering DSL.
run a speed test! you're paying for it, so you should get all you can out of it. when i retired the 56K, i couldn't beleive how fast DSL was, until i ran a speed test and found i was running only 20% and less of my purchased 1.5 megabit connection. find a test at dslreports.com and/or 2wire.com under services and support.

read up a little about your telephone wiring. especially in older houses or apts. you may want to check if everything is nicely connected around the teleco network interface box (my problem no. 1). no. 2 was an unused security alarm box in the apt. after disconnecting it's rj36 line, my speed jumped to 1 meg/sec.
still after tightening stuff down at the teleco's network interface box, if i look at a splicing funny my speed will go up or down hundreds of kilobits. my friend in telecom is coming over to see if we can't just bypass the alarm box wiring altogether, but after reading up on how the information flows, it may just be easier leaving it as is.

tech support is there to help, although i figured out the alarm box thing on my own, originally they were on the phone with me for over an hour running test and stuff. so be nice and patient. at the same time be very persistant. other techs were supposed to call me back in 72 hours to run more tests and whatever but never did.

hope this might help or spark an idea with anyone suffering from a lagging speed.

[SARGE]

Lots of variables go into a successful install and results. Have you run the "tweak tests" from dslreports.com yet? It will take a gander at your RWIN and offer DrTCP (free) to change the setting. That and a little IE tweak I found will have you running smooth.

Also, if you're not using the alarm, get it out of the picture. If it (alarm) was wired properly to begin with, just cut that piece out and resplice needed wires. Knowing alarm companies, there's no telling how it was wired - it WILL screw up the dsl.

[poops]

thanks sarge, i did indeed run every tweak possible before i discovered the alarm box, and learned alot in process. i've taken the alarm box somewhat out of the picture by unplugging it from the line and am running real smooth. but i'm always looking for improvement, from my reading and looking at diagrams, the jacks in my place are dependencies of the alarm line, blah, blah , blah. my telecom friend and i took a look and will probably be able to take it out of the picture completly. there's just a mess of wires spliced, so it will take a bit to test.
i mean now i only want to take that line out of the picture because i figure the more connections the better chance of degradation. anyway it's a good learning experience and i'm steady at 1 meg, so life is good.

[SARGE]

If you unplugged the alarm and phones still work, good. If it was wired properly, dial tone goes through alarm equipment and loops back out the same wire, then connects to your jack wiring. The alarm jack by the equipment is simply to isolate that, in case there's a dial tone problem, i.e., dead line, unplug that jack and dial tone restores = you've proven where trouble lies. That's probably more info than you needed, but...

The # of connections can play a role, as they are the weakest link. However, your line is probably spliced many times between home and local office, so no biggie. Ideally you'd like a "homerun" from telco dmarc, right to your DSL jack.

[poops]

exactly!, except i'm not sure if i'm reading you right...but.... the phone works if the alarm system jack is connected or not. when i disconnect it, i get my fast dsl. so the system will loop it though and back for the house jacks, when the phone line is unplugged from the alarm jack, the alarm jack itself will loop it back to the house.

i like doing things for ****s and giggles, so if i do manage to rid myself of the ol' loop back, i'll let you know of any change to speed.

as far as # of connections, it's really weak from the slicing, to the point that i literally move one 3 wire splice a centimeter to the left and i drop 800 kbits or get a connection that cuts out the dsl every minute. so if there's a weak link in the chain from teleco, it's in my laundry room.

anyway, thanks for listening and the info. you've helped me get it staight in my head, finally

[=justice]

'morning!
I have had DSL from Southwestern Bell for a year and a half now, but the price just went up from $40 to $50 with no notice. My modem was free, so I have nothing in the entire hook-up but the monthly rental price. My speed has been 305k according to the test at dslreports.com. I have loved the speed, and the convenience of dsl. Even though we have five phones on the system, most of which I ran wires for, and the wire for my computer shares the jack with a phone/answering machine, I have never noticed any fade or fuzz. I do have filters on each outlet, provided by SBC. I can get cable dsl for $10 less, but no contract or guarantee of price, and although SBC did me wrong by raising price without notice, I was aware they were doing this to existing customers, and I trust the cable company even less.
I think I'll stay where I am. I have had two outages in the time I've had the service, but they offer 24/7 tech support, and I have always gotten back on-line with their help. The cable company just raised it's rates for TV, and that hacked me off, so I guess I'll just pay the $10 increase and enjoy my zippy DSL.

[SARGE]

The $$ savings from getting DSL depends. In the past several years folks added a 2nd phone line to be used mainly for the Internet; good to keep main line free for calls. With DSL one can talk at the same time as surfing. If one got DSL, cancelled the 2nd line and figure what you're paying for current ISP, the costs even out, give or take a little.

Example: cost of 2nd line = $20-30 a month

cost of ISP = $20 a month.

In my case I kept the 2nd line anyway, but my service on lines are now free and I get DSL at half-price.

[poops]

Hey Sarge, I said I'ld update you on my telephone wiring situation, so if you care... I finally just rewired the teleco interface and house lines myself, completely removing the line leading to the unplugged alarm system and after many different speed tests ,at different times of day, I run from 1200 to 1350 kilobits/sec. I couldn't be happier.

Thanks

[SARGE]

Originally posted by poops Hey Sarge, I said I'ld update you on my telephone wiring situation, so if you care... . I couldn't be happier. Thanks

I do care, and am happy for you. Congrats.