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XP and DSL?



 
 
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  #16  
Old September 14th 14, 02:00 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default XP and DSL?

In message , KenK
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
:

[]
though, at least. Have they promised any particular speed?)


No such promises. Up until a week ago I was getting 40K+. The ISP (no
relation to CenturyLink) says I need my phone line checked. I did that a
few months ago, got a new line, and got 40K+ back again until now. I can
see having to do this every few months so decided to go from DUN to DSL.
I don't understand why; for some 30 years I got 40K+ with no problem and
no line changes. Evidently the lines have deteriorated recently.

I believe the DSL comes over different lines than my regular phone
service. I couldn't get DSL out here at my rural residence until a few
months ago. I've seem trucks every day out in the country putting up
CenturyLink phone (DSL?) lines for years now, recently close to my home.


It could be that the trunked part comes differently, but unless they're
actually coming into your home to install something, the last link will
be coming over the same copper wires. (Though I think you said they
_will_ come in, so maybe you _are_ getting new lines.)

I won't comment on the rest of your post - I need to reread it a few
times later.

[]
OK - I do tend to go on a bit (-:!

Do come back and tell us how you get on!


But still do.


3
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

They don't seem to want to blind me with science nor to impress me with their
superior intellect, but just to share their enthusiasm for their subject.
(Appreciative) contributor to Radio Times letters page, 26 July-1 August 2014
Ads
  #17  
Old September 14th 14, 02:05 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default XP and DSL?

In message ,
writes:
[]
These days, with all of the people dropping POTS, there is plenty of
spare copper in the ground.


That varies a lot by region (and probably nation). Here in rural UK,
though many would _like_ to drop POTS, if they want broadband - unless
they're willing to use mobile for that too, and it's more expensive,
slower, and less reliable (if it's even _available_ where they are) -
they have no choice but to keep a landline to get their broadband over.
In fact it's the other way in some places: if someone wanted a new
telephone line, they often DACSed it (multiplexing two lines onto one
bit of copper) rather than laying new copper, and then when subsequently
one of them wanted broadband (or someone else in the bundle did), they
had to do a lot of rearranging (because BB won't work over a DACSed
line). So there certainly isn't lots of spare copper in some places.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

They don't seem to want to blind me with science nor to impress me with their
superior intellect, but just to share their enthusiasm for their subject.
(Appreciative) contributor to Radio Times letters page, 26 July-1 August 2014
  #18  
Old September 15th 14, 03:01 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
micky[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 926
Default XP and DSL?

On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:10:43 +0000 (UTC), Bert wrote:


DSL replaces ISP?
Supplies email service?


Unless you made other arrangements, yes. If you're getting ADSL2+ or
fiber service, then no other arrangements are available.

BUT! These are questions you should have asked before you signed up.


Not so much if it's his only alternative, and I have the feeling it is.
  #19  
Old September 15th 14, 03:41 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
micky[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 926
Default XP and DSL?

On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 13:37:19 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , KenK
writes:
I signed up for Centurylink DSL yesterday. I'll get it by 9/26.

If anyone here uses DSL, especially Centurylink's, how does this work?


Paul's comprehensive answers supersede this, but here's my take! (The
default here in UK - at least, for service supplied still via an old
telephone line, i. e. they don't change anything in your house - is
ADSL; when a USian talks about DSL, I'm not sure if they mean ADSL.)


Sure we do. I think ADSL stands for American DSL.

Okay, just kidding. I think we mean ADSL also.
.....
Supplies dial-up service if DSL service down?


I have Verizon DSL and I don't think that includes dial-up when DSL is
down.I thought about that a lot at first.

But A) I'd rather wait until DSL is back up than use dial-up.
You'll feel that way too soon.
B) I'd rather go to the public library and use their
computers than use dial-up.
C) I'd rather impose on a friend than use dial-up.
D) Or even a non-friend. Once when visiting my brother
out of town, I needed to print my boarding pass at home, but he didn't
seem to have a printer, so I went next door and imposed on a stranger.
It probably made him feel good. When I got to the airport, I found out
they had terminals there with no lines, but I might have needed it to
check my suitcase at the curb.
E) The DSL has only been down afaik for 4 to 8 hours
in the 5 years I've had it. It may have been down at times I wasn't
trying to use it, but also some of the time I thought it was down, it
might have been up and only needed me to turn the modem on and off, or
to restart windows, (or possibly just restart less than all of windows?)

It has seemed to go down for a couple minutes many times -- I get a
message in a bubble in the bottom right area of the screen that says
"Cable disconnected". Then a little later without my doing anything, I
get a bubble that says "Cable connected".and that can happen several
times in an hour. But that might be my fault, not sure how. I don't
expect you'll have that

I have a wireless router, and used to use it for a web radio (a separate
device) and I use it for my netbook, but for the desktop computer, I
have it wired, even though the router is still on the second floor and
the computer in the basement. I have a 100' cable, from monoprice.com .

It almost always happens when I first start Windows that I get the
bubble that says "cable disconnected" but for most of these years, that
would go away and not recur until I started windows again. But for a
while, 3 to 6 months?, it was going on and off in the middle of a
session. That hasn't happened for a while, 3 months?

Among other ways to connect to a wireless modem, they make devices that
plug into a USB port, easier than getting a PCI card. I have one I paid
2 dollars for at a hamfest. He must have thought it was broken because
when I asked what it was, he lowered the price a dollar. It works for
10 or 15 minutes, at a slower speed than I get with the cable, and then
I think it stops working. I'm sure a new one would worrk much better.

I wonder if wireless ever matches the wired speed. When the
computer was upstairs, right next to the modem, I certainly used a cable
then.

Someone commented on max DSL download speeds. I've mentioned before that
the wiring in my house is faulty, so I've run my own wire from the NID
outside up the front of the house , in the window, through the spare
bedroom and into the office to a phone line Y connector and then the DSL
modem. First (stage 1) I used regular flat, grey modular wire,
but then (stage 2) I used wire that was even thinner than that but grey
and flat but suitable for modular plugs but even cheaper. Then the
phone worked but not the DSL at all. . And when (stage 3) I swtiched
to thicker wire, not flat but white and round, with 4 fairly stiff wires
inside, my download speed tripled from what it had been at stage 1.

One person somewhere didnt' believe the thickness of the wire could
matter, but I think it did.


Just last week, after two years, I got better wire still, flat shielded
cable, so I can shut the alumimum window on the wire, but I haven't
installed it yet.




Do come back and tell us how you get on!


Yes, indeed.
  #20  
Old September 15th 14, 05:04 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
micky[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 926
Default XP and DSL?

On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 23:09:21 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 22:41:10 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 13:37:19 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , KenK
writes:
I signed up for Centurylink DSL yesterday. I'll get it by 9/26.

If anyone here uses DSL, especially Centurylink's, how does this work?

Paul's comprehensive answers supersede this, but here's my take! (The
default here in UK - at least, for service supplied still via an old
telephone line, i. e. they don't change anything in your house - is
ADSL; when a USian talks about DSL, I'm not sure if they mean ADSL.)


Sure we do. I think ADSL stands for American DSL.

Okay, just kidding. I think we mean ADSL also.
....
Supplies dial-up service if DSL service down?


I have Verizon DSL and I don't think that includes dial-up when DSL is
down.I thought about that a lot at first.

But A) I'd rather wait until DSL is back up than use dial-up.
You'll feel that way too soon.
B) I'd rather go to the public library and use their
computers than use dial-up.
C) I'd rather impose on a friend than use dial-up.
D) Or even a non-friend. Once when visiting my brother
out of town, I needed to print my boarding pass at home, but he didn't
seem to have a printer, so I went next door and imposed on a stranger.
It probably made him feel good. When I got to the airport, I found out
they had terminals there with no lines, but I might have needed it to
check my suitcase at the curb.


If you are using primarily text services like Email and usenet, dial
up is not really that bad. I barely notice I am not on DSL if I am
just reading my mail.


That's true, and they made up a greater percentage of what I did when I
was on dial-up

This won't do Ken any good, because his dsl will be there in 2 weeks,
but when I got mad at RCN for another reason, they offered me a web
accelerator it might have been called. It would only send a fraction of
the bytes, leaving out I think the adjacent pixels if they were the same
as the one they were sending. Maybe sometimes leaving out 80% of the
webpage, but letting something at my end recreate it. I thought it was
a joke but after I tried it, it really worked.

But the ISP has to have special servers or something set up to transmit
this

It has seemed to go down for a couple minutes many times -- I get a
message in a bubble in the bottom right area of the screen that says
"Cable disconnected". Then a little later without my doing anything, I
get a bubble that says "Cable connected".and that can happen several
times in an hour. But that might be my fault, not sure how. I don't
expect you'll have that


That sounds more like a network/router problem than a DSL problem


Maybe. I'm supposed to move the computer to the 2nd floor when it's
no longer hot up there. Hey, I guess that's now. So maybe I can more
attention to the router. And of course it's not doing it now anyhow.

When I move the cmputer, my workbench will be clear and I can catch up
on my other repairs.
  #21  
Old September 15th 14, 06:08 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Ken Blake, MVP[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,699
Default XP and DSL?

On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 23:09:21 -0400, wrote:


Sure we do. I think ADSL stands for American DSL.

Okay, just kidding. I think we mean ADSL also.




Just in case someone here doesn't know it, ADSL stands for "asymmetric
digital subscriber line."

  #22  
Old September 15th 14, 06:59 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
KenK
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 444
Default XP and DSL?

micky wrote in
:

On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:10:43 +0000 (UTC), Bert

wrote:


DSL replaces ISP?
Supplies email service?


Unless you made other arrangements, yes. If you're getting ADSL2+ or
fiber service, then no other arrangements are available.

BUT! These are questions you should have asked before you signed up.


Not so much if it's his only alternative, and I have the feeling it is.


Either that or satellite TV or cable high-speed internet and I've read
many bad reviews of them, fewer on CenturyLink DSL.

--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.






  #23  
Old September 15th 14, 07:09 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
KenK
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 444
Default XP and DSL?

micky wrote in
news
On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 13:37:19 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , KenK
writes:
I signed up for Centurylink DSL yesterday. I'll get it by 9/26.

If anyone here uses DSL, especially Centurylink's, how does this work?


Paul's comprehensive answers supersede this, but here's my take! (The
default here in UK - at least, for service supplied still via an old
telephone line, i. e. they don't change anything in your house - is
ADSL; when a USian talks about DSL, I'm not sure if they mean ADSL.)


Sure we do. I think ADSL stands for American DSL.

Okay, just kidding. I think we mean ADSL also.
....
Supplies dial-up service if DSL service down?


I have Verizon DSL and I don't think that includes dial-up when DSL is
down.I thought about that a lot at first.

But A) I'd rather wait until DSL is back up than use dial-up.
You'll feel that way too soon.
B) I'd rather go to the public library and use their
computers than use dial-up.
C) I'd rather impose on a friend than use dial-up.
D) Or even a non-friend. Once when visiting my

brother
out of town, I needed to print my boarding pass at home, but he didn't
seem to have a printer, so I went next door and imposed on a stranger.
It probably made him feel good. When I got to the airport, I found

out
they had terminals there with no lines, but I might have needed it to
check my suitcase at the curb.
E) The DSL has only been down afaik for 4 to 8 hours
in the 5 years I've had it. It may have been down at times I wasn't
trying to use it, but also some of the time I thought it was down, it
might have been up and only needed me to turn the modem on and off, or
to restart windows, (or possibly just restart less than all of

windows?)

It has seemed to go down for a couple minutes many times -- I get a
message in a bubble in the bottom right area of the screen that says
"Cable disconnected". Then a little later without my doing anything, I
get a bubble that says "Cable connected".and that can happen several
times in an hour. But that might be my fault, not sure how. I don't
expect you'll have that

I have a wireless router, and used to use it for a web radio (a

separate
device) and I use it for my netbook, but for the desktop computer, I
have it wired, even though the router is still on the second floor and
the computer in the basement. I have a 100' cable, from monoprice.com

..

It almost always happens when I first start Windows that I get the
bubble that says "cable disconnected" but for most of these years, that
would go away and not recur until I started windows again. But for

a
while, 3 to 6 months?, it was going on and off in the middle of a
session. That hasn't happened for a while, 3 months?

Among other ways to connect to a wireless modem, they make devices

that
plug into a USB port, easier than getting a PCI card. I have one I

paid
2 dollars for at a hamfest. He must have thought it was broken because
when I asked what it was, he lowered the price a dollar. It works for
10 or 15 minutes, at a slower speed than I get with the cable, and then
I think it stops working. I'm sure a new one would worrk much better.

I wonder if wireless ever matches the wired speed. When the
computer was upstairs, right next to the modem, I certainly used a

cable
then.

Someone commented on max DSL download speeds. I've mentioned before

that
the wiring in my house is faulty, so I've run my own wire from the NID
outside up the front of the house , in the window, through the spare
bedroom and into the office to a phone line Y connector and then the

DSL
modem. First (stage 1) I used regular flat, grey modular wire,
but then (stage 2) I used wire that was even thinner than that but

grey
and flat but suitable for modular plugs but even cheaper. Then the
phone worked but not the DSL at all. . And when (stage 3) I swtiched
to thicker wire, not flat but white and round, with 4 fairly stiff

wires
inside, my download speed tripled from what it had been at stage 1.

One person somewhere didnt' believe the thickness of the wire could
matter, but I think it did.


Just last week, after two years, I got better wire still, flat shielded
cable, so I can shut the alumimum window on the wire, but I haven't
installed it yet.




Do come back and tell us how you get on!


Yes, indeed.


Thank you for all the useful info. I'm glad I asked about this here; I'm
getting loads of help!


--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.






  #24  
Old September 15th 14, 11:36 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default XP and DSL?

In message , micky
writes:
[]
Among other ways to connect to a wireless modem, they make devices that
plug into a USB port, easier than getting a PCI card. I have one I paid
2 dollars for at a hamfest. He must have thought it was broken because
when I asked what it was, he lowered the price a dollar. It works for
10 or 15 minutes, at a slower speed than I get with the cable, and then
I think it stops working. I'm sure a new one would worrk much better.


Yes, and you can get them new for a couple of quid on ebay. (Actually
that's for one with an aerial socket; one without is somewhat cheaper.)

I wonder if wireless ever matches the wired speed. When the
computer was upstairs, right next to the modem, I certainly used a cable
then.


Well, there's always _some_ overhead, but for short range you'd not
notice it; it's only if you've got a long way between computer and
router (or many walls etc. in between), and a busy wifi environment,
that it matters. For the OP, who's isolated rural by the sound of it,
the latter considerations won't enter into it. Even the old 802.11b
standard for wifi is actually capable of higher speeds than his ADSL
line is likely to give, and the 802.11g much higher, let alone 802.11N.
_Any_ new device will be capable of at least b and g. (Actually,
sometimes, in adverse situations, constraining it to use only the b
standard _can_ work better: the old standard punches through with its 11
or 12 Mb better than the g with its 54; however, mainly in busy wifi
environments, such as where lots of neighbours are using wifi too. Which
I think unlikely in this case. I'd just let it use its default settings
- though if the computer is near enough to the router to use a direct
cable, that will be much less trouble to set up, as well as
insignificantly quicker.
[]
One person somewhere didnt' believe the thickness of the wire could
matter, but I think it did.

I can't see that the thickness as such would, but thin wire can probably
more easily be folded into sharp bends, which is not good.
[]
Do come back and tell us how you get on!


Yes, indeed.

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

You can think I'm wrong, but that's no reason to stop thinking. - Dr. Gregory
House (TV character), quoted in Radio Times 1-7/3/2008
  #25  
Old September 15th 14, 11:43 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default XP and DSL?

In message , KenK
writes:
micky wrote in
:

[]
Not so much if it's his only alternative, and I have the feeling it is.


Either that or satellite TV or cable high-speed internet and I've read
many bad reviews of them, fewer on CenturyLink DSL.

Broadband via satellite is expensive and somewhat limited in that the
uplink direction is quirky.

Cable internet, if that means like it does here they run a new cable
into your home, is probably good, but expensive. I'd give the ADSL -
assuming this comes over your existing 'phone line - a go first; if the
line is flaky for dialup, it won't be great for ADSL, but should still
be an order or two of magnitude better than what you're used to, if it
works at all. (I hope you haven't had to sign up to too long a
contract.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

You can think I'm wrong, but that's no reason to stop thinking. - Dr. Gregory
House (TV character), quoted in Radio Times 1-7/3/2008
 




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