Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dsl

Why can I use PING but not HTTP on a yet-to-be-activated DSL account?

j0hnpaul — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:15:09 -0800

Why can I PING with my new DSL modem on an inactive account, but nothing else? Hi! My new modem arrived for Verizon DSL service, but my "service ready date" hasn't arrived yet, giving me some time to muse and experiment.

I noticed that when I set up the modem and connected my Mac via an Ethernet cable, my Network Diagnostics show that the computer is connected to the internet and the connection is working properly. I noticed I can also PING google.com, verizon.com, or any other website from the Terminal with zero packet loss.

On the other hand, everything useful about the internet is closed. I can't access anything in a web browser, and attempting to run the software Verizon sent me to "activate my account" or "troubleshoot my connection" fails. I surmise this is related to trying this before the "service ready date".

But the fact that PING works from the command line, and I'm able to send and receive data across the internet, makes me wonder how real the "service ready date" is. If it's possible to communicate with sites via PING, why not through HTTP? What's really going on?

my dsl works fine but I can't reach one website that I know is not down. what can I do?

krautland — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:57:41 -0800

my dsl works fine but I can't reach one website that I know is not down. what can I do? I'm with crappy provider x and they have given me their no-name crappy wireless router y. I set it all up and it pretty much works aside from them filtering gnutella (thankyouverymuch, grrr) with one exception:

a certain website I am trying to access times out all the time. no response. now I have my iphone right next to me and I know this site is up. I can see it from my office no problem. I even spoke to its owner, who was very interested but couldn't figure out why I had this problem. enable a proxy like hotspot shield and again no problem whatsoever. alas, the proxies I know are too slow to be of any use for me.

I have tried to ping the site without success and a recent traceroute kind of dropped off around step seventeen at oakland1.level3.net, which I presume to be some kind of backbone.

so I'm lost. what can I do here?

also: what kind of halloween costume should I wear?

SF Bay Area DSL recommendation?

twsf — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:05:43 -0800

I love the DSL service from Sonic.net but they keep raising their rates. I do know better than to go with a "bargain" rate from AT&T. Anyone have another suggestion for quality, affordable home DSL service in the San Francisco Bay Area?

DSL hardware help

jingo74 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:00:52 -0800

I want to help my aunt get set up with DSL service. She has phone service with AT&T and DSL is available in her area. Her computer is an HP Pavillion that is about 6 yrs. old running XP. To avoid her having to pay AT&T's $200 fee for a tech to come out and get her going, what can I do from a hardware standpoint? Does DSL use an Ethernet port or a dial-up modem port? Should I buy her a DSL modem or will AT&T provide one? Sorry for these NooB questions as I've only dealt with cable Internet service. Thanks.

Picking a good plan

pulled_levers — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:10:11 -0800

In need of a cheap high speed internet/cable package shared among 7 college girls in MD and not sure where to start. Help! Six other girls and I will be moving into a house in College Park, MD 20740. A friend of mine has looked into Verizon for a plan. Unfortunately, she says that that particular plan only works with flatscreen TVs which we do not have.

I have looked at comcast as well as reviews of comcast saying that they are overpriced with not-so-great customer service.

After looking at some DSL vs Cable sites, it seems that cable is pricier but has faster connection. Because the internet will be shared among seven girls, I wanted to know whether or not paying for cable will become a necessity and if we should go for a package that has a minimum of X MBPS.

I would prefer a high-speed internet service coupled with a fairly basic TV cable plan. I am worried about internet being too slow if shared between so many girls. I am also bringing a wireless router to the house (will the internet company I choose help me install that at all?).

I am feeling slightly overwhelmed because we are moving in in two days and classes start on Monday. Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Undercharged for DSL and land line. Now what?

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 10:42:29 -0800

Telecom has undercharged me for DSL and land line service the past couple months. Is this going to bite me in the butt? If so, when and how severely? Back in December last year, I signed up for DSL internet service from my local telecom on a "first six months free with two-year commitment" promotion for longtime residential phone service customers. In the spring of this year, before the six months were up, they mistakenly started charging me for DSL, and I had to call them several times to get them to adjust my bill.

They rectified it and then some: since then, they've been crediting me on every billing cycle for more than the amount of the DSL charges, so that my total bill, including land line phone service, has been ridiculously low. The six month free period ended in late June, and I should now be paying around $70.00 per month for the two services. My July bill came last week: the erroneous credit is on it again, and my total amount due is about a dollar.

How likely is it that they'll discover their mistake? If they do, are they likely to bill me for all of the charges I should have been paying during the time they've been crediting me incorrectly? If they do that, do I have any recourse, since it was their error? Should I a) notify them of their error, b) simply start paying what I think I actually owe without comment, or c) continue paying the exact amount they're billing me? Thanks.

Out of the frying pan into the fire

mkb — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:19:47 -0800

I am in the process of switching from Comcast cable to Verizon DSL. I am trying to figure out the wireless situation in my house. So Verizon is offering a free netbook to new DSL subscribers, and I don't have any particular affinity for Comcast, so I decided to try it out.

With Comcast (which is actually still running), I have the following setup:
- Motorola cable modem
- Linksys WRT54g v 2.2 running Tomato and boosted output power

I have this unit set to forward BitTorrent, SSH, and icecast ports to one machine at home.

Verizon unexpectedly sent me a modem for my new service that also functions as a wireless access point and a router. It's a Westell 7500. It seems to be almost as configurable as my Linksys, and it looks like there is no need to boost the output power in order to get up to my office. The only missing feature appears to be DynDNS.com updating; the new router uses TSIG authentication which is only available on paid accounts, and I can just punt this to one of my computers.

So, is there anything I am missing that would be worth me keeping the Linksys around? Does this router have any hidden gotchas?

Modem slowing down and stopping?

Astro Zombie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:54:02 -0800

Modem question. I currently am connected to the Internet via Qwest using DSL, using two Mac computers (one using the modem's wireless signal, one plugged in with an ethernet cord). Over the past few years, our connection has been slowing down and breaking regularly, which can be fixed by turning the modem off and back on, but now it slows down and stops about every few minutes. The modem is almost five years old and Qwest tells me it's probably breaking down.

My question is bipartite: Firstly, does this sound like it is likely the problem? Secondly, if so, what modem do you recommend we purchase. I would want to get a new one tomorrow, so I am not looking to order one from Qwest and have to wait for it to be delivered.

Thanks!

How do I get Verizon to fix my dsl?

geos — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:22:22 -0800

How do I get Verizon to fix my DSL? I have had intermittent connection problems on my dsl line since it was installed. The problem went away for the winter and came back in the spring. So, it took me 4 calls to get a worker out to my house. The guy who came lowered the speed on my connection and said if this didn't work then it was a problem back at the office. Lowering the speed didn't work: how do I get them to fix this?

Calling dsl tech support i get caught it in a loop (don't even get me started on how they refused to talk to me if i admit i'm using linux) doing the same bullshit diagnostic flowchart. Escalating to the supervisor seems to have gotten a guy to come out last time, but that was very trying.... is there some magic word, or easter egg hidden in this nightmare of corporate tech support that will get them to actually make my dsl functional?

The Old Scary Black Wire

nnk — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:48:45 -0800

Is it worth the effort to get Verizon to come out and update the external phone wiring, specifically, I don't have "the gray box" (NID) I've been having problems with my DSL. Service has been very erratic and I've spent lots of time on the phone with Tech assistance. Finally I unplugged my phone (was using a splitter) and plugged the router directly into the jack. So far, everything is working fine.

But, while working through all this, I discovered how scary old the phone wiring is both in and out of my house. I can't even begin to describe the mass of old wires wound around little screws and such inside the house -- but I do know this, there is no gray box on the outside of my house. My phone service comes to my house on a wire, wraps around some kind of a ceramic holder and then down the wall and in through a hole in the masonry by the basement (and wraps around all some grimy fittings and screws on the wall inside).

. . . I am also wondering if I can get them to install the gray box and not charge me (and I kind of wonder if they're at all invested in this kind of stuff what with the advent of Fios and the slow, but coming death of the landline) -- I am really kind of doubting they'll update the interior for free, but I kind of figure the outside is there domain.

I have a very limited budget for this stuff -- So I am trying to figure out what to do.

DSL in two locations with one line.

CliffDiving44 — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:22:29 -0800

Questions about dual modem/router connections on one dsl line. Some friends and I are trying to get wireless and wired internet in an office away from the house, where the modem and router currently are. This office has phone jacks, and has been previously used with a modem and router to hook up to the internet. My question is, with the dsl connection that my friend has, would it be viable to hook up the phone jack in here to a separate modem, and that to a separate router, and have internet in both the house and the office? Or would I we have to purchase another phone line for a separate dsl connection for the office? Of course, another option is running an ethernet cable out here to the office, but that would be a lot of work and not the first option we would like to choose. Thank you for the answers!

Do other computers fear the Chicago Machine?

burnfirewalls — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:34:12 -0800

My DSL is slow...but only when connecting to servers outside Chicago. What gives? I'm located in Chicago. I have a3mbps down/512kbps up plan with my DSL provider, who rides on AT&Ts lines. When I do a speedtest on a server located in Chicago (or download files from it) I get around 2.43 downstream/0.43 up. When I connect to a server anywhere else (including Milwaukee or St. Louis) my speed drops to 1.4 downstream/0.32 up. My DSL provider claims that their line tests show that everything is okay, and so does AT&T. They want to dispatch a technician, on my dime, to diagnose the problem. The rate they quoted sounds like it will add up to a few hundred dollars.

I've removed every extraneous device - I just have my main computer hardwired into the new DSL modem that my provider sent me. Because I get full speed to servers in Chicago, it doesn't sound to me (who is admittedly a n00b at networks) like it's a problem with my local circuit. Is it possible that this is a problem on my end? Is it worth it for me to fork over a few hundred dollars for the technician to tell me that the problem is upstream?

Info source on bandwidth caps & download quotas?

kidbritish — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:40:09 -0800

Is there a website that tracks ISP's bandwidth caps and download quotas, and presents the information in an up-to-date and easy-to-read format? I'm especially interested in USA.

What's the downside to VOIP?

middleclasstool — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:07:11 -0800

What is the current state of VOIP? VOIP was never an option for us in the past, as it requires an internet connection, and we're on DSL, which until recently required a phone line.

But now AT&T is selling DSL without requiring phone service. Looking at it, I can get our current level of DSL service plus unlimited Vonage phone service (including call waiting/forwarding/id and voicemail) for what we're paying now for just basic phone service (no long distance, we've been using cards since getting burned by a crooked long distance company) + DSL.

But I'm thinking there's a catch. Like bittorrent will kill my phone service (or vice versa), for instance. What are the ugly trade-off realities of going to VOIP for your home phone line?

Help me with my internet annoyance.

zardoz — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:37:04 -0800

I sometimes have trouble with downloading via torrent: surfing becomes a slow crawl/not an option. I have a broadband DSL connection and I'll often download torrents via Transmission on my iMac.

The problem is with torrents: with either Transmission, or uTorrent I can go for several days, even longer than a week, but then suddenly surfing pages on a browser will slow to a crawl and then stop. Torrent downloading may or may not stop at that point, but eventually it stops too.

When this happens I unplug my DSL modem, plug it back in, wait a minute or two, and then I'm firing on all cylinders, torrent downloading and surfing are good for another week or so.

So how can I avoid this step? Settings in Transmission? Hack the modem?

Everybody provides every service now.

Acari — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:22:13 -0800

Canadian phone/cable/internetfilter: what combo of services are cheapest? The scenario:
Two people moving into a new place in Edmonton, mostly calling each other [or not, neither have cell phones right now] and local calls almost exclusively. Cable TV is not a requirement, although even the phone company provides that service now.

Is it best to go with a dsl/landline package from Telus?
A cable internet/digital phone package from Shaw?
Internet from [somebody] and VOIP [with Vonage? somebody better?]

Having two cellphones on a family plan and [magical internet from whoever] sounds like it provide the most convenience for us, but there are also a zillion cell phone providers to sift through to figure out what the best deal would be there.

Our total phone usage is currently quite low [maybe 20 minutes/month each?] but that might creep up with cell phone ownership. The kind of calls we make are mostly of the this-is-my-current-location-i-will-see-you-at-X-o'clock type, and would be served equally well by text messages, but voice calls are necessary for contacting older relatives.

What I'm looking for is someone who has been down this road and can point to the glaringly obvious solution that I haven't even considered yet.

DSL + Bell Hell

the dief — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:38:00 -0800

Just moved into a new rental house in Hamilton, ON and I'm trying to get my DSL turned on, but oh boy. Me and Mrs. the dief moved to a new apartment last week that is a single unit that shares a house with a business, the operator of which owns the house. We have phone jacks in the unit, so I thought oh yes, now is the perfect time to throw Teksavvy, apparently Canada's best ISP, some money for dry loop DSL. I call them up, they take my money, they ship me a modem in lightning time, they have Bell come over to light up the switch last Monday, and nothing happens. No service. Figuring Bell messed up somehow I call Teksavvy back up and ask them to have Bell take a look at the line again. Bell comes out, declares nothing wrong and that the problem is inside the house with the wiring. Considering that as a possibility, I get the landlord to come out and that's where things get interesting.

Apparently the house was at one time some sort of office or switching station for Rogers and there is a *crazy, crazy* number of phone lines in the basement. Like a junction box with at least 12 lines going in. The landlord follows wires around, does his best to rewire, tries a bunch of different things, still no light up on the modem. After me trying to explain that it's phone service but there's no phone number and him just barely believing me, I'm not sure where to go from here. Someone else suggested that it might be the modem and if I plug a phone into the line I could perhaps hear noise or some indication that the DSL was turned on.

So, any suggestions? Will plugging in a phone result in noise and therefore an indication that I have a busted modem and not a bad/wrong DSL? Is it possible that Bell flipped one of the kajillions of nonworking phone lines that go into the house and is just being, well, Bell about things? Can I hook up something to either end of the phone line that will tell me if there's a break somewhere in the middle? Should I be pressuring the landlord to call a real phone tech instead of trying to do it themselves? Is this something Bell can be forced to repair or diagnose?

Lousy connectivity on my new DSL

soviet sleepover — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:13:50 -0800

Diagnose my wifi difficulties, please! New DSL installation with intermittent, slow connectivity and occasional weird pings/notifications. I'm somewhat computer savvy, but I'm definitely missing something basic, so assume I'm a beginner with all this!

I just got DSL (with SBC Global) and an inherited modem and linksys router. I followed the instructions on the SBC Global installation cd, installed the phone filters, etc. Connectivity is intermittent (and extremely slow), even though the signal always appears strong, and roommates also have the same problems. I'm usually able to connect to the router (though not reliably). Pings return occasionally weird results (posted below), and every once in a while this error will pop up:
"192.168.1.64 in use by 00:90:4b:b4:ef:dc, DHCP Server 192.168.1.254"

The intermittent connection also seems to happen when I'm connected directly to the modem via an ethernet cable, but I don't think it's a problem with the physical lines: I've already checked the phone box outdoors, and there's no corrosion (plus, I'm pretty sure the previous tenants have had wireless here without complaint).

Here's the last minute-or-so of a ping:

64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8227 ttl=55 time=64.149 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8228 ttl=55 time=72.922 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8230 ttl=55 time=72.530 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8233 ttl=55 time=62.075 ms
60 bytes from se5-l0.pltnca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.186.133): Communication prohibited by filter
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 2cc6 0 0000 3e 01 fff4 192.168.1.64 69.13.72.249

64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8612 ttl=55 time=81.776 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8613 ttl=55 time=61.918 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8614 ttl=55 time=61.946 ms

I don't think I've left anything important out, but I'm not sure what to do and ordinary fiddling hasn't seemed to fix anything. Help, metafilter! You're my only hope!

Is Big Brother Surfing With Me?

watercarrier — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:56:56 -0800

Very strange DSL behavior - Is it Big Brother? I've been dealing with this daily now and after extensive research - I've pretty much concluded that something or someone is surfing with me. But maybe I'm wrong and it's something else.

For about 2 weeks I've been experiencing very weird ISP behavior. Dial up problems, weird error messages, disconnects and just plain slow surfing. My machine is a clean machine - no viruses, adware - trojans or cookies. No cache older than a few hours either.

All surfing, streaming, downloading were effected during these lags. I've run Hijack This and nothing seems out of the ordinary except 2 exceptions - which are

AF891CD7E25B}: NameServer = XXXXXX
O17 - HKLM\System\CS1\Services\Tcpip\..\{470F728C-8ABE-4657-B74C-AF891CD7E25B}: NameServer = XXXXXX

(I've x'd out the addy)

The only remedy that seems to work in this situation is CMD
netsh winsock reset catalog - and restarting. Then it works perfectly.

I'm running XP Pro on a pretty new machine. No network. I've run diagnostics and there don't seem to be any problems with the network card or the modem. The cable is fine as well. I've run msconfig and taken out anything that could be a problem or culprit. I've set up new dialers. Currently I have only 2 things that I can see running at start up - one is the AV and the other is a desktop clock - both when disabled did nothing to present the above mentioned problems.

I tried firewalling and disabling firewall - same results in both instances.

I've tried accessing the web via a different machine and had same exact issue. It's not the puter - it's the line. ISP will not admit to any fault or problem only mentioning that there have been some *problems on their end and the issues should be cleared up now*.

Should be mentioned - trying to surf via proxy gets me disconnected.

Could this be some kind of filter placed on my line by the ISP that only the complete reset rids me of (albeit temporarily)? I am currently out of the country living in a war zone where there have been cases of close monitoring. So this isn't completely out of left field.

Is there anyway to find out what/who is messing up my internet connection via tracking software and is there anyway I can track someone who is tracking me?

Can I use my DSL modem/router to act only as a wireless router?

ocha-no-mizu — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:04:33 -0800

Can I use my DSL modem/router to act only as a wireless router? I'm replacing my DSL service with cable internet. Instead of paying for the cable company's wireless router, I'd rather use my existing DSL modem/router if I can. Is it as simple as plugging the cable modem into the DSL modem/router?

For what it's worth, my DSL modem/router is a 2wire 2700HG-B.

Comcast, from the gates of hell I spit at thee!

jadepearl — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:41:56 -0800

DSL in Minneapolis. Recommendations, experiences, ISPs of note. Comcast is awful. I get horrible digital service and the speed is nothing impressive. I am probably going to go satellite for cable but I need internet service that is fast, reliable and not too expensive. I have a wireless network in the house and use Apple TV. I do a lot of work online so lots of uploading and downloading.

High speed internet in the sticks?

youcancallmeal — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:21:25 -0800

How can I get DSL in Barre, Vermont? Alternately: is satellite internet really that bad? So, my boyfriend and I are moving to an apartment just south of town in Barre, VT and the lease says that Verizon services the place. The Verizon website disagrees. Is there something I'm missing? Is there another provider I should be looking for?

If we can't get DSL... I've heard bad things about satellite speeds. Is it still that bad? We mostly just use the internet for surfing, general youtube watching, some TV streaming, XBOX/Wii playing, etc. Will it choke?

My DSL woes, in verse. Hopefully I won't have to progress to haiku.

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:17:03 -0800

An appeal to you all so I don't run up the wall/Or beat on my desk with my forehead./For when my DSL is good, the connection's very good -- But when I use the phone, it is horrid. ....In other words.

I have a DSL account with AT&T which I can confirm is properly set up (a friend who was the head of IT for Bloomberg.com for ten years saw to that), and I also have my phone -- an old-ish cordless phone -- plugged into it, and yes, I am using a filter for that. No other electronic device is plugged into this DSL box.

Now. Whenever I use the phone, the DSL box drops its connection to the Internet, and the only way to get the internet connection BACK is to do a hard reset of the DSL box by unplugging and replugging the power cord into the DSL box. Sometimes, even so, it takes up to a half hour. Everything else is fine -- the DSL, LAN, and other lights are on, just the Internet craps out.

Now, I thought that that was the whole point of DSL, that you could use phone and internet simultaneously. We've tried calling AT&T, but all the tech support said is that "sometimes cordless phones interrupt the service". She did not say why, nor have any idea how to rectify that.

...Suggestions? Thoughts? I do have a newer phone I just haven't broken out of the box yet, might that help? (The phone I have now is about 4 years old.)

DSL troubles

Beaufort — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:07:16 -0800

I have an Embarq DSL 660 modem (bridged) connected to a Dynex DX-WGRTR Wireless-G Broadband Router. The computer connected directly to the router can access the internet, but not my wireless laptop. What do I need to change to get my wireless to connect to the internet through my router and the DSL modem? Do I need to clone the connected pc’s MAC address, or just connect with PPPoE, or a stactic IP or something else with Embarq? I have never set up a router with DSL only with a cable modem. Thanks.

How to investigate an ISP

vilcxjo_BLANKA — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:50:37 -0800

How do I get information on the reliability and competence of an ISP? I have not changed ISP in a decade, but I think it's time. I currently have Speakeasy DSL. Speakeasy's customer service and reliablity is great. But it's DSL, so it's slow and expensive, and I'd like to switch.

My town restricts me to three vendors: Comcast, RCN and someone called Galaxy Internet Services. (This is Brookline, MA.) I'm pretty sure Comcast and RCN are incompetent, but I'm not sure about Galaxy. I have searched for reviews of them, but without very much success.

I don't need any software from them, or anything else except a digital dialtone. I need to run a mail server, a web server, an ldap server and my own DNS, though I could remove the DNS. I'm paying about $100/month for DSL and phone now, and would like that to decrease. I could do away with the phone service if doing away with it is cheap. I could pay a per-minute phone charge if that is cheaper.

Has anyone had experience with them? I'm particularly interested in fiber optic service, and not in wireless or in DSL service.

Thanks.