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Figures...


Daiquirii

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Warning: This is a vent/rant for the most part.

My DSL connection isn't even turned on yet and I'm already frustrated... Let me start from the beginning, which has nothing to do with the actual connection...

Yesterday after the UPS trucks stopped running I asked my dad "Hey, did you get the equipment for the dsl, I'd like to at least have it all set up so I can just connect tomarrow?" He replies no, and sometime after dinner he called SBC/SNET and asked where our package was. They replied that it was on our front porch. First of all, why is UPS leaving our 50 dollar package right on the porch, without even having us sign for it? They should know better especially in my city. Secondly, we have a rather large sign on the front door that says "MAKE ALL DELIVERIES TO THE BACK PORCH." This isn't the first time we've had trouble with their illiterate delivery people...

So we go to start hooking up the connection. I go downstairs to the basement where the line comes in so I can just use 1 filter instead of five. This is harder than I thought because our phone line is split in many places and held together by vast amounts of duct-tape. After about 15 minutes of trying to make my dad understand plain english (for some reason he didn't understand "no filter on line to computer") , we finally were able to hook up the filter in the right place.

I was able to hook up the modem to the computer just fine once we got over plugging it in, the power strip was almost full, so I had to move things around. I ask my dad who is standing around doing nothing if a white cord runs to the lamp on top of the TV. He replies that no, the cord is black. I climb out from under the desk, look for myself, then contemplate slapping him because apparently he cant tell the difference between black and white. Then I unplugged the white cord of the useless lamp and plugged in the modem.

And nows the best part, the software installation. I had gone through the step by step instructions on their little installer and now it was doing the software. SBC insists on IE, which I hate, so it made sure it was there and moved on. Then it came to required components or something like that and froze. I restarted and tried again, and the installer stuck at about 95%. I cancel and start again, and it sticks at the same place. My dad asks if the task manager would help, which I replied to with no, and he proceeded to ask me the same thing another six times. At that point I mumbled a few choice words and walked out of the room.

The cherry on top is that the SBC is through AOL. The rep on the phone and the website itself claim that the deal that we're getting from SBC is the best, but when I went to their  site, they had the same exact plan for 2 dollars less. Not only that, but its AOL. I have a bad feeling that once I get my router in I'm going to have to install their ad-ware crap, which will make my pristine notebook all slow and cruddy. Why else would the SBC installation disk be specially made for AOL...

So, I'm not even connected yet and I already hate it, I've had two experiences with DSL and they've both been nightmares (and they've both been through SBC) I'll admit that once its running the speeds are great compared to dial up, but setting up a connection shouldn't be this much of a hassle. A large part of me is hoping that we cant get it to work so we can back out of the contract, they cant keep us in a contract for a service that doesn't work... With my luck I'll go downstairs in the morning and it will work perfectly, or something will explode. I'm routing for the explosion.

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I had SBC for a while and it was ok. Just ok. Out of the advertised "up to 1.2 Mbps" DL speed, I was able to get about 600 Kbps but only after I had a technician come out to test everything and call in to have the line tweaked as high as it would go. Too far away from the central office or some nonsense like that. Of course, I live IN the city of Houston and SBC had been the only phone company here forever.  :shock:  :roll:

I also had to attempt the installation a few times before I got it to work and that was only after a 45 minute phone session. And then I would routinely have problems with the service. Couldn't connect or loss of connection in the middle of a session.  :angry5:

I've been extremely pleased with my Earthlink cable service since I dumped SBC almost 3 years ago.

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i don't want my ISP to come back to my house,after the last guy showed up here again and trying to figure out why my signal kept dropping he overtightened the line going to the back of the cable modem and messed up the threading.

i still had trouble. so, i tapped off my sister's cable line to watch t.v. and then used the line in my room just for the cable internet.

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your first mistake was you used the cd that came with it, If your connection your modem through eathernet then you don't need anything on that disk, that is for people that are using USB.

Also UPS will not leave a package on your door step unless its worth more then $100 or the suppler request a signature. Also its UPS's policy drivers are not allowed to go to any back door, just the front door.

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Daiquirii ;Well you got the UPS package so you could get started.So why complain.

Next the words phone line(I prefer cable) & duct tape make me shudder & I'm a Red Green fan.

So first you need to do a direct high quality cable to you NID(That phone box thingy on the outside of your house)I have dial-up & all my inside house cable is Cat 3 & all connect directly to the NID.I think a lot of DSL users go at least CAT5 cable.

If all the cable in the rest of your house is like the basement cable then you are going to have problems until it is all replaced.

But a direct good quality line as short as possible from the computer(or router) to the NID is what you want.With the correct filter of course.

dlewis23 ;I guess UPS is more lax here they almost always leave packages on the porch regardless of value.This has happened several times even when I was home.Just a quick doorbell ring & they were gone.

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I got a package about a month ago from Fedex, and i was home they didnt even knock or anything. They just left it on my front porch. Its was a brand new motorola SLVR with iTunes

i had that happen with fedex, when they brought me my phone.

dlewis23 ;I guess UPS is more lax here they almost always leave packages on the porch regardless of value.This has happened several times even when I was home.Just a quick doorbell ring & they were gone.

they must be because here anyting of defent value they wont leave, and im in a gated community thats very safe.

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your first mistake was you used the cd that came with it,

Daiquirii, IMHO the second mistake, was involving you Dad, poor guy got the rough end of it ,  :shock:, still I guess thats what  Dads are for,  :lol:

hope you get it sorted soon  though

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Lol, like I said I was venting, when I typed that I was angry at the world. Now I'm just not fully awake so my reply may not make much sense, I'm just typing things in the order I think of them without concern about structure. (lol, I typed this paragraph last)

Well, we got it installed. We have to use the CD because the modem wouldn't turn on "right" until we used the CD, they probably program the modem like that or something. Good news is that we don't have to use the AOL, I'm trying to wean my dad off of it at the moment, instead having him use Firefox with the AOL webpage as his homepage. Now I need to tweak the computer because it was tweaked for dial-up, so we're only getting about a 1/4 of the speed we're supposed to get. But first, I need to reformat that computer because my dad plays on partypoker.net and doesn't realize that its infecting the computer with spyware, and all of the extra AOL crap like their security center is slowing it down. I don't feel like cleaning it manually, and theres not really any important files on there anyways, they're all here on my notebook (plus I had just done a  reformat back in June, so I still know where my backup Cd's are.)

SBC ended up making me even more upset yesterday anyways, I went to the computer when I woke up and tried to install, I got past the step that was hanging up, but then it was saying that it couldn't connect. Only after installing it almost fully, it said that you cant install until you like was turned on (Why didnt they say this at the beginning of hte CD?) and that I should dial the service number to see when it would be on. I called, and apparently when they say they are turning a service on, they turn it on when theres no more time to use it, 8 pm... we're paying for it to be turned on that day, the least they could have done was turn it on earlier, my dad seldom uses that computer after 8 (he goes to bed early, he has to be in work at 5 am), and I don't have my router yet.

All the wiring is my house is Do-it-Yourself, I had to get my dad involved because I cant tell one wire from another down there, its a web of line splitters. If the house gets passed down to me I'm getting a professional in to re-wire the place, well actually even if we were going to sell it we would have to re-wire the  place, theres no way this stuffs up to code.  As to the software installation I didn't have a choice in the matter of him getting involved, he just stood there and looked over my shoulder and made stupid comments, just like he does with everything else...

Also UPS will not leave a package on your door step unless its worth more then $100 or the suppler request a signature. Also its UPS's policy drivers are not allowed to go to any back door, just the front door.

lol, thats funny, they've made me sign for cheaper things, and they've come to the back door (well, actually, its not a back door its a side door thats enclosed.) I just don't appreciate my items being left in plain sight of the neighbors who would gladly steal something so they can sell it for drug money. My boyfriend suggested afterwords that if they pulled something like that again that we have someone (like him) take the item then call UPS and complain about not getting item they don't have a signature so they cant prove that we got it... (don't worry we wouldn't do it, we just like to think up loopholes and how to exploit them in our spare time.)

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Daiquirii;I think you & your dad should go to BlockBuster or its equivalent & rent you some Red Green DVDs & sit down & have a good laugh.

On the wiring you definitely need to get someone to work on the phoneline(DSL line too) .If other wiring is bad it probably won't effect your PC too much as long as you have a good surge protector.

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isnt the phone line the dsl line?  :confused1:

we have everything going through a surge protector, including the phoneline (theres and in/out jack) I have a phone line going in and the data cable(dsl line?) that we got with the modem going to the modem, and from the modem to the computer is the ethernet cable. New lines would probably make the whole thing better, but the problem is convincing my dad to pay more money...

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Yesterday after the UPS trucks stopped running I asked my dad "Hey, did you get the equipment for the dsl, I'd like to at least have it all set up so I can just connect tomarrow?" He replies no, and sometime after dinner he called SBC/SNET and asked where our package was. They replied that it was on our front porch. First of all, why is UPS leaving our 50 dollar package right on the porch, without even having us sign for it? They should know better especially in my city. Secondly, we have a rather large sign on the front door that says "MAKE ALL DELIVERIES TO THE BACK PORCH." This isn't the first time we've had trouble with their illiterate delivery people...

Thats not as bad as it gets man...

Ive had UPS let my neighbor sign for my computer when it came (or was it FEDEX? I dont remember off the top of my head). Luckily, my neighbor is a nice guy. Ive had packages worth $100 stolen by the guy in the house opposite of mine (he stays home all the time, and the package was delivered during when i was away from home). We knew it was him, but couldnt do anything about it since there was no signature required for that package

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isnt the phone line the dsl line?  :confused1:

Daiquirii ;Heres a couple of how to links.DSL is done a couple of ways.I guess I had looked at thee DSL filter with the NID & DSL having it's own DSL line into the house but It can be done with filters on everything & a regular phone jack.

http://www.hometech.com/learn/dsl.html

http://www.homephonewiring.com/dsl.html

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Now I need to tweak the computer because it was tweaked for dial-up, so we're only getting about a 1/4 of the speed we're supposed to get.

Tweaking won't hurt, but you are supposed to leave the modem turned on for the first 7 (or is it 10, I forget) days straight before you will get your full potential from it. I wouldn't even try a speed test until then.  ;)

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Tweaking won't hurt, but you are supposed to leave the modem turned on for the first 7 (or is it 10, I forget) days straight before you will get your full potential from it. I wouldn't even try a speed test until then.  ;)

Thats the dumbest thing ever, i have no clue why some DSL ISP's do that. there is no real reason to hold back the speed for any amount of time

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Yeah, I know. I had SBC/Yahoo and there was a sticker on the modem stating to leave it on for the first 7(?) days. Even after it took a week to "provision" my phone line for DSL.  :whaa:

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So we go to start hooking up the connection. I go downstairs to the basement where the line comes in so I can just use 1 filter instead of five. This is harder than I thought because our phone line is split in many places and held together by vast amounts of duct-tape.

philp&dlewis23 ;The above is why I have been suggesting wiring correction before tweaking or modem help.

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Well I reformatted the desktop, and lo and behold I didnt need their crap software installed on my system. Apparently the software innitially trains the modem to work (why doesnt it work when we get it...) so since it was already trained no software was needed. Training my dad not to use aol is a hassle though. He doesn't understand that hes already connected and doesnt need to sign on to aol. He is trying to use firefox to please me, but first he signs on to aol...

The speeds are not as bad as I thought, my dad had told me he thought he got the 3/384 plan, but when I looked our info up on the AT&T website it said we were on the 1.5/384 plan. I'm getting speeds around 1350/340 (used correct cablenut settings to tweak) so its not that bad, the wires probably have something to do with it, or my distance from the hub or whatever its called (seeing as both max out at around 87%.) Now all I have to do is get my router (should be arriving within the hour, I should go check if UPS just left it on my doorstep like they did with the modem) and set up my network and all the security that goes with it.

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philp&dlewis23 ;The above is why I have been suggesting wiring correction before tweaking or modem help.

Good point. Nothing good can come from split phone lines held together with duct tape.  :haha:

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