XP and DSL?

[KenK]

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

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

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.



Yes, indeed.

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

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, micky

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.
[]

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

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.)