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DSL and old wiring

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Scooterit

Regular Contributor
Hi,

I need to get an ATT DSL line into a condo.

The problem is that the building has old wiring that doesn't support hi speed dsl signals. I do have the option to run a Cat6 from the 60 pin block in the basement to the closet where the router and switch are going to be installed.

Can I ask the ATT technician to install the DSL modem where the lines come into the building while maintaining the existing phone line?

Thanks,

Rogier
 
Hi,

I need to get an ATT DSL line into a condo.

The problem is that the building has old wiring that doesn't support hi speed dsl signals. I do have the option to run a Cat6 from the 60 pin block in the basement to the closet where the router and switch are going to be installed.

Can I ask the ATT technician to install the DSL modem where the lines come into the building while maintaining the existing phone line?

Thanks,

Rogier

Usually, the line problems are outside your home. At the cross box or farther. Don't let AT&T screw you by installing some crappy low speed DSL and say, we'll come back and make it faster. What they do is swipe a better pair at the cross-box to use from there to the central office. That works until someone steals that one. And, in my area, (20 year old neighborhood, underground wires), the AT&T curbside pedestal interconnect gets hit by sprinkers and the wires are all corroded and fragile. AT&T does not care to rebuild it, despite pleas from their employees. Twisted pair phone/data is dead.

In old DSL, the issue is the wire-route distance to the "DSLAM" box.

My neighbor had AT&T install U-Verse. AT&T spent 2 days x 2 guys rewiring the house. Then the idiots tried the modem for the first time and found that the wires were 300% longer than as the crow flies. Duuuu, that's how underground works - follows the roads as built. Neighbor had to beg and pay cable co. to reinstate their service.

So, try to get cable modem service.
 
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Thanks, in this case there is new fiber its just that the condo building has bad wiring...

I have no idea how this works. Need to know if I can have the modem connected where the lines come into the building while the phone service remains unchanged..
 
Last edited:
Thanks, in this case there is new fiber its just that the condo building has bad wiring...

I have no idea how this works. Need to know if I can have the modem connected where the lines come into the building while the phone service remains unchanged..

I suspect your understanding/assumption about the fiber is not totally correct.
 
It would be best if you read on the differences between coper wire dsl and fiber. Then get fiber if its available at your address.
 
1st, you really really don't want DSL unless it's vdsl. I'd be calling your cable co to start then see who can do fiber. As far as putting it in an apartment basement then running a line up to your rooms, nope, you'd come back down two days later and find some enterprising tenant stuck a switch in there LOL. If the cable co gives you the run around on residential cable modem call their business side, that division will even run cable for a commercial account and the commercial account was only $50@60 meg more a month than residential which was $35@20meg pipe. I even got 5 static ip's for $5 a month.
 
I had DSL (bad DSL) until a few years ago. I am at the end of the line from the central office and could barely get 1.54Mb, and usually less. And I had the privilege of paying a lot for it.

I took a chance on Xfinity internet, having had really bad cable TV many years earlier when AT&T had the franchise. Happily, I was wrong and Xfinity is great. My speeds range from 25Mb to 50Mb, depending on the special I get into each year. Plus they throw in HBO Go free. Their prices are dropping so fast that I may even someday consider not making the annual call to get a better deal when the special runs out.

I then dropped the ATT land line and use Ooma VoIP, just because I'm a traditionalist and feel the need for a home phone.
 
I had DSL (bad DSL) until a few years ago. I am at the end of the line from the central office and could barely get 1.54Mb, and usually less. And I had the privilege of paying a lot for it.

I took a chance on Xfinity internet, having had really bad cable TV many years earlier when AT&T had the franchise. Happily, I was wrong and Xfinity is great. My speeds range from 25Mb to 50Mb, depending on the special I get into each year. Plus they throw in HBO Go free. Their prices are dropping so fast that I may even someday consider not making the annual call to get a better deal when the special runs out.

I then dropped the ATT land line and use Ooma VoIP, just because I'm a traditionalist and feel the need for a home phone.

Had Comcast for almost a decade. When I called to cancel as I was switching to FiOS, they only offered my free HD Box for TV. Now I get double speed for $25 less with HD Box and an amazing customer service.
Comcast/Xfinity customer service is terrible, had modem replaced every year as they constantly failed.
 
Had Comcast for almost a decade. When I called to cancel as I was switching to FiOS, they only offered my free HD Box for TV. Now I get double speed for $25 less with HD Box and an amazing customer service.
Comcast/Xfinity customer service is terrible, had modem replaced every year as they constantly failed.

I forgot to mention, with comcast you should buy your own modem. A good DOCSIS 3 modem costs well under $100, and under $50 if you catch a deal. It saves $7 / mo to own your cable modem. My deal with xfinity now is $39 /mo for 25Mb, free basic cable (good when weather knocks out Dish - I'm grandfathered into a lot of good deals with Dish because I've had them so long), free HBO Go.

A sale after I got this one was even better.

Next year after the 1 yr times out I'll snag another special for 12 months; probably 50Mb with much better basic cable and HBO Go for $10 more. Having to negotiate annually is a pain, but I don't mind for the savings. Maybe someday they'll lower prices and save on all the customer service and advertising because people like me won't keep going back annually to fish around.
 
TimeWarner Cable loves customer-purchased modems. Gives them another reason to bill $40 for a truck roll where they blame the customer's equipment, true or not.
 
TimeWarner Cable loves customer-purchased modems. Gives them another reason to bill $40 for a truck roll where they blame the customer's equipment, true or not.

I've had my cable modem for 2.5 years with no problems. I'm guessing the Time Warner call is more for network support than modem issues. Home networks are bigger and more demands are being placed on them. Routers are getting more powerful but the devices that attach are usually not at the same level and I bet a lot of problems are caused by congestion. It wasn't too long ago when I would have bought the cheapest router available because I didn't know any better. But, when all technology connecting is old technology, sometimes that cheap router is the best choice since new tech common on a new router (ex. ac and 5GHz) is unused a lot of the time, I imagine.
 

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