Does anyone have experiences to share related to switching from DSL to cable? Is your cable connection stable? fast? (in relation to the DSL)
I currently pay for the top-tier DSL, but the stability of my connection has taken a huge hit in the past two months. The connection is fine when it works, but lately it’s been dropping for about 15 seconds every 2-10 minutes. This makes online gaming basically impossible. Citywest sent a tech over to check my phone lines and he hardwired my DSL saying that my phone was interfering, but it hasn’t helped.
When the connect drops the “DSL” light flashes off and the “Alarm” light flashes on.
Wall of text incoming.
This is what I’ve done to try and isolate the problem:
Swapped out the modem for a new one with Citywest.
Swapped all wired connectors.
Updated all drivers on my NIC cards.
Removed my wireless router from the loop and had the modem connected directly to three different PCs.
Removed the direct PC connection and tried only wireless.
Moved the modem/pc to a different power/phone connection (prior to Citywest ‘hardwiring’ the line)
Unplugged my phone.
Had a Citywest tech inspect the phone lines and ‘hardwire’ the DSL so that it was ahead of the phones on the ‘loop’. He figured the phone connected on the line (with a filter) was disrupting the signal.
Here and there I get a few days of reprieve where my connection is stable, but overall the connection is unusable for gaming. I also thought it may be a software problem so I shut down my PC and watched the modem for a few minutes… lo’ and behold the light flashed DSL -> Alarm to indicate a disconnect.
I’m pretty much at my wit’s end with Citywest and DSL. If there was another ISP option I would switch in a heartbeat (they are basically ignoring my queries at this point). Unfortunately I think my only option is to switch to cable internet, but after reading some of the threads on this forum I’m concerned that the cable option may be just as bad.
do you live in a new house or older house ? what type of phone do you have plugged in ? I know when i was doing dsl support for a huge company, Panasonic phones were causing dsl modems to lck up and do wierd things.
are you able to hear any static on the lines ? if you turn on your phone, and unplug / plug in your dsl phone cable to the wall in same or other room do you hear it buzzing or poping ? or any noise ?
These phantom things usually turn out to be on the outside line, cracks in the cable pair or bad connection in the RA (box at the pole). Good luck with that!
I had a similar problem with Telus ADSL here in Terrace - after a lot of farting around I managed to isolate the problem to outside security lights - when they were turned on the ADSL service was crappy with lots of noise on the line - turn them off and everything was OK. I replaced the one I thought was causing the problem - didn’t fix the problem. In the end I completely re-terminated all the telco cabling in the house and installed a proper ADSL filter that covers the entire house (separates the ADSL line completely from any telco line and vice versa) - and voila problem solved and I now have rock solid ADSL service. The old telco terminations were a rats nest of spliced cable which I corrected with a proper punchdown block and patch cables.
Moral of the story - might not be CityWest at all but rather electrical interference in your house. Electrical interference can be induced into telco cabling by poor cabling practices etc. So maybe experiment and keep records of what might be turned on in your house when you have ADSL problems.
The cabling AFTER the demarc tie-in is your responsibility. I have a dozen ppl on dial-up who phone bawling they get disconnects every time it rains, thaws. For 14 years I can bet on 3 of them calling on a particular day.
“YOUR server cuts me off. What are YOU going to do about it”?
Every one lives in a trailer or cabin in an area that used to be party-lines.
For 12 years I’ve told them I can rewire their house for $60 an hour instead of Telus’s $98 an hour rate.
Not one has ever done jack shit to fix things.
When the Citywest tech was at my house he found noise on the line and eliminated it by hardwiring the DSL to one phone jack and putting it ahead of telephone on the loop (that’s what he told me anyhow). This eliminated the need for filters on the phone lines, but the problem has persisted.
I appreciate everyone’s assistance on this one in trying to troubleshoot the issue, but I don’t think I’ve got the morale to continue trying to slay this beast and am going to move to Cable internet. The level of service can’t get any worse and at least it’s cheaper =)
If you made your decision thats great, just some more information for you. Cable VS DSL,it is not cheaper. Make sure you compare what you get and watch your usage with cable as they cap the amount of data that you can use. DSL is unlimited and cable has a certain amount of download data aloud before you pay extra for overuse. Its like comparing a bottle of coke to a bottomless fountain drink at pizza hut, the bottle has a cap and the glass doesn’t, though you spend more time waiting for someone to actually come and fill you glass
