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Hi all, I finally got tired of 56k. So I decide to get dsl. I don't belive it will be hard to setup. I look at my brothers connection. He has cable though. And it looks pretty basic. Is the DSL setup pretty much the same? Also I'm looking for a firewall that dosen't use a lot of resources. And I like to hear from people who have or used dsl and if they like it or not. Have a good day.
Some pretty fair faq's over here: http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in.php?category=88
I tried DSL before cable,but was not happy because of the company(s) I had to go with. M$N & local phone company(Qwest). Wouldn't let me use my own modem and the one supplied was junk. Took them 2 months to get the modem to me after signing up. Went with Cable thru' ATTBI(now Comcast) and used my own modem and except for Comcast's greedyness, i've been satisfied. Another point with DSL is,the closer you are to a substation, the better. Also,how many customers are on the same station. The less,the better...
I don't really expectany problems. Only thing I am concerned with is the phone lines. I don't know exactly how old they are and I read at my isp's website which is Sprint that some lines may need to be replaced if they can not support adsl. I called Sprint and they said that it shouldn't be much of a problem but they are not sure. I wonder how old is to old.
sygate is a good firewall and is free i use it all the time works great
I expected BT (British Telecom) would have to rip my line out down the the main box in my block - old thinner-type cable hanging from the clips, caked with years of paint, old broken clips still attached (even worse THIS side of my front door!)
DSL installed - full speed no problems.
I second Sygate Personal Firewall - one of the easiest to configure, and pretty-well bullet-proof, if you want to go further than "normal" protection.
If you have a choice of modem then go for a DSL modem/router. Not only does it make it very easy to network another PC and share the connection, but you get the very worthwhile benefit of NAT, and some have a hardware firewall too. Used in conjunction with a good software firewall that makes for a pretty bulletproof setup.
I use Zone Alarm Pro for my software firewall.
Well I don't think I have a choice of what modem I can get. Sprint did email me and told it was a ZyXel Prestige 645 adsl modem.
Rambler- I doubt I will have anything to worry about then:D
I'll just be glad to get out of this 56k hell. It wasn't to bad a couple of years ago. Websites didn't take long to download ect.. Except for large downloads. But now even websites take forever on 56k. Thanks for all the advice. I'm still trying to figure out what firewall I should use. Everyone seems to say Zone Alarm or Sygate Personal. I'll guess I'll try one at a time and see which one I like better.
The trouble with most newer sites is they are geared up for people with faster connections so ooddles of high definition graphics,flash files,audio and the works.
So if your on dial up it can sadly seem like the world is passing you by these days.
Just my 2c buy any firewall is better than none these days
Thats what I thought. I see all the websites with flash graphics thats about 200 k each. Thats not really a lot but if you have more than 5 with 200 k. That will take a while for 56k. It just seems like everyone seems to think everyone can get a High speed internet connection. Well some people can't afford it or they don't have access to it. Only thing I wonder is that most dsl providers have a 18,000 feet limit or about three miles of services. How do they get it to people past that limit? Or is that not possible. Also I signed up for the 512/128 package. Does anyone know what would be good speeds for the download and the upload? I read some where it should be about 80 percent of promised speeds to be consider a good connection.
For people outside the set limit they do a reduced service forget the name right now but its about half the speed your going to get.
As to testing there are several sites which give the down/upload speeds readings for you like those below which should give you a reading close to what your paying for:
http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
http://www.pcpitstop.com/default.asp
Hi all, Yesteday my order was processed at Sprint. And today got my order. That was really quick. The dsl service will be turned on tommorow. I have question about the filters. Sprint gave me 3 filters two microfilters and one wall mount filter. The question is with the wall mount filter. I have a phone on my desk and the wall mount filter has a dsl jack and two phone jacks on it. I installed it. Than went over the Sprint user guide. I was reading and it said do not install a filter on the actual line that goes between the modem and the phone jack. If they did not want you to do that then why do they have a dsl jack on that filter? I tired to find a pic of it but couldn't. Just think of it as a regualar wall mount jack with a dsl jack at the top left, a phone jack at the top right and a phone jack in the middle. Hope you understand what I am saying. At first I thought it was like a regular 2 way spliter. But the user guide has a pic of it and calls it a filter.
jayclark:
I do not fully remember but when I first got DSL 2+ years ago, I don't 'think' I used the wall filter jack my ISP(BellSouth) gave me. In fact, I had a wall phone using the jack that was there and the wife never really liked having a wall phone there so when it went on the blink, I never replaced the phone. I am fairly positive that a filter in not to be used directly by the phone(on your desk). A filter can be used to complete the "in line connection"(extension of) for your desk phone but it is not to be plugged into the DSL In fact, I believe "that 1 inline filter" is to used at the end of your phone line where the direct connection to your wall phone line for final connection. I would reply upon what your ISP tells you because, I guess, phone systems around the world do differ AND my memory bank may be incorrect. This I do know--all phone extensions must have a filter!! My lay out is difficult to look at and with me getting over a fractured hip, I can't get on all fours to check.
Also, hope your modem is an external NIC modem and not a USB modem. NIC is much faster, supposedly.
Good luck with your DSL and I think you will love it. :D
Well I call Sprint. They said it is a filter/splitter. The two top jacks are not filtered. They are just there as extra connection if you have a phone at you desk. The jack in the middle is filtered. They said use the DSL jack for DSL. Well duh! The top right jack fax or other device. And use the middle one for the phone. I told them that they should just explain that it the manual. I pretty much figuerd thats how it should be if you have a phone at your desk. I might not use it like that for long though. I'm going to run speed test on it with the filter/splitter than without to see if it affects the speeds.
Glad to know you now have your answer. Now bring on the DSL:p
Sprint delayed activation until Friday. Aparently they have above average order for DSL this week. Can't blame them. Our are is a small town. And there has been a lot of growth in our area lately. There are a lot of people moving in. There is only one Sprint guy servicing our area. Takes them a while. Hoepfully they'll start hireing more people. I was looking forward to it tonight though. But I guess I can wait a little bit while longer.
Hi, JayClark.
Welcome to DSL world:)
You will like it so much you wouldn't even think about going back to 56K modem.
Enjoy!
I'm thinking about sticking the 56k dail-up modem under the car wheel and keep going over it. Yep I can imagine it now. The crunching sounds of freedom:D
Thanks for the report. Hopefully your next report will be a positive one and you'll be up and running with DSL.
My ADSl was turned on today and I couldn't be happier. I went to http://pcpitstop.com and ran full test. Main thing I was worried about was speed. I order the 512/128 package. From pc pit stop it said bandwidth download was 484 Kbits/sec. The bandwidth upload was 134 Kbits/sec. My average ping is 91 ms. Ping loss was 0% As you can see not a bad connection. It is very close to what promised speeds are. Hopefully I'll stay happy.
A great feeling, ain't it!!! I share in your joy and there are many of us who "try" :p to recall the days of dialup :D Enjoy.
Thanks for letting us know.
Hi all, I'm not here for me but for my brother. He wants to know why he has a 3.5 meg a sec cable connection and get kicked out of enemy territory, soldier of fortune, and unreal tournament 2004 for having a high ping. His average ping is 15 to 25. I told him it could be because of ping spikes. That is they only thing I can think of.