Things to Recognize ...
DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line or Data Service Line, depending
on who is asked. It makes use of telephone line frequencies ABOVE
those needed for the normal telephone usage.
It is MUCH faster than DialUp service.
There is some argument as to whether it is faster or more reliable
than Cable-TV access.
It is NOT available if your telephone is service is over your Cable-TV.
This service is directly ON an existing telephone line; all normal
telephone services remain IN-tact.
DSL REQUIRES filters on ALL (well almost all) telephones on the line.
These are needed to prevent ...
1. the telephones from interferring with the DSL.
2. the DSL from interferring with the telephones.
The requirement may exist even for telephones which are NEVER used;
even in their ON-hook conditions, some phones will interfere with DSL.
This INcludes everything currently attached to the phone line
- answering machines, and FAX machines, and burglar alarms.
The phone company charges NO extra fee for the service;
the only charge is paid directly to the ISP.
Typically you make the request of your ISP and they make all of the
arrangements with your phone company. One of them will send a kit
consisting of the filters and a modem. Then at some time
(and you never when it's gonna be) the phone company will turn it on.
By that time, the filters MUST be in place or your phone service will
be lousy.
The typical scenario is ..
.- request the service from your ISP
.- receive the modem and filters from them or the phone company.
.- install the filters IMMEDIATELY on ALL phones.
.- install either a router with a Firewall or a software Firewall
.- install the modem and connect it to the computer.
.- wait for the ready light on the modem some day.
.- configure and get comfortable with it.
.- disconnect and terminate the dial-up service
With DSL it becomes very easy to attach multiple PCs to the same service
at the same time by using a Hub or a Router; the latter is recommended.
Some ISPs will want to charge EXTRA if you do this, and will NOT support
debugging system failures if you have a router or hub in place.
Therefore it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you have all the hardware
readily reconfigurable and software in place so that you can establish
a single-system image in order to debug troubles.
With DSL it UN-fortunately becomes very easy for bad guys to attempt wreak
havoc on your system; it is therefore MANDATORY to have a Firewall in place
with all of the parameters set correctly to block the access from these "Hackers".
See more ...
The service is normally very reliable, but debugging trouble can be VERY
FRUSTRATING because neither the user nor the ISP has any good tools to
determine the location of the problem. The usual solution is to ...
A. Power off the modem and/or Router/Hub
B. Wait 2 minutes
C. Power them back on
D. Reinitialize/Reboot them as needed
E. If not successful, then call the ISP who will ask you to
repeat A-D.
F. The ISP will promise to have it fixed in 36 hrs;
but they do nothing and hope the trouble gets fixed by itself.
G. Gotta escalate this to ISP Upper Mgmt and holler to get it fixed.
The speed of your connection (any connection: Dial, DSL, or Cable)
can be tested at ...
http://tech.msn.com/products/speedtest.armx
http://msn-cnet.com.com/7018-7254_7-0.html?CType=2278&ac=562&subj=speed&part=msn-cnet&tag=speed
http://www.2wire.com/
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
http://lax.speakeasy.net/
but they may operate in short bursts with a LOT of line reversal and not truly
represent your performance.
There's an interesting internet connection utility/tool to check the speed of your system
and it's connection to UP/DOWNload data.
You can download it FREE at ...
http://www.techboard.net/showpost.php?p=30&postcount=1
It runs between when you start it and when you stop it and checks the speed of the
current activity on your line.
The averaging period is not exactly clear, but the interval can be cleared/reset.
Necessarily, after transmission is completed, then the average speed decreases
slowly to zero since there are NO more bytes per second.
Some speeds are quoted in kb/sec (kilobits/sec) and others in kB/sec (kiloBYTES/sec);
the case (lower/UPPER) of the "b/B" often being the only clue as to the actual dimension;
however there is no guarantee as to the adherance to this notation.
The usual conversion ratio is 8.18 bits per Byte.
The real overall test of the connection's speed, comes from knowing the size of the
file being transfered and the time (a stopwatch can be helpful here) to complete the xfer.
As a test, just do a big UP/DOWNload while the program is running; the following might be useful as test cases ...
4.0Gig from US: http://ftp.kensington.com/PC/Input/mouseworks603r2.exe (35kB/sec)
3.4Gig from Cz: http://free.grisoft.cz/softw/60/fe/u61blwm8.bin (17kB/sec)
My results on them are shown in parens. "Your mileage may vary."
Note well that the speed of the server at the other end and all of the intermediary
repeaters along the way will also impact your perceived performance.
If you're downloading from Europe, it's a little slower than straight from your ISP's server.
A Problem Scenario (01) (scroll up for other info)
Following are my notes-to-self about a problem situation and its resolution
with a DSL service from the local telephone company - Verzion.
Hope that you never need them, but if the need might arise then something here
might help you . . .
10Oct- Connection INoperative; DSL ON steady; Internet OUT.
Unit Descr.: Combination Modem Wireless Router
Westel Windriver ADSL2+Versalink
model D90-327W15-D6 rev G (aka "327W")
Powered the unit OFF-ON. Internet ON then OFF - long period.
Pressed the recessed reset button.
Can now get limited service;
all attempts to access any website goes instead to ...
http://activate.verizon.net/xxxxxx
which gives a Verizon panel to register new service
and download some software.
Tried to answer some of the registration/activation questions,
but got a security certificate mismatch; gave up.
14Oct- Called 800-567-6789 and pressed and spoke to several various robots.
Finally got a real person named Charles(?) in Manila,Philippines.
He told me to go to 192.168.1.1/verizon/redirect.htm
and click the button marked "Disable" which cured the problem.
Browsing and e-mail worked fine.
Apparently pressing the reset button SOMETIMES causes
this condition of seemingly needing to "Activate".
Clicking "Disable" seems counter-intuitive, but it worked.
Somewhere in this process I was asked for a userid/password;
he told me to use "admin/password" but it didn't work, so then
he told me to use "admin/admin", but instead I used the password
that I had previously set into the modem; it worked.
HOWEVER, I believe that after a reset which erases any password,
then using a password of "admin" gets to a different screen
than using a password of "password".
Seems as though I recall reading that somewhere
or needed to do that somewhere at one time.
OLYMPICS Motto: "Citius, Altius, Fortius"
which means Higher, Faster, Stronger
DSL Motto: Faster, Faster, Faster