[SGVLUG] DSL: static or faster?

[Claude Felizardo]

yeah, that's what I got out of the forums as well - that the chipsets in the
newer modems are better designed to deal with distance and line quality
issues.  I'm at the edge where that's suppose to become an issue.

I'm hesitant to swap out the old modem for several reasons:  If I cycle
power, am I going to lose my static?  It's been running for let's see, 250
days when I had to replace the battery in the UPS.  Before that I think it
was up for nearly two years.  I also have a separate router so while it
would be nice to consolidate three things (my wireless access point is
actually in another room which is more central to everything) into a single
box that makes it a single point of failure. Right now I could loose
wireless and still have internet access or I could lose internet access and
still be able to connect to other devices in the house.

Will a new modem let me specify static?  I believe my modem is set up as a
bridge so no PPP over anything.  No login.  It just works.  Which makes me
wonder what prevents just anyone from "grabbing" "my" IP if my modem is
offline?

I was told I can get the 2-wire residential gateway at any AT&T wireless
store for $100 plus tax.  The non wireless version is like $87 but not sure
if it's available at the retail stores.  No it's not a lot of money but why
replace it it ain't broke and there's no guarantee my speed will increase?
It was the guy on phone that suggested looking at craigslist.

Since the change, I've been getting anywhere from 3700 to 4000 Kbps down and
from 611 to 647 Kbps up depending on the various speed test sites:
dslreports.com, speakeasy.net, bandwidthplace.com and broadband.gov.  These
numbers are just over the DSL Pro plan of 3.0M/500 Kbps but not within the
80-90% of the max speed for the DSL Elite speed 6M/768K.   I know a guy who
has Verizon FiOS now with 20 Mbps now but is moaning that where he is moving
to only has DSL and he's going to have to change his usage pattern.  sheesh.

Oh, I have not made any hardware changes on my side at all.  I placed the
order Friday morning and was told it would happen on Monday and noticed the
new speed when I got home.  Looking back at the logs for the day, I noticed
that there are two records missing from my weather station uploads which
occur every 10 minutes: one about 8:30 am and the other around 4-ish I think
it was.

Hey Tom, if you connect a computer directly to your modem, can you access
any kind of configuration screen?  As for my "ISP", I'm not sure as I don't
use their "home" page.  I still have my pacbell.net address if that's what
you mean.  I have gmail poll all my old addresses every once in a while.  I
got DSL before they changed their name to SBC and way before the merger with
AT&T.  Whenever I asked for the latest promo, I always asked about keeping
my static IP but I think the last time was told they couldn't promise but
have always had it.  I'll send you the name and number of the guy who helped
me.

claude


On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 9:28 AM, Emerson, Tom (*IC) <
Tom.Emerson at wbconsultant.com> wrote:

>  From what I read in the forums about the alcatel, that is your bottleneck
> (I have the same one I think - a not-quite-rectangular box about 6-7" tall
> and 10-11" wide, right?)  Basically, the fact you are getting more than 3mbs
> is supposed to be impossible [just like it was "impossible" for me to get
> ANY DSL at 40,000 feet from the CO?]
>
> What were they expecting to charge for the hardware in the first place?
> Sure, a rebate is nice, but consider: you've had that modem for 10 years -
> any discount you received on it, even 100%, has been fully amortized by now,
> hasn't it?
>
>  -----Original Message-----* Of *Claude Felizardo
>
>  Does anyone have an unused DSL modem, preferably 2-wire?  Anyone switch
> to U-verse or cable?
>
> I called AT&T and asked about U-verse w/o TV and was told there would be a
> $145 installation fee unless ordered with at least TV service.   ...
>
> The guy was very helpful and said he normally does email support and the
> occasional phone support but is always looking for referrals.  If anyone
> wants his name, phone number and extension, please ask off-list.
>
>
>  It sounds like we are in the same boat - sure, I'd love to get the info
> on this guy, I should probably upgrade my system now too...
>
> BTW: which "pseudo-ISP" were you with before the upgrade?  pacbell, sbc,
> yahoo, at&t, prodigy?  [by "pseudo-ISP", I mean that all of these are or
> were the same company - it just depended on when you started service and
> whether or not you were [forcibly] migrated from one to another as the
> "contract" the baby-bells had with whomever was re-written from time to
> time]  In keeping your static address, did you also keep the same ISP?
>
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