Is it hard to install DSL yourself?

[Kurt Ullman]

So easy a kid could do it. Unfortunately they did not include a kid in the package.

[Cheri]

My question always is...if it's so damned easy, why is there a tech support number for installation problems? I buy things like floor lamps, appliances etc., and not one of them comes with tech support for plugging it in, now that's what I call easy.:-)

Cheri

[Phisherman]

In my area internet with Comcast is $87 a month, AT&T DSL Lite is $20 a month. DSL gives you a private connection, cable internet is shared with everyone in your neighborhood.

[Pete C.]

DSL is shared with everyone in the neighborhood (Telco CO or RT) as well. Cable is normally considerably higher data rate than DSL as well.

[Gordon Shumway]

You are the only one to mention this very important point.

Anytime I install something new I first install my last known good image of my system. After using the AT&T CD to do the installation I had so much junk everywhere I couldn't believe it. AT&T, like Micro$oft, wanted my home page, bookmarks and many other settings changed to "their way." It would have taken hours to re-set everything.

Once I found out that their CD was unnecessary (and it didn't even get the settings correct on my router -- that took a call to the help desk.) I went back and installed my last known good image of my system.

G.S.

[AZ Nomad]

The software provided by cable and phone companies is never necessary. They don't set up the router, they only provide a ton of horseshit like garbage antivirus products like mcaffee, renaming the browser "Qwest's Internet Explorer", redirecting the home and search pages, etc. They do everything but set up the internet.

Alomost always, the modem is shipped already set up. It'll provide DHCP service so that the PC can automatically ask for params like IP, gateway, DNS, etc. via DHCP. All one has to do is connect PC to modem via an ethernet cable.

[Cheri]

Where I am, it's on a special right now for 25.00 installation 34.99 per month for six months and then 39.00 after that.

Cheri

[Rocinante]

Let a guy friend take care of it while you make him a nice sandwich.

[commander]

Every moron except YOU !!!!! You're just TOO STUPID !!!!

Go look in a mirror and you'll see what I mean..... LEt us know when you say out loud "W O W I ' M S T U P I D !

[Gary H]

[snip]

That's what you hear in DSL ads. It's true, but incomplete. The internet itself is shared.

[Mark Lloyd]

That's one reason for using a router. You don't have to install ANYTHING of theirs on YOUR computer.

[Not]

I've had both DSL and cable. In my opinion all the talk about sharing service and bandwidth is, while technically accurate, absolutely useless for the ordinary user. Unless you spend your time uploading and downloading huge files, you will never notice whether you are using the faster or slower service. I routinely email large jpg files, and never saw a difference between the two services.

I had two phone lines, and dsl would not work on the newer line. Apparently the switches at the phone company CO were more robust years ago and could handle DSL, while the newer switches won't. Since I live too many yards from the CO, this affected my service.

As to installation, my DSL company sent very clear instructions, and as they were a local company they were easy to call with problems. A lot of the difficulty with DSL installation appeared to involve coordination with the phone company, and as my DSL provider was a local company, they had the connections to get things done promptly and right. Alas, my local DSL company was gobbled up by a national company, and the good personalized tech support disappeared. When I called tech support and their first question was what state I lived in, I saw trouble on the horizon and after a few problems, I switched to cable.

Perhaps because my cable company was just getting into the business, I had some problems with installation. One tech insisted that since my cable drop ran through an underground conduit, it was getting wet, which was affecting my service. I drained the conduit (there was some water in it) and the cable worked, but then went out again. The next tech pointed out that the drop was waterproof, and the problem was with the cable modem they had installed (apparently an outdated model). He replaced it and now for a couple of years the service has been flawless. They even offer to come out (for a fee) and hook up a second computer, but I was able to do that on my own easily.

So I think, unless you get DSL from a good local company, cable is the better option, as you are then dealing with a single company, and as they often have packages that save you a bit on your TV cable or cable phone.

[Cheri]

Oh, oh. Your little class for the challenged obviously let out early today, so "LEt" us go back now and tell our teacher that we are making fun of someone else, and we can't even send a correct post. I am LMAO at you.

Cheri

[Kyle]

One thing I didn't notice mentioned is many DSL providers are sending a combo unit: modem and router all-in-one (usually wireless router). That can throw a monkey-wrench at you in set-up if you're "not a technical person at all".

Being the unofficial tech-support person for my family and a few colleagues, I get calls at least bi-weekly saying "Such-and-such has gone wrong with my computer; what do I need to do to fix it?" and invariably I end up spending time walking a novice step-by-step through something that monitoring software could fix, or would at least give the ISP's Help Desk access to their computer to fix it by remote.

So much as it galls me to suggest to someone to possibly install junk on their computer (Comcast's monitoring software is particularly stupid), unless you're comfortable enough tackling installation and troubleshooting without having access to Internet resources, I recommend you use the self-installation kit and save yourself some headaches down the road.

[Pete C.]

You seem to be replying to the wrong person, and your information is inaccurate as well.

For a cable modem, your connection is shared with the other houses (with cable modem service) in your local "node", typically 250-500 potential homes.

For DSL, your connection is shared with other houses (with DSL service) in your local Telco central office for older areas, or the Telco's remote terminal (a.k.a. RT equivalent to a cable "node") servicing your neighborhood.

So, cable or DSL are both connections where the bandwidth is shared with others in your neighborhood. Of course all Internet traffic is on shared circuits ultimately anyway.

[AZ Nomad]

..

I generally agree. DSL and cable run neck in neck with cable typically two to three times as fast for downloading and one forth as fast for uploads.

When I first got cable, it took five visits to get it working. The cable guy would arrive, ask what the problem was and I'd say that "you keep leaving the job without getting it working!" Turned out that they had the interference filter on the data side doing a lovely job of keeping the data signal away from the modem. That was around '99 and I was amazed at the 200-300KB download speeds having been using a modem @ 3-4KB/s previously.

Nowadays DSL can do 900-1200KB/s; my cable does 2-3.5MB/s.

I generally go with cable because I use cable tv anyway. If they keep scrambling most of the channels I pay for and preventing me from recording unless I buy their cheesey DVR, I will probably dump them and go to recording digital TV OTA and go with the cheapest high speed internet available, and that will probably be DSL.

[Pete C.]

I have both cable and DSL (different locations), and both have pretty much worked just fine after minor installation hassles on the carrier side. The DSL did have one brief outage when a line crew managed to change me to a bad pair, but it was resolved pretty quickly. The cable has had about two sub hour long outages per year after major storms in the area which seems perfectly reasonable to me. The DSL probably has had similar short storm outages, but I don't use it all the time so I've not noticed.

As for speed, yes, for typical use there is little practical difference. This may change though as more full res video content is delivered over the Internet and the difference in the download lead times before the program you ordered is ready to view is noticeable.

[Nate Nagel]

Well, since I had Verizon at my last place and I ended up turning off my phone entirely because they were incapable of making it work on a reliable basis, I would never consider getting DSL unless it were from another provider. I never even had the POTS turned on when I moved.

nate

[Jim Yanik]

"Pete C." wrote in news:48dd50df$0$2327$ [e-mail]:

some broadband ISPs are now charging by how much data you download per month,with surcharges when you exceed some arbitrary limit.

[Mike Dobony]

Floor lamps don't need you identify yourself before working. You don't really want anyone in tech support to give you a user name and password. You need to pick that out for yourself. The software that comes with your DSL modem is not known for it's safety to your system. Better to do it manually and if you don't know how to do that you should call tech support. It is not all that difficult, but you can run into problems if you don't know what the various settings do. Many times it takes longer to talk to someone than to actually set up your system.