DSL???

“Nearly two weeks ago I ordered Verizon DSL. The service was finally turned on, and Thursday morning I awoke to a phone message from James Earl Jones welcoming me to Verizon DSL.

I had taken the two days off, so I installed the thing and voila, it didn't work. I called Verizon, and they put in a work order.

Next morning, it finally got through. I thought things were fine, and spent the morning in Internet heaven. I went off to a party, came home in late afternoon, and my entire phone system was down. I called on my cell phone, and they said they had done something that might have caused the problem, ... to unplug the phones, wait five minutes, and then plug them back in. I did that, and guess what? The phones came back on, but not the DSL. I called again, and they have scheduled a technician to come out on Tuesday afternoon. So I had to clear away the book case that stand in front of the phone jack, and I don't think he's going to find anything out on my end. I think it's something they did Friday afternoon.


Next morning”

“Yet another day of horror!”

“I'm not too happy with Verizon right now either. I use caller ID, anon call blocker & on the do-not-call registry. I get many out-of-area & computer generated calls at all hours of the day/night. Unless it's 5 a day, they won't help. Getting ready to ditch this phone co. Have verizon cells to, but do ok with them & get a work related discount.”

“I'm sorry that your having problems...but, If you'd have gone with cable modem, you'd have a faster internet and your problem would have been fixed either the same day, or the next...cable rules.

but, I hope that your up and running soon.”

“I will be either up and running tomorrow or they will take back their hardware and I will go with cable.”

“And good point, stikmon. ComCast installed my TV cable on a Sunday morning. Verizon does not do DSL trouble calls on weekends.”

“cable rules??????

This opinion from an unbiased stikmon, 'the cable guy'. ;-)

Acually, I can't get DSL over my friggin' noisy crappy telephone line. I can't even get speeds near the speeds my modem CAN get.
I've been thinking about switching to cable internet, but the local cable company is the Devil and I really don't wish to give them my money.
Internet from my sat dish is just to many $.”

“I had cable internet for 5 years; can't get it or DSL where I live now. Waiting on wireless, which may be a while. I agree that DirecWay is too expensive for the slow speed you get.

Comcast is the devil, but it has the best internet connection no matter what.”

“DSL is Direct Satellite Link, or
so I thought. Now I see that
DSL is digital subscriber line

I'm disappointed. I know it has a place in this world, but it still ties up a telephone. So it appears that it is only an improved dial-up.”

“No, actually DSL doesn't tie up the phone line, it uses the frequencies on the same copperline that voice communications don't need. So, for every phone jack in your house that you want to have a phone on, you have to install a low-pass filter so the DSL signal is filtered out. You can be online with DSL and still receive phone calls.

Or did you mean that it ties up a phone jack?”

“Acutaly DSL doesn't tie up your current phone line. It just uses your phone line as a carrier you can still talk on the phone while using the internet with out any problem.
Cable is still usualy faster than DSL but DSL is also usualy cheaper and is a dedicated conection where as cable you share the bandwidth with the others in your imediate area.”

“cable is the only way to go.”

“Cable all depends on where you live... My DSL is normally much faster than my neighbor's cable, and if you live in a big apartment complex forget about cable, you might as well have dial-up. If there aren't alot of other people in you neighborhood with the service then cable is the way to go. No as others have stated DSL does not tie up your phone line. Why would anyone be paying for landline telephone service anyways? What is this? The 80's?”

“Geo, we just got DSL at our paper. We went with the *lowest* of three speeds available, save moola, ya know?

Not too many problems here. We're on CenturyTel.”

“What I don't like is whereas I used to e-mail photos in RGB to our main office, now I have to have them publication-ready in CMYK, saved as photoshop EPS (big file). I can "drag and drop" onto our server in the other office.

It takes probably 3-5 minutes to show pu on the server. And while it's being "sent," it pretty much slows down my computer to the point of not being able to use it. Now that sucks!

Before I just e-mailed and could continue on doing other stuff. Now I can't. I need to transfer about 20 photos today. That's probably 2 hours of doing nothing but that (stinkin' Christmas free sample issue, bah humbug!! lol)

But my time is less valuable, I guess, than Ms. Ad Salesperson/Layout.

I guess in the main office they drag the files onto the server, boom, bingo, they're on there immediately.
last edited: 12/20/04 10:51:36 AM”

“Cable! Woo-hoo!”

“Um, lizs, would it be faster to sneakernet the files?”

“What's that mean? Not familiar with that term. Unless you mean I need to go run the 16 miles one way to our main office, lol!”

“Thanks for the information, gang.”

“Basically, yes lizs. Would it be faster to burn the files to a CD and drive them over there?

We have a similar situation with our office in India. The network connection is so slow that when they need a major update, it actually takes less time burn a CD and put it in the mail than to transfer the files over the network.”

“Um, I guess I am out of date. I still have a land line and a dial up connection. My service is only 11 dollars a month. What does the cable and DSL cost? 40?”

“Probably in the 40-50 range.”

“Verizon did supply an ample number of filters for all the phones in my apartment. They probably charged me for them, unless it's included in the initial fee they charge.

Friday morning was wonderful. I was downloading maps for the free GPS mapping program I use like there was no tomorrow. I think I got 60 percent of the Mon in a half hour.

At work we have an alleged T-1 line, but we share it with several other papers from what I hear. It gets real slow at time, and at other times it just dies. The techies blame it on Verizon, but they just didn't spring for enough ooomph! So we have to go to a central office to lay the paper out. If we tried to email it, we'd spend the rest of our lives waiting for one edition to go. As it is, the Ad Dept takes forever to send just the layouts (not including art).”

“Cost depends on the area you live in.
DSL is currently $20-$30
Cable is about $45”

“aaah, Geo, I thought it was work you were talking about. Interesting to hear what you have.

Bit, we begged to get DSL. Then I got a computer upgrade from the pukin' iMac (which means I have an Apple tower of unknown year and vintage, but it does NOT have a CD burner. We get the old stuff in our satellite offices and are supposed to be very happy. :-)

It's one of those deals where, who imagined that getting DSL and dragging photos to the server would be more of a pain in the butt than e-mailing them, ya know???

So, as you may have caught there, I don't have a built-in CD burner. Geez, it's sure fun what we work with on the local level. I don't do any layout here. Once in awhile I'll do a photo collage, which really gets big. Dragging and dropping stories is not bad, it's just the photos that take awhile. I also have heard we may not need to make them an .eps, which is a bigger file... that they could be left as .jpgs. If that's true, that would help

You guys have to understand, LOL!, I talk the words as I type them, and can do that fairly fast as long as I CAN SEE THE WORDS ON THE SCREEN. And I can't when photos are being sent, so I'm at a standstill, unless able to edit other photos.

yadda, yadda :-)”

“I wish DSL was that cheap in my area. Bellsouth wants $43/mo for their regular service, and more for their "Extreme" service that's about twice as fast. They have a "DSL Lite" that they advertise as 256Kb down/128Kb up that I'm thinking about getting.”

“They invested thousands in technology, but technology has bypassed the hardware. They try to keep up with the technology, but don't want to spend the money to update the hardware. So we end up driving a 35-mile round trip every week instead and get compensated less than what AAA says it costs to run a car. Job subsidy!”

“We have Comcast cable modem and it is awesome!”

“embear, do you a a phone line in your house or do you just use a cell phone. If you just use a cell phone get cable. You would have to add a phone line to get DSL. Then you would have the cost of both which will exceed the cost of cable.

I do wish we had some competition to go against Comcast. If we did I am sure we would get lower cable rates for the computer and TV.”

“I love my DSL. I got off to a rocky start, but it turns out that my whole problem surrounded the fact that I had forgotten to put a filter on my Dishnetwork receiver's telephone line. Those filters are very essential to a smooth operating DSL signal. Good luck to you with your problem.”

“CHEAPER. you get what you pay for. You want cheap...get DSL. You want the best, then pay for it. Thank god I don't and never have paid for internet...otherwise I'd be using smoke signals, I'm too cheap to pay for anything other than camping gear.”

“DSL isn't that cheap in this area. We signed up for satelite dish and DSL through the phone company and they had a bargain going so for the first year we can save $5 over our (devil) cable company's cost for digital cable and dial up internet. I think the DSl is $29. After the first year I believe the cost goes up to $45 or something. I notice quite an improvement over dial-up. Our DSL is quick-fast.”

“The filters they supply go on the phone lines, not the computer. The thing was up and running Friday morning. They tinkered with it later on Friday, and it was toast by Friday evening. The question they don't seem able to answer is where the problem is, so I questioned the need to come out to my place.”

“Knock my socks off! I came home, and on a hunch reinstalled the installation CD and cycled it through. I got back on right away. It seems a bit sluggish, but that's better than being shut out entirely. Now to discuss the tidings of great joy with Verizon.”

“I've got DSL for the first time after having had cable for a few years. I like it. Its "almost" as fast as the cable was, close enough that its not frustrating n the least.

I'm with Qwest for the DSL and local/long distance. ITs cheap too - half what I was paying for cable service in FL.”

“Waiting on the Verizon man.

Why am I thinking about "Waiting for Godot?"

I wonder if James Earl Jones will show up with a tool belt around his waist.

(Tapping foot impatiently)

Drumming fingers”

“The Verizon guy showed up. The wiring is so old and goes through other apartments, so there was nothing he could do. To save the cost of installing another line, I suggested I could buy the wire, throw it out the window, and have them hook it up to the splitter in the basement. Saves bucks and gets the job done. In the meantime, it works a bit faster than dial-up, so I have service.

Things they never tell you in their advertising!!!

I'm never going to believe James Earl Jones ever again. He lies!”

“Whatever the guy did, it's a hell of a lot faster than it was.”

“dsl sucks. cable rules!”

“I don't sense a lot of equivocation there Gem.

I just hate to pay ComCast a lot more money than I am already. I should buy stock and at least get a rebate on my fees.”

“no worry Geo...
I have dsl too. (long story) and I realized that cable is much faster, and much less of a problem.

I know they both have now different speeds. I don't even know anymore what my dsl's speed is. I do know my cable in the office is zooming.

I also know that dsl has some great deals out right now.

Not doing me any good though if the website is slow...so dsl is okay i guess.


and please ignore my previous post, that was posted for other reasons. :)
last edited: 12/21/04 4:35:09 PM”

“Gem, I don't take a whole lot that goes on on this board that seriously. I have a sense of humor ... a warped sense of humor, but a sense of humor nevertheless.

We have a T1 line at work, but the damn thing is slower than dial up most of the time. As this DSL service stands right now, assuming it's not at full power, it's pretty darn fast from the experiences I've had with ISPs.

The difference in cost is about $20 a month. That's $240 a year, which does me a lot better if it's spent at REI.”

“This is all getting stranger and stranger as the week wears on.

I just got an automated call (Not James Earl Jones this time, but a woman ... maybe Kim Catrall, I'm not sure ... informing me that they have solved my DSL problems.

Now I had been telling them all along that the problem was on their end, but no, they had to send a technician out to connect this wire to that one and that one to the one over there, test the line, put it all back the way it was and tell me the line was still too slow, then leave with the advice to have a new line put in.

Then lo and behold, I sign back on and find it working.

Now I just wonder whether they found something on their end that they screwed up last Friday and caused me five days of grief over it.

Don't ever trust the phone company! They are omnipotent!”

“I have seen the top of the mountain…and it was good! I finally dragged my dead ass into the 21st century and order SBC/Yahoo dsl. Wow! No going back now! I actually save money by going dsl. I had to have a second line in the office for long distance transmit ions for work which was $25 a month, plus the $10 a month for Netscape and I’m getting the dsl for less.

And it’s pretty obvious what the first big test of a new dsl system is…”I wonder how fast porn downloads?”. LOL!”

“Um, fast.”

“Very fast Nigel, although I wouldn't know about the porn.

We did the same thing around Christmas and are saving money.”

“That was a joke btw. On top of that when I deside to turn my Dish back on I can get a break for going with SBC and if I switch my phone servioce I save even more. Damn, I'm being sucked in by the evil corperations.”

“You people who live in large urban areas are lucky. Around here, BellSouth still wants $43/month for regular high-speed DSL. The only competitor in the area has to lease their DSL lines from BellSouth, and charges like $39.95/mo. Even cable Internet is like $35/mo.

Oh well, I guess that's what I get for my misanthropy.”

“Round here Time/Warner Cable owns it all. It's like $50 for cable internet if you don't have cable and the Road Runner around here is so clogged up and overloaded dial up is nearly as fast.”

“Here it's Commcast.”