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Posted By: slolerner Making DSL Faster - 08/25/09 07:11 PM
The DSL in my cousin's store in NYC is very slow. Is there some kind of line noise suppressor to make it faster or do noise suppressors only work on 'parts' of the DSL signal used as voice or fax lines?

Thanks!
Posted By: Gregg Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/25/09 07:33 PM
Unfortunately, the filters do not increase the speed significantly. But, without DSL filters, signals from analog devices can result in reduced performance and connection problems. Signals from the DSL service can result in line noise for analog devices. Preventing the noise is probably the main purpose for the filters. Five or fewer devices are recommended. Good luck with that in our techno-overload age!
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/26/09 07:43 PM
What level of service is your cousin paying for? Around here you can purchase DSL service at speeds ranging from 750 Kbps to 6 or even 10 Mbps depending on location and how much you are willing to pay. There are lots of variables besides those already mentioned including the possibility, if the connections are wireless, neighbors camping on the signal and using up the bandwidth.

The place I would start is finding out what level of service is being paid for and then use a reliable speed test such as WhatIsMyIP to see how much of that your cousin is actually getting. Do not expect to get 100%, that will seldom happen, 80 to 90% is not untypical.
Posted By: Virtual1 Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/27/09 12:03 AM
DSL speed that is below what they are selling you, is usually a function of your distance from the switch, plus the number and quality of patches your line goes through from them to you. Usually the distance matters more, but if you've got a bad set of jumper clips somewhere or wet lines that can have a big impact.

Do they know how many miles away they are from the switch?
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/27/09 05:36 PM
Originally Posted By: virtual1
Do they know how many miles away they are from the switch?

Good point, but that is cable miles which bears only a remote relationship to the street and/or as the crow flies miles.
Posted By: MicroMatTech3 Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/27/09 10:11 PM
As I learned from a Verizon technician a few weeks ago, DSL:

1. “Doesn’t like T-shaped splices in the premesis wiring.”

2. “Doesn't like to live at the last house on the street.”

3. Can have its performance reduced by subtle short circuits in the telephone line connecting the house to the telephone pole, eventually resulting in damage to the DSL modem.

Of course, now that Verizon offers FiOS in some areas, DSL is being retroactively rebadged as a “stop-gap measure.”

If the telephone service is from Verizon, give them a call. They can monitor the line to see how your packet traffic looks (from a remote site in Canada), and they can test the line from the pole to the house (requires them to climb the pole).

What you really need is to see a truck appear in your neighborhood, and then see dangling from the telephone poles thick black cables bearing the legend:

CORNING FIBER OPTIC 600 FEET

You have to picture the letters widely spaced, like the ones on the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Posted By: alternaut Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/28/09 09:23 AM
Taking a step back to view internet connection speeds globally, the US is woefully behind and charges way too much for what little it offers in this market. Worse, it doesn't look that this will change anytime soon. You might want to consider emigrating or at least taking a long trip abroad to improve your speed while you can still enjoy it... shocked smirk

Kidding aside, although it may improve access speed somewhat, tinkering with your DSL is marginal at best compared to other options. Verizon offers globally competitive FiOS speeds in some places, but it charges up to an order of magnitude more than other countries do for the same service. ATT's U-verse internet option is a joke. frown If anyone knows of (affordable) alternative options, please let us know.
Posted By: Virtual1 Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/28/09 05:20 PM
Good point, but that is cable miles which bears only a remote relationship to the street and/or as the crow flies miles.

yep, but even they often don't know how far you are in cable miles, and go almost exclusively by your geographical location
Posted By: steve626 Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/30/09 08:44 PM
Also -- the presence of other devices on the same phone line as the DSL can dramatically affect the performance of DSL. One example -- security systems that have a connection to the phone line for contacting a central security monitoring station (we have one of these in our home) are notorious for adding noise to phone lines. Other devices (such as faxes or other voice phone, especially wireless ones) might add noise. The only way to tell is to disconnect them all and test, and then reconnect one at a time until the noise returns. If there is a security system, that might be hard to disconnect -- ours for instance is hard wired in.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/30/09 10:16 PM
All devices connected to a phone line where DSL is in use should connect through a filter and never directly into the phone line itself.
Posted By: MicroMatTech3 Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/31/09 01:36 AM
I was told by another Verizon employee years ago that every working telephone jack other than the one feeding the DSL modem should have a DSL filter on it, even if no telephone is connected to the jack.
Posted By: Virtual1 Re: Making DSL Faster - 08/31/09 04:42 PM
I was told by another Verizon employee years ago that every working telephone jack other than the one feeding the DSL modem should have a DSL filter on it, even if no telephone is connected to the jack.

Thinking about that I would initially disagree (because no phone there to mess with the DSL) but thinking deeper, an unused line would create a possible open loop that may cause a variation of "tv ghosting" which occurs in exactly the same circumstances, which could cause problems for the DSL.

I have a much better solution at my house. I intercept the phone line as it comes in the house, through a splitter, and one split immediately through a filter, to the line that feeds all the phones in my house. The other naked split goes straight to the modem.
Posted By: slolerner Re: Making DSL Faster - 09/01/09 04:14 AM
He does have a security system. He had a router but Verizon could not get the thing to work with the router in place. Thanks to everyone. I will print this out for him. He probably needs a phone wonk if he wants it any better because Verizon support in NYC is kind of "as the crow flies" and leaves behind.

BTW: I live in the CITY of redundancy. (New York New York)
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