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ATT's gift to me
#50580 12/01/18 04:51 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
deniro Offline OP
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Not sure where to ask this one because it involves Windows.

During the past year, ATT installed fiber optic cables in my neighborhood. At the time I had to move up from DSL to what used to be called U-verse. I don't even know what it's called now. ATT Fiber Optic? I don't know. To me, it's still DSL of some kind.

On their web site and on the phone, ATT has made it so difficult to learn what you will pay from year to year and what speed you will get. But I was forced to change, so I moved from about 1.5 Mb to 10 Mbp with a slight increase in cost. And I use ATT's router/modem now, which has turned OK because it's less work than handling all the settings myself.

A few days ago an email arrived to tell me my neighborhood just got fiber optic. Huh? And that all I had to do was unplug my router and plug it in to get 100 Mb. Huh? At no extra cost. Huh? A phone call to a Mexican woman at ATT confirmed it. She said unplug, so I did.

Well, I'm not getting 100, I'm getting 50. My wireless devices are all getting 20. These speeds are new to me. Up until a few days ago, most of my life has been spent with the slowest speeds, though not, of course, the lowest price. Is this normal? To get 50 and 20 when you are paying for 100?

Second, I've already done some troubleshooting on the wireless. I find wireless troubleshooting the most complicated of all because it involves electronics that I know nothing about, and a considerable amount of voodoo. The next step up from troubleshooting your own wireless is, I think, getting hired as a repairman for ATT.

The Airport Extreme in my Mac has n speed, and I think that should suffice. I wonder if the modem/router ATT gave me needs to be upgraded. The model itself, I mean. I already looked at the settings and didn't change anything. It has both 2 GHz and 5 Ghz bands. I'm in a residential neighborhood where everyone is connected to the internet. So, a busy one, in networking terms.

The other devices are a three year old iPad (small one), a three year old Dell Inspiron Desktop running 8.1, a ten year old Dell Latitude D630 laptop running 7, and a ten year old white Macbook running Leopard. My guess is that all of them except the ten year old Dell laptop ought to be able to reach 100 Mbp or at least more than 20.



Re: ATT's gift to me
deniro #50587 12/01/18 10:30 PM
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Given AT&T, or their contractors, have been installing new fiber optic in your neighborhood, there are a lot of things that could be preventing you from achieving 100 Mbps speeds including poor cable connections somewhere between your house and the AT&T central office, poor or noisy connections or wiring in your home, your house is too many cable miles from the nearest amplifier/repeater (note a repeater at the end of your block can easily wind up being several cable miles from your home), or it could be your modem that is at fault. None of this is under your control or ability to do anything about.

Give AT&T a call and request they send a service technician to check your connection, I have found them happy to do that, but don't be surprised when the first thing they do is check the line from their end and even remotely reset your modem. If they can fix the problem remotely that saves them the cost of a service call. It is also typical for the technician to start checking at the repeater/amplifier serving your neighborhood before they get to your house. If the condition is fixable they will get it done. (NOTE: If it is a matter of too many cable miles there isn't anything anyone can do. )

(The cable mile limitation is why I switched from AT&T to Charter cable that now provides 200 Mbps service to my house for what I initially paid for 50 Mbps grin )


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: ATT's gift to me
joemikeb #50617 12/07/18 05:47 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
deniro Offline OP
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Yesterday on my iMac, the wired connection, I got over 120 MBps at speakeasy.net. Wow! So new to me. So luxurious. This must be how kings, celebrities, and drug dealers live.

Re: ATT's gift to me
deniro #50618 12/07/18 05:53 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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I tried everything I know on the Dell D630 Latitude laptop. I bought a new wireless card that is supposed to give me better speed, and it was not easy to install. The video made it look easy.

I was never able to find a driver for it that worked, and I tried it all kinds of things. I'm debating whether to pay for an online chat with Dell tech support or whether I should return the card for a refund. Hard to believe there aren't any wireless cards that will give me more than 15 or 20 Mbps, even on a ten year old laptop.

These driver problems are frequent in Windows. I don't recall ever having them in the Mac OS.

Re: ATT's gift to me
deniro #50619 12/07/18 05:55 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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The other thing about this laptop, which I like, is that it has four USB ports and two of them broke. How does a USB port break? From what? Plugging and unplugging? Two of them?


Re: ATT's gift to me
deniro #50620 12/07/18 05:59 PM
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It IS a Dell, isn't it? tongue


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: ATT's gift to me
deniro #50621 12/07/18 07:53 PM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
Yesterday on my iMac, the wired connection, I got over 120 MBps at speakeasy.net

So what changed? Curious readers want to know.

Originally Posted By: deniro
The other thing about this laptop, which I like, is that it has four USB ports and two of them broke. How does a USB port break? From what? Plugging and unplugging? Two of them?

The common arrangement is for a single USB chip (bus) to support two (or more) ports so it is entirely feasible that one chip has failed and fortunately for you one is still working. Dell has had its ups and downs financially and that has often been reflected in their quality control.

Originally Posted By: deniro
These driver problems are frequent in Windows. I don't recall ever having them in the Mac OS.

Microsoft has always depended on peripheral manufacturers to supply "drivers" for their products where Apple relies on industry standards such as CUPS (Common Unix Print System) for their peripheral drivers. Given the vagaries of printers even Apple sometimes has to rely on manufacturers for printer drivers and those manufacturers are interested in selling new computers, not supporting older printers on newer computers or vice versa so printer drivers are often an issue regardless of who built your computer or what the operating system is.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: ATT's gift to me
joemikeb #50645 12/11/18 02:57 AM
Joined: Sep 2009
deniro Offline OP
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Oh, this laptop is trying my patience. Now the down arrow doesn't work.

I put the old wireless card back, and now it doesn't work. Laptop doesn't see any wireless hardware. And the Dell web site wants nothing to do with me. Us. Those of us with "old" equipment". Old is a relative term. They have never made things easy. But now. Forget about finding drivers that work. I can connect via Ethernet, but for wireless I'm stuck at zero. Sub-zero.

Now I'm scratching my head again, wondering what to do next. Buy another wireless card and try again? I tell you, wireless troubleshooting is the worst kind of all. I'm really out of my element here.

Drill a hole in the wall, run a long, long Ethernet cable...?


Re: ATT's gift to me
joemikeb #50646 12/11/18 03:01 AM
Joined: Sep 2009
deniro Offline OP
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I don't know if the USB chip failed. The ports failed. They're broken, like the innards have been snapped off. Both of them? I can't put a cable in them.

Keycaps have been popping off. But it's been a nice keyboard, very clacky and responsive, not mushy at all like most laptops today.


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