DSL speed question Modems....

[Clarence Martin]

Got Verizon DSL The enhance DSL internet. Whatever that means. As I recall , it was suposed to be 3Mbps DSL.. Well, I ran the speed test 4 times , and getting anywhere from 3.05 to 3.20 Mbps. Now, they have different higher speeds . The next highest goes up to 7,1 Mbps and the highest speed goes up to 15Mbps. I have an old Westell327w Router. gateway / modem . Not sure exactly what they call it.

1. Would I get faster speeds from a different gateway/ router/ modem ?

2. Anyone got the 15Mbps ? What does it cost and how can I tell if my line can handle that speed ?

[Mike Henderson]

Talk to your Internet provider to find out if your modem will support the higher speeds. It likely will if it was manufactured in the last five or so years. ADSL has been around quite a while now and hasn't changed that much.

Regarding your router, most routers can handle 100Mbps Ethernet which is much faster than anything you're likely to get on ADSL.

I have 15Mbps DSL and it works fine. I can do a speed test and I get 15Mbps down consistently. I think I pay about $50/mo for it. Work with your Internet provider and tell them that you'll take 15Mbps, providing you actually get it. That is, make sure you can cancel if you don't get the full speed.

Mike

[Alan Rutherford]

Well I thought we had it bad out here in the woods where the most the local phone company could offer is 5 mb, despite the ads I see with speeds several times that. We're experienced computer users and use the web fairly extensively although we're never watching more than one movie at a time (using Netflix). I can live with what we have, most of the time. Normal use is OK. Downloading a huge system update can take a while but that's OK, too. But 5mb is nothing to brag about these days and 3 sounds primitive. Yes, I lived through the dial-up days and know what 400 baud looks like, but we've moved on.

There are times when it seems too slow and I've run the speed tests, which are always right around 5 mb. I've been suspicious that when you go to a speedtest site you get better service while the test is running. I've heard valid-sounding confirmations of that and also believable denials.

You device can support faster speeds. From http://www.dslreports.com/faq/13772: (http://www.dslreports.com/faq/13772)
"...It can support G.DMT speeds up to 8 Mbps downstream and 800 Kbps upstream. It also supports ADSL2+ which can increase speeds up to 25Mbps (when it becomes available)...."

Data sheet: http://internethelp.centurylink.com/internethelp/pdf/modems/datasheet-327w.pdf

You should be able to easily get the cost on-line or with a phone call to Verizon. If you upgrade, be sure you know whether they are locking you in for a period of time.

Router/modems are not expensive new and even cheaper at the nearest decent thrift shop but you probably don't need one.

[Clarence Martin]

Did some checking today on my DSL. Found out the CO is exactly .80 of a Mile down the road from me. Also, the CO has less than 1,000 customers being served through that CO. Seems they should be able to boost the speed up.

[Brian Henderson]

Did some checking today on my DSL. Found out the CO is exactly .80 of a Mile down the road from me. Also, the CO has less than 1,000 customers being served through that CO. Seems they should be able to boost the speed up.

Just because the CO is close doesn't mean the line runs in a straight line between the CO and your house, it's cable length that matters, plus cable quality. Back when we had DSL, our copper was horribly corroded and we had techs out constantly, looking for copper pairs that actually worked. We were told flat out that Verizon would rather pay the fines for not giving us any phone service at all than pay to replace the copper. Luckily, they replaced the whole thing with fiber about a year later and we were the first people around with FiOS.

[Chuck Wintle]

Just because the CO is close doesn't mean the line runs in a straight line between the CO and your house, it's cable length that matters, plus cable quality. Back when we had DSL, our copper was horribly corroded and we had techs out constantly, looking for copper pairs that actually worked. We were told flat out that Verizon would rather pay the fines for not giving us any phone service at all than pay to replace the copper. Luckily, they replaced the whole thing with fiber about a year later and we were the first people around with FiOS.

+1 for this response. You have no idea what the condition of the wires are like and as, Brian mentioned, they may very well be a corroded mess that is not run as the crow flies to the CO. Your modem is capable of a much higher speed that what the wires will allow so it is not the bottleneck. How much do you pay to have the 3mbps?

[Clarence Martin]

Talked to the tech support yesterday. The ran a line test to see what speed it can handle. They said the line can handle 7 Mbps. BUT, they refuse to boost the speed up. They raised the rate this Month $7.00, to $43.99 a Month.

[Chuck Wintle]

Talked to the tech support yesterday. The ran a line test to see what speed it can handle. They said the line can handle 7 Mbps. BUT, they refuse to boost the speed up. They raised the rate this Month $7.00, to $43.99 a Month.

yes but is that the line test right to your house? If the line is connected to other things in your house the speed may also be affected such as an alarm system etc.

[Matt Meiser]

They are probably oversold based on the bandwidth available to the terminal you are connected to. Happened to us with Frontier. Day 1, when we were the only customer I got 6MB any time. 18 months or so later when we got cable we were down to 1 when it worked right. DSL modem ALWAYS reported an 8MB connection back to the terminal, but the connection from there to the world was over-utilized.

[Brian Henderson]

yes but is that the line test right to your house? If the line is connected to other things in your house the speed may also be affected such as an alarm system etc.

It also might be bad internal wiring, which they won't measure.