Do I need a better ADSL modem to get good speeds?

[Muse]

I have an Alcatel 1000 (think it's version 3.0) that I got from Pacbell when I signed up for DSL in April 1999 (i.e. 10 years ago). Pacbell has been gobbled up by ATT/SBCYahoo or whatever that corporate conglomerate is and I was upgraded once from the original 1.5 mbps service to their Pro service (2.7 mpbs max). I did a few speed tests yesterday and seem to be getting around 2150 kbps.

Got a letter from ATT a couple days ago offering me Elite service (potentially up to 6.0 mbps) for an extra $5/month, so I call them today but nobody there seems to know what's going on so I call back and cancel the upgrade. Do I need a better modem? If so, should I buy it from them or can I do better elsewhere (e.g. online)? AT&T sales offered me this:

$49.99 +12.95 SH, "2 Wire" is the brand.
ADSL device configured for att internet services
10/100 lan interface is single port ethernet
10/100 base T ethernet RJ-45
4 LED indicator
Model Number: 2210

Should I get another modem? I've got my current Alcatel 1000 modem connected to a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 wireless router. PCs are connected by ethernet, laptop wirelessly. Should I get some assurance from AT&T that their system including the drop to my house will handle the potential throughput? I tried for about an hour today to get the answers from AT&T tech support, but nobody I talked to seemed to know squat. Thanks for any help.

 

[JackMDS]

Unless you are upgrading to the faster service I would not touch anything.

The slight lose that you experience is probably the way it is considering distance and quality of lines from the DSLAM to your home.

Assurance from an ISP? You have better chance to go for the Nobel Price.

I think you driving yourself "crazy" for nothing.

 

[Muse]

Hmm, according to this site Alcatel 1000 modems support:

# Max Upstream Speed: 800 kbit/s
# Max Downstream Speed: 8 Mbit/s

If that's true, I'd think it should handle the Elite 6.0 mbps max throughput, right?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Unless you are upgrading to the faster service I would not touch anything.

The slight lose that you experience is probably the way it is considering distance and quality of lines from the DSLAM to your home.

Assurance from an ISP? You have better chance to go for the Nobel Price.

I think you driving yourself "crazy" for nothing.

I'm hoping that going to their Elite service will give me a big speed boost. They told me it would double my speed. The modem I have is evidently more than capable of the highest speeds of the service. Nobody I've talked to at AT&T seems to be technically savvy, some a little more than others. I know they have some, I've talked to a couple in years past, but getting ahold of one today was not in the cards for me. Well, I'll find out this week if they are for real on this one at least in this case.

Yeah, it did feel like I was going "crazy" there for a while. There's nothing like dealing with a huge beaurocracy like AT&T to drive you out of your skull. Just their holds were enough to drive you up the wall. Some creep yelling in your ear about offers, technical advice ad nauseum.

 

[bunker]

Log directly into your modem and see what your current sync rate is.
For Pro service, your sync rate should be 3008.

When I first switched to Pro from Express, I could only sync at 2496. After re-wiring my house with a whole house filter (instead of the microfilters you put on all your phone jacks), I had AT&T re-check my line and I was able to sync up at 3008.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: bunker
Log directly into your modem and see what your current sync rate is.
For Pro service, your sync rate should be 3008.

When I first switched to Pro from Express, I could only sync at 2496. After re-wiring my house with a whole house filter (instead of the microfilters you put on all your phone jacks), I had AT&T re-check my line and I was able to sync up at 3008.

How do I log onto my modem? I've had it 10 years and don't think I've heard of doing that before. 😕

AFAIK, the only filters I have is two of them outside where the drop comes to my outside jack box. They installed one, I had problems and they put in another and fed the filtered signal from one into the other and that fixed the problems. This was in 1999 and it was early in the game for them, they were still having problems with their filters so the tech tried this and it worked and that was that. It's been like that ever since! Once in the house (from the 2nd filter) the signal goes into a splitter that splits the digital from the analog phone line and I have a longish line (75 feet ?) that goes to my Alcatel 1000 ADSL modem. From there is fed a signal to my wireless Buffalo router.

Edit: I downloaded the Alcatel 1000 PDF manual and found some instructions in there for login. I think it must be for Windows 2000 or even earlier version of Windows because the instructions don't work. Says to double click My Computer and then the Dial Up Networking icon. That doesn't exist in My Computer for XP Pro. 😕

 

[ImDonly1]

Go to start cmd, type in ipconfig it will say default gateway 192.168.... type that number into your browser. This is assuming you do not have a router hooked up. I google'd and I think the ip might be 10.0.0.138 so just try typing that number into your browser

By the way, the method you are talking about you go to control panel -> network -> local area connection -> right click -> status -> next tab after general I dno what its called details or something -> default gateway.

If you do have a router then unplug it and hook modem up directly, unless you can find in the manual the default ip address of the modem.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: ImDonly1
Go to start cmd, type in ipconfig it will say default gateway 192.168.... type that number into your browser. This is assuming you do not have a router hooked up. I google'd and I think the ip might be 10.0.0.138 so just try typing that number into your browser

By the way, the method you are talking about you go to control panel -> network -> local area connection -> right click -> status -> next tab after general I dno what its called details or something -> default gateway.

If you do have a router then unplug it and hook modem up directly, unless you can find in the manual the default ip address of the modem.

Thanks. The manual does say that 10.0.0.138 is the "default IP address of the ADSL modem."

I do have a router in the system, a wireless Buffalo WHR-HP-G54. 2 PCs are hooked up by ethernet to the router (a printer, too) and I use a laptop with it wirelessly. When I type 10.0.0.138 into a browser nothing comes up... it times out. I guess maybe I'll have to connect the router directly to a PC to get access to it.

Your instructions above don't exactly work, well I think I know where you want me to go. The default gateway is empty because the Internet protocol (TCP/IP) settings are Obtain an IP address automatically. I used to have a static IP for years and years but finally caved in and went dynamic IP. Guess it saved me some money. When I run ipconfig from the command prompt it says 192.168.1.1 and the IP of the computer is 192.168.1.114

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: bunker
Log directly into your modem and see what your current sync rate is.
For Pro service, your sync rate should be 3008.

When I first switched to Pro from Express, I could only sync at 2496. After re-wiring my house with a whole house filter (instead of the microfilters you put on all your phone jacks), I had AT&T re-check my line and I was able to sync up at 3008.

Is it possible I will be able to sync at the highest rate of the new Elite service without reconfiguring my modem?

 

[bunker]

With that old of a modem, I'm going to suggest creating an account over at broadbandreports.com and asking there. I saw quite a bit of info on the old alcatel.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: bunker
With that old of a modem, I'm going to suggest creating an account over at broadbandreports.com and asking there. I saw quite a bit of info on the old alcatel.

I just checked my speed (they said by 8 PM tonight) and the DL has almost doubled:

2 days ago DL was 2150
Right now DL is 4188 (at speedtest.net)

2 days ago Up was 432
Right now Up is 618


This is great. I'm wondering, though, if there's something that can be done to get me over 5000, maybe approaching the 6000 presumed possible speed. 😕 I'll check broadbandreports out. I actually registered there in July 2005, according to my data.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: bunker
With that old of a modem, I'm going to suggest creating an account over at broadbandreports.com and asking there. I saw quite a bit of info on the old alcatel.

Can you give me any hints concerning which forum(s) might have info on the Alcatel? There's a ton of forums. Thanks!

The initial forum I am sticking my nose into is:

3006 Broadband Modem (Hardware)

Guess I'll post there and ask how I can access the modem configuration.