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DSL Install Question

Kelemvor

Kelemvor

Lifer
I'm a Cable guy and don't know much about DSL. Buy my in-laws still use AOL DIal Up. Anyway, they got an offer AOL has now to get Highspeed for the same prices as DIal-Up.

Anyway, they are offiering the AOL half for about $11 and the AT&T DSL Package for $14.99. Says speeds are "Up to 1.5 Meg" System is "ADSL".

Anyhow, they can get the activation for free and there's no install fee if they just get shipped the modem and don't have the "professional Installation". My main question is, is DSL as simple to "install" as cable? Do you just plug the modem into the phone line and you're done? Or does anything need to actually get changed inside the house? Not sure if they can just take any phone line they have in the house and plug the modem into it or how exactly that works.


Thanks
 
they'll need microfilters installed on each telelphone socket if it's ADSL - they're very cheap, and the ISP normally provides a couple for free with the ADSL Modem as well. Simply plug a microfilter into each phone socket and then plug the supplied modem (USB normally) into the ADSL section of the microfilter and your computer.

If possible, I'd go for an Ethernet based ADSL modem - in this case it would need configuring with their ADSL details but this is normally pretty easy.
 
What's the difference between ADSL and any other DSL?

ANd thanks for pointing out the modem thing, I'll have to make sure they get a LAN based one as I want to slap a wireless router on it.
 
FrankyJunior, the telco will give you these inline filters in their self install kit and tell you to put them between every phone and every jack (that is, filter before the phone). I would strongly urge you to buy an ADSL splitter, you can find them cheap on EBay, and if you can get someone clueful at your telco on the phone they might even just mail you one as a freebie. The splitter requires a little bit of wiring at the NID, nothing you can't handle if you're a cable installer, and it handles the filtering for the whole house. The inline filter approach is easier to install for the average nontechnical person, but it doesn't work as well and can affect your speed / reliability - the splitter will save a lot of long term headache.

Most ADSL providers use PPPoE, which you DO NOT want to deal with - get a little SOHO router to do it for you. The Linksys WRT54GL would be a great choice, but is expensive. The D-Link 604 is a decent cheap choice. Don't install the ISP's PPPoE software on your PC, let the router deal with all that silliness. See dslreports.com's forum for your exact telco for instructions on how to set up the username/password.
 
WHat would the splitter be for? I was planning on putting the DSL modem on one of the phone jacks and then just having my Netgear wireless router on that. Or does that mean that right where the phone line comes into the house I split off so all the phone jacks are on one set and the DSL modem goes on the other line right there?

The router I was going to use is a Netgear MR814 I think. Just a B router but it's for the in-laws and that's more than enough for them.

I see some Splitter here (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/howitworks/splitter.asp), does the splitter have to go right at the input from the outside or can it jsut go on any phone jack? Assuming if the splitter went on an internal jack I'd still need the filters on all the other phone lines and that's why it's better to just put it at the main input line....

 
DSL as simple to "install" as cable? Do you just plug the modem into the phone line and you're done? Or does anything need to actually get changed inside the house?
Click to expand...
No, it is not quite as simple. When a cable modem gets provisioned by the provider, that MAC address is entered in by technicians and it is plug and play after that.
With DSL, you need to put a username and password in, much like dialup. As others have pointed out, you want to use a router for that task. The netgear router will take care of PPoE fine.
What's the difference between ADSL and any other DSL?
Click to expand...
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is much like cable, with faster download speeds. For example, a company might offer 1.5 down/256 up, with a higher level of service at 1.5 down/512 up.
Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) has the same speed, up and down. 256/256, 512/512, etc.
WHat would the splitter be for?
Click to expand...

The splitter goes out where the phoneline enters the house. One side of it is filtered, the other is not.
You'd need to route the unfiltered signal to the modem on an unused pair, or on a different line.
Unless they have a couple of lines of service, there is an unused pair in the existing wiring. That will get it done, if that unused pair is built through or continuous to the place you want to put the modem.

You can check this all out using a regular telephone as a test device. build dialtone through on that second pair, and after you get it wired to the jack and the phone works, install the splitter and send the unfiltered signal to your modem jack.
Now you will have the best of everything: A clean signal on a dedicated pair for the DSL, and all the rest of the house filtered at one point for convenience.
 
I agree wtih Sky about using the whole house dsl filter ... I was getting constant dsl drops and reconnects
and after wiring up the whole house spliiter, no more problems .. I did, however run a seperate cable from
the filter to the dsl modem / router ... with dsl operating between 1mhz & 10mhz every additional inline set
filter can cause trouble .. too many (4 or more) will load the line down and mess up the higher rf signal
 
the seperate cable is not necessary, but handy. If you can build through a seperate pair in the existing wiring, that will serve.
 
So on a standard phone line, there are the 2 pairs of wires. THe normal phone uses 2 and the whole DSL connection uses the other 2? Wasn't sure if that's all it was.
 
Originally posted by: skyking
That is what YOU can do with those wires. right now, the second pair is likely unused.
Click to expand...

So once the phone company activates DSL, does the phone signal and the DSL signal both come into the house using the same pair of wires?

I'm not too worried about speed because this is just for my in-laws who just like to go to foodnetwork.com and also to check his stocks online. That's about all they use it for. heh.
 
I think SBC also blocks the e-mail port 25 by default. You want to unblock this if you want to send out POP MAIL via port 25.
 
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