Hi folks, I've been using DSL for the past year and a half, and have always been getting consistently low speeds compared to what I'm paying for.
I'm supposed to be getting 1.5 - 3.0 megabit download, but when I got to speedtest.net the number is closer to 0.7 megabit.
I've tried all sorts of sleight of hand with the phone jacks and DSL filters, but the speed stays consistent. I'm pretty sure it's not the wireless router, because I have tried plugging the PC directly to the modem.
Could the problem be with the modem? How would I tell?:'(
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If you ask the basic how can I tell question, IMHO, you have to GASP do some hard work, do some reading, and understand how DSL technology works. Otherwise you will forever remain clueless. In terms of dsl reports, its just one of many excellent web sites that will explain how DSL technology works and what are the limitations. In terms of the JackMDS advice, it too is correct, but the question is and remains, did our OP understand any of it, or was the advice woefully incomplete.
So that is where my post will start. Assuming you have a single family dwelling, somewhere on your house will be a little box called a network interface box attached somewhere to you house or garage. Where your phone line comes from the telephone company and goes into your house.
Homeowner troubleshooting step one is find the location of said box on your house. Step two is to find the small screw on said box that is homeowner serviceable to open said box. And inside you will find a standard phone jack already connected to your inside phone wiring. Assuming you have already purchased 50 or 100 feet of standard el cheapie phone cord with standard phone hack connectors on each end, the the next steps are as follows.
(a) Unplug the connector inside your network interface box. (b) plug one end of your pre purchased phone line in its place. (c) Gasp open a window in winter, string your test phone line through the open window, and connect it directly to your dsl modem. Then connect to the internet and run a speed test. ( And during the test, you can close the window as far as possible as long as you do not crush the test cable)
If your speed then increases, you have indoor phone wiring problems, if they do not, then you have grounds to complain to your telephone company. Meanwhile its easily reversible, unplug test cable, shut window, reconnect original jack, and close interface box.
But know ye this, your telco will cheerfully charge you extra money for a faster DSL connection, but if their network is incapable of supporting that extra speed, they will not care. And the other thing you should know is how far your house is from the central telco switch. Get past 15,000 feet, and it won't support dsl at all, and if isn't shorter than about 10,000 feet, about 768 kbits/sec down is about all that can be delivered. Telco Technician have troubleshooting equipment to test and tell you exactly how far that distance is.
To further explain the dsl modems which boil down to a signal noise question, snail slow 56 k modems operate at low frequencies suitable for voice telephone frequencies and dsl modems operate at much higher frequencies. The higher the frequency, the more bits of data that can be exchanged in unit time. And its why you need special filters to separate voice from DSL. But as soon as we have noise coming from any cause, usually telco lines that are overlong or in poor condition, then the modem is unsure if its static or data. Which is why all modern modems operate using check sum algorithms. If the sending modem and the receiving modem agree on the check sum, then the sent data is assumed good, if not its resent until both modems agree.
To get maximum modem speed, the less frequently the checksum must be preformed the better through put, but if the modems often disagree, then the checksums must be preformed more frequently as actual throughput gets slower and slower.
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