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DSL Hell

2001-02-01 (updated: 2014-08-17) by

I use Bellsouth as my DSL provider and was one of the first dozen or so implemented during rollout of their service. I was told that I should get an excellent connection and should get a very high transfer rate due to my location.

The engineers came out to install at my house, a half dozen due to their on-site training, and said that I had an excellent signal strength at the NID. A week before the phone company sent someone out to replace my NID so that it would work with service (pre-splitterless DSL). They couldn't get a signal in my office although the repeater gave them a signal at the NID. They put in trouble ticket for location AND one for the previous location who couldn't have the service. Mine would be repairable.

Several weeks later with no response or service call, I called the support line and received the run around that service wasn't available in my area. The damn switch is around the corner from my house so I had to insist that it was the other trouble ticket that got entered at the same time got information put into my ticket. Someone would be out in a week, was the response. Almost 2 weeks later, a tech came out and I helped him troubleshoot the problem.

We put a repeater on the line in my office and traced it through my attic and checked any extensions or splits along the way. We traced it through the master bedroom jack all the way out to the NID on the back of the house with a strong signal. Checking the RJ11 jack on the NIDs splitter bar showed no signal. We checked the main line and had signal. The splitter bar had signal up to the screws except on one line. The casing was under the screw causing the broken connection. Fixing this got me 1.5MB and better download rates. It doesn't end yet.

Several months later I had problems with transfer rates, getting dropped connections, and no connections. After a half dozen or so 2 hour plus calls to support doing everything they wanted, the problem still existed. I was told that they would have to drop the service. I told them to wait a couple weeks. During then I noticed that I was hearing other calls on my cordless phone so I changed to a corded phone. The same problems occurred. I could even hear someone dialing. I put in a land line problem call and had them page me when the repairman was coming. I met him at the curb and had him check the second point of dialtone. As he was removing the cover I asked if they had any notification on their trouble ticket that the customer used data services. The reply was no. He found that the pair connected to my house was on a node that was labeled 'do not use for data services'. Moving my pair eliminated the problem and my service was even better than before.

Remember, if your neighbors have a problem with their phone line and put in a call, your DSL may go to hell due to a serviceman blindly moving pairs at the neighborhood switch.

Hope this helps someone,

Jeff L.

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by exbbandspprt666 - 2006-04-04 09:24
WTF are you trying to do? You have bad wiring and you blame it on the service provider? Why would you think any of what you stated would help anyone else? What are you a technician? If I told you I used a paperclip to fix your issue in "the switch" would you believe me?
by David - 2006-04-11 14:03
I had the same problems basically....but the service provider didn't solve anything. He didn't even know what the hell he was doing. He might've known what he was doing outside the house and he said that there were no bad connections and whatnot...so he came to the conclusion that it was my DSL box. Funny....i knew that in the first place but i let them do what they had to do to look smart and whatnot. Anyways...I had the same problems as the guy with the DSL HELL and no solution existed for me until i had to call someone and i was on the computer at the same time, while the phone was connected to the other person...my internet was temporarily working! I was amazed! But than again when i ended the call, my internet service stopped. We gave a couple calls....and they decide to do all the same shit i did to know what was wrong with the dsl modem all over again over the phone.....i knew for sure the modem was shot...(yes, this happens to be the THIRD Actiontec DSL modem by Qwest Choice DSL), but they decided at the end to send a new DSL modem with the 4-ethernet connection so i could route it to my wireless router.

The guy that commented on the original POST is a complete retard......it wasn't a bad line or connection. It was a NODE! you know....any thing that CONNECTS TO THE NETWORK or LINE. LOOK UP THE DEFINITION! And the guy was simply just explaining his problem.....he wasn't asking for someone to come over to his post and say some bs.

After you've had nearly 10+ years of computer experience...talk to me. And oh yea....i'm only 18 biotch.
by anonymous - 2007-03-25 07:23
get a grip u sad geek, i work as an IT support tech and if there's problems with the wiring in your house, then its got nothing to do with your ISP.
by n0zo - 2008-02-22 15:25
Obviously, you 2 IT support techs didn't read the entire statement - there is a distinct difference between outside plant which is the phone companies responsibility and in-house wiring which may or may not be the home-owner (renters) responsibility. Several years ago the phone company did not like home-owners/renters mucking around with the house wiring. Actually, the phone company in those days, installed the wiring/jacks/phones in the house.
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