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Verizon DSL
Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home?
Thanks (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address) |
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"Brandystew" wrote in message ... Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home? Thanks Yes, I have been using Verizon DSL since May 2002. It is reasonably fast (not as fast as the cable service I had before I moved) and reliable. My only complaint is that the IP address changes way to frequently, but that is probably not relevant. -- Al Reid How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address) |
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On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 09:31:22 -0500, "Al Reid"
wrote: How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? If you don't know where you are going ... It pretty much doesn't matter how you get there. |
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On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 09:50:57 -0700, Mark & Juanita wrote:
On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 09:31:22 -0500, "Al Reid" wrote: How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? If you don't know where you are going ... It pretty much doesn't matter how you get there. Where ever you go, there you are. |
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On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 10:45:01 -0700, Doug Winterburn
calmly ranted: On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 09:50:57 -0700, Mark & Juanita wrote: On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 09:31:22 -0500, "Al Reid" wrote: How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? If you don't know where you are going ... It pretty much doesn't matter how you get there. Where ever you go, there you are. How can you be in two places at once, when you're not anywheeere at aaaaaaall? -- SAVE THE PARROTS! Eschew the use of poly! ---------- http://diversify.com Poly-free Website Development |
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"Doug Winterburn" wrote in message news On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 09:50:57 -0700, Mark & Juanita wrote: On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 09:31:22 -0500, "Al Reid" wrote: How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? If you don't know where you are going ... It pretty much doesn't matter how you get there. Where ever you go, there you are. and you take yourself with you. |
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Mark & Juanita wrote:
How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? If you don't know where you are going ... It pretty much doesn't matter how you get there. Now there's an interesting topic. I'm trying to find a Boy Scout camp waaaaaaaay in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than an extremely crappy map to guide my way. I drive around for over an hour on all kinds of twisty little unpainted back roads, and I still haven't found it. I know exactly where I am in relation to my point of origin, and I can find my way back home easily. I just don't know where I am in relation to the destination. So is that lost, or not? I say not. I'm not lost if I know how to get back to a known location. Everybody else tells me I was lost. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
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On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 11:37:06 -0500, Silvan
wrote: Mark & Juanita wrote: How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? If you don't know where you are going ... It pretty much doesn't matter how you get there. Now there's an interesting topic. I'm trying to find a Boy Scout camp waaaaaaaay in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than an extremely crappy map to guide my way. I drive around for over an hour on all kinds of twisty little unpainted back roads, and I still haven't found it. I know exactly where I am in relation to my point of origin, and I can find my way back home easily. I just don't know where I am in relation to the destination. So is that lost, or not? I say not. I'm not lost if I know how to get back to a known location. Everybody else tells me I was lost. Sounds to me like you weren't "lost"; the Boy Scout camp was. ;-) |
#9
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Silvan wrote:
Mark & Juanita wrote: How will I know when I get there... If I don't know where I'm going? If you don't know where you are going ... It pretty much doesn't matter how you get there. Now there's an interesting topic. I'm trying to find a Boy Scout camp waaaaaaaay in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than an extremely crappy map to guide my way. I drive around for over an hour on all kinds of twisty little unpainted back roads, and I still haven't found it. I know exactly where I am in relation to my point of origin, and I can find my way back home easily. I just don't know where I am in relation to the destination. So is that lost, or not? I say not. I'm not lost if I know how to get back to a known location. Everybody else tells me I was lost. "Tarzan not lost, Tarzan _here_. Trail lost." Seriously, if at all times you know where you are and how to retrace your steps you're not lost. Your destination might be lost but that's another story. Just for hohos, try plugging the address if there is one into Mapquest and see if it can give the directions. -- --John Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net) |
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On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 13:22:26 -0500, "J. Clarke"
wrote: Silvan wrote: .... snip I'm trying to find a Boy Scout camp waaaaaaaay in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than an extremely crappy map to guide my way. I drive around for over an hour on all kinds of twisty little unpainted back roads, and I still haven't found it. I know exactly where I am in relation to my point of origin, and I can find my way back home easily. I just don't know where I am in relation to the destination. So is that lost, or not? I say not. I'm not lost if I know how to get back to a known location. Everybody else tells me I was lost. "Tarzan not lost, Tarzan _here_. Trail lost." .... snip Just for hohos, try plugging the address if there is one into Mapquest and see if it can give the directions. Mapquest will almost always give directions; however, those directions may not necessarily be of any use. This past summer, I was staying in Huntsville at the airport hotel and requested Mapquest provide directions to a certain destination. Mapquest obliged with a detailed list of "go this far, turn north on ..., go ... etc." I followed the directions, unfortunately Mapquest took me to a point, where, sometime in the future, people may be able to cross over or under the interstate that dead-ended the road I was to follow. I was able to gaze through the fence, across the interstate to the other end of my route but had no way of getting there from the directions I was provided. So, with the exception of approximately 100 yards of road and an overpass, Mapquest provided a detailed route to my destination. I did find my way to where I was headed, but Mapquest kind of disappointed me. |
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J. Clarke wrote:
Just for hohos, try plugging the address if there is one into Mapquest and see if it can give the directions. Right. The address. 1 BFE Plaza East. Seriously, that place is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the middle of nowhere. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
#12
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#13
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About a year and a half ago, I gave them a try. First they told me it
wasn't available in my area; and my incoming wires were no good. Well, my apartment is in a building 1 FOOT from the verizon building, and the wires are the old heavy copper ones.....they said I was too far away. Well, when I convinced them 1 FOOT wasn't too far, they hooked it up, but could never get it to work. However they did manage to continue to bill me for it for over a year, and after a lot of screaming they finally credited 10 months back to me. Gee, maybe they are better now?? However, at my other place, I have Comcast cable and can't say enough good things about them. Once my modem died, and they had a new one to me in 1 1/2 hours. Can't beat that. "Brandystew" wrote in message ... Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home? Thanks (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address) |
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On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:41:49 GMT, "Ol' Texan"
wrote: About a year and a half ago, I gave them a try. First they told me it wasn't available in my area; and my incoming wires were no good. Well, my apartment is in a building 1 FOOT from the verizon building, and the wires are the old heavy copper ones.....they said I was too far away. Well, when I convinced them 1 FOOT wasn't too far, they hooked it up, but could never get it to work. However they did manage to continue to bill me for it for over a year, and after a lot of screaming they finally credited 10 months back to me. Gee, maybe they are better now?? However, at my other place, I have Comcast cable and can't say enough good things about them. Once my modem died, and they had a new one to me in 1 1/2 hours. Can't beat that. "Brandystew" wrote in message ... Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home? Thanks (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address) The critical distance with DSL isn't the distance to the Verizon office, it's the distance to the local phone company's switch. And it _is_ critical. So is the quality of the lines. The fact that they're old is not a point in their favor. Short form: I'm not sure they were giving you the runaround and anyone considering DSL needs to check those two factors. I got Earthlink and I had about a three-week fight before we got the connection working reliably. Not that I'd reccomend Earthlink. They outsourced their customer support to India a couple of years ago and service has gone absolutely to hell. --RC Sleep? Isn't that a totally inadequate substitute for caffine? |
#15
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Just got it last night. Good telephone service then the CD didn't work.
375 upload speeds, 1800+ DL speeds. Northern, NJ... Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. http://www.autodrill.com http://www.multi-spindle-heads.com V8013 "Brandystew" wrote in message ... Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home? Thanks (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address) |
#16
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Brandystew wrote:
Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home? No, not in my home. I live in Fiberoptic Junction, and can't get DSL here. I have, however, set up Verizon DSL for two clients. The process in my case involved doing a network installation of Debian Linux, and downloading somewhere around 500 MB of packages from the fastest available server. I found at both locations that the download speed was around 150 Kps. This is less than half the speed of cable, but the difference between 5 Kps and 150 Kps is plenty enough to grab your attention and make you think you just put a rocket ship in your computer. The only measure of reliability I have is whether or not people call me with problems. They would call me to deal with Verizon for them (a free part of the service) and I haven't had to call Verizon yet. One of them has been running for about a year now. All in all, it's a pretty good deal. As an installer, I prefer using a router for my own benefit. Routers eliminate the need to futz with all the fiddly PPPoE configuration nonsense, and save me effort. The most recent install came with a router as part of the package, and I think perhaps that is because Verizon themselves recognize how much easier life is when you let the router manage that stuff transparently. Like every other format of broadband I have experienced, Windows is pretty much inescapable for getting the ball rolling the first time. Once the modem is provisioned, it no longer matters what platform you're running. However, it's probably necessary to keep a copy of Windows in your pocket somewhere in case you ever have to provision a new modem at some point in the future. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
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Silvan wrote:
Like every other format of broadband I have experienced, Windows is pretty much inescapable for getting the ball rolling the first time.**Once*the modem is provisioned, it no longer matters what platform you're running. However, it's probably necessary to keep a copy of Windows in your pocket somewhere in case you ever have to provision a new modem at some point in the future. OK, as a dialup customer, the term "provision a modem" is new to me. Was ist? -- Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description. |
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Larry Blanchard wrote:
OK, as a dialup customer, the term "provision a modem" is new to me. Was ist? Setting the thing up for the first time, basically. You don't just take it out of the box, plug it in, and get online. You have to jump through some hoops to prove who you are. I imagine this is especially true for cable modems, since the cable company has no way of knowing who you are except by the MAC address of the modem you're using. I don't understand the inner workings of the process or I never would have spent four hours screwing with reinstalling Windows (because I had to feed it all those stupid driver CDs to get it running well enough to run the setup program) just to do this. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
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Silvan wrote in
: snip I don't understand the inner workings of the process or I never would have spent four hours screwing with reinstalling Windows (because I had to feed it all those stupid driver CDs to get it running well enough to run the setup program) just to do this. The best thing to do is ignore their process. Their process is designed to automate the installation in a standard manner. When you are using anything that isn't a plain-vanilla setup, you are far better off to put something in the middle to talk to their network. In my case, it has always been a not terribly expensive router. Our first one was a FreeBSD box that one of the kids put together from leftover parts, a 1-floppy type super low end box that did simple routing and address translation. The current box is a less than $150 firewall/router, from SMC, with features that were $50k when I got my first dialup account. Today's routers handle all of the network config dynamically. There's very little reason for you to have to run their software on your desktop. And their software is almost never current. My cynical experience says that you do NOT want the provider to label you as 'one of those LINUX guys'. Patriarch, who knows more about the business side of this stuff than is good for the soul... |
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patriarch wrote:
The best thing to do is ignore their process. Their process is designed to automate the installation in a standard manner. Yeah, but I spent two days picking some of the best brains on Earth trying to figure out how to get the cable modem to do something, to no avail. After I finally went through the ordeal of setting up Windows far enough to run their stupid little program, it woke up. I hadn't been doing anything wrong. Upstream just wasn't talking to me yet because I hadn't spoken the right magic words to it. After that, I haven't needed Windows since. When you are using anything that isn't a plain-vanilla setup, you are far better off to put something in the middle to talk to their network. In my case, it has always been a not terribly expensive router. Our first one I have a not terribly expensive router. That's exactly why I bought it. I figure if I tell them I'm running Linux, they backpedal, but if I tell them I have my OS set up to talk to my Cheapass Ultrasuck 2000 XL router using DHCP, then they gloss over the user config side of it and focus in on the real issues. I don't even have any other computers hooked to it, and I'm not using its crappy firewall, so it's pretty pointless except as insurance against being told I'm running an unsupported operating system. My cynical experience says that you do NOT want the provider to label you as 'one of those LINUX guys'. No, you don't, although my experience with my current provider has been that once I manage to get through the layers of drones whose job it is to weed out the imbeciles, most of the real techs upstream are running Linux at home. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
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Have had it for over a year now, very few problems. Am in former GTE
territory, so I avoid the PPPoE nonsense. The VZ software is pretty intrusive, dumped all that, it didn't do anything useful anyway. Use of a firewall is absolutely, positively mandatory! Receive about one virus infection attempt per second. VZ does not filter the ports, so you see lots of probes. -- Tom "Brandystew" wrote in message ... Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home? Thanks (To send e-mail, remove NOSPAM from address) |
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#24
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Do get yourself a gateway router to use as a firewall and eliminate
the need to install that dreadful PPOE and Verizon software. Do tell me more about this please... Just got DSL and was thinking of using the provided modem/router combo unit for the house as it is both wired and wireless. -- Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com Northern, NJ Ride a Motorcycle? Ask me about "The Ride" http://www.youthelate.com/the_ride.htm Born once - Die twice. Born twice - Die only once. Your choice... Have unwanted music CDs or DVDs of any type? I can use them for our charity. eMail me privately for details. Donation receipts available. |
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Joe wrote:
Do get yourself a gateway router to use as a firewall and eliminate the need to install that dreadful PPOE and Verizon software. Do tell me more about this please... Just got DSL and was thinking of using the provided modem/router combo unit for the house as it is both wired and wireless. In Maryland, near Washington DC, Verizon sends new DSL customers a combination DSL modem / router / 4-port hub / wireless hub. At least that's what they sent friends of mine, who I help get connected three weekends ago. It was relatively painless to get set up, although it did take one call to tech support. The user name and password for the modem wasn't included in the documentation. -- Mark |
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Mark Jerde wrote: Joe wrote: Do get yourself a gateway router to use as a firewall and eliminate the need to install that dreadful PPOE and Verizon software. Do tell me more about this please... Just got DSL and was thinking of using the provided modem/router combo unit for the house as it is both wired and wireless. In Maryland, near Washington DC, Verizon sends new DSL customers a combination DSL modem / router / 4-port hub / wireless hub. At least that's what they sent friends of mine, who I help get connected three weekends ago. It was relatively painless to get set up, although it did take one call to tech support. The user name and password for the modem wasn't included in the documentation. -- Mark I live in NW Virginia just outside DC and am confronted with the same request for a user name and password. Do you remember what they are? And, what did you use (in Linux) to connect to Verizon? I am running Fedora 3. Please just let me know. Thanks, Cliff |
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wrote:
I live in NW Virginia just outside DC and am confronted with the same request for a user name and password. Do you remember what they are? And, what did you use (in Linux) to connect to Verizon? I am running Fedora 3. Please just let me know. Thanks, Cliff Are you setting it up for the first time? If so, you just about have to suck it up, find some crap hard drive laying around somewhere, and throw Windows on it to run their CD. You have to set up your username and password to use with the thing. It's all part of the stupid CD. After that, you can throw away Windows. Especially if you're talking to the upstream stuff with a router that lets you put the username and password inside it, so you don't have to screw with PPPoE stuff on the Linux side, which I found to be a royal PITA on Debian and Mandrake. Haven't done Fedora. It's probably no different. I recommend a router highly, just to manage the stupid PPPoE stuff. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
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#29
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Joe wrote:
Do get yourself a gateway router to use as a firewall and eliminate the need to install that dreadful PPOE and Verizon software. Do tell me more about this please... Just got DSL and was thinking of using the provided modem/router combo unit for the house as it is both wired and wireless. You don't need to worry about it with the new modem/router they're offering. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
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TomL wrote in news:bq2gq05umuc1hn0l5smub03007erhs4gua@
4ax.com: On 24 Nov 2004 13:32:30 GMT, OSPAM (Brandystew) wrote: Anyone have experience with Verizon DSL in their home? Thanks I've had Verizon DSL in NE NJ since day one. The first year was not good. Since then they've become very reliable. In my area, DSL is much less costly than cable. If you frequent the Newsgroups you'll find Verizon wins out over cable in retention and completion. The downside? Technical support. Do get yourself a gateway router to use as a firewall and eliminate the need to install that dreadful PPOE and Verizon software. TomL That's an important point: NEVER install the stuff on the Verizon CD. DO get a router (VZ may give you the router/modem combo thingy (Westell 327 I believe). DO use the VZ supplied cable for the connection between the telephone wall jack and the modem (it's special twisted wire, rather than the flat phone cord). Do try to get the straigthest most direct inside wiring (preferably cat5) from the NID to the modem. DO put filters on all other phone equipment. See HiEv's pages here for more help: http://www.alt-hacker.org/~HiEv/vzindex.html -- Best regards Han email address is invalid |
#31
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I suffered with Verizon DSL for three months, and then cut my losses
and switched to cable. The DSL was cheaper then cable, I wanted a digital satellite dish, so I decided I would go with DSL (and so have two bills a month instead of three). Like an idiot, I bought into the package that had a $250 cancellation fee if I had it less then 12 months. I had no problems getting the service up and running instantly, but the connection was really poor. Download rates were great (60-100k/sec), but my connections would usually time out after about 200-400k. This meant that many web pages would time out when loading giving me an error screen, and require hitting the "reload" icon several times. Forget about downloading a big program unless you use a download manager like GetRight, which can reconnect after each time out. Numerous phones calls and emails and chat sessions with the Verizon techs did not solve anything (The usual answer being to clear my browser cache and power cycle the modem. Yeah, like I was not smart enough to have already tried that myself). Finally, one tech told me that this was not a problem with my setup, but was representative of the service other people in my area received due to my distance from the switching box. Of course, they were happy to charge me the $250 early termination fee to get rid of my faulty connection. What a joke. I got reliable 49k hookups with a normal modem, which gave a more pleasant browsing experience then the DSL due to never timing out when loading web pages. I felt that even pying the $250, I was saving money due to the loss of aggrivation. I switched back to cable, and had no more problems. |
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Tim wrote:
out. Numerous phones calls and emails and chat sessions with the Verizon techs did not solve anything (The usual answer being to clear my browser cache and power cycle the modem. Yeah, like I was not smart enough to have already tried that myself). Yeah, I love how my cable provider's answer to everything is to turn off the computer and wait five minutes. I felt that even pying the $250, I was saving money due to the loss of aggrivation. I switched back to cable, and had no more problems. I've never had to worry about making a choice, since I absolutely can't ever get DSL unless I move. I've used it at enough remote locations to have a feel for it though, and I think cable is worth the difference. Verizon DSL is better than dial up when it works well, but cable IME is more than twice as fast, and only half again as expensive. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/ |
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On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 13:33:47 -0500, Silvan
wrote: Tim wrote: out. Numerous phones calls and emails and chat sessions with the Verizon techs did not solve anything (The usual answer being to clear my browser cache and power cycle the modem. Yeah, like I was not smart enough to have already tried that myself). Yeah, I love how my cable provider's answer to everything is to turn off the computer and wait five minutes. Hey, at least they aren't telling you to disconnect the cable and run your fingers over the pins to discharge any static that has built up. (No, I'm not kidding, that was DirecWay's Indian tech support answer to just about every call last year). I felt that even pying the $250, I was saving money due to the loss of aggrivation. I switched back to cable, and had no more problems. I've never had to worry about making a choice, since I absolutely can't ever get DSL unless I move. I've used it at enough remote locations to have a feel for it though, and I think cable is worth the difference. Verizon DSL is better than dial up when it works well, but cable IME is more than twice as fast, and only half again as expensive. |
#34
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I am currently using Verizon DSL without any problem, and I am on
their $29.99 plan. The price is right, and the speed is good. Initially I had some wiring problem in my house that prevented me from getting a DSL signal (even with filters installed in all phones). Something to do with the hardwired phone line to the water-supply company was messing thing up. Verizon techician came over (for a fee) and install a DSL splitter box to separate the DSL line from other phone lines, and the problem was fixed for good. The only "issue" that I have is that Verizon requires me to keep their local phone service in order to use their $29.99 DSL service. This is fair. But this also means that I lose the incentive to replace Verizon local/long distance service with Vonage local/long distance VoIP (voice over IP) basic plan that is really cheap. Not a big deal. I still will be able to call long distance using the VoIP service from SkyPe (that is also really cheap). Now, I just need to get done with my project of rewiring my house for phone/LAN; then I will have time to use the service from SkyPe (too many projects, too little time). Jay Chan |
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