Need cornputer advice...

[Dick W.]

Re: OK, I should'a mentioned...

Dipstick, I ran Starband for about three years until I could get DSL. Had quite a few tech issues initally but as time went on either I learned how to deal with it or they got better, probably the latter. If I had to go back to dialup only I would not hesitate to go back to them. Three to four times faster, at least, than dialup. BTW if you want to go to Starband, I have an antenna and modem that you probably could talk me out of cheeeeaap.

[Dennis C.]

Big Thanks you guys! Will probably take...

me a week to deal with the suggestions on this board and the kind emails also sent to a cornputer challenged person. So, how did I get the nickname "Dipstick"??? Duhhhh...

[Dennis C.]

Big Thanks you guys! Will probably take...

me a week to deal with the suggestions on this board and the kind emails also sent to a cornputer challenged person. So, how did I get the nickname "Dipstick"??? Duhhhh...

[Mike M.]

Re: Big Thanks you guys! Will probably take...

i'm told the guy that gave you the dipstick handle meant to spell it dipfeces but couldn't spell any better than roy. mikie

[Mike M.]

Re: Big Thanks you guys! Will probably take...

i'm told the guy that gave you the dipstick handle meant to spell it dipfeces but couldn't spell any better than roy. mikie

[Rick S.]

One more suggestion.

before DSL there was ISDN. with dsl you need to be close to the central office (CO)or your speed decreases dramatically. ISDN was a pain for the phone company to set up because of repeaters that were needed but could go 20 miles and more.
The speed was a good digital 128K. Compared to 49K, it was a great improvement.
But you had to fight with the phone company to get it up and running. They try to tell you today that it's not available. Rick

[Rick S.]

One more suggestion.

before DSL there was ISDN. with dsl you need to be close to the central office (CO)or your speed decreases dramatically. ISDN was a pain for the phone company to set up because of repeaters that were needed but could go 20 miles and more.
The speed was a good digital 128K. Compared to 49K, it was a great improvement.
But you had to fight with the phone company to get it up and running. They try to tell you today that it's not available. Rick

[Mike Cobine]

The trick today is T1

because its price is very close to ISDN and the speed is much better. You can also run 24 lines off one T1, so you can have your home phone, your office phone, your fax line, your highspeed access, a few for the teenagers, and still not have maxed out.

And if you price putting in 4 or 5 phone lines, or a couple of phone lines with one having DSL, you find T1 is a bargain.

[Mike Cobine]

The trick today is T1

because its price is very close to ISDN and the speed is much better. You can also run 24 lines off one T1, so you can have your home phone, your office phone, your fax line, your highspeed access, a few for the teenagers, and still not have maxed out.

And if you price putting in 4 or 5 phone lines, or a couple of phone lines with one having DSL, you find T1 is a bargain.

[Tracy C.]

you are as cold as your themometer bulb

Pick-up any bargins in FL?

[Tracy C.]

you are as cold as your themometer bulb

Pick-up any bargins in FL?

[Jerry S.]

Re: The trick was T1

Today everything is wireless. The states of Oregon and Washington will be wireless by Dec 2005. Free internet access.

[Jerry S.]

Re: The trick was T1

Today everything is wireless. The states of Oregon and Washington will be wireless by Dec 2005. Free internet access.

[Jack H.]

More on that....

Once Qwest acquired US West, it seemed my phone line quality went to (*&& in a handbasket about every 6-months. Being an old modem designers, I happen to have phone line test equipment (HP-TIMS, Transmission Line Impairment Measuring System) that was PRICEY when originally new (around $50K). Sooo, I'd blow the dust off ye olde TIMS hook 'er up and sweep my line finding, shore 'nuf, more than one problem and phone in a complaint.

The service center would log my complaint and 'warn' me that if the problem was found to be associated with on-premises wiring, I'd recieve a pretty stiff bill for a false service call and then they'd attempt to sell me a premises maintenance contract.

Well, most modern houses are wired with a junction block outside that lets you disconnect the house from the line and look STRAIGHT DOWN the local loop to your Central Office. If you have audible 60-cycle hum on your phone line, you don't need the kind of test gear I happen to have, you can determine if it's the telco or your house VERY simply!

Disconnect an ordinary handset from inside the house. Walk around the outside of your house and find where the phone line's service entrance is. A single flat blade screw driver will open the service entrance's weather proof door.

Inside you'll find a series of modular jacks with one being the incoming telephone line and the other being the output to your house's internal wiring. Disconnect the house and let its wiring 'float'. Now, connect your handset into the jack where the house wiring was connected. Pick up the handset and listen. If you can still hear the nasty hum, the problem is NOT with the wiring in your house, it's with the line from the central office and that's a telco problem!

One warning here. The second time a service tech came out to repair my line, he gave the old party line about needing a premises maintenance contract and how much $$$ it'd cost me if the problem was NOT in the telco's wiring....

I told him how I'd determined the problem WAS a telco issue, showed him my test equipment and he was BLOWN AWAY! He jotted down make/model info on my test equipment then bared his soul....

He said he was going to annotate my account with essentially a "don't screw with this guy" message. He went on to say that when the phone company was owned/operated by US West their policy was never to climb above 80% utilization on a given trunk, which left 'spare' lines for the future. Once they were acquired, it came down from 'on high' they were going to a 100% utilization policy....

Technicians shivered.... Those unused lines in the various trunks were typically lines with known problems that had been flagged and set aside! Now, they were going to put potentially 'bad' lines back in service figuring they could blame customer premises wiring quality and get away with it! Plus, he confided, the technicians had a 'quota' for how many customer premises wiring problems they HAD to find and were being monitored on performance!

So, by annotating my address/phone with the background of my knowledge, he could justify NOT finding a customer premises problem. Well, right as rain, about each 6-months since (now roughly five years), we go through the same repair process. Seems as they install more homes in the area, they rather blindly swap wire pairs around and re-program the central office to compensate for the change(s).

So, you're NOT guaranteed the constant use of a given pair of wires from the CO to your house! And, sometimes telco makes changes in the ordinary course of business where you're changed out without your knowledge and you wind up getting a 'bad' set of physical lines. Buyer beware!!!

[Jack H.]

More on that....

Once Qwest acquired US West, it seemed my phone line quality went to (*&& in a handbasket about every 6-months. Being an old modem designers, I happen to have phone line test equipment (HP-TIMS, Transmission Line Impairment Measuring System) that was PRICEY when originally new (around $50K). Sooo, I'd blow the dust off ye olde TIMS hook 'er up and sweep my line finding, shore 'nuf, more than one problem and phone in a complaint.

The service center would log my complaint and 'warn' me that if the problem was found to be associated with on-premises wiring, I'd recieve a pretty stiff bill for a false service call and then they'd attempt to sell me a premises maintenance contract.

Well, most modern houses are wired with a junction block outside that lets you disconnect the house from the line and look STRAIGHT DOWN the local loop to your Central Office. If you have audible 60-cycle hum on your phone line, you don't need the kind of test gear I happen to have, you can determine if it's the telco or your house VERY simply!

Disconnect an ordinary handset from inside the house. Walk around the outside of your house and find where the phone line's service entrance is. A single flat blade screw driver will open the service entrance's weather proof door.

Inside you'll find a series of modular jacks with one being the incoming telephone line and the other being the output to your house's internal wiring. Disconnect the house and let its wiring 'float'. Now, connect your handset into the jack where the house wiring was connected. Pick up the handset and listen. If you can still hear the nasty hum, the problem is NOT with the wiring in your house, it's with the line from the central office and that's a telco problem!

One warning here. The second time a service tech came out to repair my line, he gave the old party line about needing a premises maintenance contract and how much $$$ it'd cost me if the problem was NOT in the telco's wiring....

I told him how I'd determined the problem WAS a telco issue, showed him my test equipment and he was BLOWN AWAY! He jotted down make/model info on my test equipment then bared his soul....

He said he was going to annotate my account with essentially a "don't screw with this guy" message. He went on to say that when the phone company was owned/operated by US West their policy was never to climb above 80% utilization on a given trunk, which left 'spare' lines for the future. Once they were acquired, it came down from 'on high' they were going to a 100% utilization policy....

Technicians shivered.... Those unused lines in the various trunks were typically lines with known problems that had been flagged and set aside! Now, they were going to put potentially 'bad' lines back in service figuring they could blame customer premises wiring quality and get away with it! Plus, he confided, the technicians had a 'quota' for how many customer premises wiring problems they HAD to find and were being monitored on performance!

So, by annotating my address/phone with the background of my knowledge, he could justify NOT finding a customer premises problem. Well, right as rain, about each 6-months since (now roughly five years), we go through the same repair process. Seems as they install more homes in the area, they rather blindly swap wire pairs around and re-program the central office to compensate for the change(s).

So, you're NOT guaranteed the constant use of a given pair of wires from the CO to your house! And, sometimes telco makes changes in the ordinary course of business where you're changed out without your knowledge and you wind up getting a 'bad' set of physical lines. Buyer beware!!!