David Westerfield

Gospel. Culture. Technology. Music.

Tag: DSL


Twisted Pair Versus Coax – An Observance with U-verse

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On January 21, 2014

In Technology

Though I haven’t proven this theory out yet I’ve been wondering since it seems to me to be a difference in stability. So my neighbors all around me have U-verse and have had all kinds of issues in which a U-verse tech has had to come out to resolve their issues. I’ve had basically none, with a couple of exceptions (area-wide drops). One neighbor had to have the line at the curb completely dug up and reset, but that was a different issue. When they setup my connection, I asked up front to run twisted pair from the outside to my router/gateway instead of using coax. As I understand it, unless I’m mistaken, the default is to use coax which, sure enough, all my neighbors have. As it pertains to VDSL2+ (the protocol U-verse uses), is twisted pair more stable than coax as a medium for delivery? I’m just curious, because that would be an easy thing to ask for at the beginning. I don’t know that this is the case, but I would be interested to see stats on that. Here are my numbers using twisted pair after 113 days of data/error collection:

6 Years of AT&T DSL Connection Woes Resolved in 1 Second

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On July 16, 2009

In Technology

Background: over the years, I have had a fluctuating issue with a weak DSL connection from my ADSL modem to AT&T’s CO (central office) in my area. This resulted in continual errors on my modem and at times the service would just drop off and then come back up. My speed would change often and was never consistent.

So recently, my DSL connection totally dropped for four days. Apparently an AT&T tech messed with things a little too much and knocked out my DSL service attempting to “fix” someone else’s phone line that another tech had messed up (a sort of domino effect). Of course this all happened right before the Fourth of July holiday weekend and so another tech finally came out the Monday after. He got me back online, but the connection speed was the most degraded it has ever been. But he made the decision to switch me over to a “digital line” (update – AT&T tech terminology, not mine, that is simply what he told me – A.K.A. an RT line, digital port, whatever) to get me a much more solid connection.

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SBC/AT&T Rolling Out New Service in Fourth Qtr.

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On March 7, 2006

In Technology


Alrighty, I have a little insider information that hasn’t been released to the press on Project Lightspeed … On this past Friday night, I went to my mother-in-law’s retirement dinner party and got to speak with her manager who works for SBC (now AT&T once again). I asked him about ADSL2 and when he thought it might be deployed in our area (DFW). To my surprise he said they are working feverishly right now to get FTTN (Fiber-To-The-Node, or fiber to your neighborhood DSL connection distribution point) laid down as fast as possible and that the new service should be deployed some time in the fourth quarter of this year! I didn’t think it would be that soon. Basically with this new service, you will have your TV, voice, and data all come through that one line, and it’s really really fast (apparently like 26 mbps down and 3 – 10 mbps up). From what he said, you will be able to record 4 different TV programs at once and still have enough bandwidth for telephone calls and internet connectivity. Oh man, bring it on …

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