Here’s the scoop on the ADSL installation:
Intallation was scheduled for 9 a.m, with a window of arrival between 8 and 10 a.m. Even though I received no phone call, the installer, Jeff, showed up right on time, just before nine.
My first question was, “Are you a phone company guy, trained to do these installs, or are you with bellsouth.net?” His answer was, essentially, “Neither.” He informed me that he worked for a sub-contractor, doing these installs for bellsouth.net.
First order of business was to give Jeff the lay of the land. I thought I was smart in hooking up a dedicated pair of the CAT3 wiring running through my house in advance for the jack where the ADSL modem was to be connected. Two lengths of RGBY ran from my NID to each end of the CAT3 wiring loop in my house. By loop, I mean that the CAT3 cable starts in one phone jack, and is “looped” thru each successive jack in the house, until it reaches the last. Each length of RGBY, for redundancy’s sake, runs to each in-wall box containing the ends of the CAT3.
Jeff unboxed the modem, powered it up and plugged it in. Problem number one: the modem just wouldn’t lock onto the signal. To eliminate problems you start at the beginning. We took the modem outside to the NID and plugged it in there – perfect signal lock. The nightmare was about to begin.
Our next problem came from the fact that the new NID BellSouth installed as a requirement for the ADSL service contains a compartment that the ADSL subcontractors are forbidden to access. This compartment conceals fuses and the actual connection point where your house wiring meets the telco wiring coming from the pole. Since both runs of RGBY were connected together in this compartment, it was impossible to isolate them from one another – something necessary to install the external splitter AND not have to run a new phone jack for the ADSL modem.
After much chin scratching, talking of delaying the install (horrors!), and even considering opening the sacred inner compartment (which Jeff would not do himself), we settled on running a length of fresh CAT3 from the NID into the attic just far enough to cut and splice into the appropriate run of RGBY. You see, the splitter has to be the “initial”, the first device between the telco and the customer’s wiring. Of course, attic-crawling was also something Jeff was forbidden to do, due to liability issues.
So, up into the attic I went, armed with a flashlight, some long-reach tongs to grab the wire, Jeff’s channel-locks and some neat-o wiring connectors, all set to fish the wire and make the splice. Piece of cake? No such luck. The modem still would not lock on.
Out came the test-tone generator. We called my security system installer for advice. (Did I forget to mention the security system was also wired into the forbidden inner compartment, as it also wanted to be the “initial” device?) Jeff called his boss for advice. We couldn’t get a signal lock no matter what we tried. Test-tone signal showed up at every phone jack in the house – not good. Jeff’s next appointment was minutes away. Jeff started putting away his tools – a bad sign. “Hold on, Jeff!”
All my visions of this no-muss, no-fuss, super-clean ADSL install were disintegrating. The six-gang box of CAT5 RJ45 jacks I had installed days before was now useless junk. But I was determined to have my ADSL connection – reschedule was not in my vocabulary.
Luckily for me, Jeff’s 12 o’clock cancelled. I had a reprieve! Only one alternative left – run wire all the way from the NID, through the attic, down the wall of the computer room closet, into the room.
Back into the attic I went – more wire, more connectors, a cordless drill. The battery on my drill got halfway through the header and died… Could anything else go wrong today? Back to the stairs to get Jeff’s cordless. Back to the far end of the attic again.
Our efforts were worth it. Jeff said the modem synched-up very fast, indicating a primo signal. He installed the NIC, and got it configured, then phoned in to get me registered. I waited on hold for him so he could finish mounting the splitter outside.
After some initial glitches and a reboot of the computer and the modem, we were ready to rock. Jeff browsed into BellSouth’s ftp site and picked a nice 13 megabyte file. Down it came, starting off at 20KB/sec, and climbing by the second. It reached 80KB/sec before it finished. But, as Jeff explained, most files finish downloading before the stream gets up to top speed because they just aren’t that big.
Relieved, Jeff was on his way, vowing never again to brag about how well an installer’s day went (as he had done the day before). I, too, had to run – having foolishly assured my co-workers that I should probably be at my desk no later than eleven. No time to even test-drive my wonderful new toy.
That night, I experimented with some larger files and hit over 100KB/sec, and, at a test site, downloaded a 2 megabyte file in 15 seconds.
The errors about NIC conflicts that WIN98 reported in the beginning have apparently vanished. I have 2 NICs in the ADSL machine – one connected to the modem, the other connecting the machine to the rest of the LAN. They seem to have somehow learned to coexist after initial disharmony. I’m not asking any questions.
The problem with the house wiring was that what appeared to be CAT3 either wasn’t up to spec, or permitted unacceptable cross-talk because it wasn’t jacketed or its twists were not maintained. If there’s a lesson in this story, it’s this: Unless your house is already wired with CAT5, have a dedicated line run from the NID to your computer, and eliminate the headaches and uncertainties your house wiring might possibly pose. And you’ll get the best possible signal strength, too.