Replies to post #9463 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[j3pflynn]

Joe and sgolds, not all DSL is like that. I have Sprint/Earthlink, and while it was rough for the first six months (I was a pioneer in my area) in the 2 years or so since, I've had only 2 or 3 service "failures", and never had a problem that wasn't fixed by just re-booting Windows or the DSL "modem". Except, of course, the time a school construction crew across the street hit our phone line with a truck and ripped my phone interface off the house! I would recommend, if possible, to get it from your local phone service provider, though, so there's no buck-passing as to who's responsible to do something. This primarily comes into play during installation.
Paul

[sgolds]

jhalada - DSL - I've been on it since 1999. This is the first time it had this type of problem. At first there were some minor issues with equipment at the phone company site, these problems were fixed back in 1999 and the medium was very dependable up until this last weekend.

This problem was due to sloppy line work - something call 'bridge taps'. Ideally, when you get your DSL line, you get a line which goes straight to a central point. However, it does go through some junction boxes, and as people move in & out of the neighborhood, intervening segments can get switched so you are not guaranteed the same physical wire at all times.

If the linemen did their job right then this would not be a problem. However, as people move in & out, sometimes stray stubs are left from the line to a house - anyone who knows electronics is cringing at this point! This adds distance, and adds noise, quickly degrading the connection.

It looks like last weekend a segment was switched into my line which contained several bridge taps. Yesterday a lineman came and clipped all the stray taps, restoring my DSL.

Anyhow, I can't ditch DSL based on one bad happening after four years of dependable service. If these things should start repeating in the future then I'll consider alternatives.