Dsl ?
 

I was thinking about getting a DSL connection at home and was wondering if anyone has one with direct tv. Is it just as fast as regular DSL connections and beside heavy rains is there any other issues with satilite DSL? Thanks for any help.

Re: Dsl ?
 

When it comes to home internet:

FiOS > Cable > DSL >> Satellite

Not sure what's available in your area, but I'd check out everything. Satellite DSL can be very expensive for the speeds you would be getting...

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=BDBohnzie;400698]When it comes to home internet:

FiOS > Cable > DSL >> Satellite

Not sure what's available in your area, but I'd check out everything. Satellite DSL can be very expensive for the speeds you would be getting...[/QUOTE]

There's also mobile broadband now, with speeds comparable to DSL depending on your area. Pop the card or USB device into your computer or a mobile broadband router and you've got a wireless access point.

Where I'm moving to next month that's the best/only option.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Do not get HughesNet if you have any other form of broadband available. You will not be satisfied - guaranteed.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=mheisig;400706]There's also mobile broadband now, with speeds comparable to DSL depending on your area. Pop the card or USB device into your computer or a mobile broadband router and you've got a wireless access point.

Where I'm moving to next month that's the best/only option.[/QUOTE]

This is what I have at home. I subscribe to Sprint Mobile Broadband (EVDO Rev A). My speeds are about 1200/800 with latency in the 90ms range. It works well.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=cpayne5;400709]This is what I have at home. I subscribe to Sprint Mobile Broadband (EVDO Rev A). My speeds are about 1200/800 with latency in the 90ms range. It works well.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't enter any WoW tournaments or anything with it, but it's perfectly fine for everyday surfing and browsing.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Satellite has horrible latency! Worse than dialup.
I've never met anyone that was happy with Satellite Internet.
The one major flaw is that the satellite is 22,000 miles away in geosynchronous orbit which causes the minimum of a .240ms delay in response. If you are like alot of internet users, The delay will bug the crap out of you.

Lets also not forget any line of sight issues you may have.

Regular DSL is great if you can get it within a close distance to the CO.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Satellite is easily the worst bang for the buck. FiOS is far and away the best way to go if you can get it but it's only in select neighborhoods at this point. Cable is great if you're not in a crowded area where everyone is tapping the pipe. Personally, I have DSL right now through Embarq, I get 5 mbs down and I think 750-800 kbs up. Back when I had comcast at my last place, I must have been the only one in the neighborhood willing to pay for it because I was getting ridiculous speeds down, 15-16 mbs. One thing I will say though is that Comcast has some of the worst tech support you will ever see. I don't know how many times I had to call in there and have the following conversation:

me: "your DNS servers are down"
habib: "sir could you please turn off your modem"
me: "your DNS servers are DOWN"
habib: "reboot the computer"
me: "Goodbye..."

One of the nice things about Embarq is that all of their customer service/tech support is US based.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=BleedBurgundy;400876]Satellite is easily the worst bang for the buck. FiOS is far and away the best way to go if you can get it but it's only in select neighborhoods at this point. Cable is great if you're not in a crowded area where everyone is tapping the pipe. Personally, I have DSL right now through Embarq, I get 5 mbs down and I think 750-800 kbs up. Back when I had comcast at my last place, I must have been the only one in the neighborhood willing to pay for it because I was getting ridiculous speeds down, 15-16 mbs. One thing I will say though is that Comcast has some of the worst tech support you will ever see. I don't know how many times I had to call in there and have the following conversation:

me: "your DNS servers are down"
habib: "sir could you please turn off your modem"
me: "your DNS servers are DOWN"
habib: "reboot the computer"
me: "Goodbye..."

One of the nice things about Embarq is that all of their customer service/tech support is US based.[/QUOTE]

Comcast has this thing called PowerBoost. It gives customers (for the first 25 or so MB of a download burst) a boost of speed around 15-20mbps. It really screws with speed tests. I believe they are implementing upload PowerBoost right now as well. Something like 5-10mbps for the first couple MB up.

DSL is nice, but it's lifespan is coming to an end. There's only so much data you can push over 50 year old copper twisted pair. It's greatest limiting factor is loop length -ie, how far you are from your DSL provider's cabinet (be it CO or RT). Some of the newer DSL technologies can push upwards of 20mbps to the customer, but the distance limitations are ridiculous (5k feet or less, usually).

Well engineered cable deployments (read, DOCSIS 3.0) and fiber is the future.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Download speed isn't everything. Also consider features, upload speed, and price.

[B][U]Features[/U][/B] - FiOS locks down [U]all[/U] inbound ports, meaning you can't Sling or Orb, or access your home PC as a webserver (e.g., WebGuide for Windows Media Center). Cable tends to leave a broad range of ports open, although some will lock down the email ports. I don't know what DSL does.

[B][U]Download Speeds[/U][/B] - As far as speed goes, there are two bandwidth speeds that are important - upload and download (latency really isn't a factor between fiber/cable/dsl). Download speeds on FiOS are silly - 5Mbs/15Mbs/30Mbs+ depending on how much you want to pay. Cable speeds are equally adequate for nearly anything the average person is going to do (6Mbs/16Mb in my area without PowerBoost, depending on the package). DSL is still fine for most websurfing, (at around 1.5Mbs).

[B][U]Upload Speeds[/U][/B] - Upload speeds, however, really depend on the cable provider. DSL is only 256Kbs, which is little better than dial-up. Comcast in Arlington is only 768Kbs, which is good, but not good enough if you are doing extensive online backups (I backup 150GB, which could take a week the first time with Comcast). However, my in-laws have upload speeds of 2Mbs in VA Beach. FiOS is king in Arlington, with 2Mbs upload speeds.

[B][U]Price[/U][/B] - I've had them all (currently I have FiOS [U]and[/U] cable - don't ask), and the best balance of features and speed is Cable. However, it's more expensive ($43/month) than comparable FiOS service ($35/month). DSL is dirt cheap by comparison (~$20/month, or less for really slow downloads).

Re: Dsl ?
 

Thanks for all the help but now I'm even more confused. What I have now is people PC which is dial up and pretty slow. We have direct TV which I was thinking would be faster but from what I'm reading will only be a little faster at best. I do not use the computer much at home but would like something faster than dial up but I do not want to spend much per month for the extra speed. From what I've read it seem's like I just need to see what is offered in my area. I'm way behind the learning curve on this stuff so I guess a little reserch will help.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=firstdown;400893]Thanks for all the help but now I'm even more confused. What I have now is people PC which is dial up and pretty slow. We have direct TV which I was thinking would be faster but from what I'm reading will only be a little faster at best. I do not use the computer much at home but would like something faster than dial up but I do not want to spend much per month for the extra speed. From what I've read it seem's like I just need to see what is offered in my area. I'm way behind the learning curve on this stuff so I guess a little reserch will help.[/QUOTE]

A little faster for not much would mean DSL. Everything else is more expensive. DSL is slower than the others but is probably fine for what you want. It will seem like a Ferrari compared to dial up anyways.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Yep - get DSL. If Verizon DSL is available in your area, [URL="http://www.dslonlinepromotions.com/verizononlinedsl.html"]you should be able to get it for $15/month[/URL].

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=onlydarksets;400887]
[B][U]Features[/U][/B] - FiOS locks down [U]all[/U] inbound ports, meaning you can't Sling or Orb, or access your home PC as a webserver (e.g., WebGuide for Windows Media Center). Cable tends to leave a broad range of ports open, although some will lock down the email ports. I don't know what DSL does.[/QUOTE]

This is incorrect. On residential FIOS, ports 80 and sometimes 25 and/or 135 are blocked (depends on region).

Re: Dsl ?
 

[quote=cpayne5;400903]This is incorrect. On residential FIOS, ports 80 and sometimes 25 and/or 135 are blocked (depends on region).[/quote]

Nope - they block them all in my area. Come over some time and run a port scan. I have. Occasionally there will be a high-range port open, but most of the time it's all shut down.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=onlydarksets;400906]Nope - they block them all in my area. Come over some time and run a port scan. I have. Occasionally there will be a high-range port open, but most of the time it's all shut down.[/QUOTE]

A port scan won't really tell me anything unless you've forwarded the ports at your router, poked a hole in your host's firewall, and have an application listening to those ports on your host computer.

I'll gladly run a port scan on your IP if you've done these things. PM me your IP if you want.

I don't want to come off sounding like a jerk here, but there has been no mention of Verizon blocking all inbound ports on FIOS, so I have a hard time believing this is the case. This would have been major news and A LOT of people would be jumping all over Verizon right now if they did in fact implement such a draconian policy.

Daseal has FIOS in Centreville, so I'll probably get with him sometime to test this out. :)

Re: Dsl ?
 

I forwarded all ports to a PC and turned off the firewall on the PC first. The port scan should have returned errors from the PC, not to mention I had a webserver running on it which it should have picked up. It turned up nothing. I also tried the specific ports used by the webserver, and, again, nothing under FiOS. Same configuration works fine when I plug it into the cable modem (which is why I have both services for now).

Now, that said, I haven't tested this in quite a while (8-9 months). I'll give it another try to see if something has changed. If not, then I'll take you up on that offer.

Re: Dsl ?
 

BTW - right now there is no forwarding at the firewall, so there is nothing to send you.

Re: Dsl ?
 

According to the [URL="http://netservices.verizon.net/portal/link/main/policies?epi-content=GENERICWIDECONTENT&viewID=content&action=TOS"]Verizon FiOS Terms of Service[/URL] they reserve the right to block selected ports if they deem it a security threat.

So it sounds like they can do whatever they want - not saying they necessarily are, but they sure leave the option open.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Yep. I'd prefer they left them open, but I can't complain too much. It's wicked fast, too.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=mheisig;400922]According to the [URL="http://netservices.verizon.net/portal/link/main/policies?epi-content=GENERICWIDECONTENT&viewID=content&action=TOS"]Verizon FiOS Terms of Service[/URL] they reserve the right to block selected ports if they deem it a security threat.

So it sounds like they can do whatever they want - not saying they necessarily are, but they sure leave the option open.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, most ISPs have those clauses in their TOS. They usually have enough clauses in there that they can pretty much do whatever they want, whenever they want to the line, as well.

That said, there are a few actions that, if taken, would launch a furious attack from their user base and make the news. Blocking all ports would be one of them.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=cpayne5;400880]Comcast has this thing called PowerBoost. It gives customers (for the first 25 or so MB of a download burst) a boost of speed around 15-20mbps. It really screws with speed tests. I believe they are implementing upload PowerBoost right now as well. Something like 5-10mbps for the first couple MB up.

DSL is nice, but it's lifespan is coming to an end. There's only so much data you can push over 50 year old copper twisted pair. It's greatest limiting factor is loop length -ie, how far you are from your DSL provider's cabinet (be it CO or RT). Some of the newer DSL technologies can push upwards of 20mbps to the customer, but the distance limitations are ridiculous (5k feet or less, usually).

Well engineered cable deployments (read, DOCSIS 3.0) and fiber is the future.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I had heard about Power Boost but the time period in question was 2-3 yrs ago. I don't know if it was implemented back then. The upstream boost would be nice.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=onlydarksets;400917]I forwarded all ports to a PC and turned off the firewall on the PC first. The port scan should have returned errors from the PC, not to mention I had a webserver running on it which it should have picked up. It turned up nothing. I also tried the specific ports used by the webserver, and, again, nothing under FiOS. Same configuration works fine when I plug it into the cable modem (which is why I have both services for now).

Now, that said, I haven't tested this in quite a while (8-9 months). I'll give it another try to see if something has changed. If not, then I'll take you up on that offer.[/QUOTE]

How do they do the install on the FiOS? Is the fiber to the curb or all the way inside the house, into a router?

Re: Dsl ?
 

It goes all the way to the house. They install a big honking "Optical Network Terminal", and terminate the fiber there. The ONT has jacks for Ethernet, phone, and cable.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Thanks for all the help.

Re: Dsl ?
 

I dont want to highjack this thread but whenever someone mentions fiber optics and seems to know what they are talking about I ask this question.Is it possible to splice fiber optic wires?I work on a lot of Mercedes and they have fiber optic cables running the cd changer in the trunk.Anyways one day one of the other techs was welding the quarter panel and burned some of the wires and lets just say it wasnt cheap to replace.So I guess I have been wondering ever since then whether or not it is even possible to splice fiber optics.


Anyone else think its funny that the "latest and greatest" technology(im still talking about fiber optics) is really just a simple as the morse code with a flashlight?I mean thats all fiber optics really are, A thin hallow tube with a flashlight at one end.Obviously its a little more complicated than that, but you get the point.

Re: Dsl ?
 

Yes, fiber can be spliced.

Any kind of data transmission is a type of Morse code, in a sense. You can only transmit 1 or 0 whether you are using photons or electrons. Dating back to the [URL="http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/email-in-the-18.html"]1700s[/URL], people have used similar techniques for transmitting data. The only thing that has changed is the technology used to transmit the data.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[quote=cpayne5;400903]This is incorrect. On residential FIOS, ports 80 and sometimes 25 and/or 135 are blocked (depends on region).[/quote]

I stand [U]completely[/U] corrected. I reran the port scan, and everything except 80 was open. I know that everything was blocked at one point in time, but I have no idea for how long. Obviously it wasn't for long. Thanks for the info - I never would have checked again otherwise.

So, as cpayne5 said - FiOS does not block all ports (in Arlington, for certain).

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=onlydarksets;401271]I stand [U]completely[/U] corrected. I reran the port scan, and everything except 80 was open. I know that everything was blocked at one point in time, but I have no idea for how long. Obviously it wasn't for long. Thanks for the info - I never would have checked again otherwise.

So, as cpayne5 said - FiOS does not block all ports (in Arlington, for certain).[/QUOTE]

Cool, good to hear you got it straightened out. Now it's time to dump that cable!

Re: Dsl ?
 

No joke! Luckily, I've only been paying $20/month for it. My wife is going to be thrilled at all of the equipment and wires I can get rid of!

Re: Dsl ?
 

It can be spliced but it isn't as easy as splicing regular copper cable. You'd have to determine how much cable was damaged and then the tools for splicing can be expensive. Best bet is to make sure to never break it. Good luck.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[quote=love them hogs;401261]I dont want to highjack this thread but whenever someone mentions fiber optics and seems to know what they are talking about I ask this question.Is it possible to splice fiber optic wires?I work on a lot of Mercedes and they have fiber optic cables running the cd changer in the trunk.Anyways one day one of the other techs was welding the quarter panel and burned some of the wires and lets just say it wasnt cheap to replace.So I guess I have been wondering ever since then whether or not it is even possible to splice fiber optics.


Anyone else think its funny that the "latest and greatest" technology(im still talking about fiber optics) is really just a simple as the morse code with a flashlight?I mean thats all fiber optics really are, A thin hallow tube with a flashlight at one end.Obviously its a little more complicated than that, but you get the point.[/quote]
Yes they can be spliced. The reason that the cable was so expensive is that it is listed as a Mercedes part. I bet you could go to a Co. and have that same cable made for 1/4 of the price. Its like marine products. Spark plug wires for my outboard (they are much shorter than car wires) cost around $12.00 per wire where a set of car wires cost around $20.00 for the whole set.

Re: Dsl ?
 

[QUOTE=firstdown;401429]Yes they can be spliced. [B]The reason that the cable was so expensive is that it is listed as a Mercedes part[/B]. I bet you could go to a Co. and have that same cable made for 1/4 of the price. Its like marine products. Spark plug wires for my outboard (they are much shorter than car wires) cost around $12.00 per wire where a set of car wires cost around $20.00 for the whole set.[/QUOTE]

Thats a good point.They have to justify the high price tag on the car by inflating the part prices.

Thanks for the info, it was one of those things that somebody asked me and I didnt have an answer for them.I never took the time to look it up and only remembered after I saw this thread.