Bonded DSL questions...

[Ur_Mom]

I am looking to upgrade to bonded DSL. Going to 25Mb/2.

Few questions -

1. Reviews? Experience? I'm going with CenturyLink. This is a huge improvement from the 6Mb wireless ISP I'm with now (usually get ~4Mb) and the standard 10Mb DSL. Lag shouldn't be too much of an issue.

2. DSL Modem... Any suggestions? I'm going to use it in bridged mode, if possible, to go to a pfSense router.

3. Wiring. Does the phone line just go through the one wire (2 pair) with a splitter on the final run, or do I need to run 2 wires from the NID to my jack (jack is new, near the networking equipment). I'll be running new wires, as the old ones are terminated somewhere odd...

I'm looking forward to the faster speeds (as are my kids, who game and are starting downloads...).

 

[hawk82]

1. I have no experience with CL. But CLEC I work for has bonded ADSL and it works good.

2. The CLEC I work for uses Comtrend 5072 modems (I think they need to be flashed to support bonded connections, but not 100% sure).

3. You'll have a single 2-pair drop wire (or possible 2 single-pair drop wires) to your NID on your building. Then in the NID, you'll have two bridge modules that you'll connect your inside wires to. You'll need 2-pair inside wires for this to work (2/3/4 pair CAT3 or CAT5 or CAT6 would work). Red/Green or Blue/Wh. Blue (pair 1) and Yellow/Black or Orange/Wh.Orange (pair 2) that terminates to a 2-pair jack. Then you'll need a 2-pair line cord (either a 6p4c or 6p6c terminated line cord) that will plug into your modem. That should be it. If you have POTS as well on one or both of the lines, then you'll probably need a whole house filter (like a corning SPS-H70-SR1) to split off the DSL from the POTS so that you won't hear the noise from the modem and the DSL won't drop when a phone call is received.

 

[crustybooger]

it's not a bad service, depends a lot on the condition of the plant in your area and loop length though. for 25M bonded service you should be pretty close to the central office. As for wiring, just let the technician take care of it when he's there. You'll be set with a single CAT5 line from the nid to your modem.

 

[Ur_Mom]

I'm about ~3500 feet from the CO, last time they checked (not as crow flies, but as it's wired). I'll run the wire, but see if the tech can terminate it.

Thanks!

 

[hawk82]

Ask the tech to cut out the nearest bridge tap (usually at the utility pole at the ready access terminal or splice case). That will usually increase bandwidth by cutting out extra footage (i.e. resistance). A lot of the older techs won't do this as it is/was against company policy. But the fact is more and more of the plant is available as people cancel services and free up pairs. So cutting one short now, and in the off chance you cancel service really doesn't matter in the future.