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    Will a better modem increase speed?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by Boria, Sep 18, 2011.

  1. Boria

    Boria Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have AT&T dsl lite service which is the only thing available to me. This supposedly gives me speed up to 1 1/2 mbits/s download which is usually around .66 mbits/s. I have a westell modem that came from AT&T around five years ago. Would a better modem maybe increase my speed and stability?
     
    Boria, Sep 18, 2011
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  2. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

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    It probably won't help with this kind of speed although post your connection stats if you can (Line Rate, Attainable Line Rate, Noise Margin, Line Attenuation)
     
    downloads, Sep 18, 2011
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  3. reb1

    reb1 Notebook Evangelist

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    I have seen a noticable difference in web pages loading by using another DNS. If your IP allows it I would use google.
    Google Public DNS
     
    reb1, Sep 18, 2011
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  4. Boria

    Boria Notebook Enthusiast

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    Not wanting to sound ignorant but how do I find this information?
     
    Boria, Sep 18, 2011
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  5. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

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    Log in to the modem and check status page. IP depends on the modem but it's most likely written on the unit itself. Login and password should be available in the manual.
     
    downloads, Sep 18, 2011
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  6. Phillip

    Phillip Phillip J. Fry

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    I also have AT&T with DSL Lite. I used to have the westell modem that you mentioned. After much complaining to AT&T they replaced the modem with a 2Wire modem.
    It may be worth your time to put in a request to AT&T to give you one of the new modems.
    This new one definitely has more stability than the old westell's did although the here was little to no difference in DL speeds. I can get DLs of up to 150mbps averages but that drops to an average about 60-75mbps when I have more than one user on the line.
    With the old westell I would get 135-140mbps average DLs assuming that the line was stable.When it was unstable or bogged down I would get closer to 35mbps DL speeds.
    Also, do you have your DSL transmitting over the same lines as your land line phone?
    I used to have this setup and even with the filters in place I always had trouble with stability while our DSL connection was set up this way.
    Last year we ran dedicated lines for DSL separating the DSL from the phone lines. This was a cheap and quick change and it increased stability by a very large amount.

    I hope something in this post helps

    Best of luck

    Fry.
     
    Phillip, Sep 22, 2011
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