ADSL
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Updates
11/26/00 - Change Your DNS Settings
If you have the 768 (basic) service then read the following:
I was having problems with latency with my DNS and FTP services. After talking with
the online support I discovered that the DNS server information that gets passed
during the PPP process is bad. To fix this you need to go into your Network settings
via the control panel and manually add DNS servers under TCP/IP:DNS Configuration.
You should add the following DNS servers:
206.141.251.2
206.141.192.243
Also add the domain suffix of "ameritech.net".
My Recent ADSL Outage
On 04/07/00 I came home from work to find my ADSL 'modem' not in sync with the
DSLAM at the CO. This is the first time in over a year I have ever seen loss of
sync with the DSLAM. It was raining out so my first thought was that some sort of
lightning strick had caused the lines to go down. I immediately went over and picked
up my telephone line and had dial tone which made me think that lightning was not
the case. I then checked all my connections (maybe the cat knocked a cable loose?)
and power cycled the ADSL 'modem' but I could not get sync with the DSLAM.
Next I called the Ameritech ADSL trouble center and reported my problem. I talked
to a guy there named 'Sam' and told him I work for UUNET. He is a pretty good guy
and advised me that some other customer had a problem where his ADSL line had been
'taken' for use by another customer. I dismissed this at this point thinking that
there was more likely a problem with the DSLAM.
I had called the problem out on a Friday evening. I kept calling back and getting
updates but that is pretty useless. Finally, on Sunday, 04/09/00, an Ameritech
technician came to my house. I invited him in but he said he was only there to
check the outside wiring. That was fine by me. He first checked the wiring box at
the house and did not get a signal. He then went to the area box (located behind
my garage) and looked there. He found the problem!! Another Ameritech person had
wired up a second line for a neighbor and had 'taken' my pair which he thought was
an unused pair (because it has no voltage on it from the CO like a POTS line would).
The tech told me this shouldn't of happened though because the ADSL line was clearly
labeled. He advised me he was going to have his supervisor find out who this guy
was so they could take him out behind the CO and 'talk' some sense into him. ;-)
ALERT!!
A fellow coworker ordered one of the Office Plus ADSL offerings recently. He was
paying to receive a STATIC IP address. However, the Circuit City tech who installed
the service set his router up for dynamic IP as he was instructed by AMERITECH.
He made over five calls a day for more than a week to get AMERITECH to correct
his set-up so he could use his static IP address that he was paying for. AMERITECH
has finally told him now that they are unable to configure their equipment to
get his static IP to work. They say their routing equipment can't support it.
Needless to say, he is canceling the service and asking for a refund since AMERITECH
failed to deliver the service they were contracted to deliver.
01/21/00 Update - AMERITECH fixed his problems finally. They had their
CO office equipment misconfigured (not sure if this was DSLAM or UUNET router).
This coworker is now going to try ADSL offered by SPEAKEASY.NET. I will give details about
his experience with this service as they come available.
General Updates:
- Circuit City personnel are no longer being contracted by AMERITECH to install ADSL
service in the customer premises(at least in Ann Arbor). WilTech now has the contract
to install the equipment in the cutomer premises. This is the same company that
did(does?) the U of Michigan ADSL installations.
- Ameritech now offers four different ADSL packages:
SpeedPath: Products
- Ameritech now has a Technical FAQ you can access directly at:
http://www.ameritech.net/visitors/speedpath/speedpath_questions2.htm
This FAQ is actually pretty decent and basicly covers many things I have been
telling you on this page for over a year now. ;-)
New 03/00 Ameritech Install
I wanted to let everyone know about my latest Ameritech ADSL installation experience
here first. I will update the other areas of the webpage at a later date.
In 03/00 I moved to a house in Ypsilanti which is also in the Ameritech service
area. One criteria for purchasing the home was that it had some type of ADSL or
cable modem service available. Luckily it had Ameritech ADSL service availability
that I didn't have to wait for.
I had a little problem explaining that I wanted a new physical installation of
ADSL but wanted to keep my existing ADSL account (I didn't want to lose my screen
names). Everything worked out though so they weren't too bone headed about the
procedure. Installation is currently free and by signing for one year I actually
got my monthly rate lowered by $10 per month!!
I told the Ameritech ADSL ordering people that all I needed was a person to come
to my new address, install some wiring, and verify the line is up and working.
I told them there was no need to bring equipment because I already had it. Unfortunately,
the techs, now WilTech people, didn't get that note and brought new equipment. That
is cool because I got to see what it was. Basically, instead of an ATM card and ADSL
'modem' like I have they now just have a single PC NIC card that connects directly
to the wall jack. I was happy with the equipment I had and did not take it though.
The installation went very smoothly. Ameritech had turned the line on correctly
and once the new jack was installed the service worked. I am not sure why but the
telephone cord going from the jack to the ADSL 'modem' I had did not work and they
did have to use the new telphone cable they brought. Apparently, the pin-out on
the cable has changed but I didn't have the time to investigate it. All of the
configurations on my PC were fine so the whole transistion was very painless.
Availability
Service is currently available in selected areas of metropolitan Chicago and
Detroit. I know for sure they have access in these places:
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Birmingham, MI
- Royal Oak, MI
- Troy, MI
- Wheaton, IL
"Availability can vary from apartment to apartment -- even in the same building." Click here to go straight to the Ameritech SpeedPath availability check page.
Ameritech doesn't say this but you have to be within about 2 miles of a Central Office and your line has to pass some standard tests(basically the line from your home to the CO can't have too many points of interruption such as repeaters).
Cost
When you order ADSL from Ameritech you must give them a valid credit card number in order to prove that you can pay for the service. However, they can bill the service either to your telephone bill or to your credit card.
From My Contract
High Speed Access Monthly Service Rate: $43.95 plus tax
Installation Charge: $150 plus tax
Modem and Network Interface Card Cost: Currently Waived and grandfathered
UUNET Interconnectivity Month Rate: $6 plust tax
Minimum term: 1 month
Apparently Ameritech has upped the price of their service but they are still waiving the equipment charge of $199.00.
Quoted from their webpage:
The cost for SpeedPath service is just:
- $49.95 per month for unlimited access
- Plus a one-time installation fee of $150.00
- $199.00 equipment charge
The above information is still linked off of the main Ameritech webpage. However,
I would go to the this place on the SpeedPath webpage to see the current four
ADSL packages they offer:
http://www.ameritech.net/visitors/speedpath/products_frm.html
Equipment
Ameritech says you must have the following equipment to have ADSL installed:
System requirements
- Desktop PC running Windows 95
- One available PCI slot
- At least 16 MB RAM
- At least 32 MB of free disk space
- CD-ROM drive
They will also tell you on the phone that you can't have a computer with an ethernet card installed. Read my example of the install process, this is not true. Also, you can be running Win98.
**Important** You must have a pair of telephone wires available for this service. Since most apartments and many homes have only 2 pair of telephone wires installed they are assuming you have only a single phone line. If you have two lines in your residence you must make sure you have a third pair of wires for them to place ADSL on or be willing to give up one of your lines as I don't think they will do a new wire run for you (They will only install a jack).
The technician gave me the following equipment:
Ameritech now gives customers this CPE:
Detailed Summary of My Installation
The techs were scheduled to arrive in the morning as early as 8 a.m. and of course they
didn't come until after 10 a.m. Two techs came, one very competent and one a trainee,
and they brought equipment and a contract to sign. The agreement you sign states you
won't resell your service, won't send spam, etc.
The tech then handed me the ADSL NIC card and said I could install it into my
computer myself if I wanted to. I was pretty amazed since MediaOne will not allow
you to install their cable-modem card yourself. I had removed my Ethernet card
from my computer worried that the tech would see it inside my computer and cause
a stink. The ADSL NIC card has a single port and no lights.
The ADSL card is Plug-n-Play. It comes with a 3.5" Floppy with drivers. I found
it very easy to install. The card does require an IRQ in the system but it can share
an IRQ already in use!! I have it sharing an IRQ with my videocard and it is running
fine!! The card automatically creates an ADSL connection everytime you boot up
your computer. You don't manually connect it ever but you also can't turn it off
unless you remove it from your Windows devices or physically disconnect it.
Software setup is a breeze as well. For now you get an assigned IP (another
bonus, mine is 139.125.134.77 subnet mask 255.255.255.0). You also have to
setup primary/secondary DNS servers, gateway, and a proxy server on your browser.
Basically all that the techs did was give me the IP addresses, check the line, put
in a new jack, power up the ADSL "modem" and plug it into the jack and then
into the ADSL NIC card, and verify that everything was working. Although the
tech could do everything himself if needed.
Ethernet and ADSL Infrastructure
Later that evening, afther the techs were long gone, I re-installed my ethernet
card. I had locked out the IRQ in my system so there was no way the ADSL
card would use it. My ethernet works fine. I only have two computers and
don't use a hub I just use a proxy server to allow my second computer to
access the internet over ADSL. However, the book that comes with the ADSL
"modem" says that there are ADSL hubs with ports you can directly attach it to.
Apparently Ameritech is using the ALCATEL ADSL System. They have
a lot of information about it at their site.
Linux Note - I don't run Linux at home but I can see quite a few ways you could run
a Linux box over this service: ADSL hub, Win95/98 Gateway/Proxy server, ADSL card
from alternate source, etc.
Ameritech.net
Ameritech.net is your ADSL ISP. This is run exclusively by UUNET.
Your service from them includes:
- Five(5) Email Accounts
- Newsgroup Server with over 40,000 newsgroups
- 2MB of Personal Webspace
Performance
Ameritech had initially said their ADSL service "offers download speeds of up to
1.0 megabits per second--35 times faster than a standard modem.". But now they
state "SpeedPath delivers download speeds up to 768 Kbps. That's more than
25 times faster than a standard 28.8 modem." This change is due to their switch to
the PPP service. I like that they are being honest.
PPP
I asked Ameritech the following question about my PPP connection:
"Is there a limit to how long a PPP connection to the UUNET router can
stay up?"
Answer: "If there is inactivity for a period of time, then the PPP connection
will be released. This is a security precaution that we have put into place."
Possible Solution: I am experimenting now with running possible applications
(such as automatic email checking programs) that will stop my PPP connection
from being dropped. Stay tuned.
I have had the service since now since February of 1999. Initially, I had been able to
download files in excess of 1.3 megabits per second (about 1.2 average). This
worked out to about 130KBytes/s. To put this into perspective, I downloaded a
21Mb file in a little over 2 minutes.
Since the conversion of the service from fixed IP to PPP access speeds have
gone down significantly by about 1/3 to about 60 to 80KBytes/s. However, reliability
of web access and tunnelled connections has improved a good deal. I am still very
happy with the speed of the connection and the ease of use. I am also happy with
the uptime of the service. For comparison, a standard 56K Modem connection
only gets about 4KBytes/s download speed.
Update - 07/15
I have been having internet access issues for about a month now on my Ameritech
ADSL line. Other people I know who have the service have also been having the
same type of problems: difficulty in accessing web content, drop of tunneled
connections, and general intermittent slowness. I haven't reported these
problems to Ameritech (although in retrospect I should have) because of the
relatively newness of the service.
Apparently, either SpeedPath engineers noticed problems on their own or enough
users did complain. On 07/12/99 I received a UPS package in the mail. Inside the
package was software upgrade for the SpeedPath service. From looking at the
installation manuals, the software consists of MS DUN 1.3 and new 3010
SpeedStream PPP drivers. Apparently the reason for this upgrade is to give
connecting to the Ameritech.Net network the same look and feel as a dial
connection.
I will post more info on how this upgrade has affected the service in the future.
I am hoping it will alleviate the internet connectivity problems.
Work Access
ADSL allows me to access my Sun WorkStation at work with a performance level
almost as good as if I was at the terminal. I am able to use our Remedy GUI
ticketing system with barely perceptable graphic refresh rates. However,
Netscape is still pretty slow. To access the internal web sites at work through
the firewall I plan on loading a local version of Netscape on my PC and use the
proxy server (I can't just use my standard web browser since it is pointing at
the ameritech proxy server).
ADSL service is significantly better than cable modem service. Note: There are
inherent problems with cable access. Excite@Home is one of the
major cable services and it is having large problem with bandwidth due to the
number of subscribers flooding the broadband lines. Check out the details of
this in this article: @Home network troubles continue or here
Backbone Bottlenecks Burst Broadband Bubble
Bottom line is that I am able to access work about 20 times faster than the
modem connection I had been using at less that twice the cost. The cost of
ADSL is not much more than the cost of Dual-BRI ISDN service and you
don't have to buy any equipment.
Using ADSL with a LAN
I get a lot of questions about utilizing the ADSL connection with a LAN or laptop
computer. The simple answer is YES you can use ADSL with a LAN and that is how
you allow your laptop to use the ADSL connection.
There are two ways you can allow multiple computers to use the ADSL connection:
- The method I use is that I have my main computer connected to the ADSL "modem"
and then I have a single ethernet connection to the other computer in my network.
I then run a simple proxy server program (WinProxy) on the main computer. If you
don't know how to hook up a LAN or a proxy server check ZDNET info here:
http://www.zdnet.com/products/filter/guide/0,7267,6001332,00.html
- The second way is to get one of the Ameritech ADSL office packages with a router.
Then all you have to do is connect your computers to the router via normal
ethernet connections. Since Ameritech will help you set up the router and the
PC's it is the best solution for novices.
Linux Notes
I don't run Linux at home but I can see quite a few ways you could run
a Linux box over this service: ADSL hub/router, Win95/98 Gateway/Proxy server, ADSL card
from alternate source, etc.
I did a quick search and here are two webpages Linux folks can check out:
ADSL HOWTO for Linux Systems
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/ADSL.html
ADSL Setup (with PacBell)
http://home.pacbell.net/aoki/adsl.html
If you are looking for a router I recommend this one:
Alcatel Speed Touch Office ADSL Router
http://www.alcateldsl.com/products/spdtch_office.htm
Great Related Links:
General xDSL Information
xDSL Consumer Resources
- DSLREPORTS - National DSL ISPs listed as well as reviews!!
- 2Wire free DSL lookup service - I was told this service won Best of Show for a residential gateway product at
the Consumer Electronics Show. You enter your phone number and address and are given a full report on all DSL providers in your area.
It lists 32 providers for the Ann Arbor area.
xDSL News Articles:
DSL Service from SPEAKEASY.NET in Michigan
SPEAKEASY.NET offers ADSL and SDSL in Michigan.
A coworker of mine is switching to this service from AMERITECH ADSL. Here is a
excerpt from and email reply he received from the company:
Speakeasy uses Covad as our DSL provider, so Ameritech's
static IP problem wouldn't affect us. It would take about
4-6 weeks to complete an installation for a Speakeasy DSL
line. Because we use Covad as our DSL provider, we wouldn't
be able to speed up this installation by using your existing
DSL wiring. For more information, please give us a call at
the number below and we'll be glad to help you out.
They also advised me over the phone that all they need is the first six digits
of your telephone number to verify whether they can install the service for you.
