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High Speed Enhanced DSL Speed Question

I do know that speed is limited by the distance you are from the DSLAM. I'm only getting 3 Mbps service yet I can look out of my front door and see the DSLAM that I'm getting my service from across the street. I should be getting 7-15 Mbps but I'm not and I would like to know why?

Comments

dslr595148

What router are you running? The GT784WNV? Additionally, is your modem's phone cable running through a surge protector? Finally, wired or wireless?

JimH631

I currently have a D-Link DSL-2750B. I don't have the phone cable running though a surge protector and my home network is connected via ethernet. I'm not using the dsl modem's wireless.

smith6612

Can you take a picture of the DSLAM and attach a copy of the photo to your post? Being able to ID it would tell us a lot about why you're at 3Mbps.

JimH631

The tech that replaced the NID on the side of my house a couple of weeks back told me that the DSLAM for my DSL was across the street. I thought that he meant the pedestal below in picture 'Pedestal_Across_Street ID 9901 HS' that I can see from my front door but I think he actually meant the pedestals at the far side of the shopping center from me. I have also attached the pictures for those pedestals:

'ShoppingCtr_Pedestal1 ID PG838 FH711'

'ShoppingCtr_Pedestal2 ID 3610'

'ShoppingCtr_Pedestal3 ID H7205'

They're still no more than 500 meters from my residence.

If there's anything else I can get, let me know.

Thanks for the help.

Pedestal_Across_Street ID 9901 HSShoppingCtr_Pedestal1 ID PG838 FH711ShoppingCtr_Pedestal2 ID 3610ShoppingCtr_Pedestal3 ID H7205

smith6612

Man, that doesn't look promising at all. That's a Junky Catena Networks SLC-5 Retrofit. The max those things do is 3Mbps (They can do 7.1Mbps, but I'll get into why they shouldn't go that high). Assuming there's actually a Catena inside of that cabinet, there is a total of 45Mbps (T3) for the entire bank of DSL customers.

The Catenas are actually pretty neat. Back in the 80s, Lucent Technologies cameout with a Digital Loop Carrier system, called the SLC-5, which allowed for Telephone companies to extend their Central Office footprint using the SLC-5 to more rural areas. This allowed for increased phone line capacity, clearer calls, and even basic data services like BRI, ISDN, and dial-up services. The SLC-5 receives it's connection to the CO via Fiber, which muxes down to T3 or T1 service.

When DSL was in it's "Hey Day", Catena Networks came out with a solution where Telephone companies could take a piece of equipment that was never designed for DSL, and by swapping out the controller and the line cards, could very quickly enable DSL where there wasn't before, without losing any phone line capacity. It was a low impact upgrade, and really helped to extend DSL Service into some strange places. Of course, that was great until traffic on DSL started to increase like crazy.

In my area, all of the techs want the Catena SLC-5s destroyed by snow plows. They're so reliable that they typically don't break. But when they get overloaded with DSL traffic, they become the worst to deal with. DSL slows down, DSL drops, goes out for hours, and sometimes the phone lines will quit working. The downfalls of taking 80s tech and making it do DSL. What makes them more difficult to troubleshoot, is that an SLC-5 can consist of multiple banks/shelves, or you could have separate SLC-5 units in those large cabinets, depending on whether capacity was added at some point. They were built for phone lines, not DSL.

So long story short. Unless Verizon crammed another DSLAM into that brown cabinet, like an Alcatel 7300, your max speed out of that DSLAM is 3Mbps. If you're able to find a Verizon tech in the area, ask them about what's in that box. Chances are they'll say Catena SLC-5. I doubt they'll say that there's an Alcatel 7300 or an Adtran TA services DSLAM in there.

JimH631

Thanks for trying. I had a feeling nothing could be done but I had to try. I do have a business card for the local tech that worked on my line but I know he doesn't answer his phone and his voicemail box is full anyway so I can't check what's at the pedestal.

It's a crime that Verizon is charging people the same price for 1.1 - 3Mbps service as those that are getting 7.2 - 15Mbps. Heck, my brother is getting 50Mbps internet access over FIOS for less than I'm paying for at less than 3Mbps.

What's sad is that there is empty Verizon conduit in front of my house that goes to a junction box up the street from me that they never pulled fiber through. They tell me I can't get FIOS, but no one tells me why or looks at what's here to determine if it's possible. I know. I need to send a letter to New Jersey...

smith6612

No problem!

It doesn't hurt to see if New Jersey can help. The more FiOS the Better - for the customer, and for Verizon.

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