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xur17
join:2003-03-26
Cincinnati, OH
| Upgrading Modem
I currently have a cisco 675 modem that I use to connect to the internet through Zoomtown. I can download at about 420KB/s. This is below the 5mbps that they can provide. I posted earlier in the zoomtown newsgroups about upgrading to a Westel modem, and it was indicated that this connected through DMT while my cisco currently connects through CAP:
"It would probably help. The Cisco 675 used an older technology called CAP, and the newer modems use DMT which is more tollerant of sub-optimal line conditions."
I am interested in switching to the Westel, but when I contacted them, they told me that the Westel was less reliable than the cisco, and that I would probably see a decrease in my speeds (which contradicted what I have read on several sites on the internet).
Does anyone know of any other way of "encouraging" them to allow me to switch modems. Does anyone else currently use the cisco instead of the Westel? Has anyone been switched over to the Westel from the cisco? | |
mudtoe
join:2005-10-09
Cleveland, OH | See if they will give you a Lucent model. I've had one of those for over a year with no problems.
mudtoe | |
xur17
join:2003-03-26
Cincinnati, OH
| reply to xur17
I just thought I would report back with what happened.
I contacted Zoomtown on Saturday, and got someone that actually answered my questions, and agreed to help. I asked him about switching to a DMT line instead of a CAP line, and he said that I would not necessarily experience any increase in speed because the DMT CO could actually be farther away from my house than the CAP CO. He said that he could not determine the distance to the CO, but could transfer me to residential who would be able to. That person also said that they could not, but would put a request out to determine this distance to the Engineers, and would call me back on Monday.
Monday comes around with no calls, and our internet ends up disconnecting. I call Zoomtown, and they say that our line was switched. I explained that that was not what I wanted, but ended up giving in and picked up a new modem.
I picked up the new modem (Westell 6100), and set it up at my house. I got download speeds of about 430KB/s, which was the same as I was getting with my old Cisco, and my upload decreased to about 70KB/s from 100KB/s. I saw that the modem was trained at 4032kbps for the download, and decided to call the help desk and see if they were able to increase this speed (because I got a new router). The first person basically said that he couldn't, and said that they only "guarantee" 768kbps. I argued for a while about this, and finally just decided to call back later. I called back later, and the person was very helpful and agreed to reset the connection on his end, and see if that would do anything. It did, and it increased the download speed to 530KB/s. That is where it stands right now.
I am overall happy with this upgrade in speed, but I am a little bit disappointed in the decrease in upload speed. If anyone else has a Cisco 675, and is not getting the maximum speed (5mbps), consider calling Zoomtown, and they may be able to help you (changing to the Westell could help your speeds, but it could also hurt your speeds because you are switching from a CAP to a DMT line which have different COs according to them) (it took several calls for me to finally get them to agree to do this. I have been trying off and on to get this for the last 6 months). | |
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