Okay, I did it: I switched my Internet access from cable modem to DSL. Sure, there were a few glitches. But there were also a couple of surprises and a nice ending. The end of the story? DSL from EarthLink is the real thing, much better (so far) than the current offerings available from cable modem in Pasadena.
I was receiving my access from EarthLink, using the cable modem infrastructure provided by Charter, Pasadena’s local cable company. If you have been even mildly interested in cable modems, you know that there have been many "challenges" to overcome if the promised high speed is to be obtained. My speeds were never much to be excited about, even late at night, when you would figure that the demand on the lines is light.
At one point, the speed dropped so low that I had Charter come out to check the coaxial cable feeding the modem. The tech ran a new line from the pole, thus restoring the speed to "almost acceptable," with the bonus of somewhat improving my TV picture.
Another problem? EarthLink and Charter never seem to be able to figure out—or at least admit—who's at fault when service slowdowns occur. You can go back and forth with no resolution.
Enter DSL, Stage Right
I became aware that EarthLink was offering DSL service provided by Pacific Bell for a reduced price until November. One downside of DSL is the cost after November. It's likely to be the same as I was paying for cable modem, but with a $198 charge for the DSL modem. The cable modem equipment is leased from Charter, so this was an added charge. Even with this stipulation, I jumped at the chance to switch.
Calling EarthLink resulted in an appointment for Pac Bell to come out and install the modem. They came out about two weeks later. Before that happened, Pac Bell came by and checked the line. I live in Altadena and my line turned out to be pretty good.
I received a welcome letter from EarthLink with a promise of a software pack before DSL day, and a letter from Pac Bell confirming that I had indeed ordered DSL.
DSL Day
A technician from Pac Bell arrived during the time span that was stated and started to rewire the phone jack near my computer. He confirmed that the line had been tested, plugged the DSL modem into the jack, and had to go back to where the line entered the house a couple of times. In a short while, he got a green light on the modem.
If you've never seen one, a DSL modem is smaller, lighter, and much cooler than a cable modem. No, really: Cable modems are hot enough to cook a couple of eggs in a pinch. The Pac Bell guy decided to hook up the modem to the network card that I already had installed in the computer for cable access. That way he didn't get stuck popping open my computer. So now I have an extra network card that I am going to try to put in my computer. That way I might be able to hook up with my kid's computer and play games.
Unfortunately, I didn't receive the software pack before DSL day. I had to call EarthLink and arrange to drive down to their headquarters and pick one up. (Ah, the advantages of living near your service provider.)
Needless to say, I had problems installing the software that configures the computer to maximize DSL.
But it's nobody's fault but my own.
That's because I have a CD-ROM drive that's on its last legs. It stops running—like, out of the blue—often causing other computer problems. Sure, I know, I should have replaced it by now, but hey, it's an easy task to put off until later.
So the install stopped in the middle, I had to reboot, and was left with the all-too-familiar damaged collection of files that can't be removed and can't be reinstalled yet somehow work just fine. (But I'll have the last laugh when I format and reinstall Windows. Right. Like any day now.)
Safety First
I took screen shots of my network settings before installing and stored them in a Word file. (Thanks, George Siegel, for that tip!)
I noticed that after I installed DSL, the settings software had not changed. Nonetheless, my speed and performance were much improved. What was annoying, though, was reading an e-mail from Steve Bass [President of the Pasadena user group. –Ed.] that stated that he had to redirect his settings from Charter to DSL.
After a couple of days, I called EarthLink DSL Technical Support and we went over the settings. They were indeed in need of tweaking, which I did under the tech's excellent direction. I don't know if all these settings get changed when you install the DSL software, or if a former cable modem user has to do it manually, with my botched installation adding to the confusion.
After tweaking the settings, my Internet access is blazing fast. I'm talking about downloading a 6 MB file in a little over a minute, with most Web sites popping up in seconds.
One of the other advantages of a high-speed connection is that you pretty much assume that when a site is loading slowly, it's because of problems at the site server, not your connection.
Any quirky issues to deal with? Sure. With my cable modem, when I turned on the computer, I had Outlook load on startup and check for mail. But DSL is a hybrid dial-up and network arrangement, so Outlook would demand the connection to be established, then check for mail before the connection is complete, then say it could not connect to the server, finally causing the connection to fail.
So now I have IE and the EarthLink Dialer load on startup, then open Outlook manually, so when it then checks for mail the connection is already hot. The EarthLink tech said that they are also trying to figure out why this is occurring.
Remember that EarthLink is just beginning with DSL (the reason for the reduced price), and they don't have all the answers. But you know one thing when you deal with EarthLink. They will go the distance for you. On DSL Day plus one, I received a phone message from EarthLink, telling me that the software pack was being overnighted to me.
On DSL Day plus two, I received the original software pack in the mail, and the overnighted pack from a courier. So now I have three packs, but you see what I mean, they are really putting out the effort.
The final chapter was to return my cable modem and shut off my cable Internet access. I (and others I asked) dreaded this task, but surprise of surprises, it was swift and painless. I unhooked my cable modem and took it down to the Charter cable office in Pasadena. In five minutes I had turned it in and paid the corrected bill, with no questions asked. I was in a daze when I left Charter, thinking that it was all a dream.
I did have to change my e-mail address, although others are reporting that they are keeping theirs. I wanted to anyway, as my spam was increasing to the point of irritation. I now have the satisfaction of knowing that all that spam is being bounced back to the sender.
Surf City, here I come!
Besides brewing some of the best beer in town, Crown City Brewmeister Mike Lanzarotta is part of the Pasadena IBM User Group’s technical staff, a computer consultant, and owner of Computers By Mike. You can reach him at his new e-mail address: compbymike@earthlink.net.
