Wacky Internet access problem

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Looks like CenturyLink requires the use of a (separate) ISP. See their tutorials here. Maybe they use Comcast as the ISP  ???
 
DWJoyce said:
I know this is a basic question, so please don't be offended.

What type connectors are used in the back of the "modem"? If it has a coax or optical input, it's a Cable Modem, like Comcast uses. An ADSL modem uses a phone line, so it only has an RJ12 input connector. The two are in no way compatible and the Internet speeds are irrelevant.
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Tom is using his own cable modem, the same one he was using for Comcast. I suspect what he has is Centurylink service using Comcast's wire. Comcast gets paid by Centurylink for the cable use. Some years back, I had a similar deal with Earthlink as my service provider via Time Warner's cable. As I recall, we had a choice of three different carriers, with the default TWC's Roadrunner service.
 
I suspect what he has is Centurylink service using Comcast's wire. Comcast gets paid by Centurylink for the cable use.
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If CenturyLink is using Comcast's cable, since CenturyLink is essentially a carrier (not an ISP), he might have Comcast internet service via Comcast's cable, sold by CenturyLink  ???

Looking forward to reading the results of the CL tech visit in the morning.
 
LarsMac said:
Perhaps you have been hijacked. That is not really Comcast.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1104926
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Nope, it really was Comcast for sure. I called them this morning and they told me my account was still active. I told them to cancel it and they did. Immediately I stopped seeing the Comcast screens.
 
Well you guys got it right and the salesman was wrong (duh...) They never hooked up the run into the house, only hooked me up to the pedestal outside. Comcast did not cancel my service on the day they were suppose to so I will still using Comcast. It does take an ADSL modem so I will have to order one from Amazon. I was not here when they hooked it up so I didn't know it was not hooked up. The repairman said the installer should have left a note on my door telling me what was going on and he did not do that. I had a ticket to a show that I had bought months ago that kept me from being here. I should have asked for a better time for the installer to arrive but the salesman told me I did not need to be here. I should never believe a salesman. Thanks for your help guys.
 
Hopefully you'll be satisfied with slow DSL after being used to Comcast.

I hate my cable company, but I could never go back to DSL.
 
HappyWanderer said:
Hopefully you'll be satisfied with slow DSL after being used to Comcast.

I hate my cable company, but I could never go back to DSL.
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The DSL is suppose to be the same speed as Comcast, 10 mps. More than enough for me.
 
One thing to note about DSL, Tom: The further you are from the central office, the slower it will be. When DSL arrived in our area a few years back, I was too far from the central office for DSL to do much for us -- and it's just a few minutes drive from here. So you may not get the "advertised" speed. Or perhaps they've made some improvements, but it is distance sensitive by its nature.

Hope it's good for you.
 
Thanks Larry, I really don't need much speed. I am not a gamer and I don't download large files. So long as I can stream I will be OK. CL offers speeds up to 1 gig so if 10 mps is not fast enough I will upgrade.
 
SeilerBird said:
Thanks Larry, I really don't need much speed. I am not a gamer and I don't download large files. So long as I can stream I will be OK. CL offers speeds up to 1 gig so if 10 mps is not fast enough I will upgrade.
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24 Mbps is about tops for ADSL (faster than DSL), so if CenturyLink is quoting up to 1 Gbps, that "salesman" is blowing smoke up your...ahhh...shirt sleeve again.  Even fiber opitical service maxes out with Google Fiber at 350 Mbps (data from Aug 2016 - most cable services are less than 50 Mbps).  But, I agree, 10 Mbps should meet your needs.  I get close to 24 Mbps which is fine even with several computers connected.
 
USB 2.0 only transfers at 480 Mbps so a 1 Gbps modem sends data twice as fast as a USB 2.0 link.  Of course, USB 3.0 can transfer up to 5Gbps.
 
In 1984, I was working as a field specialist for a Massachusetts computer aided design system manufacturer. The company supplied me with a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 portable PC, a very early "laptop" with an 8-line display and built in keyboard. It was used to keep track of my parts inventory, order parts, and log my service calls. Each evening I would connect to a landline phone line, sometimes using a couple of safety pins stuck through the hotel phone wiring and alligator clips if there was no wall jack. The built in 300 baud modem would then send my updated info to the home office, a process that could take 20-30 minutes, and all to often had to be repeated 2 or 3 times before I got a positive acknowledgement back. Even at today's slowest speeds, the amount of data involved would only take a few seconds to transfer at most.
 
I too recall my first 300 baud modem in the early 80's.


Some time in the mid 80's we stayed at a B&B in the UK. Downstairs was a regular village pub and upstairs were 6 guest rooms. The only phone jack in the building was behind the bar, and I'd pre-arranged with the landlord that I could use it as a condition of our stay. Popped the RadioShack laptop (aka luggable) computer on the bar, plugged in a length of phone cord and a BT/RJ phone adapter, and was online, albeit very slow. I had an audience of pub regulars, pints (of beer) in hand, looking over my shoulder and they were able to read the stuff scrolling across the screen. I don't think any of them had seen a computer before, and there were lots of oohs and ahhs. Nowadays, I doubt there's a house in that village that doesn't have broadband.
 
DSL can be as fast a cable these days. Larry is right though, in the earlier days, DSL was quite a bit slower. As Larry found out, telephone cables are not run in short paths as "the bird flies". I was located at the end limit of my Nortel DSL modem's ability at the time and the service was not much better than dial-up except you did not block the telephone line when using it. Today however, with digital switching, the effective distance to a Central Office is very short by virtue of remote line modules (DRLM). Today, using the same old outside cable and pairs, I have Fiber Optic service to the terminal, the old cable to the house and 25 Mbps service.

Fiber Optic to the home has not yet arrived here but it won't be long....
They are offering the service but it will likely still be "fiber to the terminal" and includes TV, Internet phone and internet service. No cables have been added to the run outside in the 40 years+ I have lived here. (Old career Telephone Man!!! ;) )
 
You folks are bringing back memories. I used the old fashioned telephone coupler modems at 300 baud right around 1980, and was thrilled when 1200 baud modems came out. Our first home computer was a Heathkit CPM machine with a floppy and 64K memory. We were both using main frames and the old mini computers in the mid to late 70s - mostly IBM, Digital's PDP and Vax systems. Life has come a long way. The deep embedded real-time systems I used to develop are all gone, and I am strictly a user focused on having a good user interface.

Fun walk down memory lane!
 
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