Question about testing POTS Lines

[cpalmer2k]

I figured this would be the best place since it doesn't really fit anywhere else, but I'm looking for someone with knowledge/experience of good old POTS phone lines. Spectrum has been down at my house in SC since Helene hit, and so far they haven't been able to give us any timetable as to when it will return. As much as I hate to do it I'm considering signing up with AT&T DSL for right now until things are back up and running.

We have never had DSL at this house when we've lived there, but we do have an old telephone interface box on the outside. Is there any way I can "test" it to see if the line running from the street to that box is good? I'm betting it was cut years ago when they buried the new cable line because I remember the cable guy saying something about running into it. I need to know whether it is good or not before I contact AT&T to set up service.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Do you have cell service at your location from any of the main 3 providers? If so, using one of those for internet might be a better option than DSL. Starlink might be an option as well.

 

[waylew]

I figured this would be the best place since it doesn't really fit anywhere else, but I'm looking for someone with knowledge/experience of good old POTS phone lines. Spectrum has been down at my house in SC since Helene hit, and so far they haven't been able to give us any timetable as to when it will return. As much as I hate to do it I'm considering signing up with AT&T DSL for right now until things are back up and running.

We have never had DSL at this house when we've lived there, but we do have an old telephone interface box on the outside. Is there any way I can "test" it to see if the line running from the street to that box is good? I'm betting it was cut years ago when they buried the new cable line because I remember the cable guy saying something about running into it. I need to know whether it is good or not before I contact AT&T to set up service.

Check for about 48vdc between the 2 wires coming in from the "pole"or if there's a modular phone jack in the box plug a phone in and see if you get a dial tone.If you get either the line is probably good,if you get neither the line may still be good but is disconnected back at the "switch",wherever that is.

 

[cpalmer2k]

Do you have cell service at your location from any of the main 3 providers? If so, using one of those for internet might be a better option than DSL. Starlink might be an option as well.

The main cell towers in our areas are still having issues too, and my neighborhood isn't in range for any of their "Home Internet" services because we're too far away from the tower itself.

StarLink may be the best solution. I bought one and we've been trying it, but it has been very slow on my PC. We've been connecting directly to the StarLink router, but last night I discovered that was part of my problem. I wanted to get the rest of our network back online so I used a travel router as an ethernet bridge. I connected it to the StarLink WiFi, and then used the ethernet jack on it to connect our main router. The PC immediately got faster and is nearly as responsive as it normally is with Spectrum. For some reason the WiFi card on my PC and the StarLink router don't like each other. I'm going to play with placement this weekend to see if I can find another location to set it up. Right now I have good signal with no major obstructions, but there is no good way to wire directly into the home router with it where it is. We have a bonus room above our garage, which limits my ability to get cabling down to my network panel in the laundry room. The side of the house where it is located has trees all around, so I can't set it up on that side because of them.

Check for about 48vdc between the 2 wires coming in from the "pole"or if there's a modular phone jack in the box plug a phone in and see if you get a dial tone.If you get either the line is probably good,if you get neither the line may still be good but is disconnected back at the "switch",wherever that is.

Thanks, I will try that this weekend just to see what options may be available.

 

[comfortably_numb]

For some reason the WiFi card on my PC and the StarLink router don't like each other

Does the Starlink router offer 2.4 and 5 Ghz wireless (either separately or combined)?

Is the wireless network card in your PC 2.4 or 5?

 

[cpalmer2k]

Does the Starlink router offer 2.4 and 5 Ghz wireless (either separately or combined)?

Is the wireless network card in your PC 2.4 or 5?

Natively it shares the same SSID for both, which I think may be part of the problem. My laptop card supports 5Ghz, and it says in the StarLink app it is connected at 5Ghz but it was very, very sluggish. Once I wired into the ethernet connection the problem was solved. Ultimately I'd like to find a better location for the StarLink so I can use Bypass mode and just rely on our regular router, but I'm going to have to play with that over the weekend. I'm much more pleased with the possibility of it being a long term solution after that change though. People down the street from my house got their Spectrum working again last night, so I've got my fingers crossed that it might not be as long as I thought it would be before that is restored either.

 

[harshness]

I bought one and we've been trying it, but it has been very slow on my PC.

As Starlink is the only option and FEMA is using it heavily, it isn't up to its "normal" performance standards.

 

[Jimbo]

Check for about 48vdc between the 2 wires coming in from the "pole"or if there's a modular phone jack in the box plug a phone in and see if you get a dial tone.If you get either the line is probably good,if you get neither the line may still be good but is disconnected back at the "switch",wherever that is.

Chances of him getting Dial tone that way (at the Ni) ... is oh about .00001%

Unless of course hes already had DT there recently.

IF he want to see how far the line goes (to know if its connected to anything) disconnect the house portion and put a meter on it and see how far the line goes ... if it goes about a hundred feet, he'll know its disconnected at the ped out back or somewhere else close.

 

[waylew]

Chances of him getting Dial tone that way (at the Ni) ... is oh about .00001%

Unless of course hes already had DT there recently.

IF he want to see how far the line goes (to know if its connected to anything) disconnect the house portion and put a meter on it and see how far the line goes ... if it goes about a hundred feet, he'll know its disconnected at the ped out back or somewhere else close.

Well I was kinda using way back experience for me here,and I mean waaay back.When the switch actually was a switch.
And I did sorta say maybe.

 

[Jimbo]

Well I was kinda using way back experience for me here,and I mean waaay back.When the switch actually was a switch.
And I did sorta say maybe.

When the switch was left in on a shut off, Yes ....
The way we would reuse the OE's it was ridiculous, I'd have battery on the pr going back to the CO and throw tone on it and either go in and find it or have the CO tech (when they were on site) find it and call the change in ... now I'm showing My age ... No one to talk to anymore in most cases.

 

[arlo]

I know the subject is copper line to the house. But if Starlink is giving you problems, there are problems.
Have you determined if your pc prefers to connect to 2.4G wifi? That's easy. Set it to forget the 2.4G network.
I see a lot of routers that have the same ssid and it can be a problem for getting the best speeds.
Changing the Starlink router ssid should be a breeze. Perhaps rename one to Starlink_2.4G, the other to Starlink_5G.
You mention that using an Ethernet connection from the router to your pc fixed things.
Nothing keeping you from plugging your own wifi router into the Starlink router and going that way.

To change your WiFi network name or WiFi password from the Starlink App:

1. Connect to your Starlink WiFi network.
2. Sign into your Starlink Account.
3. Go to Settings.
4. Under Router configuration, select WiFi network you wish to change.
5. Adjust the WiFi network name and/or password and then click "Save".
6. Any connected devices will be disconnected. Reconnect to your wireless network using your new credentials.
   
   
   

 

[cpalmer2k]

As Starlink is the only option and FEMA is using it heavily, it isn't up to its "normal" performance standards.

I think my plan is one of the biggest obstacles too. I purchased the StarLink Mini because my wife's parents have a camper and often camp in areas with no phone or internet signal, so I wanted it to be mobile so we could turn it on and off as needed when they need to use it. I didn't realize that by doing the "Roam" plan it put me at the bottom of the totem pole priority wise though.

If our current outage doesn't end soon I'm going to just buy a regular residential size unit and mount it.

 

[harshness]

IF he want to see how far the line goes (to know if its connected to anything) disconnect the house portion and put a meter on it and see how far the line goes ... if it goes about a hundred feet, he'll know its disconnected at the ped out back or somewhere else close.

Not everybody has a time-domain reflectometer in their toolkit.

I can tell when my POTS line is connected to the network (a pair gain setup) by the level of 60Hz hum there is at the Network Interface jack.

 

[Jimbo]

Not everybody has a time-domain reflectometer in their toolkit.

I can tell when my POTS line is connected to the network (a pair gain setup) by the level of 60Hz hum there is at the Network Interface jack.

Sadly, thats a problem that you get with pair gain systems, or it could be a X as well.

 

[harshness]

Sadly, thats a problem that you get with pair gain systems, or it could be a X as well.

I had the problem with waterlogged underground wire long before they installed the pair gain equipment. It took Qworst several months to get my neighbor's DSL line working. They were swapping pairs left and right looking for one that wasn't as badly waterlogged.

 

[Jimbo]

I had the problem with waterlogged underground wire long before they installed the pair gain equipment. It took Qworst several months to get my neighbor's DSL line working. They were swapping pairs left and right looking for one that wasn't as badly waterlogged.

Yup, a good X is normally a problem like that ... must be pretty bad seeing the majority of the lines that are buried anymore are barely used ...
Up here we've had about maybe 10% of the cable being used any more ... (No more land line phones using the lines) X your internet with another sub and you'll have issues with your internet as well.

A lot of the stuff up here now has gone to Fiber, so a lot of those issues are gone, but theres still a Ton of areas that are still using Copper, as well as LEAD. Still.

 

[navychop]

Lead wires? Huh? Isn’t it a poor conductor?

 

[Jimbo]

Lead wires? Huh? Isn’t it a poor conductor?

Copper wire, Lead covering.

Bosses always said, that Lead is absolutely Fine ....

Yup, the Lead is fine, until you get a nick in it somewhere, from a tree branch or an animal ....
Then, the water gets in the cable and start to corrode that copper and the customer says, everything was fine till last weeks rain storm ...
once the water dried up, so did the copper and the line sounded good again ... till this process happened multiple times and that copper continued to corrode and eventually broke ... then instead of Static on your line, you had No service or service with a loud hum on the line.

 

[harshness]

Then, the water gets in the cable and start to corrode that copper and the customer says, everything was fine till last weeks rain storm ...

That's why the cables were pressurized with air. The problems didn't really start until they got lazy about monitoring the air pressure.

 

[Jimbo]

That's why the cables were pressurized with air. The problems didn't really start until they got lazy about monitoring the air pressure.

The Majority of the Underground cables are still pressurized, but those would be the one coming from the CO's ...
Theres just too many areas (and damage) to continue to have air on All of them .