Gah, I’m just so frustrated & upset right now, I probably don’t make much sense. But here it is:
I ordered DSL and got the modem and everything all set up, but it’s not recognizing the signal. When I finally got through to the help desk (oooh, don’t get me started on that … of course it was someone in India), they explained to me that the phone jack MUST be within six feet of the modem. If it was further than 6 feet, the DSL wouldn’t work.
I live in an apartment built in the 60s; there are two jacks in the apartment - in the living room and in the master bedroom. The computer is set up in the living room, but it’s about 12 feet from the existing jack in here. So, what do I do to get another jack put in the living room area? I seriously doubt that I’d be able to do it myself - I am electrically challenged, as are both my kids. Do I call the phone company? My experiences with them since the break-up of Bell has not been good. Gah, someone help me, please! Hehe… I’m trying to keep a calm manner about this, but good grief, I didn’t see anywhere in the info on DSL that you needed to have a jack close to the computer. I swear.
The easiest thing to do is to put the DSL modem near the phone jack, and run a long CAT-5 cable from it to the computer. FWIW, I’ve never heard of the 6-foot limit. Even if it’s the case, you can get RJ-11/14 phone cords with twisted pair wiring which should alleviate the problems encountered by using flat phone cord.
Here are some other things you can check. Different service provider, but the general information will be similar. Also, note that they say you might have problems if your phone line from the jack is more than 20 feet long. You’re well within that at 12 feet. So, I don’t think that’s your problem.
I ran some crappy phone cable two stories up from the basement through a furnace vent, slapped a phone jack on the wall, then ran 15 feet of flat cable to the DSL modem.
It works fine.
Hah. Yes, one of the filters - a dual jack one - is supposed to go on the line leading to the modem. It goes into the jack on one end, and the modem on the other. There’s also the ethernet (Cat5?) cable that needs to be between the DSL modem and the computer CPU. The one they sent with the package looks to be about 7 feet, maybe shorter. I am definitely not handy about stuff like this. Right now, I’m looking to see if I can get a longer Cat5 patch (the ethernet?) cable, and we’re going to try to set up the modem closer to the existing phone jack.
Some people know how to do things like running cable, etc. - unfortunately, I’m not one of them! Any help is greatly appreciated!
Right now, I’m looking to see if I can get a longer Cat5 patch (the ethernet?) cable, and we’re going to try to set up the modem closer to the existing phone jack.