DSL From Hell

Lost in the Atlantic

In theory, getting this all working takes a week. After you qualify your phone number and sign up for service you simply wait about five days for your phone line to be "activated." Now you're ready to crack your PC open and install the 3Com internal ADSL modem into a free PCI slot.

At this time you simply plug "microfilters" on phone jacks throughout your house. (HomeConnect comes with a half-dozen of these beasts, which was plenty for my house.) Next install Bell Atlantic Infospeed software on your PC, and start cruising the Net at turbo speeds.

In theory. But in the real world, Bell Atlantic fumbled from the outset. I couldn't even sign up for service.

I was given three excuses that kept me waiting weeks. At first I was told its DSL registration database had crashed. The next week I called Bell Atlantic, and it said it was having "database parsing errors." A third time I was told I didn't qualify for service.

After straightening matters, I eventually qualified, signed up for service, and was told my phone line would be DSL-powered within a week.

Two weeks later I heard that I was all set. I followed 3Com's modem installation directions to the letter and installed the modem into a Dell Dimension Intel Pentium III PC. But after the installation a red light on the 3Com software indicated the modem was not receiving a DSL connection.

After a flurry of phone calls to tech support and hours of hold time, Bell Atlantic promised to double-check my phone line for problems. I called two weeks later and Bell Atlantic knew nothing of my problems. I recited my saga. It promised to check my line again.

The following week, a technician called to say Bell Atlantic was still brooding on the problem. I insisted that the company do some troubleshooting and rule out a faulty modem.

Don't Drop the Swap

Only when I was asked about a "swapper" for my 3Com modem did we make a breakthrough.

"What's a swapper?" It turns out that 3Com DSL modems have a "known issue" that requires another small microfilter to be placed on the end of the RJ-11 phone jack.

I'm assured that this must be the root to my problems. "We'll send one right out," I'm told.

Meanwhile a bigger screwup was ahead.