I'm having problems with DSL at my new place, and am looking for someone who may have a spare modem for me to try.

Covad has said my line from SBC is messed but I'm too far from the CO for SBC to do anything about it. He tried a modem he had and got better line margins that at least allowed me to be stable at 384 / 128 (a far cry from the 1500 / 384 I had before, but stability is first importance)

Before I buy one off eBay, I thought I'd check here. Keep in mind eBay DSL modems go CHEAP (like $20)

I'm looking for two specific models to try that I know are compatible with my line and that users have reported better margins with:
- Broadxent 8012 (comes with AOL)
- Speedstream / Efficient 5100 or 5200 (comes with SBC)

The Broadxent is what the Covad rep used this morning, but people using Speakeasy have reported even better results with the Speedstream / Efficient DSL modem than the Broadxent.

I know I have a DSL modem lying around from previous service, and I figured some of you may too.

Thanks for any help.

 

The Direct TV DSL modem was proprietary. You can get it to work, but it's a PITA. Plus I don't know if it will help my margins at all. On DSL Reports, they are saying the Speedstream modems help with noise margins, and I know the Broadxent helped when the Covad guy plugged it in...

I went from 320 / 128 with only 8dB margin download to a solid 384 / 128 with 11.5 dB margin down. Not a huge gain, but the biggest thing is that I was stable. Now I lose sync several times a night, and pings go from good to 400+ all the time. No good for gaming.

At least a modem can tide me over until I either get a second phone line to try switching the DSL to, or decide to just give up with DSL and go with Comcast.

 

Yeah, I try to stay away from cow country. But you could mail it, local people are more trustworthy than eBay... (even you Dre...j/k)

I'll give you whatever the average sane price is on eBay + shipping if the imprezey guy can't help me out sooner, I PMed him.

Looks like the 5260 and 5360 also should work.

 

Cable is good as long as you fit into their mold.

I can't get a static IP via cable.
I can't get more than 256 up with cable
I've heard too many stories of them hassling people who use servers and such.

I'd also just prefer to avoid dealing with Comcast altogether. The ISP I'm with (Speakeasy) has the best service EVER, and is not outsourcing to India, I get awesome pings and had VERY reliable and consistent service when I was in my apartment... in over a year we had NOT ONE unscheduled outage that I am aware of.

Cable has it's place, but I'd prefer to keep it out of my house.

I'll PM you about potentially picking up the modem sometime this weekend. My g/f lives in Stockton, and that can make Tracy a very convenient meeting spot.