he speed and accessibility to a higher level of service, and
of the Internet has greatly slowdowns can be painfully
increased due in no small obvious. The most common areas
part to DSL technology. Only where DSL Internet access
cable can claim faster speeds in slowdowns occur are the phone
the consumer market, and not in line and the computer.
all circumstances. User can now
access the Internet at incredible Phone Line Slowdowns:
speeds at affordable prices that
in the recent past would have Distance from the local phone
simply been impossible. company exchange is a factor in
how fast a DSL connection can
As is often the case, the more get. The further away a user is,
advanced a technology becomes, the lower the transfer rate.
the more easily it breaks down. Although there are signal
Although a great Internet amplifiers and filters that can
service, DSL is subject to this mitigate this problem, it has not
problem as well. It doesn't take completely gone away. It is
a great deal to cause a serious possible to be so far away from
DSL slowdown, and they can be the exchange that service is
difficult to fix. impossible.
When dial up Internet access was It seems now that the direct line
the only Internet service that feeds a users house is more
available, slowdowns were less often a DSL Internet issue in an
obvious. Since everything was area where access is available.
equally slow it would usually Load coils, resistive crosses,
take a dropped connection before and line taps can all create line
a dial-up users perceived a noise. Line noise will slow a DSL
problem. Now customers are used connection, if not prevent a
connection all together. The help decrease line noise.
consumer can do little to correct
most line noise, and it should e Computer Issues
recommended that the user's phone
company be notified and request a The computer itself is the most
line test. FCC regulations likely problem area of any DSL
require a certain level of line connection. Hardware and software
quality, and is that is not met configurations are limitless, and
it is the phone company's among them are set ups that
responsibility to fix this simply wont work. Add the
problem. possibility of spyware, viruses
and worms and you have a
External devices can also cause multitude of possible issues.
line noise. Phones, televisions,
fax machines and other devices It is likely that very old
can cause disruptions in DSL computers cannot process
service. Although these devices information at the speeds DSL
create only a small amount of connections can serve it up. This
noise, it is cumulative. If one can really slowdown a fast
of these devices is defective or download, and cause a severe
old the noise can get bad fast. bottleneck. This can be
If you are having trouble with a identified by the severe slowing
DSL connection and believe it down of all computer processes
might be noise from external when downloading files.
devices, unplug everything from
the phone lines except the DSL Worms, viruses, and spyware cab
modem and try your download all slow down a DSL Internet
speeds. Be sure to use the line connection. This problem can be
filters that came with the DSL easily fixed with a good
modem, as these are designed to anti-virus product like Norton or
McAfee. Both of these packages
have Auto-Protect features that google_ad_channel
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About the Author:
Jon Norwood is a managing partner of the High Speed Internet Access Guide, a site dedicated to providing information on Cable and DSL Internet service providers, as well as information on satellite and wireless Internet access.
