UPDATE 03/01/2010: New Solution: if U-Verse is available to you, just upgrade to that! 
Got switched over this weekend and it’s awesome.
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Background: over the years, I have had a fluctuating issue with a weak connection from my ADSL modem to AT&T’s CO (central office) in my area. This resulted in continual errors on my modem and at times the service would just drop off and then come back up. My speed would change often and was never consistent.
So recently, my DSL connection totally dropped for four days. Apparently an AT&T tech messed with things a little too much and knocked out my DSL service attempting to “fix” someone else’s phone line that another tech had messed up (a sort of domino effect). Of course this all happened right before the Fourth of July holiday weekend and so another tech finally came out the Monday after. He got me back online, but the connection speed was the most degraded it has ever been. But he made the decision to switch me over to a “digital line” (update – AT&T tech terminology, not mine, that is simply what he told me – A.K.A. an RT line, digital port, whatever) to get me a much more solid connection.
Well today my line was finally switched over to the digital line after getting along with a shoddy, limping connection to the CO for a couple of weeks. The switch took about 1 second. And the results are quite stunning as far as stability is concerned. Whereas before, my average max download speed was around 2500 to 3000 Kbps, now the sustained max download rate is 8128 Kbps. In addition, whereas before I was getting millions of connection-related errors, now I literally have zero. It would have been nice 5-6 years ago if at least one of the dozens of tech’s I talked with could have recommended this switch to make it stable, but oh well. So goes technology.
So if you are on AT&T DSL (a non-uverse customer with regular old DSL) and you have a flaky connection that drops on and off, you might call and see if they can switch you over to a digital line. I didn’t even know that was available until this tech said something. As a result of this switch, you can then upgrade your DSL connection bandwidth to the maximum connection speed offered at present: 6 Mbps down / 768 Kbps up. This is very good to know if you are beating your head against a wall trying to get them to fix the reliability of your connection.
You talk about “switching to a digital line.” How were you connected before? And what part of the country are you in?
I have had ATT for only 3 months and my dsl drops 6-12 times a day, possibly more, for about an average of 1-2 minutes at a time. I have had 3 of their basic modems and two different tech’s have been out here 3 times, still no fix. The last tech gave me a new 2wire modem and the same problems exist, so the issue wasn’t the modems and I have a feeling for most people who are also having connection problems with dsl only, it’s not the modem that’s their problem, it’s ATT. It’s Tuesday Aug 11th and a tech is suppose to be here before noon today, the fourth visit by one in less than 3 months.
I down and upload torrents, so when I’m surfing and I notice a slowdown I open my bittorrent client and can actually see the down/up speeds slowly drop, and when they reach 0 the red light on the modem blinks and the fun begins. This has nothing to do with torrents though, I have had my dsl drop many times when I’m not downloading. I’ll bookmark the page and comment back after this 4th visit form the tech, I have a feeling I’m already digital but I’ll ask. They checked from my phonejack to the box on the house, no issues. They checked from the box on the house to the street, no issues. They checked from the street to the closet powerbox?, no issues. They checked from the powerbox? to the closet ATT Office which is less than 1 mile away, no issues. This leads me to believe ATT is having known issues and they’re not allowing their tech’s, most of whom are contracted and not actual ATT employee’s, to tell the customer about the real problem. I have talked with many who have dsl mostly through other companies but some with ATT, and they rarely if ever loss their connection just once! I dropped Charter because their signal dropped a lot and they raised prices, if ATT cannot fix this isue I will be forced to go to clear wire or a local provider who charges more for less.
That’s a great question Chris. I’m not a telephony guy so I’m not sure exactly how I was connected before. On DSLReports.com, many techs have referred to it as an RT connection or digital port. I don’t have a clue because I’m not a tech with AT&T. But whatever they switched me to now has fixed all the problems and it is as stable as it has ever been. Also, I’m in Fort Wort, TX.
I’ve had a constant disconnect problem for over a year. After having several techs out here, got one who went thru the neighborhood wiring and found what he called a “wet spot”. This was where the copper wiring was getting wet especially after heavy rains. This now makes sense to me because I would hear a faint hum on the voice line but I thought that’s just how the line is in the neighborhood. The tech rerouted my line around the wet spot and no problems. I found this site after searching att dsl connection problems.
Let me explain what you guys are talking about. The Change To a Digital Line is Actually a DSL change to a “Fiber Optic” Feed. AT&T Refers To It as DPG Which Stands For Digital Pair Gain also referred to as R.T., which means Remote Terminal. Now Problem Number 1. If Your Distance is Too far From AT&T’s Central Office you are going to have problem after problem with your DSL Connection. The sales department has No clue how far you are from the Central Office. They are trained for sales, not service. The sales rep will offer the highest speed they can sell you regardless if DSL will work at your home Or Business or Not. R.T.’s are “NOT” available in allot of area’s, so you are stuck with 100 year old technology the copper loop. If your distance is far the system “Should” automatically put you on DPG with your DSL Order but that does not always happen, or simply DPG is not available. I encourage you to ask DSL maintenance if an R.T. Is available. If so they can make the request for you. But be prepared for bad news as well. You may be told you too far from the Central Office and never should have been a DSL Candidate to begin with. AT&T has now implemented speed minimums of 768k this makes it even worse for Homes and Business’s not close to the Central Office. The Fix and savior for 2010 is AT&T U-Verse. U-Verse is on a Fiber-Optic Network, but guess what it comes as a package. You must have Telephone/DSL/Television package thru U-Verse. You cannot just pick DSL, it comes as all or nothing. People simply need to be told the truth can DSL work properly and be dependable at your location or not. It has nothing to do with Economic status of a neighborhood. It’s all about Distance and engineering of an R.T. Network. 90% of all consumers have other options available if DSL does not work. It looks like it’s all about who has the cheaper service. But in my opinion it does not matter if it is Cheap if it does not work! If your DSL does not work, do not put up with it. Ask about loop distance and R.T. availability. By all means these questions should be directed to tech support, DSL Maintenance, Or DSL Repair technicians and never marketing!
I hope this sheds some light on your Mystery. And good luck with your DSL!
Thanks for the clarification. They have put the U-Verse infrastructure in our neighborhood now. However, they have yet to send us anything letting us know it is available. Not sure what I can do to get that going. Thanks Rafael!
I just wanted to reply to the part about U-Verse as a bundle. I currently have U-Verse Internet only, No TV, No Phone, or another ATT product. So you can get them separately. I did start out with the TV and internet together but cancelled the TV part and kept the Internet, so maybe that has something to do with it. It could also be because I am on one of the High-speed tiers that only U-Verse has, that they let me keep the internet only. However, no matter the reason, you can get the U-Verse services independent of each other.
When U-Verse is available in any neighborhood, it is usually marketed to death. Door to Door Sales Reps along with Door hangers and mailers. You can always call marketing to place an order. U-Verse DSL is Normally Reliable since it is based on a Fiber-Optic Feed and not an End To End Copper Loop.
Thanks for the info.
I just switched from Earthlink to AT&T and my DSL service is up & down like a yo-yo. I did not get the TV service, just local & long distance (copper, not VOIP). I suspect I’m suffering from the identical problem. The service reps on the phone take you through the same steps to trouble shoot the problem and by the time you’ve done a few steps, their network is working again so the “problem is resolved” in their minds.
The symptoms look like the line has dropped and then it will re-awaken after a few minutes. I don’t know whether my powering the modem and hub off/on does the trick or rebooting the PC; perhaps is just a coincidence.
When U-Verse became available (zip code 48331), their door-to-door reps & mailings carpet bombed the neighborhood.
We switched to AT&T DSL when we moved recently. We have a Motorola Modem for AT&T but not matter what brand of router I hook up to it, wireless or not, only one connection is serviced at a time. We got a bundle with Direct TV (U-Verse is not avaiable in our area) and the direct TV requires an internet connection to work. If I plug an internet cable into the direct TV box I cannot use any other computer on my server.
I have called AT&T Tech service a number of times and they want me to open router to change DIP swithces which I do not want to do voiding warrenties on equipment that works fine in my office and has been working up until I switched to AT&T. The most recent calls are routed to India where they want $99 to talk to a tech to fix “my problem” on a service that has never worked since it was installled. They have told me AT&T services only work on AT&T equipment which I find ludicreous.
Any suggestions
Mitch,
You can only connect with one DSL connection at a time, if that’s what you’re asking about. To resolve this, you need a router/firewall in which you can connect multiple machines, including the satellite receiver, with CAT5 cables. Unless I’m misunderstanding your problem …
Interestingly enough, my dsl line did not start deopping out until AT&T started PUSHING for me to switch to u-verse in my neighborhood (at a MUCH higher cost, I might add). It’s not just my connection having this problem, most of my neighbors are having it too. Methinks the “slow/dropped” dsl is an internal at&t issue- a way to pressure people into forking out more money. Sorry folks, some people JUST CANNOT AFFORD it.
Same here lots of rebooting last few months after ATT U=Verse tried to sell it. Told old DSL grandfathered at 1.5 no upgrade no longer available . only can change to U-Verse internet half prce 1ST YEAR 50.00 after that
So call and cancel after a year. They will be quick to drop the price again.
when I have called numerous times on a monthly basis….the att workers that have come have all told me that the problem is NOT with my house or my connection that the problem is in Georgia which is ATT main location in this area….but in a few days the problem continues…im going today to comcast and seeing if they have internet without att and i dont care what i pay because right now im paying for no service because when i get home there is no service! its highly frustrating! when i need the service the most…its not functioning. WHen I needed it to work because I have something to do for work its out!
Sam, you may be right because I’ve had no major problems with my DSL until last summer when the orange U-verse flags start appearing on my street and the neighborhood. I have been overloaded with flyers and none solicited phones call from ATT about the converting to U-verse. I have no used for the U-verse package. After that I started to have connectivity problems. Now it is worst than ever, there are hours without services and sometimes it does not come by online until after 7PM or 10PM.
Things must be a hell of a lot different in Texas, because here in California AT&T U-Verse is a horrible service. Constant dropping of internet connections, wildly varying speeds, and massive slowdown during peak hours.
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Yikes! Sorry you had such a bad experience man!
I and two of my neighbors started having troube a few months ago as the upgrades for U-verse started. After three tech visits, the root cause has still not been found. U-verse isn’t heated up yet so I can’t switch. Other neighborhoods around have it so I’m hoping to get is soon if the price is ok. If not, I’ll have to look for other alternatives.
Nope- same in TX. THat’s where my family is and they have the same issues. It appears to be same problems all over the “U-verse”.
I have elderly PC clients in West Cola SC. One of them is 94 year old who does genealogy research on line. She uses her PC heavily and I just upgraded her to an AMD dual core with 4GB of ram from a P4 with 512mb RAM. She also purchased a wireless printer and wireless router to go with it as well as a new viewsonic table-g after seeing mine (by way it is great). Oh, did I mention she has a DSL line from AT&T. Every thing works great except her email at att.my.yahoo.com. She cannot connect to it and DSL drops out. Also cannot reach any ATT site. We can go anywhere else on web. Same with tablet. Any comments or suggestion?
I have a love/hate relationship with my DSL service from AT&T. Lately, I hate it more than I love it. Sometimes the service will go out for five minutes, then come back, then go out after working for a few minutes and leave me in limbo. Worse yet, I get the dreaded Broadband link error message from which I cannot escape by using the back button or reload button on my browser. I have been interrupted while instant messaging, completing job applications and playing my beloved Sorority Life. My 14.95 introductory offer is set to expire in a month, at which time I will have to pay 47.95 for inconsistent DSL service. I think not! I guess it will be back to the library for me. *sigh*
Has anyone EVER recieved a response on how to FIX these ATT problems? 6-7 years of misery for me also! all day long…..new modem sent out from ATT and still issues. no u verse available yet where I live….I am rural…but not really…but that is what they use for an excuse.
Have you tried asking them if you’re on a digital/RT line like I mention in the post? This worked for me when I had ADSL.
Switched to ATT DSL, with a Satelite package from Direct TV. I lost my connection several times a day. No way you can online game with it, get through a few maps and on comes the red light. Strange, it didn’t do this the first month…that much, now it’s about twice an hour, enough to mess you up.
I’m going back to TW, saving a few bucks ain’t worth this headache, tech came twice, found no problems.
Wow I have been reading looking to see if my particular issue over the last few days was being talked about.It seems it is.I have a regular old DSL ,had it for years old modem died and I bought a Motorola (little silver box) all was good no problems ran at about 680 kbs for years.Six months ago my DSL slowed down to half of that.Four days ago it stated dropping out.Today I called AT&T after I did all the reboot and line checks.I got the automated dude ..lol..went through all that crap and finaly got a real person who after asking what my lights were doing said my modem has failed.A friend calls and asks whats up I tell him a bit about whats going on and he says oh yeah that happened to me they ran that U-verse through my area and my DSL did the same thing as yours.He said flip the red and green wires.they flip them out in the field to mess with your connection by changing the polarity.so you’ll get the U-verse upgrade.So I opened up my wall box flipped the red and green wires let the modem log on and did a speed test.I am at 1.7 mbs.Some of you should consider testing your phone jack.I’m just say’n.
Hi – I just read through all the posts here and think I found the answer to my DSL issues! I have had AT&T DSL for years and about 8 months ago I started having modem issues. I purchased a new 2wire modem and still am having dropped connections. i am interested in what you are stated, “He said flip the red and green wires.they flip them out in the field to mess with your connection by changing the polarity.so you’ll get the U-verse upgrade.So I opened up my wall box flipped the red and green wires let the modem log on and did a speed test.I am at 1.7 mbs.Some of you should consider testing your phone jack.” Can you detail further how to flip wires? Thanks for your reply!
Cali girl
Whoever made the call to do that and the service reps who actually do that should be fined and go to prison.
Can you explain?
It’s called a rolling blackout. AT&T will never admit it but they are doing it. Also, make sure you have a filter on absolutely every phone, faxline, etc that connects to the wall. Older wireless phones and some new interfere with the DSL. It just drops while you are on the wireless and then go try to use the dsl and you may have no connection.
I have had the same issues with ATT service recently. Constant loss of connection. Download speeds are supposed to be 6mbps. We are getting an average of 2.0 when we do have internet. ATT cannot (or will not) help. The people on the phone talk to me as if I am a complete idiot. They ask me if I have my modem near a TV, refrigerator or large metal object. I have even been told to move the modem 6 inches up and see if the issue is resolved. HA!
I have dealt with being hung up on, disconnected, told to pay an extra $75+ to have them look at the issue. I am fed up with the nonsense. I am looking into other options now.
It is really sad to see it come to this. We have been with ATT since we were married 15 years ago. I have had internet service with them since 2004.
We had Uverse in our apartment a few years ago. It was FANTASTIC! We cannot get Uverse at the house, so we settled for the fastest DSL service we could get. I am paying $70/mo for service that is as bad as dial-up was.
I am looking for anything that will allow my husband and I to work from home in peace.
Maybe a class action lawsuit should be brought against AT&T. Everytime I receive a phone call offering U-verse I end up losing my DSL service and experience all kinds of connection problems. The first time they called I told them I was very happy with my DSL provider, then immediately after that I would lose connection on and off. They seem to call right around holidays and soons I hear them on the phone offering Uverse I know my DSL is going to start acting up again. That, in my estimation, is criminal.
I, too, have spent years battling with dropouts and erratic speed issues, and can attest to there often being problems which att might prefer you did not know of, as well as warn that issues a repairman might fix today may surprise you and return in a flash.
When I first bought my home and got service it was horrific, losing all service sometimes for several days at a time. Eventually a CSR commented that I was on their “ETIR” list…explaining that ETIR meant “every time it rains”. Our lines were in terrible shape, much do to squirrels damaging the insulation; just in the 75′ span of my lot, a year of repair calls resulted in 13 patches, looking like trash bags caught on the wires. Frustrated not only for myself but also in concern for my many elderly neighbors should we ever need an ambulance/fire crew, etc. I hounded them with a vengeance. It took six years, but we finally got a new trunk line in and problems cleared up…for a while. Suddenly I had a serious drop in speed, dropouts of connection, but no rain or weather to be the cause. After several days of support calls going nowhere a repair ticket was put in and a lineman sent out. He found my issue was a section of degraded line between the main box for my block and the next main box down the line. His fix: swapping line pairs, giving one of my neighbors without DSL the degraded pair in trade for their cleaner set. Back up to snuff, but a few months later we were doing this again; the repairman mentioned likely I was the unlucky victim of a swap this time, and warned it would be getting worse. How? Because the lines incoming to my block are in a conduit passing under a main street and it seems that there is no way they can bring new lines, to replace or in addition to existing, through this pipe and could expect no change until a new feed was run which would only be installed at such time the city was widening the street, i.e. waiting until somebody else foots the majority of the costs involved. And so it has remained for the past 5 years, calling repair to play “switcheroo” whenever I’ve been bumped out again, with increased frequency as more and more neighbors have picked up DSL. For several years I had even added another line to my service, hoping to protect a good lineset that way. I recently tried to do so again and was told there wasn’t a free line available, but I should check back in a few months as it looked like they were scheduling some major improvements soon. I told them they might want to revise their notes on that work, as I knew just what it referred to, and it was more like 18-24 months away…when the nearby main thoroughfare is scheduled to be widened and updated. Leaping technology + an aging infrastructure + a weak economy= serious frustration for the ‘wired’ consumer.
Hate to bring this up as it’s way after the fact. If your technician used the term RT line then you misunderstood his meaning. An RT line simply stands for Remote Terminal Line. He was switching you from a line probably fed from the Central Office, or CO line, to the Remote Terminal Line. More than likely the RT line has only recently become DSL capable hence the reason you were on a troubled DSL pair for so long, there was nothing else available. Your CO pair is probably longer than it should be and inevitably older cable, possibly pulp core or air core or even a mixture of both. Now that the RT is equipped with ADSL technology you are dealing with a shorter loop and newer gel-filled cable pairs = less attenuation, and stronger SNR which in turn adds up to a higher data rate, less attenuation, and higher SNR which leads to little to no errors. Just be glad you weren’t on the RT pair the entire 8 years without DSL at all. They should’ve dropped your DSL rate down to 1-1.5Mbps and you would have had a much more stable connection and burnt out less modems with less line errors. Slower by a bit but more stable by far.
Also, the person that said it was a fiber optic line you switched to. That would be known as PON, passive optical network, and would have required a new drop to the house, new ONT Optical Network Terminal, premise equipment to convert from optical to ethernet etc. Not a 1 second change at all.
Your error stats mean nothing without the line signal stats. You should have posted the stats before and after. SNR, Attenuation, etc.
Glad that you are satisfied with your new service but your story is based on misinformation and relayed as more misinformation to the general public. Happy hunting!
Jason
meh
Hi,I have been going through the same problems here in central Florida !I have the main Panel box to service this area only 75 feet from my house! Att has sent me a few modems over the years . None of them did anything to boost my Upload speed. I have Dsl 6.0 .The download is not the problem here. 6.0-8.0 Down. Upload MAX IS ONLY 150K-420k ! I found info last year on another site that says ,All of the South East USA from Georgia area down to south Florida has a Cap on upload speed because of all the new Smart Phones ! Att says to get U-Verse and things will be much better ? Neighbors say it is trash and not to get it !If you call Att and say that you are going to switch to Cable? They will ask you to talk with a DON’T LEAVE PERSON.LOL She said she would cut my Dsl bill $15.00 per month to make me happy . I am still going to try and find a way to get a faster upload. Att also has a CAP on how much you can download per month here! They do not let you know this till you get a high bill. I will post back when I find a way to get a faster speed. Great site !
I just spoke to an ATT tech, he says he has no clue what DPG or RT is. He recommended I call sales and see if I can switch to U-Verse. A Tach visited my home today and told me I needed to call and request a DPG upgrade, last year a tech visited my home and said “your service is copper, it needs to be upgraded, I will call and request an equipment upgrade, you will be thrilled with your connection speed once that happens” well, it never happened. this is the 2nd tech who told me I needed to upgrade my equipment and ATT Tech support refuses to acknowledge that such a thing exists. I am FRIED!!!! Internet and Phone is EXPENSIVE, my phone only rings with sales calls (because they sell your information to everyone) and my Internet connection does not work! ATT SUCKS!
Has anyone checked the wiring in there house ? A bad splice or loose jack can drop dsl speeds and cause lots of errors. I was at a house where the modem was getting 3 megs and a max speed of 3 megs and after replacing the old line from the 60 with three splices on it with a new piece of cat 5 cable the line speed went up to the 6 Meg’s he was paying for and had a max line speed of 13 Meg’s Your dsl is only as good as the weakest link.