internet service advice

[dermotwa]

ive had an account with telmex for over a year and the service was great 95 p cent of the time.Recently its been good 65 p cent of the time.Is anyone else having the same problem?Is telmex the only provider in gto?is a satellite dish an option?I was told that telmex offered 3 levels of service at differant speeds but after i spoke with telmex,i was told that in my neighbourhood there is only the basic service for 400 pesos p month.I live near el tinaco del pipila.That basic service was great until recently.I bought a new modem,but that didnt seem to help.I have a friend who loves solving this stuff but i cant improve the situation.I got one referral Adalid who said he could install the modem for 1200 pesos which seemed really expensive.My friend set it up,it works but its unpredictable...Can anyone recommend someone who can fix this please?id really appreciate any help,thanks so much

[DonaldW]

I'd keep after Telmex. The high frequency DSL signals they send over the copper line can be dampened by moisture and a slew of things, including insects building nests in junction boxes to someone spilling something on it, to the unforgiving rains of the area. Inside the conventional Ifinitum router Telmex uses are logging mechanisms that can be accessed by the secondary support of their help desk. This should prove to them without a doubt that there is an issue if there is one, and you should keep after them until it is resolved.

I believe that the current speed at the lowest tier is 5M down and .5M up, which is fine for normal types of web-surfing but would be marginal for streaming something like Netflix, especially if it has to pass through a VPN to be unlocked for Mexico. For simple file and photo downloading, it just is a matter of how fast you need that to happen. Going with 5M down is plenty for anyone, including useage of VOIP (Vonage, MagicJack, http://www.callcentric.com/?aid=71953 and others)

A satellite receiver should be avoided for all but the most desperate of Internet users, as they often cut down the speed to dial-up speed after your daily or monthly quota is reached, which can be something as simply as watching a youtube video will slow down your service to a creep until your data quota for the period resets. And at often $99 or more, it's no real bargain.

If Telmex is totally out of the question, Telcel and with a hotspot or a USB modem and a Cradlepoint or equivalent router could be used, which runs about $32 US per 3GB data chunk, but that goes very quickly. A person who reads online half the day, watches a few odd youtube or facebook videos and looks at a lot of facebook photos can easily use 10GB per month and often up to 20GB and over if you spend all day on the computer. The cost of using Telcel as an ISP can be calculated as high and the practicality of attempting the same using a satellite would be extremely unwise.

Always go with Telmex DSL or a cable TV Internet connection if it is available. If it won't work as advertized (www.speedtest.net), then keep after them until it does.

****Edited: correct typo "Telcel" DSL to "Telmex"

[pianoheat]

mega cable is expanding throughout the city check and see if they are in your area their office is next to hotel real minas

[DonaldW]

If you have a Telmex "Infinitum Technicolor" modem/router, you can check your errors via this link:

http://192.168.1.254/dslinfo.lp?be=0&l0=3&l1=0

To login, use the ID: Telmex and the PW is the same as your Internet password (to access your wi-fi)

At the bottom of this page, Home > Diagnostics > DSL Stats

Generic Info

DSL Status : Up
Type : ADSL2+ Annex A
Uptime : 2 days 15 hours 17 mins 4 secs
Downstream Upstream
Payload Rate : 6010 Kbps 766 Kbps
Attenuation : 19 dB 12 dB
Noise margin : 16.8 dB 18.2 dB
Output Power : 18.7 dBm 12.1 dBm

Look for you Payload rate, in this case very good for a package advertized at 5000K (5M) down and 500K up.

Look then at the bottom of the page to ensure you have had no or little errors. If you are experiencing a lot of errors, you need to engage Telmex to resolve them:

Other Statistics

Current 15 Mins 24 Hours Total
Loss of Signal : 0 0 0 0
Loss of Frame : 0 0 0 0
Loss of Power : 0 0 0 0
Error second : 0 0 0 0
Severly Error second : 0 0 0 0
Code Violations : 0 0 0 0

[DonaldW]

Note, clicking es is for Spanish and en is for English to navigate your router.