I’m in Indiana (formerly GTE territory) and have had DSL with them for about 12 years now, through various incarnations. The current 768K service to my house is through a Fujitsu R14 modem, which I run to a Belkin router/wireless router, then to an 8 port switch. The router uses local DHCP and NAT. This works fine for many computers (for everything – web browsing, email, SSH, VPN, FTP, Ping, skype, etc). However, I now have a problem: I am trying to access a web hosting site for a domain I own, and I cannot get to it by http, ping, or ssh from either of my two home computers (XP Table on one, Fedora Linux Core 6 on the other). In all cases the connection times out. I can access it (HTTP and PING) from 4 other places on the internet – everywhere else that has been tried. The Hosting company claims there is no problem on their end. Traceroute from any location that works shows that the hops go to time out eventually, but that the last IP listed is the same (so the routes used join at that point) – seems it can’t be a verizon routing problem. Since the problem shows up on two different computers with two different OS, and every other IP works fine (except those on the same hosting server), I suspect the DSL service (or my modem and router). So far no luck with tech support at solving this issue (it is not a “lite” tech issue). BTW, the problem was not always present (last year this worked), but nothing has changed on my end since then. Rebooting computers and/or modem or router does not help. My DSL speed is fine, and has never varied much. Ping normally never drops any packets, either (to other IPs). The DNS has the URL decoded to correct IP for the problematic web sites, and I still get time out when pinging, SSH, or browsing to this specific numeric IP from my home. Normally both computers are wired to the router (cat 5) but the problem (again, just for this one IP address) also shows up with a wireless connection to the router. Also, the DSL connection seems to be DHCP, not PPPoE. Any ideas on what might be the cause?
Q2: I want to eliminate the belkin router from the soup, but when I connect my tablet PC directly to the modem with a straight thru cable, it struggles to get an IP, and eventually gets a public IP but no DNS or Gateway from the modem. This happens with resets before or while connected. Is this a result of not releasing the modem MAC lockout, and the fact that my computer and router have different MAC addresses? If so, if I power everything down overnight, then bring up the modem with nothing connected, then connect to my Tablet PC, will that work?
Thanks for any help.

Then I got my new modem. Guess What?! It did not work. So I had to call back to the dreaded tech support people in some country and barely speaking english. This lady then proceeds to tell me to open my internet. I then tell her I don’t have internet access cause my NEW MODEM does not work!! She then wanted me to open up my computer tab. I don’t have a My Computer tab and I tell her and ask her how else can I get to the information she needs. She promptly tells me that she cannot help me and the phone went dead.
I had to call someone else. Now the modem is working. I have spent time telling and emailing Verizon that the truth is in my area they are not the only game in town and I demand better customer service. I expect a company to treat its customers better than I was treated by Verizon. Period. Verizon’s service is horrible and a nightmare. Anyone who says differently apparently has not had much experience with them or else they’d know that.

Also Verizon has a NEW Telephone Interface Box out there… If the box needs replacing have them replace it with one of there new boxes… Make sure you ask the tech who install it to install there Phone and Data line connector into it!!

Its a special connector that allows you to hook your modem directly to the that box!! You have to run a wire however to your modem…

They will connect your line to your Phones into the phones port on it, but you will need to run a 2 wire line to your DSL modem, and after that done connect it into the Data port!

If you have the line already run the Verizon Tech will hook it in for you!!

But the NEW BOX will allow you to remove all your DSL filters in your WHOLE HOUSE!!

If you have an old box you MUST have a filter on everything except your modem!!

BUT YES if you have the NEW STYLE BOX, and you have that SPECIAL connector that a Verizon tech will put in for you, remove all your DSL filters on all your phones, etc… You wont need them anymore!!

The only filter you need is built in the device in your Telephone box!! So the new boxes are actually VERY HANDY!!

But anyways you WANT A HIGH SNR value reading on your line!! The higher it is the BETTER!!

Heres an example of what having faster speeds does to the SNR value!

Speed of a 786KB dowload computer:

Current Noise Margin (SNR):
27.0dB Downstream, 29.0dB Upstream

Here the speed of a 1500MB computer who my neighbor who’s having difficulty with DSL disconnects…

SNR: 9.0dB Downstream – 19.0dB Upstream

Notice the Downstream value drop, that 18dB drop, that’s a huge drop!

Plus its all due to being to far away from the central office, and having a 15MB download DSL rate!!

However were trying to get a switcher tech to connect us into a nearby pair gain device that about 500 feet down the road from us!! If they can make the connection we will both get HUGE increases in our SNR values that for sure!!

Plus it will hopefully stop the disconnects my grandfathers been having!!

The HIGHER the dB the better!!

If the reading is HIGH like over 15dB you may have a bad wire, or bad filter check your inside wiring…

If you level is low, try connecting your DSL modem directly to the box where the line comes into your house… If you are still getting a low reading there you might want to contact Verizon tech support and get a field tech to check your connections on the pole!!

If the field tech says the connections are good and the signal is good, ask your field tech how far your house is away from the nearest central office or nearest DSLAM device…

That could be a pair Gain device or otherwise…

If he says over 3 miles, ask him if there another nearer connection to the DSL service… Like a Pair Gain device and ask him if he could request a Verizon switcher to get you connected into that (if possible).

If its NOT possible to get a closer connection DOWNGRADE your DSL speed!!

This will increase your SNR values and help stop the disconnects!!

AS with a low SNR value your going to have issues with disconnects, with a HIGH SNR value you wont have to worry about disconnects!!

The lower the DSL speed is the higher your SNR value will be which is good!! The disadvantages of getting a higher DSL connection is it lowers your SNR values significantly!! For example if you had a 786KB download and went to a 1500MB download speed your SNR value would be decreased by about 6 to 10dB!!

By the way: you can bypass there troubleshooting procedures if your firm enough but polite and tell them you have been through there stupid troubleshooting procedure about 10 times now, sometimes they will give in and send a technician out to you!!!

Sometimes it works sometimes it don’t!! if you feel the issue is with your line I have found it easier to get on there website and go to Support and then click on Repair and fill our a repair slip!!

Make them call you, it usually saves lot of time by doing it this way too!!

If you get a GOOD technician who knows there stuff and isn’t one who will just attempt something and go back and say it fixed you should have pretty good luck getting your issues fixed!!

However like I say if you cannot get a closer connection (to a DSLAM device) to your house it will help by downgrading your DSL speed!!

If I didn’t stuck in this stupid customer-support loop every time it’d would be somewhat less frustrating but to spend 75 minutes on the phone each time is so distasteful, we’ve pretty much given up. When the year is up, I WILL return to my previous DSL provide, with whom I had no such problem and significantly better service. Just goes to show you get what you pay for. I do not understand where Verizon gets such a good reputation because, based upon our experience, I will never do business with them again.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that the Versalink is a joke. Unfortunately, the Actiontec (the other wireless router) isn’t any better. If you’re able, I’d highly recommend trying to find an old working Westell Wirespeed (model 2110) modem and getting a separate router for your wireless. The setup is a little more cluttered than an all-in-one solution, but nine times out of ten the reliability of any wireless connections will improve drastically.

In the years that I worked on the Verizon DSL project, I never saw another modem that I liked as much as the Wirespeed. The bonus is that it’s what we call a “dummy” modem – it has no internal settings that have to be configured (if anyone reading this had to call tech support and go through the arduous task of bridging their modem would consider this a godsend.) I wish they had never halted production on those modems.

I’m very sorry that you had to go through all the frustration just to get to a point where you understood your equipment well enough to maintain it yourself. I always felt that Verizon should have supplied an overabundance of documentation on their modems with easy-to-read (and accurate) guides on how to go through the settings that a lot of the agents have customers go through anyway. At the very least, they could have supplied a separate CD that would manipulate the settings for you and make those changes without having to call tech support (the Quick Support software included on the install CD is a joke, too.)

I hope that you don’t have to call for support at any point in the future, but if you ever have a question you can feel free to post here. I can’t guarantee a quick response as I don’t check back every day (or week, for that matter) but when I am able I will respond.

(I usually get someone to whom english is NOT their native language, OR if they speak english they don’t know jack about computers.

I have told them numerous times:
“don’t try to tell me what will and wont work because I’ve been doing it for years”

Now I rarely call because I can do a better job of fixing it correctly MYSELF!!!

This Versalink Gateway is nonsense, but FINALLY I can configure everything with my eyes closed.

I am so sorry that you’ve been through so much just to have your internet connection keep dropping on you.

From what I can assume is happening, everything is set up properly in the home so no troubleshooting would need to be done on your end – you’ve done everything we’ve asked of you. Unfortunately, once an agent at a call center has finished troubleshooting and we submit a trouble ticket the issue is in the CO’s (Central Office) hands. After so many dispatches in a certain amount of time the issue does go to what we call “Presidential Appeals”, but generally they just keep dispatching until either the problem is fixed or they give what we call “best effort” – which means that no matter what we’ve done we cannot fix the issue and the customer will either have to accept the quality of the service they’ve been given or pursue another choice for high speed internet. It’s rare, but extremely unfortunate on both sides as the customer has had to deal with the frustration of not having consistent service and Verizon is most likely going to lose a valued customer.

I would say if they haven’t fixed it by now, it’s probably not going to get fixed and you may want to find another service provider.

Oh, and the company that I work for (who subcontracts the tech support from Verizon) has decided to move all DSL support overseas and switch all of their American agents over to the new Verizon FiOS project.

I’ll continue to monitor and update here, and I wish you all the best of luck.