Gig-er-net or should I upgrade to Gig for life internet on fiber?

[cats5365]

I hope someone can help me understand how things work and make a decision about upgrading my DSL service to a gigabit fiber option. I have Century Link for the phone, and the other option is from the cable company that shall remain nameless, but starts with X. I do not want to go back to X-world ever.

I currently have an actiontec Q1000 router/modem and 40 mps DSL. I'm on a 5-year price lock that ends in 2 months, so I plan to change to a price-for-life plan with internet and landline phone. I'm doing ok for now on the 40 mps service, but can remember when 10 mps was really screamin' internet speed. I cut the cable cord and am streaming with Amazon and have fallen down the Alexa rabbit hole with the smart things. The gig service sounds like it might be more than I need now, but who knows what the future will be like.

I've attached the spec sheet for my modem, and it shows up on the CL website as an acceptable modem for their service. The call center guy was not helpful at all and said that it won't work with gig service no matter what the web said. The spec sheet says I have gigabit ports. I was also looking in the setting software and saw that I have the PPPoE and 201 setting mentioned in some of the youtube videos about getting rid of the CL router.

Will I be able to use my own Q1000 with gigernet? If I go ahead and have CL install the fiber ON part would my Q1000 still work even if it won't give me the gig service? I am concerned that I could push them to start the fiber install and then end up with no internet after they leave. I'm not opposed to upgrading my router, but CL wants $150 for a mystery router, and I have a feeling that I could get a fairly nice one on Amazon for a better price.

 

[DaveP]

The Actiontec modem/router is a VDSL/ADSL device that works with telephone line internet. The 10/100/1000 spec refers to the router's ability to supply data to users of the router interface, not the speed of your internet connection.

ADSL can reach maximum speeds of 8mbps download and 1mbps for upload. In comparison, VDSL can have up to 52mbps for download and 16mbps for upload, but isn't widespread in the US. Foreign countries commonly use VDSL, but it's not usually found in the US. Speed with telephone based internet connections depends on the distance to the nearest telephone exchange office. If it's down the street you get fast connections. If it's across town, your connection will be severely limited in speed because each data packet has to be confirmed to be received and the modem has to acknowledge that the packet was received before the next is sent. If you aren't close to the telephone exchange speeds slow down considerably because of that.

Even though you don't like the cable company, it's the best bet for blazing speed. If you are close to the telephone exchange (and you are, judging from your 40mbps speed) you might be happy with ADSL, but I wouldn't expect gigabit speeds.

 

[cats5365]

@DaveP I am less than a mile from the DSL node in my neighborhood, and am currently getting the 40mbps via the copper wire from the phone company. Last summer they strung the fiber optic "wire" through the neighborhood, and are now offering 1G speeds if I go with the fiber. I don't think I've been sharing much of the copper with other DSL customers since it seems most of the broadcasting networks appear to be Xfinity branded names. I could get a faster copper wire speed up to 100 mbps, but am interested in how well the fiber optic would work, especially if I don't need to replace my router/modem right away.

If I did upgrade to the fiber, would my current DSL modem still work at at least 40 mbps if I plugged into the fiber on the ethernet port and changed the port setting to the 201? Right now, I'm concerned about pitching a hissy fit and making demands that will end up leaving me without any internet for a few days until I can replace a modem/router that will work on the fiber optic line.

 

[DaveP]

@DaveP I am less than a mile from the DSL node in my neighborhood, and am currently getting the 40mbps via the copper wire from the phone company. Last summer they strung the fiber optic "wire" through the neighborhood, and are now offering 1G speeds if I go with the fiber. I don't think I've been sharing much of the copper with other DSL customers since it seems most of the broadcasting networks appear to be Xfinity branded names. I could get a faster copper wire speed up to 100 mbps, but am interested in how well the fiber optic would work, especially if I don't need to replace my router/modem right away.

If I did upgrade to the fiber, would my current DSL modem still work at at least 40 mbps if I plugged into the fiber on the ethernet port and changed the port setting to the 201? Right now, I'm concerned about pitching a hissy fit and making demands that will end up leaving me without any internet for a few days until I can replace a modem/router that will work on the fiber optic line.

If it's like cable internet you can keep all your equipment. Our cable company changed from copper to fiber a few months ago and I"m still using my Netgear Nighthawk router and my Motorola SB6183 modem. The cable company just removed a lightning arrester in the box at the curb because it wasn't needed with fiber. Far as I know the change from copper to fiber is supposed to be transparent to the end user.