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  • PiPoe posted an update 5 years, 1 month ago

    A request for assistance.
    I have a technical problem I am trying to solve – my knowledge in this area is rather limited.
    My problem is related to hard wiring an internet connection to an outbuilding. While I could run an ether wire from a nearby (within the 300′ max distance) building that has a modem, I would prefer to use a D-LIne ADLS2 + Ethernet Modem connected to an unused existing phone line with wall jack (the internet provider runs the internet signal through the phone lines). I was told by a technician with the internet provider that I couldn’t do this. He said that because it’s a digital signal, I could only have one modem. To my question…
    Does anyone know if the statement made by the technician is accurate? If so, I would like to know why.
    The answer to this question may also have relevance to some discussions that have taken place here at Giza.
    Much appreciation in advance for any insights anyone wishes to share.

    • No, the technician is right, you can’t do this. The main reason is that you’d have to have the second modem configured exactly the same as the first and this would create digital signal sharing conflict of which one is actually communicating with the Server. Your ISP would actually see the second modem, even though it really wouldn’t work very well. You have a few options, though:
      1) Get a 2nd phone line (standard phone jacks support 2 lines) and then you’d have to get a second DSL account with your ISP. Obviously, this is an expensive solution, but clean.
      2) There are devices that you can plug into your AC outlets that allow the DSL/phone signal to be sent over your AC power lines. You would need one in the room you’re sending it from and one in the room that’s receiving it. D-Link and Develo come to mind, but keep in mind that this slows your broadband signal considerably.
      3) Just run a CAT5e cable from your router to the other building, though keep in mind that at 300′, that is also going to degrade signal because the max distance for guaranteed signal integrity over CAT5e (assuming the cable is 24AWG solid wire) is 100 meters (about 328′). Note, as you decrease wire gauge size (e.g. 26AWG or 28AWG) and go from solid wire to stranded wire (for more cable flexibility), you also decrease that max distance significantly.
      The only other option I know of would be an ADSL loop extender and that would be very costly. Hope that helps.

        • Yes tremendously! Thank you!

          • On a different aspect of this topic…
            Say we think of a ‘modem’ as a communication ‘node’. It would seem an analogue node could communicate with another analogue node without creating a signal sharing conflict whereas digital nodes do. Is this an accurate statement or am I missing something? My thoughts are going to ‘noise’ over distances. https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/noise

              • Interesting thought. A node in computer science is a data structure that usually is set up like a tree, or a collection of fixed data points or other nodes. I’m not sure that analogue could handle such a concept, not only because it would be horrifically slow, but because there would be no fixed point. I don’t know. I’m not really a computer science guy, but that (node) seems to be one of the fundamental building blocks of computer networks.

            • I wrote a missive on this, and toddb beat me to the punch. Now I am awake with 500 words of technical nonsense in front of me and looking for something else to do. 🙂