Computer Help Please?

Last week there was a serious problem in Panda that disabled the affected PCsHere's one report

It comes down to Sun owning OpenOffice and Oracle buying out Sun. A lot of people were less than happy with Sun, and even less happy with Oracle.

Sorry, that isn't true. Sun controlled Open Office. The only way to get out of that control - without Sun relinquishing it - was to fork it. And that's what happened.

it sounds like:The wall jack is no longer connected. (It seems to be dead)The modem is plugged into a new jack (it's working)The modem includes a built-in filter, and the phone should plug into that.If that's all correct, then yes you would have to unplug the phone and plug it into the modem. Or get another phone and plug that into the modem.If you changed provider it is quite likely that they installed their own wall sockets to connect their equipment.

DSL is a way of carrying broadband Internet over the old copper telephone wires. The modem converts the signal on the wires to the standard computer networks - Ethernet and wi-fi. I don't see how a DSL modem could work without a wired connection to the telephone lines.You should have had a connection for the old DSL modem - since it obviously wasn't plugged into the same jack as your phone - and you should have a connection for the new modem too.I guess that you could have a modem somewhere else and the box you see is a router, not a modem - just a device for sharing the Internet connection. But it seems unlikely. Are you absolutely sure what you have is DSL ? I could maybe research it with some more information (provider, product name, make and model number of the "modem"). But without that information all I can say is that it doesn't sound like DSL.

Looks like it's usually DSL, except in places where they take the optical fibre right to the house. Even then I'd expect a wired connection for the phones. Odd.

I guess you missed this in Faith's last post: Which makes it sound as if the tech did leave out something important. If there was a filter in the jack - which would have the two outlets - I think that the filter would have to come out for the phone to work (unless it's a VOIP system, which I doubt). And he obviously didn't do that, and just plugged the cord for the old modem into the new.There shouldn't be any need for an Ethernet cable, because pretty much everything has wi-fi these days. But cabled access is more secure, and probably a good idea for configuring the wi-fi.And one word of advice in configuring any wi-fi setup - always change the admin password on the new kit. Don't leave it as the default. The ordinary passwords are usually random enough to be decent. The admin password is usually "admin".

Yes, that would be the filter. It splits the telephone signal into the parts used by ADSL and Internet.VOIP uses the Internet, not the telephone system (Voice Over Internet Protocol)Wi-fi is short range wireless used for networking computers. If you're using the Internet without a cable connecting the computer to the modem, you're using wi-fi.If you lived over here I'd suggest getting a cheap pay-as-you go mobile for back up. Calls are expensive, but that doesn't matter much if you rarely use it. I don't know what the situation is in the U.S. - but if you go that route make sure that the credit doesn't expire.

No, it is the same jack. The tech didn't have to get at it because he was replacing the modem. He could just unplug the old modem, and plug the cable into the new one.We've got a clear picture now. It's a pure Internet service, based on DSL, using VOIP for telephony.

I think you are getting badly confused, Percy. Faith now has AT&T U-Verse DSL including the U-Verse Voice VOIP offering. Before she still had AT&T DSL, but with standard telephony instead of VOIP.The filter was plugged into the jack, with cables for the phone and the modem plugged into it. Since Faith now has a pure Internet service everything goes over DSL, and the filter isn't really needed.

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Faith said, "The internet guy hooked something up outside." What did he do?

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That I don't know.

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We were told the new modem wasn't connected to the phone jack behind the bookcase. Where is it connected?

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As I pointed out in Message 137 that turned out to be incorrect. It IS connected to the jack behind the bookcase.

To clarify the small confusion here the phone cord and the DSL cord are the same type - they use the same connectors and wiring. That's what Percy means. They go to different places and your DSL cord is probably higher quality, but they are basically the same type.

No. DSL is a clever way of transmitting large amounts of data over an ordinary telephone line. The filter - the gizmo that was plugged into the jack - splits the voice signals from the DSL signals. The modem does all the conversion between the computer and the DSL signals - both ways.As I believe you noted the DSL modem has a separate power cord. That's where it gets power (so if you lose power your phone won't work now, even if the telephone line is OK).

I don't think that your telephone service depends on your computer, only on the modem (which needs power) and the Internet connection. There's no reason why it should be like that.If you can show that you were mis-sold then you have a valid complaint. If the limitations were there in the literature but not obvious it's more difficult.You could try going to AT&T and asking to be let out - although you should watch out for cancellation charges. It's not certain that they will refuse or ask for unreasonable amounts of money. It may be a bit of a long shot, but if you don't ask for it you certainly won't get it.

I'm afraid you've missed the fact that Faith doesn't have a voice telephone connection any more. It all goes over DSL.