Computer Help Please?

Yay!I'm interested in understanding the connections, so this is what I think I've seen mentioned so far:

• A power cord goes from the wall to the modem.
• A phone cord goes from the modem to the phone.
• An Ethernet cable goes from the modem to the computer.

If this is correct then what's missing is a connection from the modem back to Ma Bell.I don't know what made me call AT&T "Ma Bell," but thinking of that old name, here's a bit of trivia that many probably remember. AT&T used to be the only phone company in America, but it was broken up into regional companies in the 1980's, with AT&T running the long distance operations that connected them. One of the Baby Bells was Southwestern Bell. It grew, prospered, and eventually acquired its former parent AT&T, renaming itself AT&T in the process.Our home phone is actually an AT&T brand. We wanted an extension in each room, and AT&T was only one selling a cordless phone that could handle more than 10 extensions.--Percy

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".

The two cords didn't go directly into the wall, they went into a gizmo with two ports on the receiving end and one cord on the other end that plugged into the jack. I suppose whatever filter you are talking about might have been in the gizmo. [ABE: Just got it out and read the print on it: Z Blocker DSL Filter Model]/abe. My friend figured out that the thicker cord had to stay in the wall so she removed it from the gizmo and plugged it in directly, then plugged the phone cord into the modem. I have the gizmo as a trophy.On the note the first tech left me he identifies my phone number with the letters VOIP, which you said you doubted it would be. Well it is though I don't know what that means. He also wrote down a Wi-fi password, and of course I don't have a clue about Wi-Fi either, but I probably don't need to.As for an Ethernet cord it means getting up and going around the computer again so I'll check later.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

One thing I would suggest, even if it's a simple trak phone with limited minutes ... think seriously about getting a second connection to the world... With all your connection to the outside world coming thru one service, if that service goes down for some reason you are without the ability to contact anyone.My daughter worked for a short time as a tech rep for U-Verse ( phone help). She had a customer with this exact issue. Elderly woman who was talked into getting her phone thru U-Verse also. Service went down and she had to walk down to a neighbor's house using a walker, to borrow a cell phone with limited time on it to call tech support.

Thank you for that heads up, and as a matter of fact I was just sitting here pondering that very possibility before you posted on it. Why on earth would I want my phone to go through the internet? Computers are always crashing, internet itself can stop working. This makes no sense. How did I get myself into this anyway? I've never had a cell phone but maybe it's time to consider getting one.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Our home has very limited cell service, and we use internet for our phone service.The bad news: we had a major power outage last weekend, 17 hours.The good news: we have a generator, so we got it up and running no problem.The bad news: whatever the internet connection was, it didn't power up down the road somewhere. So we had lights and all, and the computers all worked, but the phones and internet didn't. And of course the cell phones still didn't.Multiple redundancy is nice! Very multiple! The more the better!

Sounds like even your multiple redundancy didn't give you any phone service during the outage.At least when we've had a power outage I always had my land line, that's never gone out.I do not like this U Verse thingy at all now that I know what it does and have actually thought about it. For me I don't see any advantage to such an arrangement. I'm not sure I see any advantage for anybody really.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

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.

Google cell phone for seniorsThere are services that provide simple cell phones with large numbers and that do not require a contract to operate. The best deal for emergency use would be one pre-loaded with minutes and no monthly bill -- you just buy minutes when you need to top it up.here's a brief overview The best cell phones for seniors and the elderly - updated June 2022 - PhoneArena The all-new easy to use Jitterbug Flip2 is our best simple senior flip phone. Enjoy added security with 24/7 one-touch access to safety experts. is a fairly cheap service, $99 for phone + $15/month and it has link lines to medical service and alerts.Snapfn Cell Phones & Wireless Plans is another the is free phone and $10/month with a panic button to call help.Good luck

Responding to your last two messages: I did catch that from Faith's earlier message, but I didn't understand it then either. I didn't know which jack she was referring to. I thought the one behind the bookcase was inaccessible. Is there another jack somewhere?But I thought we knew for sure now that it was AT&T U-Verse. If so, then isn't AT&T U-Verse optical? And wouldn't that obsolete Faith's old phone jack behind the bookcase? And obviate the need for any filters?Faith, could you just describe the wires that come out of your modem and where they go? If you can't trace them all the way to their origin just tell us generally where they go, like "behind the bookcase where the phone jack is" or "underneath the table where the computer is" and so forth.The information I was able to find on the Internet about the devices comprising a U-Verse installation and their interconnections was maddeningly vague and unspecific.--Percy

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 must have missed a zig or a zag somewhere. Faith said it was AT&T U-Verse:

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"It's something called U Verse that AT&T does."
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"But it might be interesting to find out what I get TV wise through this U Verse deal."
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"I do not like this U Verse thingy at all..."

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If Faith really doesn't have U-Verse, what do you think the technician did? Do you think maybe her neighborhood was finally fully switched over to U-Verse, but they gave her equipment that lets her keep DSL wiring in the house? So they gave her a box that takes U-Verse in from the street and sends a DSL wire into the house, then gave her a new DSL modem? And then they told her she had U-Verse anyway? Sounds strange.Also, I'm not so sure Faith is using a filter. In Message 138 the described what she called a "gizmo" that had one wire in and two wires out. Could be a filter. I received the impression that it's no longer connected because she said her friend removed a wire from that gizmo, and that "I have the gizmo as a trophy."Faith, could you just describe the wires that come out of your modem and where they go? If you can't trace them all the way to their origin just tell us generally where they go, like "behind the bookcase where the phone jack is" or "underneath the table where the computer is" and so forth.Also, could you also describe any labeling on the outside of the modem? And the model number on the back? Is one of these the beast: --PercyEdited by Percy, : Typo.

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.

I feel more like I have missing information than confusion. I'm trying to figure out what exactly happened.Faith said, "The internet guy hooked something up outside." What did he do?We were told the new modem wasn't connected to the phone jack behind the bookcase. Where is it connected?And other questions. If you've got this all figured out, please explain. I've invested all this time in trying to understand this and help, and now I feel like I don't know what Faith had before the change, or what she has now, or what was done.--Percy

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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.