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ADSL 2/2+ modem to replace 93/9400/XPS 56k internal modem

post #1 of 13
5/5/06 at 3:45am
Thread Starter 
Hello peoples,

I travel a bit and like to keep all my gear as lite (and minimal) as possible.

I've been looking around the net (anywhere in the world) looking for an internal ADSL or ADSL 2/2+ modem (or router/modem) card, that can replace the 9300/9400/XPS's standard 56K modem as fitted to the Dell notebooks. In the same way that you can take out the Intel/Dell wirelss card most people order with their notebook and replace it with superior(?) Atheros AR5006XS wi-fi card.

Has anyone seen such a thing in their web-surfing or otherwise? Has anyone heard that one is being developed or is coming.

Alternately is there a tiny adsl or adsl 2/2+ modem available that can be plugged in to the notebook via USB or ethernet socket? When I mean tiny I mean much like the thumb size Compro VideoMate U3 DVB-T Stick (only 9.0 x 2.6 x 1.1 cm ) USB 2.0 standard definition (digital) TV tuner, etc

As usual I'd appreciate any replies on the subject.
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post #2 of 13
5/5/06 at 4:38am
Interesting concept... but I would think the bandwidth allocated for the modem card to talk to the RJ-11 plug is quite limited and wouldn't satisfy even low speed DSL.
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post #3 of 13
5/5/06 at 5:05am
Well, the problem with DSL is you have to have your line suscribed to the DSL service before you can get it.

Hence, DSL = Direct Subscribers Line.

So, say you get this DSL modem and you travel to Joe Moe's house, who has a phone line, but doesn't have DSL with it. You wont be able to connect to the DSL service.

Unlike 56k, which you just dial out, and connect to a remote server somewhere.

DSL is not like that. DSL is more like T1.
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post #4 of 13
5/5/06 at 5:09am
Oh, forgot to add another thing.

Each phone company has specific modems for there service. I think Bellsouth has there own, and SWB has there own. So, you wouldn't be able to take a modem for BS and bring it to SWB.

Not to mention you wouldn't be able to use your username and password for a BellSouth account and connect to say a SWB account, or use a Verizon account and connect to a BellSouth account.

So say Joe Moe does have DSL, but his DSL service is through Verizon, and you have BellSouth. You wouldn't be able to connect to his DSL, with your BS account and password. Not to mention that I don't believe that BS's modems work on Verizon's network.

I think your best option would be to have a WiFi NIC, a RJ45 10/100 NIC and a small hub/switch and/or router. This way, you can share DSL connections at other peoples houses you may go to.
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post #5 of 13
5/5/06 at 5:46am
Doesn't DSL = Digital Subscriber Line??
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post #6 of 13
5/5/06 at 5:52am
Yep, you're correct Jax.

Interesting question about the modem, I don't know if it's a standard component - the wireless card is a minipci wireless card, hence it can be swapped to a different wireless card.

John
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post #7 of 13
5/5/06 at 4:40pm
I do not see how DSL can not go through any standard RJ11 jack. That's the technology it was built on.

I used to have Bellsouth's 1.5M package, and I would run it through my phone first, which was RJ11, and not setup for DSL, and I got my rated speed. In fact, connecting directly to the box outside and to the phone, I couldn't tell a difference in speed, what so ever.

I firmly believe that the RJ11 port on the I9300, 9400 and XPS systems could handle the DSL connections, but that's not the problem.
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post #8 of 13
5/5/06 at 4:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaxChris
Doesn't DSL = Digital Subscriber Line??

No, it stands for Direct Subsribers Line. Which is exactly what it is. You get your own connection directly from the DSLAM, or CO; depending how far you are from the CO. Unlike Cable, where you share your connection with everyone on your block. DSL, you get a direct line, very similar to that of T1. (Only, T1 is a bunch of 56k connections, all bundled into one. Which is the main reason why it costs so much in most places)

They have different version of DSL, and each company calls it something different. The most poplular being ADSL.
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post #9 of 13
5/5/06 at 5:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skillz
No, it stands for Direct Subsribers Line.


I agree with everything you have stated in this thread. It doesn't really make since to travel with a built in ADSL modem. However this is incorrect, ADSL stands for the following: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines

http://www.dslforum.org/learndsl/aboutadsl.shtml
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post #10 of 13
5/5/06 at 5:29pm
But my other point is still probably valid also (other than the naming correction) - the given paths on the motherboard between the RJ-11 jack on the back and the actual modem adapter probably doesn't have enough bandwidth. I seriously doubt it is on it's own PCI channel to handle anything higher than say 128kbps.

But as for DSL technology... Skillz is correct that you must have your phone line (on the box end) plugged into the DSLAM boards in order to get DSL signal. The Bell's don't automatically plug everyone into the DSLAM, this helps prevent as much interference as possible. Cablemodems on the the other hand would be a great option. You could have 2 of the new MiniCard slots run into a single Coax jack on the back. With an internal splitter of just decent quality, you could have an internal TV tuner and cable modem.

Cablemodems are all DOCSIS 2.0 now... so you can go anywhere that the Cable line isn't trapped and get signal. The entire cablemodem system is branched off of TimeWarner... this is how I came down with my Comcast equipment to a RoadRunner area, hooked up, and was online without a problem. =)
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post #11 of 13
5/6/06 at 2:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaxChris
But my other point is still probably valid also (other than the naming correction) - the given paths on the motherboard between the RJ-11 jack on the back and the actual modem adapter probably doesn't have enough bandwidth. I seriously doubt it is on it's own PCI channel to handle anything higher than say 128kbps. .....etc etc.

Ok JaxChris (and others to many to name) I'll accept what you have to say on the subject about not being able to use the ADSL/DSL when travelling. However if you read the rest of this paragraph you'll see why I asked about it in the first place. Perhaps it is peculiar to Australia but almost all homes or small businesses have only RJ-11 wall sockets and they connect to modem/router/modems using RJ-11 to RJ-11 or RJ-11 to RJ-45 cables. ADSL (in general) also takes lass than 24 hours to be setup from initial phone call to working connection and as I'm often in one place for a few days at a time my ISP said they'd be happy (after initial refusals and escalated complaints by me) to re-route my account to the specified phone line for a few days at a time. Hence the reason for my initial question about travelling with an ADSL modem/router-modem.

=====

However JaxChris, I find you theory about RJ-11 jacks to be ill considered and allow me to explain why.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been to 14 customers premises and a number of friends houses, and of that 14 plus friends - all using (ADSL / DSL), ALL of them were connected to their modem/router-modem using their RJ-45 network connection on their motherboards. (Sorry, I checked my records and 2 people/small businesses used USB only connections from the modem/router-modem to their motherboards. I can't explain why they have such an aversion to using USB which is often supplied as an output from the router-modem or stand alone modem.)

==

I actually connect my Inspiron 9300's RJ-45 ethernet socket to a Netcomm ADSL 2/2+ router-modem (with USB and ethernet RJ-45) and I'd swear that I can access the full bandwidth or at least enough for all of my many uses video/data etc. I'll just have to keep lugging around a lot of extra equipment.

My thanks to all of you who replied.
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post #12 of 13
5/6/06 at 6:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skillz
No, it stands for Direct Subsribers Line. Which is exactly what it is. You get your own connection directly from the DSLAM, or CO; depending how far you are from the CO. Unlike Cable, where you share your connection with everyone on your block. DSL, you get a direct line, very similar to that of T1. (Only, T1 is a bunch of 56k connections, all bundled into one. Which is the main reason why it costs so much in most places)

They have different version of DSL, and each company calls it something different. The most poplular being ADSL.

Jax is correct, it is digital subscriber line.

Also, DSL is not always dedicated - in the UK ADSL and SDSL both have contention ratios, 50:1 for domestic adsl, 30:1 for business adsl and 10:1 or 4:! for SDSL.

As for RJ11/twisted pair not having enough bandwidth, that's all that adsl modems use when they connect so clearly it's sufficient.


John
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post #13 of 13
5/6/06 at 7:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Proud9300_OZie
Ok JaxChris (and others to many to name) I'll accept what you have to say on the subject about not being able to use the ADSL/DSL when travelling. However if you read the rest of this paragraph you'll see why I asked about it in the first place. Perhaps it is peculiar to Australia but almost all homes or small businesses have only RJ-11 wall sockets and they connect to modem/router/modems using RJ-11 to RJ-11 or RJ-11 to RJ-45 cables. ADSL (in general) also takes lass than 24 hours to be setup from initial phone call to working connection and as I'm often in one place for a few days at a time my ISP said they'd be happy (after initial refusals and escalated complaints by me) to re-route my account to the specified phone line for a few days at a time. Hence the reason for my initial question about travelling with an ADSL modem/router-modem.

=====

However JaxChris, I find you theory about RJ-11 jacks to be ill considered and allow me to explain why.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been to 14 customers premises and a number of friends houses, and of that 14 plus friends - all using (ADSL / DSL), ALL of them were connected to their modem/router-modem using their RJ-45 network connection on their motherboards. (Sorry, I checked my records and 2 people/small businesses used USB only connections from the modem/router-modem to their motherboards. I can't explain why they have such an aversion to using USB which is often supplied as an output from the router-modem or stand alone modem.)

==

I actually connect my Inspiron 9300's RJ-45 ethernet socket to a Netcomm ADSL 2/2+ router-modem (with USB and ethernet RJ-45) and I'd swear that I can access the full bandwidth or at least enough for all of my many uses video/data etc. I'll just have to keep lugging around a lot of extra equipment.

My thanks to all of you who replied.


I think you're missing what I'm saying the big concern is. You are wanting to use the RJ-11 jack on the back of your laptop to run a phoneline into and have DSL. I'm saying that the RJ-11 jack in the laptop doesn't have enough bandwidth "through the motherboard" on its' way to the Modem for processing in order to handle being a DSL port. I'm not saying that DSL doesn't come over a standard phone jack, I know it does.

The 56k modem doesn't have a PCI style pipe going to it. It is more of a low bandwidth ISA bus. It and it still leans on the CPU for much of the processing, which means the link to the modem from the RJ-11 jack on the back of the laptop would have to be twice as wide as you are wanting to receive because of the 2way traffic in and out of the CPU.

Oh well, done discussing this topic I guess. I'll just leave it as saying:

"No - I'm sorry, but you can't replace the Modem module with some type of DSL module inside your laptop."
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