Q: AT&T high-speed internet self installation (DSL, modem, wireless)

[francoE]

Please pardon me if my question is stupid. I’m not into computer so I want to ask someone first before I go to AT&T store just to have an idea….

I’m planning to apply for an AT&T High Speed Internet, it’s the $30/month promo. See below link.
https://swot.sbc.com/swot/dslMassMar...DD%20TO%20CART

I would like to save for the installation fee so I might choose the “self-installation option”

1) We only have one AT&T phone line in the kitchen and my housemate doesn’t want to move it anywhere.

2) I have a phone jack in my room but it doesn’t have a dial tone.

My question is, can I hook up the modem or the wireless gateway to the phone jack in my room if it has a dial tone?
Would you know if there’s a way to activate it myself or I really need an AT&T technical support to activate the phone jack in my room?

Thanks!

[NHDave]

As we have no idea what the problem with the phone jack is there's no way we can know. it could be as simple as reconnecting a wire or two, or it may need new wire run to it.

[Naptowner]

Can you trace the line back from the phone jack in your room to see if it's unattached? It most likely is, and if you can get it hooked up you could use the DSL there.

Even if you pay for installation you're going to have this problem. You could buy a wireless router and put the modem and router in the kitchen; otherwise you need to run wire to the place you want to hook the computer up.

[francoE]

hey thanks! i just talked to an AT&T salesperson and they said the same thing. I don't usually trust their sale staffs because of my horrible experience with them.


Anyway, they said I will have to pay around $ 150 for their tech support to activate/fix the phone jack in my room, or I could just ask my techie neighbor to fix the wires. =)

[Naptowner]

Chances are the jack is wired, but it's been disconnected where the phone line enters the house. You can check by popping off the cover and making sure the wires are attached. You can find where the phone line comes in and you can probably see where the line that runs to the jack has been disconnected. It's just a matter of connecting a couple of the wires that are in the line, and they're color coded so it's not too tough.

If you can't figure it out this way, you can get a long phone cable to plug into the jack in the kitchen, then run it along the base of the wall to the room where you want to place the modem. When you have DSL, you put a splitter/filter on the phone line, which allows you to use the phone while using the internet at the same time.